What Do You
Mean, I Must Be Born Again
By Harry A.
Peyton
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
DEDICATION (2)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT (3)
A WORD OF
ADMONISHMENT (3)
PREFACE (10)
FOREWORD (11)
INTRODUCTION (13)
CHAPTER 1 GOD’S NEW COVENANT (13)
What Is The Gospel Of The New Covenant
When And Where Did The Gospel Of The New
Covenant Begin
Was The Thief On The Cross
Saved Under The Terms Of The New Covenant
Who Are
The True Ministers Of The Gospel Of The New Covenant?
Can Christians Be Deceived By
False Prophets Concerning The New Birth
CHAPTER 2 FOUR STEPS IN OBEYING THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST (19)
First Step: The Essentiality Of Living Faith
Second Step: Faith That Leads
To Confessing Christ As Your Lord And Savior
Third Step: Faith That Leads
To Repentance
Fourth Step: Faith That Leads
To The New Birth Of Water And Spirit
CHAPTER 3 GOD’S NEW BIRTH MESSAGE (31)
Water And Spirit
Baptism Is How The Believer Enters Into Jesus’ Death, Burial, And Resurrection
The Apostle Paul
Taught The New Birth Consisted Of Water And Spirit Baptism
The Blood Of Jesus
Is Applied At The New Birth
Water Baptism Is The Place
Where God Performs Heart Surgery On The Believer
The Importance Of Water
Baptism In The New Birth
Where And When Did The Apostle
Paul Experience The New Birth
Old Testament Typology
Confirmed Jesus’ Teaching On The New Birth
All Ancient Preachers Taught
The New Birth Consisted Of Water And Spirit Baptism
Many Of The Reformers Taught
The New Birth Consisted Of Water And Spirit Baptism
Immersion: The Only Mode Of
Water Baptism That God Will Accept For Salvation
CHAPTER 4 BAPTISM INTO THE NAME OF JESUS (51)
What Was The Great Commission
Jesus Gave To His Apostles?
What Is The Name Of God The
Father And The Holy Ghost In The Baptismal Formula?
The Apostles Understood And
Fulfilled The Great Commission
Historical Evidence Of Baptism In The Name Of The
Lord Jesus Christ
Many Noted Trinitarian Textual
Scholars Declare The Trinitarian Baptismal Formula
Of
Matthew 28:19 Was Not The Original Words Of Jesus
YHWH: The Old Covenant Name Of
God The Father, How Is It Pronounced?
CHAPTER 5 BAPTISM INTO THE HOLY SPIRIT (66)
The
Terms Receive, Be Filled, And Be Baptized With The Holy Spirit Are Synonymous
Terms
Glossolalia And
The New Birth
Jesus’ Prophecy And Teaching On Glossolalia
The Prophet Isaiah’s Prophecy On Glossolalia
The Glossolalia Of The
Apostles And Disciples On The Day Of Pentecost
The Glossolalia Of Cornelius And His Household
The Glossolalia Of The Believers In Ephesus
The Glossolalia Of The Believers In Samaria
CHAPTER 6 FALSE TEACHINGS CONCERNING GLOSSOLALIA (87)
Is There A Difference Between
The Tongues Of The New Birth And The Gift Of Tongues?
Why Did Paul Write The
Fourteenth Chapter Of First Corinthians?
The Necessity Of The Gifts Of
The Spirit Operating Freely In God’s Church
Have Tongues Ceased?
CHAPTER 7 LOVING AND STANDING FOR THE TRUTHS OF CHRIST (101)
BIBLIOGRAPHY (104)
ENDNOTES (109)
Copyright May 30, 1996 by Harry A. Peyton under the title of “The
Doctrines Of Christ.”
A Note from the Author: Since Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
gives His Salvation and His Word to all freely (Rev 22:17, Mt 10:7-8), this
book, and all other books, written by Harry A. Peyton are given without charge,
and can be accessed through the Internet at the following address: http://www.DoctrinesOfChrist.com. Therefore, fell
free to copy it in digital or written form, and share it with others. Since
this book is copyrighted, the author forbids any alteration of its contents,
and the reproduction of it in any form for Marketing Purposes. This book may be
placed on anyone’s web page, as long as my website address is attached to it.
The
author believes that the Word of God is infallible in the ORIGINAL
LANGUAGE it was written in, and all translations of the Bible regardless of how
good they may be are NOT. Since the author has implicit faith in the infallibility
of the Word of God, the author has formed his beliefs firmly on the truth of
the Bible. This author uses the ancient ANTIOCHIAN LITERAL-HISTORICAL METHOD OF
INTERPRETING THE BIBLE, which was used by early Christian Prophets and Apostles
of the Bible.
I
definitely believe that the ancient Alexandrian Allegorical Method of
spiritualizing scripture, which was made popular by the ancient Jewish
philosopher Philo Judaeus (13 BC – 50 AD) and later used by the Ante-Nicene
Catholic Priests, especially Origen and his student Clement of Alexandria (200
AD), is an abomination to our Lord. Therefore, all scriptures will be
interpreted in a literal exegetical fashion, unless the language used and the
context demands a spiritual interpretation.
All CAPITALIZATION and ITALICIZATION in QUOTES used in this book
is always MINE. All Biblical quotes used in this book will be in dark red, and from the New King James version of
the Bible, unless another version is stated as the reference. The vast majority
of all translations of the Bible, as well as Hebrew and Greek Lexical definitions
and grammar, will come from BibleWorks computer software program
version 7.0. The author in most places will quote
verses from the Bible instead of commenting on a verse and giving a reference;
for He believes that the written Word of God’s has greater power to inspire and
enlighten a heart to understand and act upon truth, than the elegant oratory or
writings of any man.
If this book has been a
blessing to my beloved readers, and they would like to send an offering to the
author, feel free to do so. If anyone wishes to send any biblical or historical
materials to the author, my address is: 148 Little Creek Hills Rd.: Alto, NM
88312: Phone # 575-336-2800: Email address: DoctrineOfChrist@Hotmail.com.
Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior came to give Eternal Life to all
who will enter into a covenant relationship with Him through the New Birth, and
walk with Him in Spirit and Truth. This book is designed to reveal the absolute
truth pertaining to the Eternal Life that our Lord Jesus purchased for us
through His peerless death, burial and resurrection. It is dedicated to all the
courageous men, women and children of the present and past centuries, who loved
the Lord Jesus Christ and believed His Truths. I would especially like to acknowledge
those who suffered social scorn, loss of income, loss of property,
imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom for their faith in Christ’s New Birth
message and their monotheistic belief in Jesus’ Supreme Deity.
I
would like to acknowledge my Lord, Jesus Christ, whose love, grace, and
inspiration made this book possible. May He use this work for the propagation
of His Gospel; so many souls may be able to enter into His great Kingdom. I
would also like to thank Bridget Joseph and Joan Brooking for their invaluable
assistance in editing this book. I deeply appreciate their labor of love.
A
WORD OF ADMONISHMENT
Beloved, permit me to ask
you, why did God’s children in Jesus’ day reject the truths He taught them? Did
they not have God Himself as their preacher or teacher? Did they not believe in
the one true God? Did they not believe that the Bible was God’s Word? Did they
not attend church every Sabbath Day? The answer is obviously yes to all these
questions, so why did many of God’s children not believe the teachings
of Jesus? The answer can be found in second Corinthians 4:4. This verse reveals
that Satan blinds the minds of those who do not believe the truth, meaning any
of the truths that are taught in God’s Holy Word. How did Satan blind the minds
of the believers in Jesus’ day? He accomplished this by using false prophets,
who may be or may not be honest and sincere, to fill their minds with false
beliefs.
It was for this reason,
Jesus warned all believers to: “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees”
(Mt 16:6).
What did Jesus mean by the term leaven? In verse 12, the Bible gives us the
answer: “Then
they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of
bread, but of the [false] doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Even though some of these
false prophets dazzled and mesmerized God’s Jewish children with their oratory
and teaching skills, their doctrines were still false. Our Savior spoke of
these deceived prophets when He said: “In vain they worship Me, teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men…. Making the Word of God of no effect”
(Mk 7:7, 13). It is quite evident that these deceived men followed the traditional
teaching of some of their forefathers in their organization, and as a result,
they became false prophets.
Therefore beloved take heed,
for even though a teacher may be able to paint beautiful spellbinding word
pictures, or a preacher may be able to speak very fast and give fiery orations,
this does not necessarily mean what they are preaching or teaching is the
truth! Evidently, not everything these Doctors of the Law and pastors taught
was a lie, for Jesus told them: “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good
things” (Mt 12:34)?
Since Jesus was the new and
unknown preacher in town, who resoundingly taught the Bible antithetically or
contrary to the theologians, pastors, and preachers of His day, the people
chose to believe the teachings of their pastors and religious organizations
instead of His teachings. It must have broken our Lord’s heart! It saddens me
to say that this is exactly what many sincere Christians do today, when they
hear or read some the truths that were taught by Jesus and His apostles.
When I understood how Satan
blinds the minds of believers, I soon developed a healthy fear that maybe: I
was not studying the Bible with an open and unprejudiced mind. I subsequently
reexamined all my beliefs. I then discovered that several of my beliefs were
incorrect, and I needed to repent and change them. Even though I was afraid to
change my beliefs, being an Apostolic Pentecostal minister with a BA in
Theology, I made up my heart and mind to walk in the Light as He is in the
Light. I also came to the realization that I am not married to the doctrines of
any preacher, church, Bible College, or denomination, but to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the Infallible Word of God and the Truth (Jn 1:1; 14:6).
Beloved, if you and I expect
to hear Jesus say to us: “Well done good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:21), then we must not be afraid
to change our beliefs, when we perceive that they are not in agreement with the
written Word of God; for the Bible, not men or organizations, is the only
source of absolute truth. Let us not forget, the people who hated the teachings
of Jesus and His apostles, were not the sinners among the Gentiles or the
Jewish people as a whole, but the Church Officials such as: the High Priest,
Doctors of the Law, elders or pastors, and priests, who were entrusted with
leadership positions. These church officials were evidently more dedicated to
the traditions of their organization than they were to almighty God and His
Word.
Therefore, it becomes very
evident that none of these church officials were infallible teachers of the
Bible, even though their followers thought they were. Because God’s people
blindly followed the teaching of these officials of the church, they rejected
our Savior’s teachings, and die lost. This cold but sobering fact should be a
warning to all believers today, to make no man or organization their infallible
teacher, or put blind faith in their belief system.
Now, since my name, your
name, your pastor’s name, your church’s name, and the name of your
denomination, were not written in the Word of God, none of us are infallible
teachers. Therefore it is senseless for us to make any man or organization our
infallible teacher, regardless if they call themselves: a pastor, a Doctor of
Divinity, an apostle, a prophet, a prophetess, the pope, the holy one, or the
little flock. Every believer needs to love and respect their teachers, but they
should never place them on a pedestal and worship them as their infallible
golden calf, whereby everything that comes out of their mouth is “thus says the Lord.” Most believers are not
aware that this is idolatry and God hates it.
Beloved, when God saved me and delivered me
from this kind of idolatry, I made a vow to God that I would never again place
my faith in any preacher or religious organization, but only in the Lord Jesus
Christ and His Holy Infallible Word. I promised my God that I would not believe
anything about the Bible, until I could personally pray about it and search it
out for myself! Now God has blessed me with some great pastors and teachers,
whom I love and respect even to this day, but I can honestly say that I never
worshipped any of them by making anyone of them my infallible teacher. Please
do not take what I am saying in the wrong way; I am not condemning or
belittling the biblical and holy office of a bishop, but I am placing it in a
biblical and historical context.
Beloved, you may have a pastor who is a good
teacher, or even a great teacher, but I promise you he is not infallible, and I
am happy to tell you that neither am I. Now someone might ask me, why are you
happy about not being infallible? Do you not want people to think that your
teachings or books are infallible? No, I do not! You may ask why not? Because
if I lead anyone to think my teachings or books are infallible, I cannot change
or correct them, if I later discover that any part of my teachings are
incorrect. Therefore, I do not want to placed myself in the position, where I
cannot say, “I
am wrong, please forgive me. I make an honest and sincere mistake, but I will
correct it and teach it correctly.”
As a pastor, an assistant to a pastor, an
evangelist, and a student of the Word of God for the last 33 years, I have
always admonished God’s people to become students of the Bible, and I would
challenge them prove what I taught them was the truth. I did this for two
reasons: FIRST, I wanted their faith to be in the Infallible Word of God and
not in fallible man; also I knew that the Word of God could not get down deep
into their hearts, unless each of them prove to themselves by their own
research, what is truth and what is error. Every child of God needs to take
their salvation seriously, for it is too precious to place it in the hands of
any man.
SECOND, I knew from the Word of God that a
pastor was not the only mouthpiece God had in the Church. I knew every humble
Holy Ghost filled child of God, could receive revelation of truth from God (1Co 14:26). Therefore God placed them there not only
for a pastors to “equip” them “for the work of the ministry,” or to “become able ministers or teachers of the gospel”
(Eph 4:11-12), but also for a
pastors to learn from them; for God gave them to pastors for their protection,
so that they could correct him if he went into error.
If this is not the truth, then who and what
will prevent any pastor from going into false doctrine. Because the majority of
God’s churches today, do not have several pastors of equal authority over a
congregation, who could also correct them and even reprimand them if they went
into sin, God’s pastors today are without protection. The Bible reveals that
only pastors have the authority to reprimand or even chastise or rebuke their
fellow pastor in any given congregation (1Ti 5:19-20). I know many pastors think that God will use their fellow pastors in
their denomination to keep them from going astray; but this is a lie of Satan,
for every pastor knows that their fellow pastors, in their denomination, will
never hear ninety-nine percent of what they preach or teach.
Beloved, it is a shame that many pastors have
allowed, or in some cases encouraged, their people to believe that they are the
epitome of knowledge, and every word that comes out of their mouth is straight
from the throne God. They are doing a great injustice to the people of God. It
is a shame that these men have made themselves the only mouthpiece of God in
the Church. They should be fulfilling their God given responsibility to not
only to teach God’s children sound doctrine, but also how to study the Word of
God for themselves, so they can rightly divide the Word of Truth and find out
truth for themselves!
Because pastors have made themselves the
infallible Pope in God’s Church, Satan has placed a great fear upon these
pastors that their people will not respect or listen to them, if they change
any of their teachings. Therefore, fear and pride place a tremendous amount of
pressure on pastors to close their minds to any teaching that is contrary to
theirs, whereby they are afraid to investigate the teachings of others. If some
overcome their fear and pride, they usually study the teaching of others with a
bias mind, and their biases blind them to the truth.
As a result, many pastors, seminary
professors, and denominational officials have become Nicolaitan ministers. The
Nicolaitan Doctrine is one of the most misunderstood doctrines of the entire
Bible! Because many pastors, seminary professors, and officials in the
hierarchy structure of denominations, are Nicolaitan ministers, they use
Satan’s method of correcting those under their authority, who they feel are in
error in their doctrinal beliefs. They usually give a strong rebuke to these
ministers or saints, and then expect them to repent or change their beliefs,
simply because they are the ones in authority.
