Grace4You

Water baptism has not only caused confusion but total confusion within the body of Christ and the reasons that we give for doing it is even more bizarre. But what says the Scriptures? Most Christians are programmed to believe the moment they hear the word baptize, it's referring to water, even though there are twelve different baptisms taught in the word of God. Some are literal, figurative and spiritual, yet under grace, we are told that there is only one baptism for the Church the body of Christ and it is the duty and responsibility of every Christian to know what that one baptism is and embrace it by faith. Under God's earthly kingdom program for the nation of Israel, water baptism was an absolute requirement along with faith for salvation. Beginning with the ministry of John the Baptist, through Christ's ministry as well as the twelve apostles.

Within the body of Christ, there are so many versions as to why there is still a need for people to be water baptized and none of them cannot be substantiated by the word of God and that should give cause to rethink what the traditions of men have done to confuse the body of Christ. Here are a few of those reasons for the practice of water baptism: 1. It is identification with Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection 2. It is an outward sign of an inward work of grace 3. We are commanded to be baptized but our salvation is not reliant upon it. The latter is the most confusing of them all, while it remains true, that water baptism has no place within the body Christ today, you cannot prove conclusively from the Scriptures where you were commanded to be baptized and your salvation was not reliant upon it. That is the voice of tradition, without any doubt. Let's begin with the ministry of John the Baptist. In Luke chapter 7 v 30, we read the following. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

What about the great commission, which mainstream Christianity hails as our marching orders? We read in Mark 16 v 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter blamed the nation of Israel for having crucified their Messiah and when they asked what should they do, he said to them, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit ( Acts 2 v 38 ).

Based upon the word of God and not of men, we clearly see from the Scriptures that at no time whatsoever was water baptism commanded and your salvation was not dependent upon it. If you did not become water baptized you would still be in an unsaved state. So how did the body of Christ get around to telling people that water baptism is not a requirement for salvation but still attach the three reasons above as terms and conditions of salvation to justify their water baptism theory? I am the inquisitive type, if you tell me something is not a requirement, then my next question to you, would be, why then practice it? The Apostle Paul tells us the following in 1 Corinthians 1 v 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. We need to understand that with the setting aside of the nation of Israel, because of their unbelief and rejection of Christ as her Messiah, God made a dispensational change. Through the Apostle Paul, he ushered in the dispensation of grace ( Ephesians chapter 3 ).

It's a message and a program that is especially geared towards the Gentiles. It includes both Jews and Gentiles but predominantly a Gentile dispensation, because of Israel's unbelief.

Do you realize that Paul is the only new testament writer who ever declared that Christ did not send him to baptize? John the Baptist couldn't say that, neither could Peter and the rest of the other apostles. Paul was to preach Christ based upon His finished work at the Cross. He was to preach Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as the sole basis of the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace. I often hear people ask the question? How could Paul say that he was not sent to baptize when he himself was baptized and even remember baptizing a few people. The key to this lies in rightly dividing the Scriptures. When Paul got saved, God was still dealing with Israel as a nation, under the kingdom program, where water baptism was still one of the prerequisites for salvation and so Ananias just baptized Paul, based on what was required for salvation at the time, he had no way of knowing that God had saved Paul for the purpose of revealing a new dispensation call the grace of God. Not even Paul himself fully understood the magnitude of his calling at the time. Also, keep in mind that the dispensation of grace was not revealed to the Apostle Paul in one day, it was a progressive revelation that occurred over some thirty years of ministry and so when you come to the Ephesians letter, the Mount Everest of Scripture we have the full knowledge of the Mystery also known as the dispensation of the grace of God.

Thus we read in Ephesians 4 v 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Also 1 Corinthians 12 v 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

The moment we trust Christ as our Savior, believing that He died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day, God the Holy Spirit baptizes or spiritually places us into the body of Christ and seals us forever as a child of God. It's a work done by the Holy Spirit not man.

Why can't we all come to see and enjoy this one baptism? When we water baptize believers, in essence, what we are saying is that Christ finished work at the Cross was not enough to save us, so I have to do something else to make my salvation more complete.

Think about this for a moment. The Bible says, not me but God and the Lord Jesus Christ that there is only one baptism under grace. Not two, not three nor twelve. Either I am going to believe God or the tradition of men. The choice is ours. It does not bring any glory to God when we take the terms and conditions of salvation from a previous dispensation and apply it to the present dispensation of the grace of God. It only causes confusion among the saints of Christ. Very much the same thing we do with the national conditional promises that God gave the nation Israel. Applying them to a dispensation in which we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and they are unconditional promises, which we appropriate by faith.