Originally Posted By Webb,
Since Jesus said He must be baptized to"fulfill all righteousness", WHAT would have happened to Jesus had He refused?
Webb, do you know what true Baptism is? Do you believe Baptism to be the outward, carnal religious ritual of
'water baptism'? If you do, you do not understand things that are
'spiritually discerned', and are still a
'carnal babe' in Christ:
1 Corinthians 3:1 "And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, even as to babes in Christ."
If you believe that any
"outward" religious ritual has anything to do with salvation (or anything else), you have not
'put away childish things' in your walk:
1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
Notice what Paul says:
1 Corinthians 1:17 "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect."
That does not mean that Jesus and Paul did not teach baptism. But the baptism they both taught was the kind that
cleaned a man INWARDLY:
Matthew 3:11 "I [John the Baptist] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."
Just as
"physical" Circumcision was a
"shadow" of true Circumcision - which is
"of the heart" (Romans 2:28-29) - Baptism with water was a
"shadow" of true baptism, which is baptism with
the Holy Ghost, and
with fire.
That is how Christ baptizes to this day.
Christ tells us that
His words are spirit:
John 6:63 "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
"The flesh profiteth NOTHING." In other words, 'outward' religious rituals [the flesh] profiteth nothing. It is the
'spirit' (within) that quickeneth. [
'quickeneth' = Greek = zóopoieó = cause what is dead (inoperative) to have life]
As with us all, Jesus's own apostles included, we do not see this Truth at first. But eventually we come to see the futility of outward rituals, and as Paul, we come to see the Truth of Christ's words that it is
His words that clean us and burn out the
"wood, hay and stubble" WITHIN.
Then we finally see what Paul came to see really washes us of our sins. Here is the water that really baptizes us, and it is not physical water:
Ephesians 5:26 "That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the BODY of Christ] with the WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD,
Ephesians 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
Is baptism necessary? YES - but it is NOT the physical ritual of baptism with water that is necessary.
There is no sin in being water baptized. I used to believe in water baptism. I can speak with confidence on this subject because I was water baptized twice, and I was as carnal after both baptisms as I was beforehand.
Rituals are indeed
"milk of the word". And it is this milk that is used by God as a
strong delusion. And as 2 Thessalonians 2:11 states,
it is God who sends the strong delusion because it is necessary. The masses of Christianity are deluded into believing that
milk is really
meat. The masses of Christianity are therefore stunted as
"carnal...babes in Christ."
