Baptism. Necessary?

There are some who hold that baptism isn’t a must when becoming a Christian, and that as long as you ‘believe in your heart’, you will automatically become a part of the kingdom of God. However, Jesus made clear that belief is the first step in a process –for if you believe Him, you’ll then faithfully do all the things he instructs. He gave the clear instruction of believing (and also ‘repenting’, i.e turning one’s back on life without Him), and then being baptised. In Mark 16:16, Jesus says “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.”

Jesus Himself was baptized (although He had no sin to remit) to set the example to us. He impressed the importance of it upon His apostles, (‘apostles’ = followers of Jesus, handpicked by Him to spread the message of Christ) saying in Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

The apostles continued teaching the importance of baptism and carrying it out as Jesus instructed. Baptism is a divine process where one is ‘reborn’ into a new life (Colossians 2:12) where sin no longer dominates. When explaining to a very large, multicultural (- n.b. would spread to ‘all nations’) crowd of people about the power of Christ’s Church, Peter, a most notable disciple of Jesus says “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:28).Fleeing sin is the principal theme of Christianity. Thus the inward repentance which allows the sin to be remitted and the outward baptism in response to this, must be essential.

In the New Testament recorded early Church, those who Jesus had personally taught and directly sent to carry his message were successful in relating how essential the ‘repentance plus baptism’ process is; to the effect that those who were touched by the message of Jesus, and desired to become Christian were baptized straight away. The account is told of an Ethiopian intellectual who once having the account of Jesus’ life explained to him, insisted on being baptized as soon as he and the apostle teaching him came upon some water; saying “See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Similarly, it is told of a jailor of a prison wherein two apostles had been held. He asked them what to do to be saved; he was told to believe in Jesus “and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.”(Acts 16:33)

Many nominal churches sweep aside the importance of baptism, stating that becoming a Christian is solely from an internal moving of faith. However, love is a verb, an active process. The Bible says “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17), showing that inward belief must go hand in hand with external action.

Some say baptism isn’t necessary as it is merely symbolic. It is indeed symbolic –of being ‘born again’ and being ‘buried’ and ‘rising’ with Jesus, who set the example for us. However it is not ‘merely’ a symbol, as the Bible shows it is the critical point of the new beginning of the converted person taking effect. If baptism were not essential, the forefathers of the early Church, who had been taught directly by Jesus would not have gone out of their way to carry it out with everyone who wished to be saved; and they wouldn’t have taken the time to record it all.

Some ask, “well what if a person decided they want to become a Christian but they are hit by a bus before they get a chance to ‘seal the deal’ with baptism?”. This question is dubious because God is “a just God and a saviour” (Isaiah 45:21) and if he ever did allow such a bizarre thing to happen, He knows why. Our job is not to question who will be saved (that’s between God and every individual), but to do all he instructs to ensure we, and those around us are

Bible Study

Bible Study

Last in night in Bible school, we were looking at Matthew Chapter 10, verse 27, where Jesus tells the disciples;

“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.”

The ‘darkness’ being spoken of isn’t literal darkness. It refers to things being spoken of in a hidden way... Such as in Jesus’ use of parables. We know this ‘darkness’ means the hidden manner of speaking in parables and proverbs also by the following scriptures;

Psalms 78:2  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old

Proverbs 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings

So essentially Jesus is saying to his disciples they must openly –and clearly- share with everyone all the mysteries he tells them.

This truth is typified in the accounts of the feeding of the five thousand and seven thousand: Jesus blessed and broke the bread, then gave it to his disciples and it was their job to distribute it.

Do you notice throughout scripture, Jesus never gave anyone else the actual formula for salvation (the closest was where he told Nicodemus to be born again of the water and spirit) he only told the apostles. Then it was their job to go and tell the world.  

Also, see how Jesus didn’t just tell Paul how to be saved? He sent him to Ananias to find out.

This is how God continues to do things. It sometimes happens where God will personally speak to an unsaved person and send them to a church or to someone who is saved. But he doesn’t actually reveal to them how to be saved, because it is the job of his disciples (us).

So conclusively, Matthew 10:27 is a serious commission, that we must share the truths that Jesus reveals to us -once we are saved- with all and sundry.

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Peace love and blessings upon you all in the family x

A Brief Look at Oneness and the Trinity

Introduction

The Trinity belief states God exists as three separate persons- the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, who are equal and in unison with one another.

The Oneness belief states God is one omnipotent person (not three), who is Father and takes on the form of Son and Holy Ghost for the purpose of our salvation.

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Trinity says if God were a single person, interactions between the Son and the Father would be meaningless and confusing (e.g. Such as where Jesus prayed to the Father in Gethsemane, Matthew 26:39).

Oneness highlights that Jesus, as a man, and man’s perfect example, had to pray to God, just as man does. Where we read Jesus as man communicating with God (the God within Himself), it is for our benefit and certainly is not meaningless. E.g. Jesus says in Matthew 11:41- 42 ‘…Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me…And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.’

