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Transcript 240A — The Relationship Between Water Baptism and Salvation
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum..
CALLER: Yes. I have a friend here, and I've been explaining to him the necessity of being baptized. He has made public profession of his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, but he has not been baptized. And I would like for you to answer his question in the best way you can - the necessity of being baptized, that he might be born again. And I'll take your answer on the air.
HC: Now let me ask you this. Are you talking about water baptism?
CALLER: Yes.
HC: All right. Fine. Thank you. Good night.
The question is raised concerning the importance of the necessity of water baptism, and how that relates to our salvation. First of all, let's define what the word baptism means. The word baptism, as it is used in the Bible, means to be washed, or to be purified, or to be cleansed.
Now this may come as a surprise to many, but this is the way the Bible uses the Greek word baptizo. And we find a number of verses where it's not translated baptism, but it's translated into this English equivalent. We find, for example, in Mark 7, that God teaches in verse 3, "For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they baptizo themselves [that is, purify themselves]. And there are many other traditions which they observe, the baptizmus [that is, the washing] of cups and pots and vessels of bronze."
Or again, in the Book of Hebrews, in Chapter 9, verse 10 (I'm going into this because all of this relates to the nature of water baptism) we read, let me begin with the last part of verse 9: "According to this arrangement gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot affect the conscience of the worshipper [talking about Old Testament ceremonial law], but deal only with food and drink and various baptizmas [that is, ablutions or washings], regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation."
Wherever the Bible uses the word baptize, and it is translated in some other way than baptize, it's always translated washing or purifying, or cleansing. And of course this is the way God speaks about salvation. We are cleansed of our sins. We are washed by the washing of the Word, by the washing of regeneration, as we read in Titus 3:5.
Now when we are saved, the fact that we are saved means that God has washed away our sins, and identified us with the Holy Spirit in His Work of evangelizing the world. This is what is in view when the Bible talks about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, that we are to have our sins washed away, and we are to be identified with the Holy Spirit in His task of evangelizing the world. This is the phrase that God employs beginning with Pentecost.
Before Pentecost the phrase, "baptized in the Holy Spirit," was not used, although the Old Testament believers were washed of their sins just as we are. However, there was a distinction in that they had no mandate to evangelize the world, as we do following Pentecost. And so God uses the phrase, "Be baptized in the Holy Spirit" to indicate that we must have our sins washed away. And at that moment we become identified with the Holy Spirit in evangelizing the world. We are qualified, by being filled with the Spirit, to be a witness ourselves.
Now this baptism in the Holy Spirit in itself is not dependent in any sense upon water baptism. It stands all by itself as the substance, as the meaning, as the content of our salvation. We are not born again unless we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. We're not a child of God unless we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. We do not have eternal life unless we're baptized in the Holy Spirit. Only then are we saved, when we have received the washing of the Word, when God the Holy Spirit has washed away our sins, and we are identified with Him in His task to evangelize the world.
Now where does water baptism fit into the whole picture? Water baptism is an outward sign, or official declaration, that we have become identified with the Kingdom of God, that is, that we either anticipate the washing away of our sins, or that indeed our sins have been washed away. In the Book of Acts, Chapter 8, when the Samaritans were baptized in water, it anticipated their salvation, because in that particular instance they were not saved until afterwards.
However, in the case of Cornelius, in Acts 10, the Roman Centurion, in that case they were saved, and then they were baptized in water. Now in Acts 2:38, where it speaks about the nature of salvation, we read there, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Christ for the remission of sins. And you will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift." That is not talking about water baptism. Water baptism in no sense is a condition for salvation. That is talking about being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
We are baptized in the Name of Christ. That is, on the authority of Christ. That is, our sins are washed away by virtue of what Christ has done for us on the cross. Thereby our sins are forgiven. And because we have become a child of God, God the Holy Spirit Himself takes up His abode within us. This is the baptism spoken of in Acts 2:38.
Incidentally, not only does the water baptism look back upon the fact that we have been born again, but it also anticipates the salvation of the future in our own personal lives. At the time that we're saved, we're not saved as a total personality. We're saved in our soul. It's in our soul that we experience the resurrection from the dead. But we still must experience the resurrection of our bodies. Our bodies are still dead, spiritually. They still lust after sin. But water baptism anticipates the resurrection of our bodies. It anticipates the eventual salvation of our bodies also.
But the water baptism in itself has no substance whatsoever. Therefore, if a person were saved, actually born again, we must declare that he has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. This so far has nothing to do with water baptism. But if this has really been the case, then if he has not already been baptized, God asks that we do become baptized in water, so that we use this as an outward declaration that we have indeed become identified with the Kingdom of God, that we indeed have become born again.
Thank you so much for that call.