Lyric's Dad said:
I know that the modern creed church likes to do away with the commands of God and play like obediance is not necessarry but that is just not the case.
Its wonderful that you "know" this, but your "knowing" it does no mean you know truth.
Knowledge was included in the tree that brought men into death.
What you want is life, not knowledge.
Lyric's Dad said:
Baptism is a command of God and something that even His Son did to "fulfill ALL righteousness." If it was something that Jesus knew He was commanded to do, what makes you think we are exempt?
It is not a matter of "exempt" Lyrics Dad,.... it is a matter of life.
An apple seed will grow up to become an apple tree.
Christ as the seed planted within us upon our believeing and being saved, will issue in everything that the will of the Father desires.
And the Father desires that we be baptised, thus the Seed within us, as its essence is worked out in us, will bring about the will of the Father in our lives; meaning this, a believer will at some point desire to be baptised and thus express the full reality of what baptism means.
But baptism is not a "requirement" for salvation, it is an issue of salvation.
Now lets answer the verses you presented....
John 3:5
"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Points of context to consider, Jesus was speaking to a Jewish pharisee, Nicodemus, and God is Spirit, thus when we consider God's viewpoint of all things we must do so by seeing all things in spirit.
With that, here are some notes regarding the above verse -
"The words of "water" and the "Spirit" should have been plain to Nicodemus, without any need of explanation. In Matt. 3:11 John the Baptist spoke the same words to the Pharisees; hence, they should have been fully understood among the Pharisees. Now Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, was conversing with the Lord, and the Lord spoke these familiar words. "Water" was the central concept of the ministry of John the Baptist, that is, to terminate people of the old creation. "Spirit" is the central concept of the ministry of Jesus, that is, to germinate people in the new creation. These two main concepts together constitute the concept of regeneration. Regeneration is the termination of people of the old creation with all their deeds, and the germination of people in the new creation with the divine life."
Death and life is what Jesus was speaking about,.... a man must first die in order that he might live.
Read what Jesus speaks of next, His death, and men believing into His death, and through believing into His death men receive life.
Water baptism signifies an acceptance of death and a rebirth into life, but it is simply a symbolic manifestation of what has already taken place in the spiritual realm in which God moves.
Mark 16:16
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
Notes -
"To believe is to receive the Slave-Savior (John 1:12) not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23). Those who thus believe become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). To be baptized is to affirm this by being buried to terminate the old creation through the death of the Slave-Savior and by being raised up to be the new creation of God through the Slave-Savior's resurrection. Such a baptism is much more advanced than the baptism of repentance preached by John (1:4; Acts 19:3-5).
To believe and to be so baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving the full salvation of God. To be baptized without believing is merely an empty ritual; to believe without being baptized is to be saved only inwardly
without an outward affirmation of the inward salvation. These two should go together. Moreover, water baptism should be accompanied by Spirit baptism, even as the children of Israel were baptized in the sea (water) and in the cloud (the Spirit)  1 Cor. 10:2; 12:13."
Baptism is evidence of the outworking of the inward life, just as living a certain way (holiness and righteousness, and love) is also evidence of the outward working of this inward life. And this outward expression is what God is after. God is not after just giving us life inwardly, but desire that this inward life be expressed outwardly.
When God gains His outward expression in a man then all tha remains is the glorification of this man's body at the Lord's return, and the process of complete salvation will be accomplished.
But,.... and be clear about this,.... once God has installed Himself in a man as the seed of life (Hebrews  7 : 16, "Who has been appointed not according to the law of a fleshy commandment but according to the power of an indestructible life.) He will have what He desires and wills. Therefore, the process of complete salvation will be carried out and accomplished.
Acts 2:38
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Notes -
"The New Testament uses three different prepositions to describe baptism's relationship to the Lord:
(1) En, in (10:48). To be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized in the sphere of the name of Jesus Christ, within which is the reality of the baptism.
(2) Eis, into (Matt. 28:19; Acts 8:16; 19:5; Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). To be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, or into the name of the Lord Jesus, is to be baptized into a spiritual union with the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. See notes 162 in ch. 8 and 194 in Matt. 28.
(3) Epi, upon, or on (v. 38). To be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized upon the ground of what the name of Jesus Christ stands for. It stands for all that the person of Jesus Christ is and all that He has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief (the faith) of God's New Testament economy. It is on this ground that the believers in Christ are baptized."
Notice that before baptism came repentence, which means to turn away from the self and look to God, which can only be done upon believing. Thus even in this verse, believing came before baptism.
Galatians 3:27
"For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
Notes -
"To believe is to believe into Christ (John 3:16), and to be baptized is to be baptized into Christ. By both faith and baptism we have entered into Christ, having thus put on Christ and become identified with Christ. Baptism practiced in a proper, genuine, and living way puts the believers into the name of the Triune God, the divine name (Matt. 28:19); into Christ, a living person (Gal. 3:27); into the death of Christ, an effective death (Rom. 6:3); and into the Body of Christ, a living organism (1 Cor. 12:13), that the believers may enter into an organic union not only with Christ but also with His Body. Furthermore, baptism brings the believers out of their old state into a new one, terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ that they may live in the Body of Christ, an organism, by the elements of the Triune God."
Consider Romans 6 : 3, "Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"
Baptism is not a form or a ritual; it signifies our identification with Christ. Through baptism we are immersed into Christ, taking Him as our realm, that we may be united with Him as one in His death and resurrection.
Is Christ water? No, then how are we baptised into Him by being dunked into water? We are not.
A believer is baptised into Christ (into His death) upon believing, water baptism is an outward evidencing/identifying of this spiritual reality.
I hope the above was helpful LD.
In love,
cj
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