These Nicolaitan ministers are either
ignorant of or willfully rebel against the Biblical guidelines, which God gave
in His Word to correct someone who may be in error. Because the love of God is
not in the heart of these Nicolaitan ministers, or they are so filled with
pride in their own infallibility, they will not take time to sit down with
those whom they are correcting. They will not sit down with them and in a
loving spirit say: “Well brother or sister, let us prayerfully and scripturally examine your
belief and my belief, and see if it harmonizes with all the scriptures in the
Bible that pertain to this doctrine” (2Ti 2:24-26). When one is looking for a harmony in
scriptures and not for a debate, knowing that the Bible is the infallible Word
of God “in the original language that it was written in,” it is not that hard
for two people with opposing perspectives to come to an agreement, if their
true motive is to find truth. The Bible declares: “Only
by pride cometh contention” (Pro 13:10).
In one sense, denominational organizations
are like individual churches, they close their mind and heart to anyone who has
a different belief than theirs. Now this can be good in some ways and evil in
other ways. It is good in the sense that it prevents heresy from spreading in
the churches and in organizations, but it is evil and satanic when it is truth
that is barred. Because their mind is close and they have lost the spirit of
investigation, pastors and denominations will never receive any more truth than
what they presently have; this is exactly the reason why Christianity has so
many denominations, which claim to be the true Church of Christ. They have gone
the way of the Pharisees and Sadducees and have taken refuge in their
organizations.
So, what is the answer to this church and
denominational dilemma? The answer can be found in God’s Word, for God said: “Let
two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge” (1Co 14:29). Paul did not say: “Let
two or three pastors speak, and let the other pastors in the congregation judge,” even though pastors are prophets also, but
the context or two verses down, Paul proclaimed: “For you can all
prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (vs
31). Therefore, Paul is no doubt
referring to entire priesthood of God!
In verse 32, Paul reminded God’s Holy Priesthood that their preaching and teaching
must conform to the written Word of God. Paul said it this way: “the
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” A prophet is someone who has the Spirit of
God in them, which gives them the power to speak under the anointing and
inspiration of Almighty God. Everyone in the Corinthian Church must have been a
teacher for Paul said, “For though you might have ten thousand
instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in
Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1Co 4:15-16). Therefore, God gave His children the
responsible of knowing truth and judging what is truth, so that they would not
be deceived.
It is a shame that pastors and denominations
of today have flouted God’s instructions, which He gave for their protection,
so that He would not have to judge them as a false prophet on the Day of
Judgment! Woe be to the pastor or denomination that follow man’s guidelines
over God’s commands!! Ignorant is no excuse, for there will be a multitude on
the Day of Judgment who will tell the Lord Jesus Christ: “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out
demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you” (Mt 7:22-23)!
The above biblical principle of correction
can be applied to an individual church, as well as to a church organization.
God told us that those priestly saints, who believe that God has given them a
revelation, or insight into His Word, should have the opportunity to preach or
teach it in the church, just as a pastor should be allow to teach any
revelation in his denomination. Therefore, let the saints of God in the church
along with their pastors, and the pastors in a denomination, judge the
truthfulness or error of the teaching. In a Nicolaitan church or organization
this will never be allowed, for the pastor or denomination claims to be the
only mouthpiece of God, therefore no one will ever be able to correct them. As
a result, these pastors and their organizations will never change their teachings.
Satan will continue to use these pastors and their denominations to promote
whatever lies or false doctrines he has deceived them into believing.
God does not want His children to be deceived
by Nicolaitan pastors or teachers, and pastors to be deceived by Nicolaitan
denominations. Therefore, He commanded all of them to: “Prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom
12:2); and “Prove
all things, hold fast that which is good” (1Th 5:21); and “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2Ti
2:15, KJV).
According to the great apostle Paul, the
Berean saints explicitly followed these God given commands, for he wrote: “Now
the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they
received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day
to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11, NIB). In other words, these believers did not
allow their love and respect for Paul, or any other teacher, to prevent them
from examining their teachings with the written Word of God. The only way any
child of God can “know the doctrine whether it be of God,” is by becoming a devoted student of the
Bible (Jn 7:17). This is the will of God! Truth may come
very slowly, but it will come as long as a saint of God, or a pastor, or a
denomination is willing to humble himself or itself, and change their teaching
when they perceive that it is error!
Beloved, if you claim to be a son or daughter
of Almighty God, then you must hunger, thirst, desire, and love truth, more
than life itself. God has given all of His children the responsibility and
privilege of knowing and finding truth for themselves. If they do not take this
God given responsibility seriously, than God will allow them to believe a lie
and be lost. Because God’s Jewish children, in the days of the Lord Jesus, did
not take this responsibility seriously, they rejected the truths He preached
and died lost. They rejected their Savior and Messiah.
Our Savior warned all believers not to follow
the teachings of false prophets, who would deceive them concerning the New
Birth, which is how one enters into the straight and narrow path, that leads
into Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (Mt 7:22-23, cp with vss 13-15). Jesus taught that we would know false
prophets and false religious denominations by their fruits. One of their fruits
would be, they would place a literal meaning on the scriptures they use to
prove their doctrine, and a figurative meaning on the scriptures used by others
to prove their doctrine false. This is what the Bible commanded us not to do,
when it stated that we should not ‘wrest’ or ‘twist’ or ‘pervert’ the scriptures to our “own destruction” (2Pe 3:16). All scriptures must be taken literal,
unless it is a Jewish idiom or the language and context demands a spiritual
interpretation.
A favorite saying among
those who have been deceived by false prophets is: “I know this teaching is not
of God because it bring in confusion.” Therefore many believers will follow the
example of their deceived teachers, and will also place a literal meaning on
the scriptures they want to believe in, and a figurative meaning on the
scriptures that seems to bring confusion to them. Because they are not willing
to change their beliefs, they will not look for an interpretation that will
harmonize with all the scriptures on that subject; therefore, they would rather
believe a lie, and spiritualize away or totally forget about the scriptures
that seem to bring confusion to them. Hey friend, it is time to repent for
handling God’s Holy Infallible Word in a dishonest fashion! Do not forget, God
will judge you for this on the Day of Judgment!
I have discovered through my
own experiences that we are beings, who love to follow the traditions of our
elders, churches, and denominations. Since none of us likes change when it
comes to our beliefs, we react very negatively when someone disturbs our
feelings of security. Beloved, if we claim to be children of the Light, we must
then walk in the Light, or “darkness will overtake us” (Jn 12:35-36, 46). If we truly love our
fellow man as our Lord commanded us to, then we will not be afraid to tell each
other the truth in a kind and loving manner, even if we momentarily become
offended. No surgery is pleasant while the doctor is cutting us open, but after
the tumor, cancer or disease is removed and our health is restored, what joy
good health brings.
Since our God and Savior
commanded us to: “Buy the truth, and do not sell it” (Pr 23:23), pastors and saints, who
preach this great gospel, should always remember that there is a price to pay
to walk in truth! Rejection, loneliness, and heartache are often a part of this
great price; nevertheless, everyone who truly loves our dear Lord will always
be willing to pay any price to walk with Him in truth! Therefore, I encourage
my readers to open their hearts and minds, as they open their Bibles in search
for the truth.
I furthermore admonished
them to believe that God said what He meant, and meant what He said. In other
words, God intended that we believe and understand “every word,” He used to express His
infallible thoughts or teachings (Psa
12:6-7; Pro 30:5; Mt 4:4; 2Ti 3:16). God never intended His Word to be interpreted by
the imaginations of the mind of mankind; it makes no difference if they are
called pastors, prophets, prophetesses, the anointed ones, Doctors of Divinity,
Archbishops, or the Pope. The Bible is a Book inspired with all of mankind in
mind, and God intended that it should be read, studied, and understood by all
of mankind, not just a selected few, for it is one of our Heavenly Father’s
great and precious gifts to us.
Therefore, let each of us
become students of the Bible, and eat “our daily bread” with an open and unbiased mind. Let us not be lazy;
let us study the Word of God for ourselves; let us not be afraid to search out
the teachings of other Christian ministers, who may not belong to our
denomination. Either we will believe Satan’s lie, that we can not understand
the Bible because of our lack of education in theology, or we will believe what
Jesus said: “If any man will do His [God’s] will, he shall know the
doctrine, whether it be of God” (Jn 7:17).
Beloved, we do not
understand the teachings of the Bible by our intelligence, regardless how much
or little we may possess, but it comes by inspiration from God’s Holy Spirit.
God only gives revelations to us as we love, keep, hunger, thirst, dig, and
pray for truth. You must be willing to do your homework, and study the Word of
God with an open, unbiased, humble, and honest spirit. You must have your mind
made up, that you will settle for nothing less than truth, in your walk with
your Creator and Savior! If we do not buy the truth because it is not popular,
or it offends our parents, relatives, friends, church, organization, and so on,
then we are selling our salvation for the favor and praises of men. We become
men-pleasers instead of God-pleasers. We will esteem men much more highly than
we esteem God.
Beloved, permit me to give you an example of
how truth is discovered. When our government wanted to discover the truth
concerning splitting the atom. They gathered together a group of scientists
from various fields of science, and placed them in one room. These men were
instructed to proposed theories of how the atom could be split to form a bomb.
Each scientist had to be willing to lay aside their pride, as their fellow
scientists did their best to disprove their theory. Every theory that could not
be disproved was then tested, until the truth was discovered. The same
principle is also applied to a pastor or saint in a church, or a pastor in a
denomination!
Now beloved, if we are willing to lay aside
our pride, fears, and bias beliefs, and meticulously examine all the scriptures
on any given subject of the Bible, and look for an interpretation that will
harmonize with all of them, then God will be able to open our spiritual eyes
and give us enlightenment. Another way of saying this is, we must first find
all the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle, which is the hardest part of studying the
Bible, but this is where the real men and women of God become separated from
the false prophets. Second, we must put all the pieces together until we can
see that one and only perfect picture, which is the absolute truth. Third, we
must learn patience, and wait upon our Savior with faith in our hearts,
expecting Him to give us enlightenment. Let us always remember that it is our
God given responsibility to seek for truth, and it is our Heavenly Father’s
responsibility to reveal truth (Mt 7:7).
A brother in the Lord once told me that his
dad, who was a denominational minister, told him that he spent four years in
Seminary School to learn the Bible, and twenty years unlearning what he had
learned. In other words, because he was so thoroughly indoctrinated with the
beliefs of his denomination, it was a real struggle for him to lay aside his
biases, and to study the Bible with an open mind. Beloved, do not be afraid to
test or thoroughly examine your beliefs; for truth can be placed under a
microscope and thoroughly dissected, and it will shine brighter than ever; as
long as we follow the biblical guidelines that are given in the Bible. These
guidelines can be found in my book entitled, How To Study The Bible,
which is also given away on my website.
Therefore, the author of
this book is asking his beloved readers, to prayerfully read this teaching to
the end, so that they may comprehend the entire teaching. After doing this, then
dissect and examine this book by looking for a harmony in all the scriptures
that I use, and also the scriptures you know of that pertain to this subject,
as both of us interpret them in a literal fashion. After you have done these
things, then judge for yourself the validity of this teaching.
I challenge my beloved
readers to try to prove this and the following message in this book wrong! I do
not say this in the spirit of pride or in claiming infallibility, but I put
forth this challenge in hopes that they will earnestly and thoroughly examine
these truths. If anyone believes he or she has found an error in any portion of
this or the following teachings, I admonish him or her to love me enough to
correct me, and to show me how their belief is in perfect harmony with all of
God’s reveal will on this subject.
Beloved, truth is the
greatest gift of love that any preacher can give to those who listen to him or
her speak, or read his or her writings. The more truth any child of God places
in their heart, the more of Jesus they have, for He is the Truth (Jn 14:6). Beloved, you cannot say you love Jesus and not
love the Bible, for Jesus is the Living Word (Jn 1:1); and every word in the Bible are His Words. My
prayer for you is that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the Almighty God and
the Son of God, will open your heart and mind to understand His message of
truth. With all the above truths in mind, let us begin our SEARCH FOR TRUTH!
AUTHOR’S
PREFACE
The Word of the living God
commands us to evangelize the world for our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible
declared: “It please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe…. The preaching of the cross to them that perish is foolishness; but
unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1Co 1:18, 21, KJV). Jesus told His Church: “You shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in
all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8); and “Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Mt 28:19).
God commanded His people to
preach: “The truths found in His
Holy Word not the lies of the Babylonian Religion: Jesus Christ and Him
crucified not the death of Zoroaster (one of several names for Nimrod): Eternal
Life through Christ not Lucifer’s doctrine of the eternality or godhood of man:
the New Birth not reincarnation: Water Baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ not baptism in the titles of the Babylonian Trinity: Spirit Baptism not
spiritualism. God’s people are ambassadors not diplomats: preachers not prissy
philosophical puppets: prophets not greedy ignorant dumb dogs that have
forgotten how to bark” (Isa 56:10-12).
The Bible is the greatest
source of Truth this world has ever known. It is not just a truth, but it is “the Truth.” Every scripture as it relates to any given subject
is the guiding light that every Christian uses to judge truth, for the Word of
God is the final authority regarding the validity of anything that claims to be
truth. Though the Bible is not a history book, it gives an accurate account of
God’s story or His-story. Its manuscripts are more numerous and more ancient
than all of secular history combined. Archeologists have used it for centuries
in locating or even discovering ancient civilizations.
The Bible does not assert
itself as a textbook of science; however, every scientific statement recorded
on its Holy Pages has been proven true many times over. Although the Bible is
not a medical book, the bodies of thousands have been healed by faith in its
Divine Physician. The Bible is not a psychology book, yet millions have
received peace of mind and renewed mental health from obedience to its holy
precepts. Thousands of men, women, boys, and girls who were on the verge of
mental collapse have had their minds restored to them by faith in its Divine
Author.
The Bible is a magnificent
work, profound in structure and without error in content. It is the only source
of absolute truth when it comes to knowing the Creator. It is God’s expressed
Word to mankind, His written will that He has bequeathed to all who have become
or want to become His children. It is not the work of one man or a council of
men who penned their own ideas during one time period. God’s prophets, apostles
and disciples, who were holy men of God, spoke as they were anointed by the
Holy Spirit of God to speak.
Every word on its Holy Pages
is God-breathed. This is why there is such an incredible and phenomenal harmony
in every book of the Bible, in spite of the fact that it was written over the
span of many centuries. Anyone who loves and studies its Holy Pages can easily
recognize the true author of it. Truly, the Bible was indeed written by the
Mastermind of the universe, the selfsame One who made man and spoke the worlds
into existence by the Spirit-Words that came out of His mouth.
The Bible is the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the Author of the Book. Every page
communicates something about Him, for He is the awesome breathtaking majestic
Portrait, the Masterpiece and Centerpiece that all the master artists of the
Bible painted in their word pictures. He is the one and only God revealed in
the New Testament, and the Son of God concealed in prophecy in the Old Testament.
