Believer’s Baptism: Does Baptism Save?
I. Introduction: Historical Abuse of Baptism
The sacrament of baptism has been one of the most misunderstood and abused commands of Jesus throughout Church history. From baptizing babies to forcing adults to submit to baptism against their will, this sacrament has been used both as a political power and denominational tool in the belief that, as a ritual, it can change a person’s eternal destiny, without any change to their heart.
In my video/article on infant baptism we saw that baptizing babies has absolutely no grounding in Scripture, but is one of the fundamental doctrines of counterfeit forms of Christianity which has led millions to a false sense of salvation. Sadly, the same can be said of adult baptism, both throughout Church history and to the present day. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church used baptism as a form of submission and fealty to the authority of the papacy, spreading its political influence and power throughout Europe. People were given a choice: Submit and be baptized as an act of fealty, or lose your head.
In 988 Prince Vladimir, adopted Orthodox Christianity and commanded the people of Kyiv Rus to be baptized, declaring the country to be ‘Christian’ and the people ‘Christians’. Like so many in the Medieval Period who were forced to be baptized as Catholics, most of these people secretly continued to practice paganism and thus, pagan rituals became part of Church traditions.
At the time of the Reformation, the Anabaptists whose name means to be ‘baptized again’, practiced believer’s baptism for adults who had experienced new birth. They were hunted and murdered, often drowned, for daring to state that their infant baptism meant nothing. These people simply wanted to use baptism as a witness to their new birth, but were persecuted by Catholics and Calvinists alike, those who held to Augustine’s heretical views.
The first question I want to ask is this:
Does God consider a person who is baptized against their will to be a Christian, a child of God?
Considering the fact that the Lord defined eternal life as knowing Him in John 17:3, that loving God is the greatest command, and sanctification the fruit of new birth, then the answer must be no, as they did not know Christ personally (Romans 8:16). But what is most tragic is that if the gospel had been presented by true Christians who loved Christ and were led and directed by the Holy Spirit, giving these people time to understand, be convicted and repent, perhaps thousands of those murdered by the papacy would have become disciples and missionaries of the true gospel.
Those who refused to submit to Rome’s agents were standing against tyranny and willing to die for the only faith they had known. If God knows all possibilities, and which of them would have repented and loved Him, given the opportunity, then perhaps the papacy only deprived them of knowing Christ in this life.
My second question is this: Why have so many denominations turned to rituals, formulas and traditions which are fundamentally counterfeits of biblical new birth?
II. Rituals, Formulas and Traditions: Counterfeit Substitutes to New Birth
Those who have never experienced the conviction of the Holy Spirit, a heart filled with godly sorrow for sin, the opportunity to freely submit to Christ as Lord and Savior due to His revelation of their sin and His forgiveness, have likely never experienced the joy of being born from above, of becoming partakers of the divine nature.
Those who have never experienced new birth in Christ inevitably end up re-defining new birth in accordance with their experience, or lack of it. The question for such people is what does God require for a person to be saved? Salvation then becomes an intellectual adherence to specific acts, whether by a person’s free will, or, in the case of the examples cited, by force or command of a political or religious authority.
What all forms of counterfeit christianity have in common is the use of the Bible to enforce their ideas, not of course all of the Bible, but a few selected verses which fit their agenda. In the case of Roman Catholicism, Augustine of Hippo, whose ideas and false doctrines had a huge influence, wrote about forcing people to submit to God as a genuine practice of evangelism in his Sermon LXII. In this sermon Augustine quotes Luke 14:23-24 which states:
23“Then the master told his servants, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house may be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those invited will get a taste of my banquet.’” (Luke 14:23-24)
Jesus’ teaching in the verses prior to these was to Pharisees. He told them not to take a place of honor at a wedding feast, and not to invite their friends, relatives or rich people. Then He gave a parable about how a man sent invitations to such people and each had a worldly excuse to not attend, they had other things they thought to be more important. He said to invite the poor, crippled and lame, those who would never have expected to be invited and would therefore seize the opportunity with gratitude. The Lord’s instructions were never about giving authority to force people into baptism at the point of a sword and murdering them if they did not comply, the very authority and practice given and performed by the papacy’s servant Charlemagne.
In our modern world many use summary verses as formulas for salvation. John 3:16 is the most well known of these.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Another favorite is Romans 10:9-10.
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10)
Free-grace teachers will point out that neither of these verses mention repentance, as in turning away from sin, or self denial, or a command to be baptized, therefore a person need only ‘believe’ and they are good to go. If their so-called converts fall away and then deny Christ, they claim such people are still saved.
Calvinists will take you back to Romans 9 and insist that God hated Esau and loved Jacob, that God predetermines who is saved or lost, and that people have no free will to choose. Despite this, they preach as if people do have the freedom to choose or reject Christ, although at the same time claiming people are completely passive in salvation.