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Trinity says Genesis 1: 26 is proof of a ‘three-part’ nature of God, as He uses the term ‘us’ when creating man:  ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’

Oneness says this scripture gives no indication whatsoever of distinct ‘members’ of God talking amongst themselves. It shows God talking to someone or something else…God is talking to the earth, just as in verse 11 for example, ‘Let the earth bring forthgrass’. Man, as flesh and spirit, has the image of the earth as well as of God; 1 Corinth 15: 49 ‘And as we have borne the image of the earthy’. This further shows that the earth is part of the ‘us’ that is referred to in Gen 1:26, which we are jointly in the image of.

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Oneness highlights that in many scriptures, it is clearly stated that God is one. E.g. Deuteronomy 6:4 ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord’

1 John 5:7 ‘For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.’

Trinity explains this by saying that the original Hebrew word for ‘one’ used in these scriptures means ‘one in purpose’, not ‘one in number’. If this were the case, it still cannot disprove the roles belong to one person. Furthermore if all men need to understand ancient Hebrew grammar just to understand the real meaning of God’s message, He wouldn’t go to such effort to make his gospel clear to us in own language (e.g. Acts 2:11).

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Trinity says further proof is given when Jesus is baptized and saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and heard the voice of God from heaven. It seems the three members of a trinity are being shown simultaneously together. Matthew 3:16, 17 ‘And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: (17) And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

 Oneness says the one God is omnipresent (see Psalm 139:7-10) and it is simply untrue to say he would not be in Heaven and on Earth at the same time. If everyone had seen this and interpreted it through the idea of a trinity, there would be a record of the ordinary people around and the (monotheistic-believing in one sole God) Jews drastically changing the way they had always thought of God. As it happens, this was a spiritual vision showed to John for an important revelation about Christ. It is no more physically literal than the vision of a slain lamb on a throne in Rev 5: 6, for example.

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Oneness says Isaiah 9:6 which tells us the child to be born ‘shall be called Wonderful. Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father’, clearly shows Jesus Christ the son is also the almighty Father (manifest within flesh form).

Trinity explains this by saying Christ is only given this title because he is the ‘Father’ of Christianity just as Abraham, who was also called ‘father’, was of the Hebrew faith; so the scripture in Isaiah is not saying ‘God the Father’ came to earth.

-However, this suggests confusion, as it asserts that there is more than one person who is the 'Father' God. We know that God does not ordain confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).

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Trinity highlights John 16:7 ‘ …It is expedient that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you’, where Jesus seems to be talking about ‘the Comforter’ (the Holy Spirit) as a separate person to Himself.

Oneness says Jesus talked about the Holy Ghost as something different to himself because it is- but not a separate ‘person’ from Him. Once Jesus had descended back to Heaven and could no longer physically be present with his followers He had to come in another form (as spirit).  Jesus said he would send a comforter, and also says (John 14:18) ‘I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you’- because He himself is that Comforter.

Furthermore, Philippians 1:19 shows that the Spirit we are supplied with is the very Spirit of Christ, not that of someone else.

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Trinity says that no man has ever seen God the Father, but the Son. Therefore, it could not be God the Father who came to earth. John 6: 46 ‘No man hath seen the Father’.

Oneness says it is true that no man has seen Father God (- as that would mean seeing God in his full glory). However, man has seen Him veiled or partially. Hebrews 10:20 says Jesus’ flesh was his ‘veil’, so still no one has seen GodHis real fullness. Nevertheless, men have seen Him in another form, in the man Christ. That’s why Jesus says ‘he that hath seen me hath seen the father’ (John 14:9). For they are one and the same person (John 10:30) in two different forms.

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Trinity highlights 1 Peter 3:22, which says that Jesus ‘is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God’. One cannot sit on his own right hand, so it is assumed that Jesus is separate to the Father and sat next to Him in heaven.

Oneness says throughout scripture, the term ‘right hand’ is used to mean power and strength e.g. Exodus 15:6 ‘Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy’(Also see Acts 2:25).God is an invisible spirit (Hebrews 11:27), thus He has no physical right or left hand. Where Jesus is referred to as being on the ‘right hand’ of God, it does not mean literally and physically, but in terms of God’s power being at work through His mediator (the man Christ who he was in). We as people even use the figurative expression of having a ‘right hand’ man!

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Trinity highlights that in Matthew 28:19, Jesus instructs ‘teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’. Trinity believers feel this command from the Lord highlights the importance of recognising the three persons of the Trinity in baptism.

Oneness highlights that all examples of baptisms carried out by the Apostles of Christ and recorded in the Bible were done ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ (Acts 2:38) and clearly this is the singular name Jesus is referring to in Matthew 28:19 that covers the ‘Father’, ‘Son’ and ‘Holy Ghost’ and highlights that these titles belong to one person..

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The trinity belief system claims the three members of the Godhead are distinct and co-equal.

Oneness can show such a relationship is not the case, by highlighting many scriptures, such as John 8:42, where Jesus says “I proceeded forth and came from God: neither came I of myself, but he sent me.”

–This is not a ‘co-equal’ partnership: one is depending on the power of the other.

-Yet again the Oneness teacher finds himself having to remind the trinity believer of the myriad scriptures which clarify that Christ is the man that Father God was in (Colossians 2:9), not a separate person.

#contend for the faith