He is the Lamb that was slain before creation for the sins of the world.
Calvary is the recapitulating theme, the singularity of thought, and the master
communiqué of the Author to His readers.
The Bible is full of
prophecies concerning the humanity or the flesh the Almighty God clothed
Himself with at Bethlehem. It prophesied of the hardships He endured as a child
and as a man, His sinless life, His dynamic ministry, His agonizing suffering,
His magnificent atonement, His burial, and His glorious resurrection from the
dead. By means of this great gospel, and this gospel alone, Jesus opened the
door of Eternal Life to all who desire it. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only
the purchaser of Eternal Life, but He is the author of Eternal Life, for He is
Eternal Life.
FOREWORD
The author of this book
firmly believes that His Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has called Him to write
this book. The author does not profess to be a man with a great intellect,
writing skills, or prominence, but he does profess to be a holy man of God with
an excellent knowledge of the Bible and Church History; therefore he has totally
relied upon the Holy Spirit to help him write this book. He definitely claims
God’s promise: “Not by [your] might
nor by [your] power, but
by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Zec 4:6); and “God
has chosen the foolish [or least esteem] things of the world to put to
shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame
the things which are mighty” (1Co 1:27).
The author has not written
this book to convert anyone to a church or an organization, but he wrote it to
help believers and non-believers understand, appreciate, receive, and love the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Eternal Life He offers. The Eternal Life that Jesus’
offers is a magnificent gift and He paid a great price so mankind could receive
it. Jesus promised to bestow this gift on everyone who would believe His gospel
and enter into a covenant with Him by means of the New Birth. The author has
written this book in response to one of Christianity’s greatest tragedies,
which is the failure of most of its religious institutions to understand the
Biblical doctrine of the New Birth. They have mastered many of the great
doctrines of the Bible, but when it comes to this doctrine, they have failed to
study it with an open and unprejudiced mind. I realize that this is an awful
accusation to make, and I do wish it was not true, but the sad fact is, it is
true.
Therefore, the author has
written this book with two classes of people in mind, the sinner who has never
known the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and denominational Christians who have
been deceived by their preachers concerning how to enter into or become
partakers of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection by means of the New Birth.
This book is definitely against the “easy believeism doctrine” that has
recently come into Christianity. The author knows some professing Christians
will not read this book because they, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are afraid
of reading any literature that disagrees with their denominational teachings.
Therefore, this book is written for the hungry and honest hearted Christian,
who is willing to search for truth until he or she finds it.
Millions of lost people
throughout the centuries, like those in New Testament times, have asked
preachers: “Men and brethren, what shall we do” (Acts 2:37); or “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? I believe that these
honest hearted people deserve a Biblical answer to their question. I believe
they should be given the same answer the apostles of the Lamb gave to those who
asked them this question! The goal of this book is to examine their answer and
compare it to the philosophical babblings of those who teach antagonistic or
contrary to the apostles.
The author does not profess
to be an eloquent writer, but he does avow to be a man of God who has spent
over a thousand hours in the last thirty-three years studying every facet of
this subject. He has read many books from Christian, Protestant, Jewish, and Pagan
sources. He has discussed salvation with many ministers from various
denominations, not for argument sake, but for knowledge sake. He firmly believes that one can learn more
from those who hold opposing views than those who agree. This gives one the
opportunity to objectively inspect every facet of the opposing perspective, as
well as reevaluating his or her own.
The author has entered into
these discussions also because he loves people, and he does not wish to
see anyone lost. He firmly believes that everyone has a right to hear the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ presented in a kind, loving, discreet, and
systematic dissertation. The apostle Paul must have believed this because the
scripture declared that he disputed: “In the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout
persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him” (Acts
17:17).
Josh McDowell, in his book
entitled Evidence That Demands A Verdict,
speaking of Biblical apologetics wrote: ‘Always be prepared to make a defense to
anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with
gentleness and reverence’ (1Peter 3:15). The word defense (Gk. apologia)
indicates ‘a defense of conduct and procedures.’ Wilbur Smith defines
apologetics as, ‘a verbal defense, a speech in defense of what one has done or
of truth which one believes. [1]
The Greek word “apologia” translated by the English
word “defense” is used eight time in the
New Testament, that is: Acts 22:1;
25:16; 1Co 9:3; 2Co 7:11; Phi 1:7, 16; 2Ti 4:17; 1Pe 3:15. These passages of
scripture emphatically reveal that it is our God’s will for His Truths to be
defended both in a verbal and written analytical form. Therefore, this book is
not written in a novel style, but in an exegetical fashion.
Have you
ever wondered why there are so many different teachings in Christendom
pertaining to the doctrine of salvation? Each religious group proclaims the
others to be heretics or teachers of false doctrines. Each group is so opposed
to the others that none of groups are trying to find, or even look for a
harmony in the scriptures used by the others, as though there is no unique
order, symmetry and unanimity that is inherit in God’s Holy Word. There are far
too many theologians that treat God’s New Birth message in a random and chaotic
manner in their presentation of it.
Each
religious denomination places a literal meaning on the scriptures they use, and
a figurative or spiritual meaning on the scriptures used by the others. This is
what the Bible commands us not to do, when it stated that we should not ‘wrest’ or ‘twist’ or ‘pervert’ the
scriptures to our “own destruction” (2Pe 3:16). God
commanded us to rightly divide “the Word of Truth”
(2Ti 2:15). Throughout this book, the author will place a literal
interpretation on all the scriptures relating to the New Birth. I believe this
method is the only method that will result in a belief that will be in perfect
harmony with all the scriptures relating to salvation.
Salvation is the most
important singular doctrine of the entire Bible. It is the solid rock or
foundation that all doctrines of Christianity must rest upon. If a Christian
builds his or her spiritual house with every truth of the Word of God, but he
or she believes and teaches a lie pertaining to this doctrine, their house will
collapse, which will result in him or her being lost. So with this in mind,
let's do our best to lay aside any prejudice or biased opinions, and heed God's
admonishment: “He who answers a
matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him” (Pr 18:13).
As my
dear readers and I examine the Word of God
pertaining to the salvation Almighty God provided for lost humanity through the
peerless death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
we will discover that it was in the mind of God before the creation of the
world. Who among God’s people would knowingly rob God of His deity? Yet, this
is what some do when they rob God of His foreknowledge. One of God’s many
attributes is that of omniscience, which means He knows everything. God’s
foreknowledge is not predestination, for God’s never predestine Lucifer or
Adam’s fall. This came about from their freewill. The doctrine of
predestination of individuals is a lie from hell!
Because
God has foreknowledge, He knew how the world would begin before He ever created
it, and He knows how it will end. Nothing can happen in the world that will
take God by surprise. Our God is truly an omniscient God. In Acts 15:18 the
Bible stated: “Known to God from eternity are all
His works.” The
prophet Isaiah also confirmed this truth when he wrote of God’s foreknowledge
saying, God declared: “The end from the beginning and from ancient
times things that are not yet done” (Isa 46:10). The
prophetic Word of God explicitly called the Lord Jesus Christ, the “Lamb
slain FROM the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). The
expression “The foundation of the world,”
definitely refers to the creation of the world, as can be seen in the following
passages of scripture: Psa 18:15, 102:25, 104:5; Isa 48:13; Mt 13:35; Jn 17:24; Heb 1:10, 9:26.
The
apostle Peter gave us some insights into God’s predestined Lamb, when he boldly
declared that we were redeemed, or bought out of the slavery of sin, not by
gold or silver but by: “The Precious Blood of Christ, as a Lamb
without blemish and without spot”(1Pe 1:19). He
then went on to say that Christ, as the sinless Lamb was “Foreordained
BEFORE the foundation of the world” (vs 20).
Paul, like Peter and John, spoke of God’s predestined Lamb, when he told the
church that God: “Saved us…
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus
BEFORE time began” (2Ti 1:9). God’s grace and has always been and forever
will be in the Lamb of God. When I meditate on the meaning of the above scriptures,
all I can say is that God is truly awesome.
All of
the above scriptures without dispute teach that God had in the past, and has in
the present, and will forever have in the future, only one plan of salvation
for mankind, and that is Calvary. God ordained, before time began, that
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ would be the only way sinful mankind
could ever receive His grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Therefore, the Precious
Sinless Blood of God’s heavenly Lamb was the ONLY WAY any
man, in ANY
AGE, could ever have their SINS REMITTED.
All
the animal blood sacrifices of the past, from the time God slew and skinned
some animals in the Garden of Eden to clothed Adam and Even naked bodies, which
was a type of God making an Atonement for their sins, to Abel’s animal
sacrifices, to all the Patriarchs’ animal blood sacrifices, such as Job who: “OFFERED BURNT-OFFERINGS” for his children every morning, “for Job said: ‘It may be that my sons have SINNED” (Job 1:1-5, JPS Holy
Scriptures published by the Jewish Publication Society). Yes all these
Patriarchs KNEW that animal blood sacrifices was the only thing God accepted as
Atonement for their sins. All of these sacrifices in the
days of the Patriarch and during the time of the Law of Moses pointed to
Calvary, even though majority of God’s people did not have this great
revelation; or in other words, they did not fully comprehend what those animal
sacrifices really represented and how they pointed to Calvary (Hebrews 9:22; 10:1-18). Many of God’s Old Testament prophets prophesied about Calvary (Psa 22:1-18; Isa 53:1-12, 1Pe
1:10-12).
Conclusion: The Word of God definitely proclaims, for all to
read, God ordained before time began that the death, burial, and resurrection
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, would be the foundation in which Eternal
Life would be offered to all of mankind. God in EVERY COVENANT He
made with mankind included Calvary in it (Gen 8:20-9:9; 15:9-18). The
apostle Paul speaking of the Old and New Covenant boldly proclaimed that Jesus:
“is the Mediator of the New Covenant, by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions under the First Covenant, that those
who are called may receive the promise of the Eternal Inheritance….
Therefore NOT even the First Covenant was dedicated without BLOOD. For…
WITHOUT shedding of BLOOD there is NO REMISSION” of SINS (Heb 9:15-22). Our
Savior stated this truth of salvation this way: “this is My BLOOD of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the
REMESSION of SINS” (Mt 26:28). Therefore, no one in any age could be saved
without encountering Calvary. With this great truth in mind, let us begin
our examination of God’s infinite wisdom in His loving plan for the salvation
of mankind!
CHAPTER 1
GOD’S NEW COVENANT
This
section is an excerpt from my book, “Law vs Grace or Works vs Faith to
Obtain Eternal Life.”
The
New Covenant is called “New” simply because it replaced the “Old.” It was
attain by the precious blood of Christ (Luke 22:20; Mat 26:27-28; 1Co 11:25).
Jesus purchased His Bride, which is the Body of Christ, through His atonement
at Calvary (1
Co 12:12-13). Paul called the Church the “mystery” that “in
other ages was not made known” (Eph 3:9). This
covenant guarantees the complete removal of sins and the personal revelation of
the Lord to every believer (Heb 8:11-12; 10:17). The
New Covenant is based on the redemptive work of Christ. It has not only
application to the Church in this age, but also to the restored nation Israel
in the age to come (Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:6-13).
The
Bible emphatically declares that no one can receive the promise of Eternal Life
in New Testament times, except by the death, burial and resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who is Eternal Life. The apostle John wrote: “That which was
from the beginning… the Word of Life. The Life was manifested, and we have
seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that Eternal Life which was with the
Father and was manifested to us” (1Jn 1:1-2). He went on to say: “And this is the
testimony: that God has given us Eternal Life, and this Life is in His SON” (1Jn 5:11). Even
though Jesus is Almighty God in FLESH, the Creator of the Universe, it was not
His Deity that saved us, but the Sinless Blood that God’s Humanity shed for our
sins that saves us! This is God’s Grace to lost humanity!!
In
every age, the Patriarchs of the Bible always offered up animal blood
sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sin. It can be seen from the time God
forgave Adam and Eve of their sin and covered them in animal skins; it also can
be seen in the animal blood sacrifices of Abel, Job, Abraham, and all the other
Patriarchs. The Patriarch Job definitely connected animal blood sacrifices with
God’s forgiveness of sins! The Book of Job is the oldest written book in the
Bible. It antedates the writings of Moses, who wrote the Torah around 1450 BC,
that is, the five books of Moses that includes Genesis. The Book of Job was
probably written around 2100 BC in Terah’s day, who is Abraham’s father.
According
to the Bible: “THERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was
whole-hearted and upright, and one that feared God, and shunned evil. And there
were born unto him seven sons and three daughters…. And it was so, when the
days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them,
and rose up early in the morning, and OFFERED BURNT-OFFERINGS according to the
number of them all; for Job said: ‘It may be that my sons have SINNED, and
blasphemed God in their hearts.’ Thus did Job continually” (Job 1:1-5, JPS Holy Scriptures
published by the Jewish Publication Society). Why
did the Patriarch Job connect animal blood sacrifices with God’s forgiveness of
sins, if it was not something he learned from his forefathers, who learned it
from Adam and Eve, who learned it from God?
Therefore,
the reason why the Law or the Old Covenant had to be abolished was because God’s
Grace, which was contained in the Law system, could only be seen in
metaphorical form (Heb 10:1-9). Since Jesus has come, God does not need or want
animal sacrifices, which only symbolically portrayed the death, burial and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that the real, genuine, authentic
Sacrifice has come, what need is there for types or shadows or mere images of
God’s true Sacrifice. As long as the Old Covenant was in effect, God was obligated
to give His Grace and forgive Israel of her sins, and roll them ahead
each year. Therefore, God had to abolish His Old Covenant, so His Grace could
now be given through our Savior, our Kinsman Redeemer.
Yes beloved, no man could
ever be holy enough to earn salvation in either the Old or New Covenant. For no
matter how holy they were, none of them were sinless, and God required a
Sinless Human Sacrifice to forgive mankind of their sins. Therefore, they all needed
a Savior, for the Bible declares:
“Without the shedding of blood is no remission”
of sins (Heb 9:22). John the Baptist speaking of Jesus to his disciples, shouted out for
all to hear: “Behold! The
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).
The
1985 edition of the Jewish JPS Tanakh of the Holy Scriptures speaking of
God’s Sinless Passover Lamb stated: “Your Lamb shall be WITHOUT
BLEMISH, a yearling MALE; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats…. It
is a Passover offering to the LORD” (Exodus 12:5, 12, published by the
Jewish Publication Society; also see Num 6:14; Lev 4:3, 23; 9:2-3); also “when
a man offers, from the herd or the flock, a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD
for an explicit vow or as a freewill offering, it MUST, to be acceptable, be
WITHOUT BLEMISH; there MUST be NO DEFECT in it” (Lev 22:21, TNK); and “You
shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any BLEMISH or
DEFECT, for that is an ABOMINATION to the LORD your God” (Deu
17:1:).
