4. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Normal Baptism, normal faith, no if, ands, or buts, you will receive the Holy Spirit. Some would disagree with Christ and the Bible and say some of this is not necessary for salvation. Christ does not agree….Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46
5. Does the Christian Baptism wash away sins? Not exactly. The Jewish ritual bathings really did not make people clean, nor does Christian Baptisms …..no soap, no scrub a dub. But it is an understood biblical concept or symbology. ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’ Act 22:16
Discussion….
This is the process to be saved. For those that believe that you do not have to do anything to be saved….they are wrong. Salvation comes from Christ and faith comes from us. But if you think you can do nothing and be saved….by all means try it and send us a postcard. Meaning you do not choose to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, you do not choose to repent, you do not choose to be baptized, you do not choose to participate in the Bread and Wine ritual, you do not choose to try to live your life in a moral fashion. Do nothing and see if salvation is yours.
Baptisms are discussed in the scriptures and some Baptisms show up in the scriptures and some are going to show the urgency they felt to do it. It appears that they would get baptized in a mud hole if there was no other water around.
And on the topic of early Christian writings and water baptisms…..
The Didache
"After the foregoing instructions, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living [running] water. If you have no living water, then baptize in other water, and if you are not able in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, pour water three times on the head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Before baptism, let the one baptizing and the one to be baptized fast, as also any others who are able. Command the one who is to be baptized to fast beforehand for one or two days" (Didache 7:1 [ca. A.D. 70]).
Justin Martyr
“As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]” (First Apology 61 [A.D. 151]).
Irenaeus
“‘And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan’ [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’” (Fragment 34 [A.D. 190]).
Tertullian
“No one can attain salvation without baptism, especially in view of the declaration of the Lord, who says, ‘Unless a man shall be born of water, he shall not have life’” (Baptism 12:1 [A.D. 203]).
Hippolytus
“The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and he, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the Spirit of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism” (Discourse on the Holy Theophany 8 [A.D. 217]).
The Recognitions of Clement
“But you will perhaps say, ‘What does the baptism of water contribute toward the worship of God?’ In the first place, because that which has pleased God is fulfilled. In the second place, because when you are regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so . . . you shall be able to attain salvation; but otherwise it is impossible. For thus has the true prophet [Jesus] testified to us with an oath: ‘Verily, I say to you, that unless a man is born again of water . . . he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’” (The Recognitions of Clement 6:9 [A.D. 221]).
Cyprian of Carthage
“[When] they receive also the baptism of the Church . . . then finally can they be fully sanctified and be the sons of God . . . since it is written, ‘Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’” (Letters 71[72]:1 [A.D. 253]).
So what happens during the process of Baptism? The Bible speaks of the “new man” and “born again”…. Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again. Eph. 4:24 Col. 3:10 John 3:3-3:7 1st Peter 1:23
Paul explained it further like this…Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
So….buried with Him through baptism into death, and raised to walk as reborn and a new person…so it appears that baptism is also symbolic of a resurrection, maybe because we were dead in our sins but then alive in Christ as a new man. A new man (or lady) with a clean slate and a connection with the Holy Spirit.
Further explanation
So then we get into spiritual Baptisms….Some use the phrase spiritual Baptisms to imply waterless Baptisms….but that is false. All Christian Baptisms involve water and they are all spiritual. In the Greek the word baptize means immerse…Nowhere in the Bible are you going to find someone saying….”And we baptized them without using water” or “Water Baptisms are not necessary” or “We performed a spiritual Baptism.”
The only “person” that can baptize per say without water is the Holy Spirit. And this is the process of receiving the Holy Spirit.
Abnormal Baptisms….are they valid?
Infant Baptisms were controversial even in early Christianity. Maybe just like today some Christians saw Baptisms as non-spiritual….simply a public or political demonstration, because eventually the Catholic Church would force conquered Pagans to be baptized. It is hard to say. As a belief it is motivated and tied to the false doctrine of Original Sin….Help! Our baby has sin all over it! So we need to baptize babies! LOL But still the question is, what does infant Baptism do for the baby?….I have no idea and no one really does.
Historically sprinkle baptisms for those that were to too old or ill to be immersed in water was a practice. The scriptures do not address this so it is a matter of belief.
From the beginning whether it be John’s baptism or Christian baptisms it was thought that baptism removed all past sins. The difference? John’s baptism was from the Jewish perspective ….remission or forgiving past transgressions against Yahweh. This is why the Jews were in an up roar about what John was doing. Matthew 21:23
John’s baptism forgave sins but did not change what happened if they sinned again. There be the difference between John’s Baptism and Christian Baptisms. When Christ died on the cross the veil in the temple was rent. Matthew 27:51 Which meant that sin would no longer separate us from Yahweh because Yahweh would no longer see our sins. That is the affects of Grace….blameless before Yahweh.
When Christ died on the cross it not only stopped the process of sin and tally that existed in the Old Covenant, it broke the slate. For those that believed in Christ, their sins would be between them and Christ….God the Father would never see them. The reason….God the Father was not changed by the New Covenant, He still had and has zero tolerance for sin. So to have a relationship with Him we have to be sinless….Grace. After Baptism we do not transgress against Yahweh, from there our sins are between us and Christ and forgiveness for our sins comes from Christ. 1st John 1:9 And in the end Christ will judge us on what we have done through our life. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 2nd Corinthians :5:10
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