Others, armed with a gospel tract, will approach strangers, convince them that Jesus lived, died for their sin and rose again, get them to say a sinners prayer and tell them they are now born again, hoping the person might join their church and consent to water baptism and discipleship sometime in the future. This is like having an insurance policy and neglecting to take people through the pages of fine-print.
I have seen many such ‘gospel tracts’, but none that ever mention self denial, turning from sin, Jesus’ warnings about living in His will, water baptism, or a list of acts of the flesh which prohibit a person from entering heaven from Galatians 5:19-21. I have heard many so-called evangelists bragging about how many people they ‘led to Christ’, and then reluctantly admit that the vast majority of these people never come to Christian maturity. The simple truth is this: If you are deliberately leaving out everything which doesn’t fit your theological or evangelistic agenda, you are preaching a ‘different gospel’, a diluted counterfeit of the real thing. Don’t expect the Holy Spirit to be a part of that, He won’t.
These same objections apply to those who use the sacraments of communion/eucharist and baptism as the means of salvation, such as Lutherans, and brings us to the question, does baptism save?
III. Does Water Baptism Save?
A favorite verse used is from 1 Peter. The apostle has just mentioned the ark of Noah and states:
In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3:20-21)
This letter of Peter’s is about comforting and encouraging those who are being persecuted and suffering for Christ. The Roman emperor and political authorities are mentioned several times and the fundamental message is this. You were baptized knowing it may cost you your life, but you did it because you have become partakers of the divine nature and no longer considered yourselves citizens of this world. Now, stand firm with a clear conscience before God, even unto death.
In China where Christians face severe persecution as those Peter wrote to, converts are asked several questions before being water baptized. Are you willing to be arrested for Christ, willing to be imprisoned for Christ and willing to die for Christ. Only those who answer ‘yes’ are baptized by the persecuted Church, for only these are considered to have passed from death to life through new birth.
Another passage divorced from its context by Lutherans and other sacramental salvationists is found in Acts 2. Peter has just finished preaching his first sermon and accusing his listeners of crucifying the Lord and Messiah. The people were ‘cut to the heart’, deeply convicted and cried out, ‘what shall we do’. Verse 38 states:
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
This verse is used by the unregenerate to claim that the Holy Spirit is automatically given to all who are baptized, regardless of age. Recent statistics from cold-case-christianity regarding protestant American churches show that over 80% of children and teens baptized whilst living under their parent’s authority reject Christianity altogether and claim to be atheist or agnostic by age 25-30. The message is clear. God decides when a person is ready to become a partaker of the divine nature, not your counterfeit Christian culture. God has provided specific commands for dependent children and has His own sovereign view of maturity. He does not recognize your man-made ‘age of understanding’, but an ‘age of independence’ and this doctrine is consistent throughout Scripture, yet ignored by most. Please see my video/article entitled ‘Are Your Children Saved?’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1WZnEr_whA
A person is born again when the divine nature takes up permanent residence within them. This is an existential experience, a subjective experience and not simply some objective ritual as some, such as Lutherans teach. Christ is not an object but a subject, and a relationship requires two subjects. If you have been born again, the ‘Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God’ (Romans 8:16, Galatians 4:6).
For the vast majority of born again people, this experience happens when, after sincere repentance, they submit their will to Christ, receiving Him as Lord and Savior. And there should be evidence of true repentance and new birth; the willingness to turn from sin, to walk away from a sinful relationship, to compensate those you have wronged, to trust Christ for the future. If such evidence is not apparent, in my opinion, a person should not be baptized. Water baptism for such people is both a public witness of their allegiance to Christ in obedience to His command, and an identification of His death and resurrection.
And there are also those who, having heard the gospel, understand that water baptism is the act which may cost them more than they are willing to lose. If the question of who will be in control of their future life is still unresolved, then they have not ‘died with Christ’, are not ‘crucified with Christ’, and their finally agreeing to be baptized may be the moment of surrender and new birth.
IV. In Summary
All respectable biblical scholars will admit that there is no specific formula in Scripture regarding baptism. This should not surprise anyone simply because real salvation is about meeting God on God’s terms and people are not all the same. If we do not recognize that the root of sin is rebellion against God, and that submission to His will is the beginning of a relationship with Him, then we are bypassing the very reason Christ was crucified for humanity.
We were created for one single purpose. That is, to be in an eternal and loving relationship with our Creator, being transformed into Christ-likeness, His way, and this will require us to see our sinful rebellion as he sees it, recognize His sacrifice for our sins, and submitting to Him as Lord and Savior in the knowledge of His unfathomable grace. Anything less than this is just counterfeit ‘christianity’ which promotes salvation as a bunch of rituals, rites and traditions.
And finally. If we wish to fully understand how the early church understood the sacrament of baptism we must put ourselves into their cultural context. If we do this, we will recognize why the persecuted churches do not sit around debating whether or not a sacrament saves, but rather, ask if new birth has really taken place in the life of an individual. My personal conviction is that I will not baptize any person unless there is evidence that they have been born again, crucified with Christ and that He is their first love.
Please share this article with those who may benefit from its message.
God bless
Steve Copland