In other
word, God’s Passover Lamb could NOT be just the best Lamb someone had,
but it had to be a perfect, spotless, unblemished Lamb without any defects; and
if one did not have this kind of Lamb in there sheepfold, they had to go and
buy one! God would reject anything less than a Perfect Young Male Passover Lamb
for a sin offering. This was God way of saying that His Passover Lamb had to be
SINLESS, that is, without blemish or defect, or God would NOT forgive the sins
of mankind! According to the Word of God: “our Pesach [Passover] Lamb, the MESSIAH,
has been sacrificed” (1Co 5:7, The Complete Jewish Bible,
published by Messianic Jews). The
apostle Peter stated the above truth this way: “Knowing
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold,
from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but
with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb WITHOUT BLEMISH
and WITHOUT SPOT [i.e. DEFECT]. He indeed was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20).
The
apostle Paul preached this truth this way: “Now the FIRST [OLD] Covenant had both regulations for worship and a Holy
Place here on earth…. But when the Messiah appeared as cohen gadol [our
High Priest] of the good things that are happening
already, then, through the greater and more perfect Tent which is not
man-made (that is, it is not of this created world), He entered the Holiest
Place ONCE and for all [time]. And
He entered [i.e. the Holiest of Holy] not by
means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of HIS OWN BLOOD, thus
setting people free forever. For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons
with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their
outward purity; then how much more the BLOOD of the Messiah, who,
through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God as a Sacrifice
WITHOUT BLEMISH [Gr amomos], will purify our conscience from
works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God! It is because of
this death that He is MEDIATOR of a NEW Covenant [or will]” (Heb 9:1, 11-15, CJB).
Dr.
Joseph Thayer of Harvard University in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament defined the Greek adjective “amomos”
or “without blemish” as: “without
blemish, free from faultiness, as a victim without
spot or blemish: 1 Pet. 1:19 (Lev. 22:21); Heb. 9:14; in both places allusion
is made to the SINLESS LIFE of Christ. Ethically, without blemish,
faultless, unblamable: Eph. 1:4; 5:27; Col. 1:22; Phil. 2:15; Jude 1:24; Rev.
14:5. (Often in the Septuagint; (Hesiod, Simonides, Jamblichus), Herodotus 2,
177; Aeschylus Pers. 185; Theocritus, 18, 25)” (#315).
Paul
went on to say: “For we do not have a cohen gadol [High
Priest] unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect he
was TEMPTED [i.e. to sin] just as we are, the only difference being
that he did NOT SIN” (Heb 4:15, CJB); in other word, Jesus was sinless! The
NIV translated this verse this way: “For
we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have ONE [i.e. Jesus] who has been TEMPTED [i.e. to
sin] in every way, just as we are-- yet was WITHOUT SIN;” also: “God
made this SINLESS man [i.e. Jesus to]
be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might
fully share in God’s righteousness.” The NIV
translated this verse like this: “God made Him [i.e.
Jesus] who had
NO SIN to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness
of God” (2Co 5:21, CJB).
Who can read the above scriptures and the following scriptures and declare
that our Savior was a sinner or even committed one sin. How can anyone read the
following prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, which was written 700 years before
Jesus was born, and declared that the Messiah did not die for their sins or the
sins of the world as God’s Sinless Passover Lamb. The 1917 JPS Holy
Scriptures, published by the Jewish Publication Society, translated
Isaiah’s prophecy this way:
“But
He was wounded [chalal - SLAIN] because
of OUR TRANSGRESSIONS [pesha`
SINS], He was crushed [daka' - BEATEN] because of
OUR INIQUITIES [`avon]: the chastisement of our welfare
was upon Him, and with His STRIPES we were healed [rapha'
– physically healed or cured]…. For He was CUT OFF out of the land of
the living, FOR the TRANSGRESSIONS [pesha`] of MY people to whom the stroke was due. And
they made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich His tomb;
although He had done NO VIOLENCE [chamac
i.e. LAWLESSNESS or INJUSTICE], neither was any deceit in
His mouth” (isa 53:5-9, JPS).
The
Jewish Tanakh 1985 edition translated verses 5 and 9 this way: “But
He was wounded [chalal - SLAIN]
because of OUR SINS [pesha`], Crushed [daka' -
BEATEN] because of OUR INIQUITIES [`avon]. He bore the
chastisement that made us whole, And by His bruises we were healed. 6
We all went astray like sheep, each going his own way; And the LORD visited
upon Him the guilt [`avon - INIQUITY] of all of US…. For
He was CUT OFF from the land of the LIVING through [i.e. FOR] the SIN of MY people, who deserved the punishment….
Though He had done NO INJUSTICE [chamac i.e. LAWLESSNESS] and had spoken NO falsehood.” The English
Bible in Basic English translated verse 9 like this: “Though
He had done NO WRONG, and NO deceit was in His mouth;”
and The Douay-Rheims: “Because He hath done
NO INIQUITY, NEITHER was there deceit in His mouth.”
The English Translation of
the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton translated
the verses in Isaiah this way: “He bears OUR SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia], and is pained [SUFFERED] for US…. But He was
wounded [slain] on account of OUR SINS [avnomi,aj - anomia], and was bruised [beaten] because of OUR
INIQUITIES [a`marti,aj -
hamartia]: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him…. The Lord gave Him up for
OUR SINS [a`marti,aij -
hamartia]… because of the iniquities [lawlesness] of My people He was
led to DEATH… and He shall bear THEIR SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia]. Therefore… His Soul was delivered
to DEATH: and He was numbered among the transgressors; and He bore the SINS [a`marti,aj - hamartia] of many, and was delivered because of THEIR
INIQUITIES [a`marti,aj -
hamartia]”
(Isa 53:4-12, LXE).
The Analytical Greek New
Testament by Drs. Timothy and Barbara Friberg defined the Greek noun “hamartia
{ham-ar-tee’-ah}” as: sin; (1) of an act, a departure from doing what is right…
sin, wrongdoing (1J 5.17); (2) as the moral consequence of having
done something wrong sin, guilt (AC 3.19; 1J 1.7); (3) as the
nature of wrongdoing viewed as the rejection of God by self-assertive
human beings sin, evil (RO 5.12, 13; cf. 1.21); (4) especially in
Johannine usage as a moral condition of human beings in revolt
against God sin, being evil, sinfulness (JN 9.34; 15.24); (5)
especially in Pauline usage as an abstract moral principle or force personified
as evil in character sin, evil (RO 6.12); (6) especially in Hebrews
as a deceiving power personified as leading human beings to guilt and
destruction (HE 3.13; 12.1) (#1288). They also defined the Greek noun
anomia as: “as what is contrary to law; (1) as a
general state of wrong lawlessness, wickedness, iniquity (1J 3.4); (2)
as an individual violation of law sin, wrong (doing), (practice of)
lawlessness (MT 7.23)” (#2200).
This
is why the apostle Paul, speaking of the Precious Sinless Blood that was shed
by dear Lord’s humanity for our sins, could say: “For
there is one God and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the MAN [i.e. the
Sinless Blood of] Christ Jesus, who gave himself as
a ransom for all men” (1Ti 2:5-6, NIV). Yes,
Calvary is the only way any man can approach God to be saved. Jesus stated this
truth this way: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No
one comes to the Father [i.e. God] except through Me” (Jn 14:6, NIV); and “I
tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the Gate, but
climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber…. I am the Gate; whoever
enters through Me will be SAVED” (Jn 10:1, 9, NIV).
Therefore,
no matter how good and sincere a man or woman may be today, in whatever religion
he or she embraces, regardless of how pure its moral teachings may be, no one
can be Saved or receive the promise of Eternal Life, unless he or she enters
into the New Covenant of Jesus’ Sinless Blood by means of the New Birth. This
is the only way anyone can enter into or receive the death, burial and
resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. No Jew or gentile today,
could ever earn the promise of Eternal Life or justification in the sight of
God by keeping the Law because, as I said before, he or she was not sinless and
also no one can annul the blessings of the cross of Calvary (Rom 3:20-22; Ga 2:16-21;
3:19-25).
The Saving Power of the Sinless Blood
of Jesus, the Story of Ha’von Sing: Permit me to give you example
of how the righteousness of a holy man cannot save him from his sins, but it
does get God’s attention. In 1978, my senior year of Bible College, I meet an
elderly man by the name of Ha’von Sing; he was the High Priest in the Sikh
temple in Stockton, CA. He asked me if I would like to learn the teachings of
Sikhism? I told him I would, if in return he would allow me to teach him about
the Lord Jesus Christ. He agreed and we both started teaching each other. He
taught me that Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab India in
the 15th century by a man called Guru Nanak. He said Sikhism rejects
idolatry and the Hindu caste system of social status and order. He declared
that his religion has 12 prophets, whom he said have declared their scriptures.
He also told me he experienced Transcendental Meditation (TM), which only
occurred when he went into a subconscious state of meditation. I told
him, I believe this was nothing more than IMAGINARY DREAMING, for he was no
longer aware of his body or his surroundings.
After
6 months of teaching him about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of our
Lord, Ha’von Sing fell deeply in love with the Lord Jesus Christ and made Him
the 13th prophet in his religion; in fact, the only books in the
Bible he would read were the Gospels, which he would read over and over again.
One day I decided to teach Him about the SINLESS BLOOD that Jesus shed for the
HEALING of our BODIES. After I finished, he told me: “My Friend, I have great pain in
my head right now, and I have prayed to my prophets, just before you came, to
heal me; and one of them came to me in a vision and told me: ‘if I would
believe him he would heal me.’ I told my prophet: ‘if he would heal me, I would
believe him.’”
When
Ha’von Sing told me this, I immediately knew that the lesson I taught him on
the healing power of the blood of Jesus was no accident, but was ordain of God.
Therefore, I told him: “My Friend your prophets do not have the power to heal you but Jesus
does! If you will permit me to lay my hand on your forehead and pray for you, I
promise you Jesus will heal you.” He then told me in his child
like way of speaking English: “Pray for me my Friend, pray for me.” I
laid my hand on him and commanded the pain in his head to be gone in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ! Immediately the pain was gone!! Ha’von Sing became
very excited and then told me this story. He said: “My Friend, I did not know
Jesus, but Jesus came to me in a vision a short time ago, and told me I
would come to America and become the High Priest in this temple. He told me
that He would send one of His servants to me to teach me about Him; this is why
I accepted your offer to teach me about Him.”
When
he told me of his vision, I was not only thrilled that God was using me this
way, but I was totally amazed that God had given him this vision. The words
Peter told the Roman centurion Cornelius began to ring in my heart: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation
whoever fears Him and WORKS RIGHTEOUSNESS is ACCEPTED by Him” (Acts
10:34-35). It
was at this time that he agreed to attend a Church Service with me. As we were
sitting in the balcony of the Church, which had an attendance of 1000-2,000
saints, this 75-year-old man jumped up and pointed to a brother at the altar,
who was praying to receive the Holy Spirit. Ha’von Sing extremely excited said
to me, as he pointed: “Look my Friend! Look!! I just saw LIGHT [i.e.
God] go into that man!!!”
It was shortly after this, I
decided to teach Ha’von Sing - God’s Plan of Salvation, which is the ONE and
ONLY WAY for anyone to receive Eternal Life, and be saved from Hell and the
Second Death. After I finished, he told me: “My
Friend, you do not understand the things Jesus is saying.” I then said: “Well,
lets read these scriptures again, and you tell me what Jesus is teaching.” I read to him all the above
passages of Scriptures. He then told me: “Jesus cannot mean this,
for there are many ways to become ONE with the LIGHT [i.e.
God], Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity are all ways that
lead to the LIGHT [i.e. God]!”
I concluded by saying: “My
Friend the ONLY WAY you can become ONE with the LIGHT is through the Sinless
Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your righteousness, which is great as you
strive with all of your heart to become PURE in your thoughts, actions, and the
words you speak, cannot save you. If righteousness could save you my
Friend, you would be standing in line before me and a lot of preachers I
know; for you are truly a very righteous man, who has no desire for the
material things of this world! This is something I wish I could say
about myself, but I cannot; and I truly love you for your righteousness
and for your passionate desire for inward and outward purity! My Friend
according to the Bible, you and I in the sight of God: ‘are ALL like an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses
are like filthy rags’ [Isa 64:6], for we ‘ALL have SINNED and fall short of the glory of God’ and His
Sinless Perfection [Rom 3:23]. Since you and I Have committed one or more sins
(done evil things) in our life, we are not sinless; therefore, we need the
Sinless Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to atone for our sins and cleans us from
all sins, so we can become ONE with the LIGHT [i.e.
God].”
Ha’von Sing then told me: “My
Friend, why do you offend me this way.” I told him: “My Friend, I love you and all
the money in the world could not entice me to offend you, but how much would I
love you, if I saw you, your wife and two daughter, sleeping in this temple and
this temple was on fire, and I did not do everything I could to wake you up and
get you out of here?” He said: “Not very much my Friend.” I
then told him: “My
Friend, I take no pleasure in saying this, but there is ONLY ONE TRUE RELIGION
and many false ones! Your religion is false and it cannot save you or your
loves ones!! Only the Sinless Blood of Jesus can cleans you from your sins!!!
Your must renounce your religion and come to the foot of the Cross of Calvary,
and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and save you!!!! If you are willing
to do this, Jesus will bring you into His New Birth of ‘Water and Spirit,’ that is, He will lead you to be Baptize in
His holy Name [i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ] and then He will fill you with
His LIGHT [i.e. the Holy Spirit]. The very same LIGHT you SAW
entering into the brother who was praying at the Altar in Church.”
Ha’von
Sing then said to me: “My Friend, I do not want you to come back here. I am going to stop
praying to Jesus and reading about His life. Please do not come back!” He
asked me to leave. My heart was broken and I told my Lord: “If any man deserves to be saved
surely it must be him, for surely he deserves salvation much more than I do.
Lord, I know, no man deserves the salvation you purchased for us at Calvary, it
is only by Your Grace I and anyone else will be saved.” I
then decided I would pray and fast until God opens Ha’von Sing’s heart. Two
weeks later, God spoke to me in prayer and said: “I have opened Ha’von Sing’s
heart! He is now ready to continue his Bible Studies with you!!” I
immediately went to the Sikh Temple and sure enough God had opened his heart.
It was at that time that Ha’von Sing began to teach the Life, Death, Burial,
and Resurrection of our Savior to the people in his temple. Therefore, only the
Precious Sinless Blood of Jesus can save us from our sins!!!
What Is The Gospel Of The New Covenant?
The
gospel that Paul and all the apostles preached was how: “Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1Co 15:1-4).
Since this is God's gospel for Eternal Life, how does one enter into the death
of Christ? How does one enter into the burial of Christ? How does one enter
into the resurrection of Christ? What are the terms or conditions that the
apostles taught for entering into the gospel, or in other words, what did the
apostles teach concerning how to receive the New Birth? Let’s begin our search
by going to the first place where the apostles preached the gospel of Christ.
When And Where Did The Gospel Of The New Covenant Begin?
Since the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
how could this gospel of the New Covenant be preached and believed while Jesus
was alive. Even the apostles themselves did not understand or believe that
Jesus was going to be crucified (Mk 9:31-32). This is the reason why
Jesus, when He was still alive said: “on this rock I will build My
Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Mt
16:18). Jesus
clearly taught that the Church still in the future, and that the foundational
doctrine the Church was going to be built on was the revelation of who Christ
really was, which is Jesus being the one and only God manifested in the flesh (1Ti
3:16, Isa 9:6, Col 2:9). This was the same foundational doctrine that the Old Testament Church was
built on (Deut 6:4-5).
The apostle Paul plainly taught that the New Covenant could not begin
until the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ had taken place. He said: “And for this
reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death…. For where
there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has
no power at all while the testator lives” (Heb 9:15‑17).
According to this scripture, the Old Covenant was still in effect as long as
the Lord Jesus Christ, as the testator was alive. Paul told the Corinthians: “if Christ is
not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1Co 15:17, 13‑16).
Permit me to paraphrase what Paul said: “Even though you believe that Jesus is the
Almighty God, and as a man He lived a sinless life and made atonement for your
sins by His death, if He did not resurrect from the dead, your faith in Christ
is in vain, and you are all lost and without hope of Eternal Life.”
The
above scriptures undeniably prove that no one could be save through the New
Covenant while Jesus was still alive. In other words, no one was able to enter
into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through the New
Birth, while Jesus was alive. In fact, no one could be born of the Spirit until
Jesus’ died, for Jesus said: “If I do not go away [referring
to His death], the Helper will not come to
you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (Jn
16:7). This
means no one could be saved under the terms of the New Covenant until Jesus
died, was buried, and rose from the dead!
Therefore,
the New Covenant, and its New Birth, began on the Day of Pentecost, which was
the fiftieth day after Jesus died as the Passover Lamb, and the forty-seventh
day after His glorious resurrection from the dead. It was on this day the
apostles and disciples became born of God’s Holy Spirit (Act 2:1-4, 16-18). It
was on the day of Pentecost that they entered into the New Covenant, and God
began to write His laws in their hearts and minds (Heb 8:6-13). It
was on this day, the apostle Peter preached to lost sinners, the first gospel
message that was ever preached on the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:23-41).
In the
Ante Nicene Fathers, which are the writings of the early Catholic
priests that wrote from AD 100–325, we can find the writings of
Irenaeus (AD
170). This Catholic bishop confirmed the above truth when he
wrote: the Spirit descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord’s
ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of [Eternal] Life,
and the opening of the New Covenant. [2]
Church historians and theologians also agree that the Day of Pentecost is the
birthday of the Church. According to The
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: The almost universal
opinion among theologians and exegetes is this: That Pentecost marks the
founding of the Christian Church as an institution. [3]
Was The Thief On The Cross Saved Under The Terms Of The New Covenant?
Since
Jesus was still alive and the New Covenant had not yet begun, the thief could
not be saved under God’s terms of salvation in the New Covenant; also let us
not forget the thief on the cross did not know about or believe:
in Jesus’ deity, His sinless blood, or His resurrection.
Therefore, he did not know or believe in the gospel of Christ. If anyone
teaches that the thief was saved under the terms of the gospel of the New Covenant,
he or she does not have any scriptures to base their belief system on. In fact,
he or she would have to tear all the above scriptures on the New Covenant out
of their Bible to teach this doctrine of hell!
So,
how was the thief on the cross saved? The thief being a Jew, or a child of
Abraham, was in a covenant relationship with God under the Old Covenant of the
Law of Moses. Therefore, he was saved under God’s provision of grace in this
Covenant. For in the Law, a sinner could offer up a Lamb, a “male
without blemish” for a “burnt offering” for
his sins. He had to “put his hand upon the head of the
burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for
him.” In this way, the sinner’s sins were imparted to
the lamb (Lev
1:1-4; 16:20-22).
By the
sinner placing his hands on the head of the Lamb, the sinner acknowledged that
he was a sinner and deserved to die for his sins. He also
acknowledged that God in His love and grace provided a harmless, sinless Lamb
to die in His place. Therefore, when the sinner confessed His sins to God and
laid his hands on the head of the Lamb, God imputed his sins to the Lamb. The
sinner then went away unharmed and with a clean conscience, while the Lamb of
God bore all of the wrath of God for him. The word atonement is composed of
three words at-one-ment. This means the sinner could become one with God or
united to God, and that he could now enter into the presence of God for his
sins have been forgiven.
As one
compares God’s way of atoning for the sins of mankind under the old covenant,
with the thief’s experience on the cross, we can perceive that this is what
took place that day. The thief looked at his, and our, sinless Passover Lamb,
reached out in the spirit and laid his hand on the Lord’s head; he then
acknowledge that he was a sinner, confessed his sins to God in his heart, and
asked Him to be merciful to him (Lk 23:39-43). As a result, God imputed or
imparted the sins of the thief to God’s true Lamb. Therefore, the thief on the
cross died, forgiven and saved by the Grace of God.
Who Are The True Ministers Of The Gospel Of The New Covenant?
Every
Christian preacher claims to be a man of God, so how can we know if we have
been deceived concerning Eternal Life? Any preacher of today can be deceived,
and can deceive others. So we must believe and obey the Word of God as we
receive it from men that are truly sent from God. The only men of God whom we
know for sure that were sent from God were the apostles. John said: “We are of God.
He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we
know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1Jn 4:6).
Jesus told His apostles: “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me,
and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Lk 10:16).
Jesus prayed for the apostles and all that would believe and obey the gospel
they preached. He said: “sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth…. I
do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through
their word”
(Jn 17:17,
20).
The
apostle Paul told Timothy that he had fully known his “doctrine.” He
admonished this young preacher to continue in his doctrines: “knowing
of whom” he has “learned them”
(2Ti 3:10-14). The apostle continued by charging Timothy to: “teach
no other doctrine” (1Ti 1:3). Paul rebuked the church of
the Galatians for teaching false doctrines. He said: “I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be
some [false prophets] that trouble you, and
would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-9).
We can
be sure that the apostles knew and preached the truth, and they were not in
error in any way concerning the New Birth or Eternal Life. In spite of this, I
have talked to some deceived Protestant Pastors who have foolishly told me
concerning Jesus’ Name baptism, which is the Biblical formula for baptism, that
they would rather take the words of Jesus than the apostles. The obvious
implication of such a ridiculous statement as this, was to imply that the
apostles were teaching false doctrine, or something contrary to what Jesus
taught concerning the New Birth. This is nothing less then accusing the Lord
Jesus Christ of lying, because He said He opened their “understanding
that they might understand the scriptures” (Lk 24:45).
Can Christians Be Deceived By False Prophets Concerning The New Birth?
One of
the disciples of Jesus asked him: “Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive
to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek
to enter and will not be able.’ When once the Master of the house has
risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the
door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to
you, ‘I do not know you….’ There will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets
in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out” (Lk 13:23-25, 28).
Let my
beloved readers take note, many will desire or want to become saved and go up
in the Rapture, but will not be able to. Why not? Why will these good, honest, and sincere people, who claimed to
know Him, and even confessed Him as their Lord, miss the rapture? The answer
can be found in the statement Jesus made after He closed door. He said, I do
not know you, or you are not one of My children. In other words, false prophets
deceived them about the New Birth. Therefore, they did not enter into Jesus’
death, burial, and resurrection.
Let us
examine Matthew’s recording of a similar event. Instead of the setting being
the rapture as in Luke, the setting is now the White Throne Judgment. Jesus
gave a frightful warning concerning False Prophets to all those who have ears
to hear and a heart to obey His truth. He said, “Enter by the narrow
gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is
the gate and difficult is the way which leads to [Eternal] Life,
and there are few who find it” (Mt 7:13‑14).
Jesus told us why only a few will be saved or find the strait and narrow path.
He said: “Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves”
(verse 15). He went on in verses 16-20 to give us the fruits
of a false prophet.
In verses 21-23,
Jesus revealed the results of a false prophet's ministry. He said: “Not everyone who
says to Me,
'Lord,
Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My
Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done
many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never [oudepote] knew you!” According
to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible, by Dr. James Strong, the Greek word “oudepote”
means: not
even at any time i.e. never at all. [4]
Let my
beloved readers take note, these people will tell Jesus on the Day of Judgment,
that they preached and did all type of miracles through faith in the power of
His Holy Name. What was our Lord’s response to them? Did He deny that they did
not do these things? No, He simply told them He did not know them. However,
they professed to know Him, they even confessed Him as their Lord. Nevertheless,
Jesus did not say that He knew them at one time, but they died as a backslider,
therefore He did not know them. What Jesus said is that He never at any time
knew them at any time as His children.
In verses 24-27,
Jesus told us why He did not know these honest but deceived people. He said
that they built a beautiful spiritual house, which had many great doctrinal
truths, but they built their house on the wrong foundation. The true believers
built theirs on the “rock” of
Christ and the deceived believers built theirs on the “sand”
of false Christianity. The apostle Paul declared: “For no other
foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1Co 3:11). Since the foundation of Christianity is the gospel
of Christ, that is, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, these people obviously believed the lie of the false prophet
concerning the New Birth. Therefore, they never were born-again. Jesus said what he meant and meant what He said: “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5; Acts 2:38).
Paul
revealed in his epistle to the Galatians that false prophets started perverting
God’s Gospel Message in his day. He said these hirelings were preaching: “a
different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble
you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to
you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone
preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be
accursed” (Ga 1:6-9). Satan has had his prophets
perverting God’s gospel message in every century. Yes friend, do not let anyone
deceive, you must be born of “water and Spirit” if
you want to receive, or become partakers of or enter into Christ’s death,
burial, and resurrection.
The
New Birth message has never been popular in the history of God’s Church.
Catholic Popes hated it and persecuted them who taught it in all ages.
Protestant Reformers, like their Catholic ministerial brethren, have stripped
God’s children of their possessions, imprisoned them, and even burned them at
the stake for preaching it. But truly the gates of hell have never destroyed or
stopped the children of God from preaching God’s New Birth Message. My book A
History Of Oneness Throughout The Centuries gives the documentation for
this persecution.
Let us
not be deceived by false prophets! Let us remember what Jesus said about the
minister of Satan in his day: “Woe unto you, lawyers! For
you have taken away the key of knowledge: you did not in [the
Kingdom of God] yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered” (Lk 11:52). He
also said: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twice as much a
son of hell as yourselves” (Mt 23:15). How did these false prophets prevent the believers
of their day from receiving salvation? They stopped them the same way false
prophet stop believers from receiving Eternal Life today. They blind their
minds by teaching believers a false doctrine concerning the New Birth! As a
result, the believer’s mind is fill with bias against the truth. Therefore, God
Himself cannot reach these believers because their mind is not open to search
out the truth in an honest fashion.
Now no
one enjoys being called a false prophet, or having someone point out that his
or her doctrinal beliefs are false. This preacher does not believe for one
moment that all the false prophets in the world today are hypocrites like the
ones Jesus described in His day. I believe that many of them today, and in
times past, were good, honest and sincere preachers. But because of their love
for their parents, relatives, or friends, or loyalty and faith in some pastor
and organization, or hearing a repeated message by misinformed authorities,
they became deceived. As a result, their hearts became hardened against the
truth, which prevented them from studying salvation or the New Birth with an
open and unbiased mind. Paul told us to: “work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling” (Phi 2:12).
Therefore, if they die lost, they can blame no one for their lack of diligence
in studying the Word of God for themselves.
Everyone
of us need to hear, know, and do what Jesus said about salvation. We need to
know what He meant by being born of the water. We need to know what He meant by
being born of the Spirit. Because, if we are wrong, we are building our
spiritual house on a sandy foundation, and it will collapse in the Day of
Judgment, and we will be lost. Are water and Spirit baptisms, two conditions
God has given all believers to obey, if they wish to receive the gospel of
Christ?
THE FOUR STEPS OF FAITH IN OBEYING THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
The
greatest question a man can ask in this life is not who am I? It is not even
how can I become famous, powerful and wealthy? These questions pertain only to
those things that reap temporal dividends. The greatest question a man can ask
that will determine his happiness throughout eternity is - how can I receive
Eternal Life? Millions of people, throughout every age, have joined every
religion under the sun in hopes of receiving Eternal Life. Man-made religions,
traditions, philosophies and doctrines have deceived the vast majority of them (Mt 15:8-9, 7:13-14).
Eternal Life can only come through the Lord Jesus Christ.
No one
would argue the fact that the Bible teaches that God has given His grace to all
men, by providing a way for all of mankind to become saved. This way, which is
the only way, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Since Christ’s precious blood was shed
for all men, does this mean every man in the world is automatically saved by
what Jesus did at Calvary? Every preacher of whom you ask this question to,
will quickly tell you no! They will promptly inform you that one must meet the
terms or conditions of the gospel of Christ. Let us keep in mind that the New
Covenant is not an unconditional covenant, or that God’s grace is not
offered to the human race unconditionally. If there were no conditions to
receiving God’s grace, then all of mankind would automatically be saved. If the
doctrine of grace, as some affirm, teaches that God requires nothing from man
to receive salvation, then no one needs to believe in Calvary, repent of their
sins, confess Christ as their Lord and Savior, and become born of water and
Spirit.
Mankind
cannot save himself or herself by any work of Moses’ Law, or assist God in
providing salvation, for God did that at Calvary, but mankind does have the
responsibility of accepting or rejecting the conditions God has placed on
receiving His grace. If mankind accepts God’s conditions, then he or she must
respond by believing and obeying each condition by faith! There is not a preacher
anywhere that believes in salvation by grace more than I do; but I do not take
it out of the context that God has placed it in, as many denominational
preachers of today do.
The apostle Paul wrote: “For by grace are you saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In Romans, Paul taught
that the grace of God came to us by the precious shed blood of Jesus, or in
other words, we are: “justified by His
blood” (Rom 5:9); and He “was raised to life for our justification”
(Rom 4:25, NIV). Paul, like myself, believed that we are: “justified by faith” in the gospel of Christ, that is, faith in
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Rom 3:28, cp with vs 24). In Corinthians, Paul
declared that God’s children received justification by means of the New Birth.
He wrote: “You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus [which is applied in water
baptism] and
by the Spirit of our God”
(1Co 6:11).
Therefore, he connected our justification with the New Birth!
For this reason, according
to the apostle Paul, true justification by faith in the gospel involves
obedience to the gospel, that is, we must respond to the gospel with those acts
of faith that God requires. There is no true faith in Christ that does not lead
to obedience. All the apostles of the Lamb definitely taught that one must not
only believe the gospel of Christ to be saved, but also must obey it. The
apostle Peter declared: “Judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first
begins at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of
God” (1Pe 4:17-18). The apostle Paul declared the very same thing when
he wrote: Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him”
(Heb 5:9);
and “they
have not all obeyed the gospel” (Rom 19:16). Paul speaking of God’s
wrath on those who would not obey the gospel said: Jesus would come in a
flaming fire to take vengeance: “on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel” (2Th 1:7-9). Paul also declared that Christ: “became the author of eternal salvation to
all who obey Him” (Heb 5:9). Therefore, true biblical faith will lead one to act
upon their faith by obeying the conditions that God requires.
For example, what preacher would dare claim
that mankind is trying to earn God’s grace by believing that
Jesus Christ is God in flesh, and He died as a man so He could save them from a
devil’s hell, and He rose from the dead for their justification? The answer is
obviously none. No preacher would dare call faith in the gospel a work
of the Mosaic Law System; even though faith in God and his Laws were required
conditions for salvation under the Old Covenant. No
preacher would argue that a sinner must have faith in or believe the gospel of
Christ, before he or she can act upon their faith by enter into the New
Covenant and become saved.
Some Protestant preachers would stop here and declare that faith is the
only condition a sinner must meet to be saved, and God has no other
conditions. This kind of faith is
called “Easy Believeism” in many denominations today, which Billy Graham made
popular. This kind of faith is nothing more then a mental assent,
just as one would believe any fact of history that they knew was true. Friend,
there is no way you can believe on Him to be saved. You must believe INTO
Him by obeying the gospel, if you wish to receive Eternal Life, for faith
is only the first step!
Other
Protestant preachers teach that faith in the gospel of Christ will lead the
believer to repent of all their sins, and confess Jesus Christ to be their Lord
and Savior. They believe that these steps are the only steps that God requires
to become saved. None of these preachers would dare declare that a man or woman
is trying to earn salvation by repenting of their sins, or by confessing
Christ as their Lord and Savior. No
preacher would call these acts of obedience to God’s Word works
of the Mosaic Law System; even though repentance was also a required condition
in the Old Covenant for eternal life!
I fully agree that faith in Christ is a very important step in God’s
plan of salvation. I also believe that a sinner must repent and confess Jesus
to be their God, Savior, and Lord. But these are not the only steps, for true
biblical faith will also lead a believer to obey God’s other conditions, that
is, they must be “born of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5). Why is it that these false prophets never
mention this step in obeying the gospel of Christ? Could it be that they either
do not understand what Jesus taught, or they see that it makes sense, but their
pride and biases will not allow them to believe it is true?
Satan
uses false prophets to confuse the sincere believer in Christ, by denouncing
the biblical doctrine of water baptism in Jesus’ holy and sinless name as a
doctrine of works. That is, they will claim that that a man or woman is trying
to earn salvation by their works. These false prophets never associate it with
an act of faith towards salvation by obeying what Jesus said to
do. Preacher, give me one scripture that declares water baptism in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ is a work of the Mosaic Law. Preacher, if you make water
baptism a doctrine of works, then you have to make faith and repentance a
doctrine of works also, which were definitely required by God under the Mosaic
Law System (Lev
26: 18, 21, 24, 28; Pro 28:13; Eze 18:29-32; 14:6)!
Since the New Birth is how a
believer enters into Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, which
places the believer in the New Covenant, this is where the One God, Jesus Name,
Apostolic, Holiness-Pentecostal Preachers around the world draw swords with the
Catholic and Protestant preachers in Christendom today, and in times past. Yes
friend, the New Covenant is not an unconditional Covenant. If you or I
want to receive God’s grace, then we must meet the terms of God’s covenant.
Mankind cannot come to God on his or her own terms, like Cain did, but he or
she must believe and obey God’s terms. So with this in mind, what are God’s
terms or conditions for salvation?
The First
Step: the Essentiality of Living Faith
To help my readers understand the false doctrine of “easy believeism” for salvation, permit me to present to you a
dialogue I have had with many Protestant Pastors, in my earlier years as
a Christian. This dialogue is not verbatim but it is close. I have added some
scriptures to their usual statements or arguments, so my readers can receive a
fuller understanding of their belief. Through this dialogue, my readers should
discover, that there are only a few, if any, of the Protestant ministers that
really believe what they preach.
The First Question I Asked Pastors:
Preacher what must I do to be saved or receive Eternal Life?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: You must believe with
your whole heart that Jesus died for your sins, and was buried, and was raised
from the dead for your justification (1Co 15:1-4). The Bible declared: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be [future
tense] saved” (Acts 16:31). Paul said: “For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”
(Rom 1:16). John proclaimed: “God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in [eis -
into] Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life” (Jn 3:16).
Jesus said: “He that believes in [eis -
into] the Son has Everlasting Life” (verse 36). The verb “has” in
this verse is present tense, active voice, indicative mood, third person,
singular number, which means the moment anyone believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ, they are saved or have Eternal Life.
[An
exegetical comment I would like to interject here, for my readers
understanding: The Greek preposition “eis” in both of these verses is in
the accusative case. In verse 16, the Greek pronoun “auvto.n” or “Him,” and
the Greek noun “ui`o.n” or “Son” in verse
36, are also in the accusative case, that is, they are used as direct
objects. Therefore “eis” should be translated as “into,” which
is the primary meaning of this Greek preposition, especially when it is in the
accusative case! Doctors Timothy and Barbara Friberg, in their Analytical
Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, defined it as a: preposition
with the accusative into, [or] in. [5]
Harvard professor Dr. Joseph H. Thayer in his work A Greek-English Lexicon Of The New
Testament says: it is a preposition governing the accusative, and
denotes entrance into something or someone. [6]
In the Essentials of New Testament Greek,
Professor Ray Summers also declared that “eis” means: “into” [7]].
[If John wanted his readers to understand
that Jesus meant that a believer should believe “in” Him,
he would have written the Greek preposition “en,” if
Jesus meant “on” he
would have written “epi,” but since he used the preposition “eis,” and
placed the pronoun “auvto.n” and the noun “ui`o.n” in
the accusative
case (direct objects), and not in the
dative case (indirect objects), he wanted his readers to understand that a
believer has to believe “into” Jesus to receive Eternal Life. In other words, a
believer must believe “into Jesus’ death,” “into His
burial,” and “into His
resurrection” to
receive Eternal Life. There is no way a believer can believe on or in Christ as
you believe on or in George Washington, that is, he lived, died, and was our
first president. A believer must believer “into” Christ to be saved; for this
is salvation, nothing less, and nothing more.]
[The
apostle John definitely taught this same truth, when he told us that every true
believer, who has been born of God, has a WITNESS of Spirit Baptism, Water
Baptism, and the Blood of Christ, which proves that he or she has believed INTO
Jesus’ Death, Burial, and Resurrection; in other words, in God’s eyes the Blood
of Christ is applied to a believer’s life through Water and Spirit Baptism,
which are INSEPARABLE when it comes to bearing One Witness concerning their
Salvation or their reception of Eternal Life.]
[The
apostle said it this way: “And there are three that bear
WITNESS [not witnesses but One Witness] on
earth: the SPIRIT, the WATER, and the BLOOD; and these THREE agree [eisi
– YLT - are or exist] as one….
He who BELIEVES in [eis - INTO] the Son of God has the WITNESS in [en - IN] himself…. And this is the testimony [i.e.
WITNESS of the Spirit, Water, and Blood] that God has
given us Eternal Life, and this Life is in [en - IN] His Son. He who has the Son has Life; he who does
not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you
who BELIEVE in [eis - INTO] the NAME of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
Eternal Life” (1Jn 5:8, 11-13). The preposition “INTO” or “EIS” in
these verses is also in the accusative case. The only way anyone can believe
into Jesus’ name is by being Water Baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of: “whom the whole FAMILY in heaven and earth is NAMED” (Eph 3:15).]
[Now, let us address the
question as to why did this pagan Roman Jailer ask Paul and Silas: “Sirs, what must I do to be
saved” (Acts 16:30)? The Bible informs us that this heathen Jailer had
just witness a miracle from God, who shook Paul and Silas’ cell door open,
freed them from their chains, and not only that but they had not tried to
escape. He knew the Roman punishment for allowing a prisoner to escape was
death. This man obviously knew from this miracle that God was with these men.
He also knew they were place in prison for preaching about some strange God.]
[Paul’s response to the
Jailer’s question was “believe [pisteuo] on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will
be [future tense] saved.” The Amplified Bible brings out the true meaning of this verse. It stated: “Believe
in and on the Lord Jesus Christ - that is, give yourself up to Him, take
yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping,
and you will be saved.” The
verb “believe” or “pisteuo” does not mean “to have a mere mental
assent,” but “to firmly trust in” or “to
have a firm confidence in” a
person of thing. Greek scholar Dr. W. E. Vine defined it this way: to believe, also to be
persuaded of, and hence, to place confidence in, to trust,
signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence, that is, acceptance. [8]
Therefore, the “easy believeism” doctrine is nothing but a “heresy of cheap grace,”
whereby salvation is guaranteed to the believer by this one-time act. God hates
this heresy, for it robs the sincere believer of true salvation.]
[The
verb “will be saved” is the Greek word “sozo” and it is in the future tense, passive voice, indicative mood, 2nd person, and singular
number.
This means the pagan Jailer and his family would have to firmly trust in Christ
as their Savior and at a future period of time, not at the moment of
faith, they would receive salvation. There is nothing in the context of
these scriptures that even insinuates that this pagan Jailer ever heard the
name of Jesus or about His death, burial, and resurrection before verse 32. If you say he did, you have no proof. In verses 32-33, the Bible reveals that Paul preached the gospel to
the Jailer not in jail but in his home, for the Word of God
stated that he: “Spake unto him the Word of the Lord, and to
all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night,
and washed their stripes; and was
baptized, he and all his, straightway.”]
[Nowhere in this passage can
one find that it specifically mentions that Paul told the Jailer and his family
to repent, confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and to become born of water
and Spirit. But we know that he preached to them the “Word of the Lord,” which must have contained
these important steps of salvation, for Paul definitely declared that he
preached the same gospel to all the gentiles (Ga 2:2). It is obvious from verse 33, that Paul must have preached water baptism as part of the Word of the Lord to the Jailer and his
family, for he baptized all of them that night. Let my beloved readers keep in
mind that Paul’s back was probably bleeding, from being severely beaten with a
rod; therefore, for him to baptize anyone at that time would have been very
painful. But being the solider of Christ that he was, he did not let pain stop
him from obeying the great commission (Mk 16:15-16).]
[Therefore, water baptism had to be part of the gospel
of Christ that Paul preached to all gentiles. When Paul preached the
gospel to the Ephesian believers, he evidently told them their water baptism by
John the Baptist was not sufficient, for he baptized all of them again (Acts 19:1-6). Now the Bible does not tell us that the
Jailer and his family were born of the Holy Spirit, but we know that true
faith in Christ always leads to the New Birth; just as it did for
the apostles, Cornelius and his family, and all others. Those who teach “the heresy of the easy believeism doctrine for salvation,” never
look for the harmony in all the scriptures that deal with this subject. The
only scriptures they bring to one’s attention are those that speak of believing
in Christ, and they even misinterpret those. It is a shame that good men allow
Satan to blind them by filling their minds with denominational biases that
blinds them to the truth.]
[Let
us also remember, if a believer receives Eternal Life the MOMENT he or she
believes ON Jesus, then why were the Samarians NOT SAVED when they believed in
Jesus? The infallible Word of God declared: “But when they BELIEVED Philip as he preached the things concerning the
kingdom of God and the NAME of Jesus Christ, both men and women were BAPIZED….
Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the
Word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down,
prayed for them that they MIGHT RECEIVE the Holy Spirit. For as yet HE
had fallen upon NONE of them” (Acts 8:5-17).]
[How
can anyone have Eternal Life and NOT be BORN of the Holy Spirit? Also, if one
is born of God or receive Eternal Life the MOMENT he or she believe ON Christ,
then why would the apostle Paul ask BELIEVERS in Christ: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit WHEN you BELIEVED…?’ And when Paul
had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke
with tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:1-5). If the great apostle
believed this doctrine of devils, would not this be a foolish question to ask
believers? Let us return to our dialogue.]
My Response: Since I have to believe the gospel to be saved,
is my act of believing a work of the Law of Moses? Am I trying to
earn salvation by my act of believing? I do not want to tempt God by
trying to be saved by my good works.
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Oh no, believing is
not a doctrine of works. It is the only condition of obedience that God
requires of you, for the Bible says: “For by grace are you saved
through faith [in the gospel of Christ], not of works [of the
Mosaic Law System], least any man should boast" (Eph 2:8-9).
The Second Step: Faith that Leads to Confessing
Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior
My Response: If believing is all I need to do to be saved,
then why do some teach I must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and my
Lord and personal Savior?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: This is true, for Paul
said: “If you confess
with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved [sozo]. For with the
heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For the Scripture
says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is
no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all
is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the
LORD shall be saved [sozo]” (Rom
10:9-13). These verses very definitely reveal that God requires
a believer to confess Him as their Lord and Savior, and call on His name, if
they wish to become saved.
[An
exegetical comment: The verbs “will be saved” in verse 9 and “shall
be saved” in verse 13 is the Greek verb “sozo,” which are both:
future
tense, indicative mood, and passive voice. Because the verb is not
in the present tense, but is in the future tense, “this means salvation will be at
some point in the future, not at the moment one believes,
confesses, or calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ.” The
phrase “calling
upon the name of the LORD” is a phrase that is used in
the New Testament in connection with water baptism, for example, Ananias
told Paul: “Now why are you waiting? Arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts
22:16).
The
well know Protestant scholar Dr. F. F. Bruce also related confession in the
above Romans passage
not only to the birth of the Spirit in First Corinthians 12:3, but also water
baptism. He wrote: If we are to think of one outstanding occasion for such a confession to
be made, we should more probably
think of that first confession... made in Christian baptism. [9]]
My Response: If I must believe in Jesus with all my heart,
and confess Him as my Lord and personal Savior, and call on His holy name to be
saved, then why did you tell me I was saved or had Eternal Life the moment I
believed in Him?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Because I thought you
knew that you must also publicly acknowledge Him and call upon His name.
Besides if you truly believe in Him, you will do the things God requires. The
moment a person believes the gospel, confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and
their Lord and Savior, he is born again or has Eternal Life.
My Response: What if I truly believe with all of my heart in
the death, burial, and resurrection of my Savior, but I do not confess Him
because of pride, or fear of offending some member of my family, or fear of
losing my job, or fear of the government, or whatever? Will I be saved?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: No, you will not
because Jesus said: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him will I
confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before
men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Mt
10:32-33). The scripture is very clear here that you must love
Jesus enough to confess Him as your Lord and Savior.
My Response: If I confess Jesus as the Son of God, and as my
Lord and Savior, am I trying to earn salvation by my act of confession?
I do not want to tempt God by trying to be saved by any good works.
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Oh no, believing and
confessing Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior are the two conditions of
obedience that God requires for receiving His grace.
My Response: If all one has to do is believe in the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and confess Him as their Lord and Savior, and call upon
Him to be saved, does this mean that the Devil and his demons are saved? For
the Bible reveals that they believe the gospel and have confessed Jesus as the
Son of God. The Word of God declared that demonic spirits cried out to Jesus
and said: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God” (Lk
4:34). These unclean spirits also confessed: “You
are the Son of God” (Mk 3:11‑12).
James said: “You believe that there is one God; you do well.
Even the demons believe and tremble” (Ja 2:19).
Satan and his demons not only believe in Jesus, and have confessed
Him as the Son of God, but they also believe in His death, burial and
resurrection, for they were eyewitnesses to these things. They know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus die on Calvary’s cross, for they were
there and watched Him die. They saw His body placed in the tomb. They saw Him
resurrect from the dead on the third day, so that definitely makes them believers.
The Third Step: Faith that Leads to Repentance
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Even though the
Lucifer and his demons have confessed that Jesus is the Son of God and believe
the gospel, this still does not make them qualified for salvation. For their
faith in Christ did not lead them to repent of their sins.
My Response: From what you are telling me, you must not
believe that faith alone can save an individual, for confessing and repenting
are two completely separate and different acts from mental faith or believing
in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. According to you, a person must not
only believe the gospel, but also acknowledge Jesus publicly as their Lord and
Savior, and repent of their sins to be saved.
The Protestant
Pastor’s Response: Yes, but you are saved by faith and faith alone. “If you truly
believe, your faith will lead you to confess Him, and repent of your sins,” for
Jesus said: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”
(Lk 13:3).
In fact, He commanded you to: “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:14-15). Peter said: “The Lord is… not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”
(2Pe 3:9).
[An exegetical comment: Repentance is the very important act of
faith in our salvation. It includes several essential elements, such as: acknowledge
that you are a sinner and thereby deserve the wrath of God; confessing
your sin to God and having a godly remorse or sorrow in your heart for offending God’s
holiness. It also includes: being determine in your mind and heart to forsake
all that you know is sinful; and a full surrender of your life over to
the control of God and His Word, with a determination in your
heart to live a holy life. It also may include: making restitution
wherever it is possible, especially if you have deeply wounded someone with
your tongue or your actions, you really need to ask their forgiveness. When a
sinner repents this way they are no longer a sinner but a believer.]
[Repentance is basically
expressed by a change in a sinner’s mind, heart, and will; by mind I mean there
is a change in their ideas, views, and values, in what is right and wrong, for
they will now have a deeper sense of what is holy and pleasing to God; by heart
I mean there is a change in their desires or feelings in which they earnestly
desire spiritual things and fulfillment, instead of the carnal things that
satisfy and feeds the flesh; by the will I mean there is a change in their
short and long range goals, and all other areas of their lives, for Jesus is
now their Lord and there is a true desire to surrender all areas of their life
to Him.]
[The very moment a believer
truly and sincerely repents of all their sins, the believer immediately
receives a clean conscience. True biblical faith and repentance always gets the
attention of God, whereby the believer will immediately experience the presence
of God, or in other words, the Spirit of God will immediately move ON the
believer to prepare their heart, in order that He can come into their human
spirit at some point in the near future. One should bear in mind, that no one
can receive God’s grace to repentance, unless he or she truly believe the
gospel; for no one can repent unless he or she believes God’s promise of
salvation is true, and sin is wrong, and repentance is a necessary condition in
receiving God’s grace. There can be no true faith without repentance. Since
repentance is an important step in our salvation, I will discuss it in much
more detail in the eleven chapter of this book. Let us resume our dialogue]
My Response: If I have to repent, as well as believe the
gospel, and confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior to be saved, why did you tell
me all I had to do is just believe, confess Him to be saved?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Because I assumed you
knew you had to repent also, even though there are many I suppose, who do not
know that. Even so, if you truly believe in the gospel, you will confess Him,
and will repent of your sins.
My Response: If I have to repent of my sins to be saved, am I
trying to earn salvation by my work of repentance? I do not want to
tempt God by trying to be saved by any of my good works.
The Protestant Pastor's Response: Oh no, even though
repentance is a work, you are not trying to earn salvation by your
act of repentance, but you are obeying the terms or conditions of the
gospel. The New Covenant of the blood of Jesus is not an unconditional
covenant, which means that everyone in the whole world is automatically saved
by what Jesus did at Calvary. The New Covenant is a conditional covenant, which
means, if you want to receive God’s grace, you must be willing to meet God’s
conditions. No one can come to God on his or her own
terms. You must be willing to believe and obey God’s conditions, if you wish to
receive Eternal Life.
The
apostle Paul preached repentance as a condition of salvation to all of his
converts. He
told them to: “Repent and turn to
God, and do works [ergon] befitting repentance”
(Acts 26:20); and he also name repentance as one of the basic foundational
principles of salvation, for he said: “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary
principles of Christ, let us go on to
perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works [ergon] and
of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms” (Heb 6:1). It is obvious the “works” this verse is referring to is a turning away
from sin.
[An
exegetical comment: The word works in the above scriptures is the Greek word “ergon.” It is used 176 times in the NT, and the King James
Translators translated it as: work
152 times,
deed 22 times, doing 1 time, and labor 1
time. Thayer defines it as: an
act, deed, (or a) thing done. There is a world of difference between the acts or
works faith i.e. believing, repenting, and confessing, and the moral works of
righteousness the Law of Moses required for eternal life in the Old Covenant.
This is why Paul says in Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works [ergon] of the
Law [of Moses]
but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we
might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works [ergon] of the Law; for by the works [ergon] of the Law no flesh shall be justified.”]
My Response: Are you sure repentance is not a work of the Law
of Moses? If I have to give up my stealing, lying, adulteries, drunkenness,
drugs, wild parties, and so on, that is not going to be easy; that going to
take a lot of work and effort on my part. That sure sounds like work to
me!
The Fourth Step: Faith that Leads to the New Birth of Water and Spirit
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: This is why you need
Jesus to give you a New Nature. Jesus said: “Most assuredly,
I say to you, unless one is born of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God”
(Jn 3:5). You must be born of God’s Holy Spirit, if you wish to
be saved. For when you believe in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, repent
of all your sins, and confess Him as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit of
God will come into you at that very moment, and give you a new nature to help
you overcome your sinful nature.
My Response: Now you are telling me that I must be born of
God's Spirit. I sure wish you would make up your mind about how a person
receives Eternal Life. First you tell me the moment I believe in the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ I am saved. Then you change it to the
moment I confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Then you changed it again to the
moment I repent of my sins. Now you change it to the moment I believe, confess,
repent, and receive God’s Spirit. Now which is it?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: If you truly believe
the gospel, your faith will lead you to do everything that God requires of you
to be saved. The moment you do all these things God will give you His Holy
Spirit and you will have Eternal Life.
My Response: What about water baptism? You did mention water
baptism in the passage of John you just quoted! Some Preachers teach that the
apostle John declared in his gospel that a person must “be
born of the water” or “be baptized” to be Saved
or receive Eternal Life?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Oh no, that is a
doctrine of works. The person who believes that is trying to earn salvation by
his or her works.
[An
exegetical comment: Any preacher who would be so foolish to say water baptism
is a work of the Law of Moses System, should also claim that faith and
repentance is a work of the Law. For Moses’ Law required all Old Testament
believers to believe in God and His holy laws. It also required all of God’s
people to repent and forsake all their sins (Lev 26: 18, 21, 24, 28; Pro
28:13; Eze 18:29-32; 14:6).]
My Response: Where in the Bible does it say: “Water baptism is a doctrine of
the works of the Law of Moses?” There is not one place in the
Old Testament where God required any Jew to be water baptized to be saved.
Where is your scriptural proof that water baptism is not just another step of
faith in obeying the gospel? After all, if you truly believe the gospel, you
will be baptized in water. How can you or any other preacher teach that
believing, repentance, and confessing Jesus as God and Savior are works or acts
of faith a believer must do to receive eternal life, and then teach God’s
command for believers to become born of water, or to be water baptized, is not
also an act of faith in obeying the gospel of Christ?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: Water baptism has
nothing to do with your salvation. You must believe me. I did not go to
Seminary School for four years for nothing you know. It was there that I
learned that water baptism is a doctrine that denies the grace of God. Anyone
who believes that it is connected with salvation is trying to be saved by his
of her own works.
[An
exegetical comment: When a Seminary teaches this doctrine of hell, it should be
called Cemetery School so the honest hearted would know to stay away
from it. The New Catholic Encyclopedia
says: Christian
Baptism is the NT fulfillment and replacement of circumcision (Col 2:11). Just
as Jewish circumcision meant reception into the Old Covenant, so too Christian
Baptism means reception into the New. Circumcision was the seal of the faith
of Abraham. Rightly understood, circumcision is of the heart (Rom 2:29) and
leads directly to Christian Baptism. Christian Baptism is ‘the circumcision of
Christ’ (Col 2:11).... Faith is required for Baptism and there is no true
faith that does not lead to baptism (cf. Gal 3:25-27). [10]]
My Response: But you quoted John 3:5,
which indisputably stated that everyone: “Must be born of Water
and Spirit.” Not just Spirit alone, but also Water. Did Jesus
lie?
The Protestant Pastor’s Response: You must rightly
interpret God’s Word. That is why I went to Seminary School, so I could learn
how. The word water in the first part of verse 5 is symbolism
for the Word of God or the gospel, for the Bible teaches that God sanctified
and cleanse His church with “the washing of water by the
word” (Eph 5:26). The word Spirit in the second part of this verse must
be taken literally to mean Spirit. What Jesus was teaching is that a
person must be born of the “Word of God by believing the Gospel message, and then
receive the Holy Spirit,” or he or she will be lost.
My Response: If you make the first
part of this verse symbolism, then you must also make the second part
symbolism? If I, like you, wanted to spiritualize away the simple truth
of the Word of God, I could claim that the word Spirit in the second part of
this verse represents water baptism. I could say, “Jesus compared the Spirit to
water baptism” when He said: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of
his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke
concerning the Spirit” (Jn 7:38-39).
I,
like you, could twist John 3:5 to mean: “one must be born of the Word of God or the
gospel and water baptism.” What gives you or anyone
else the authority to spiritualize away God’s Infallible Word? I believe that
Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said. There is absolutely no support
from the context of this passage that demands or supports a symbolic
interpretation! Have you not read Dr. Harry A. Ironside’s golden rules for interpreting
the Bible? He said: Whenever the
scripture makes sense, look for no other sense, or in other words, “Take the Bible literally when the language is clear
and direct.”
Besides this, water is never
used as a symbol for the Word of God in the Bible. Paul was not teaching in Ephesians 5:26 that water baptism was symbolism for the
gospel. The “washing of water
[loutron] by the word [rhema]” really represented the invocation of the name of
Jesus in baptism. Weymouth, in his translation of the New Testament, correctly
translated this verse as: “Christ loved the Church... cleansing her with the
baptismal water by the word.” Phillips’ translation of the Bible translated it
as: “Christ
gave Himself to make her holy through baptism in His name.”
Bishop Cyprian in AD 255 quoted this verse this way: The blessed apostle sets forth and proves that baptism
is that wherein the old man dies and the new man is born, saying, ‘He saved us by the washing of regeneration….’ For
it is the Church alone which, conjoined and united with Christ, spiritually
bears sons; as the same apostle again says, ‘Christ
loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing
it with the washing of water. [11]
Dr. F. F. Bruce speaking of
the above verse wrote: Cleansing
it by water and word... [or] cleansing her by the
washing of water accompanied by the spoken word…. The accompanying
‘word’ (Gk. rhema) is probably not here Holy Scripture but the word
of confession or invocation spoken by the convert, as in Ananias' words to
Paul: ‘Rise and be baptized, and wash away your
sins, calling on his name’” (Acts 22:16). [12]
Drs. Friberg speaking of the Greek word “loutron” says
it means: Bath; fig
in the NT, as a baptismal term (#17482); and the Greek word “rhema” they declared: one must focus on content or context, for it could
mean ‘a single word, saying, utterance
(#23976).
Rhema in the above verse is
in the dative case (indirect
object),
neuter gender and singular number. Since rhema is in the
singular number and not plural, it should not be translated as words as many,
but as word as one, like the word Jesus. When rhema is used in the plural
number, it usually refers to a new or recent prophecy from the Lord or a
special word from God to an individual, that is, one that is used in the vocal
gifts of the Spirit.
Dr. Murray Beasley speaking
of John 3:5 wrote: At a time when the employment of water for cleansing
in view of the last day had taken the specific form of baptism, it is difficult
to take seriously any other reference than baptism. [13]
Professor Dwight Pentecost, a Baptist theologian, speaking of the above passage
wrote: To interpret water as only
a symbol of the Word of God… would be to render our Lord’s answer
unintelligible to Nicodemus. [14]
Dr. Pentecost’s statement is
very profound and deserves additional investigation; for there is no place in
the Old Testament that uses the word water to refer to the Word of God. Since
this is true, how could Nicodemus be expected to understand the truth of what
Jesus taught? Why would our Lord reprove him for not understanding? Why would
Jesus describe one aspect of the new birth literally and another aspect
symbolically? None of this would make any sense if our Lord had placed a
spiritual interpretation to the literal word water! It is evident that Jesus expected Nicodemus
to make a connection between water baptism and the New Birth. The Jewish Encyclopedia
revealed that a gentile proselyte could not enter into the Old Covenant unless
he was reborn through water baptism. It declared: The bathing in the water
is to constitute a rebirth, where ‘the ger is like a child just born’ (Yeb 48b). [15]
Some Protestant Pastors Respond To Water Baptism Mention in John 3:5
this Way: The word water in this verse
is symbolism for the natural birth and the word Spirit represents the spiritual
birth. What Jesus is teaching, they say, is “Unless
a man had been born of water [meaning
the natural birth], and become born of the Spirit [meaning
the spiritual birth], he can not enter into the kingdom of God.”
My Response: Why do you take this verse out of its
grammatical structure? Did Seminary School teach to translate or interpret this
verse this way? If it did, it is not a Seminary School but a Cemetery School.
There is not one translation of the Bible that would dare translate verse 5 that
way. The New King James translated it as: “Most assuredly, I say to
you, unless one is born [gennhqh/] of Water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God;” and the New International Version
as: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of
God unless he is born of Water and the Spirit.”
The
Greek verb “gennhqh” or “gennao” is in the aorist tense, passive voice, and subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood is
the mood
of possibility, that is, it is not in the indicative mood which
is a statement of fact. Drs. Friberg speaking of the voice
of this
verb stated: Passive, of the spiritual
new birth be born, be regenerated (JN 3.3) (#5344). Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
speaking of the verb “gennao” declared: to beget,’ in the passive voice, ‘to be born….’
In <John 3:3,5, 7>, the Greek adverb ‘anothen,’ ‘anew, or
from above,’ accompanies the simple verb gennao.”
Therefore,
Greek grammar demands that these verses be understood of a spiritual birth and not
the natural birth. The Greek adverb “anothen” connected with the verb “gennao” cannot
refer to a natural birth but a birth from above or a spiritual birth. This
is why the YLT and NAB translated John 3:3 as: “born from above,” and
ASV, DBY, RSV, and TNT as: “born anew,” and
the KJV, NKJ, NIV, and NAS as: “born again.”
The International Standard Bible Encylopaedia, in
an article entitled “Baptismal Regeneration,” made this very interesting comment on the
above passage of scripture: The two
leading texts of Scripture which declare in plain terms that baptism
is a means for effecting regeneration in the strict sense are Jn 3:5 and Tit
3:5. But this doctrine is implied in Acts 2:38; Eph 5:26; Gal 3:27; 1 Pet
3:21. In Jn 3:7 it is immaterial whether Grk: anothen gennethenai is
rendered ‘to be born from above’ or ‘to be born a second time.’ For the second birth
is never of the flesh (Jn 1:13; 3:4,5); hence, is always of divine
origin, ‘from above….’
Baptism is an instrument by which the Holy Spirit
effects regeneration. ‘Water and the Spirit’ (Jn 3:5) is a paraphrastic
description of baptism: ‘water,’ inasmuch as the man is baptized therewith (1
Jn 5:7,8; Eph 5:26) for the forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:33; 22:16; 1 Cor 6:11),
and ‘Spirit,’ inasmuch as the Holy Ghost is given to the person baptized in
order to his spiritual renewal and sanctification. ‘Both together… constitute
the objective and causative element out of which (compare Jn 1:13) the birth
from above is produced (ek)’ (Meyer)…. ‘From Eph 5:26 it is clear
that it can mean nothing else than baptism; compare too, Heb 10:22; 1
Cor 6:11; Acts 22:16.’
Of this laver of regeneration Paul says that through
it (Grk: dia), i.e. by its instrumentality,
men are saved. Meyer is right when, correcting a former view of his, he
states: "According to the context, Paul calls baptism the bath of the
new birth, not meaning that it pledges us to the new birth (to
complete the process of moral purification, of expiation and sanctification,’
Matthies), nor that it is a visible image of the new birth (De Wette),
for neither in the one sense nor in the other could it be regarded as a means
of saving. Paul uses that name for it as the bath by means of which God
actually brings about the new birth.’ [16]
In the same encyclopedia
under the heading of, Baptism - The Baptist Interpretation, we read: In Col
2:12 Paul again [Rom 6:1-5] says: ‘having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were
also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from
the dead.’ The same image is here presented. Lightfoot (Church of
England) on Colossians (p. 182 ) says: ‘Baptism is the grave of the old man,
and the birth of the new. As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the
believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins; as he
emerges thence, he rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and new
life.’ There is nothing in the New Testament to offset this obvious and inevitable
interpretation. There are some things [meaning objections], which
are brought up, but they vanish on examination. [17]
Protestant Pastors Response: If water baptism is part of
the New Birth, then why would Paul say: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to
preach the gospel” (1Co 1:17)? Obviously Paul did not think it was important or he would have never
made that statement.
My Response: Many Protestant theologians, who have commented on
this passage, have declared that Paul is not teaching against the
essentiality of water baptism; for example, Dr. Bruce declared: Paul’s references to baptism in 1
Cor. 1. 14-17, does not mean that he regarded the sacrament itself as unimportant,
but that the identity of the baptizer was unimportant. [18]
Dr. Bruce’s point is well taken, for what was the context of the apostle
Paul’s remarks? Was he preaching against the necessity of water baptism in the
New Birth or against disunity in the Church, by their glorification
of preachers?
It was obviously disunity
for Paul wrote: “For it has been
declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that
there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you
says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of
Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you
baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of
you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my
own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do
not know whether I baptized any other” (1Co
1:11-15).
To baptize in one own name
meant, in Christian terminology, that the person being baptized belong to or
was the property of the one whose name is called over him or her in baptism. It
is obvious from the context that the apostle was not preaching against
water baptism, but against disunity. “He was frustrated with some these Corinthians because
they were exalting or glorifying the preacher who baptized them as, the apostle
of Christ, thereby claiming to belong to that sect.” This divided the body of
Christ into hostile forces. It was for this reason why Paul said he was happy
that he baptized none of them but a few.
Therefore, Paul's correction of the Corinthians does
not negate the essentiality of water baptism in God’s plan of salvation. My
beloved readers should keep in mind the many passages in the Bible, especially
Paul’s teaching, that reveals the essentiality of water baptism; for example, Paul baptized the Philippian
Jailer and his family in the middle of the night, having his back beaten with a
rod in which he received “many stripes”(Acts 16:22-23)! How can anyone read about Paul’s great
sacrifice and say he did not believe that baptism was important? In Titus 3:5,
Paul referred to water baptism as: the “washing of regeneration” or the “washing of the New Birth.” Preacher is it not time for you start preaching God’s truth!
Besides
all this, Doctors John M’Clintock and James Strong, in their Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological and
Ecclesiastical Literature, revealed that they and a host of other theologians
believed that water in
John 3:5 most definitely referred to water baptism. They quoted Dr. Hooker as
saying: For
the first fifteen centuries no one had ever doubted its application to [water] baptism. [19]
Therefore, no one can biblically or historically deny that water baptism is not
part of the New Birth or God’s regenerative process. Therefore, water baptism
is one of the steps of faith that God requires for a believer to receive
His grace for salvation. There cannot be any true faith that does not lead to
water baptism!
GOD’S NEW BIRTH MESSAGE
This
chapter is an excerpt from my book, “Water Baptism: The Essentiality, The
Mode, The Formula.”
For
the New Birth message to have any importance in God’s plan of salvation, it
would have to be connected to the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ; for it was by means of Jesus’ complete and perfect atonement that
God made a way for every man to receive Eternal Life. As my beloved readers
read the following study on the New Birth, I challenge them to love God enough
to prove this message either true or false; for many, like myself, have
discovered truth by trying to prove it wrong!
Brother
Cupit, my first pastor, often said when he preached on the New Birth: “I rather you leave here either
mad or glad, but please do not walk away indifferent.” For
if you are angry, you will go home and try to prove it wrong, but if you are
glad then obviously God has given you the revelation of the truth. If you are
unresponsive that means you do not take your salvation seriously, therefore,
you will not take the time to try to prove it wrong! I would much rather see
someone fight against the truth, as the apostle Paul did before God gave him
understanding, than for that person to be indifferent toward truth and die
lost!
Water And Spirit Baptism Is How The Believer
Enters Into Jesus’ Death, Burial, And Resurrection
Water
baptism is not a symbolic ritualistic ceremonial washing as many Protestant
preachers try to make it today. “It is the only way a believer can enter into
the Lord Jesus Christ’s death and burial. Spirit baptism is how a believer
enters into Jesus’ resurrection. Water and Spirit Baptisms is how God applies
the precious, sinless blood of Jesus to a believer’s life so their sins can be
blotted out.” The apostle Paul taught this truth this way: “For you are all
sons of God through faith in [the gospel of] Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized
into [eis] Christ have put on
Christ” (Ga 3:26-27); and “Do you not know that as
many of us as were baptized into [eis] Christ Jesus
were baptized into [eis] His death? Therefore, we
were buried with Him through baptism into [eis] death…. For if we
have been united [or planted] together in the likeness
of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom 6:3-5).
There
is absolutely no way the words buried and planted could be speaking of Spirit
Baptism as some claim. How foolish it would be to say: “We are buried with Him
by Spirit baptism into death.” The Spirit of God brings life not death.
The great apostle revealed that it is water baptism that places the believer
into the death and burial of Christ. He also revealed that it is Spirit baptism
that places the believer into the resurrection of Christ (Rom 8:11; 1Co 12:13).
Tertullian
(AD 200)
confirmed this great truth when he proclaimed: “Whence it follows that they [dead saints] who have by faith attained to the resurrection, are
with the Lord after they have once put Him on in their baptism.”
[20] Cyprian (AD 255) wrote against the validity of water baptism
of so-called heretics who are not Catholic. He argued that if their baptism is
legal, then they have put on Christ, or have entered into His death and burial,
and are now eligible to be born of the Spirit. Cyprian said it this way: “The apostle says, ‘As
many of you as have been [water] baptized into Christ have
put on Christ.’ He who having been baptized among the heretics is
able to put on Christ, may [now] much more receive the Holy Spirit whom Christ
sent.” [21]
Cyril (AD 380), Archbishop of Jerusalem, in his
lecture “On Baptism,” not only connected it to our entrance into the death and
burial of Jesus, but the purification and salvation of our soul and body. He
wrote: “Or know ye
not that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His
death? We were buried therefore with Him by our baptism into death [Rom 6:3-4]…. Since man is of twofold nature soul and body, the purification
also is twofold. The one incorporeal for the incorporeal part, and the
other bodily for the body: the water cleanses
the body, and the Spirit
seals the soul; that we may draw near unto
God, ‘having our heart sprinkled’ by the Spirit, ‘and our body washed with pure water….’ For without both
thou canst not possibly be made perfect. It is not I that say
this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the power in this matter: for He
saith, ‘Except a man be born anew of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” [22]
The Apostle Paul Taught The New Birth
Consisted Of Water And Spirit Baptism
Paul
speaking of the New Birth told Titus: “not by the works of
righteousness [meaning keeping the Law of Moses] which we have
done, but according to His mercy [grace] He saved us, through
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5). How
did Paul say a believer became born again? Was it by our good works or by being
a good moral person or keeping the Law of Moses? No, it was by our entering
into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus through the New Birth of water
and Spirit baptisms. The word “washing” is the Greek word “loutron.”
Professor Walter Bauer, in his Greek-English Lexicon Of The New Testament And Other
Early Christian Literature, defined it as: the bath of the whole body that brings
about the New Birth. [23]
The word “regeneration” is
the Greek word “paliggenesia, Dr.
James Strong, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible,
defined it to mean: rebirth, the state or act. [24]
Archbishop Trench, in his Synonyms of The
New Testament, stated: The washing of regeneration whereof St. Paul
speaks has to do with that New-Birth. [25]
The Tyndale Bible (AD 1525) and The Great Bible (AD 1539)
translated this verse thus: “He saved us by the fountayne
of the Newe Byrth;” the Rheims Bible (AD 1582) as: “the laver
of regeneration;” the NIV translated as: “He
saved us through the washing of the rebirth;” Weymouth as: “the
bath of regeneration;”
Young as: “a bathing of regeneration:” Rotherham as: “the bathing of the new birth;" the New Revised Standard Version as: “the water of rebirth,” and The English Bible In
Basic English as: “the washing of
the new birth and the giving of new life in the Holy Spirit.”
Drs.
M’Clintock and Strong speaking of this verse stated: All the ancient and most modern
commentators have interpreted it [water] of baptism.... Calvin
held that the bath meant baptism. [26]
The conclusion of this verse is really inescapable, that is, the apostle
connects the New Birth with water baptism. Only a very bias theologian, or a blinded
brainwashed believer, would deny that this verse teaches that the water baptism
is part of God’s New Birth plan! Those who teach that water baptism denies
God’s grace, in actually, are preventing those who believe their doctrine of
devils from receiving God’s grace. For no one can receive God grace, that is,
enter into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ any other way than the
New Birth of “water and Spirit’ (Jn 3:5)!
Paul
again confirmed Jesus’ teaching that the New Birth consisted of water and
Spirit baptism, when he told the Corinthians: “But you were washed,
but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co 6:11). How
did the Corinthians become washed, sanctified and justified? Paul says it was
by becoming born again of water and Spirit. They were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. If my
readers would compare this verse with Act 2:38, they would discover
that the name of the Lord Jesus was received in water baptism. Sanctification
and justification begin at the New Birth, but it continues all through the life
of the believer. This is the second passage that confirms Jesus’ teaching that
the New Birth consisted of “water and Spirit.”
Dr.
Hastings speaking of the above verse in Corinthians wrote: water baptism is not mentioned but certainly implied,
it is represented as a cleansing effected through the name of the Lord
and through the Divine Spirit.... The importance of this passage is that
it explains that baptism can produce these effects because it works in
the name.... Baptism is regarded as really giving these results, and not
merely as a sign. [27]
When a
believer is water baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he or she is
not only identifying with Jesus’ death and burial, but is actually entering
into Jesus’ death and burial. Identifying is only symbolism but entering
into is receiving all the benefits of Jesus’ great atonement. There is a world
of difference between those two concepts! I might also add, water baptism in
the name of Jesus is the only way a believer can become adopted into God’s
family, and receive or take on His name as His child (Eph 3:14-15)!
Let my readers take note,
water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit baptism, or the New
Birth experience, is how Christians become washed, sanctified and justified in
the sight of God. Water baptism alone did not do it, and Spirit baptism alone
did not do it, for it takes both to do it. This is true because, as I stated
before, no one can receive the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and
Savior any other way than by being born of water and Spirit. All through the
book of Acts water and Spirit baptism are mentioned together when anyone became
born again, or had the blood of Jesus applied to them (Acts 2:37-38; 8:12,15-17; 9:17-18 & 22:16;
10:44-48; 19:1-6).
Jesus
also taught the New Birth in mystery form, for He said: “Most assuredly,
I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His blood, you have no [Eternal] Life in you” (Jn 6:53). The
only way anyone can become partakers of His flesh and blood, or enter into His
death, burial, and resurrection, is by becoming born of water and Spirit. The
Lord’s Supper is a memorial, or a symbolic expression, of the price our dear
Lord paid to save us from a devil’s hell and give us the great gift of Eternal
Life. By the way, the gift of Eternal Life is the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is
Eternal Life (1Jn
1:1-2). Therefore, the Lord’s Supper is God way of reminding
us of His great love for us, and how we became partakers of His body and blood
by means of the New Birth.
The Blood Of Jesus Is Applied At The New Birth
Spirit, Water, And Blood Bear
Witness To The New Birth: No one can separate water
baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and Spirit baptism from the blood
of Christ. The apostle John told all true
believers that the New Birth is how the blood of Jesus is applied to their
spirit, soul and body. He said that these baptisms constitute one witness
to them concerning their salvation. John said it this way: “and three are [eisi] who are testifying
[martureo] in the earth, the Spirit, and the water,
and the blood, and the three are [eisi] into the one” (1Jn 5:8, YLT). According to Drs. Friberg, the Greek verb “eisi” means: “be,
relating to what exists; (1) to denote God's existence (HE 11.6); o` w;n the one
who is, exists (RV 1.4); (2) to denote Christ's self-designation
of himself evgw, eiv. I am (JN 8.58). [28]
The Greek verbal participle “martureo” is plural in number, and it
means witnessing or testifying.
Therefore,
according to John, the Spirit baptism, water baptism, and the blood of Jesus,
are all witnessing on the earth of one thing, that is, the Eternal Life
that comes from Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. John confirmed this
truth when he declared: “If we receive the witness of men, the
witness [marturia] of God is
greater; for this is the witness [marturia] of God
which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in [eis - into] the Son of God has the witness [marturia] in himself;
he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed
the testimony [marturia] that God has given of His Son. And this
is the testimony [marturia]: that God has given
us Eternal Life, and this [Eternal] Life is in His Son” (verses 9-11). “Marturia” is the Greek noun form of the
verb “martureo.” Hence, if we have truly believed into
Christ, then we will have a witness of the blood, a witness of water
baptism in His Name, and a witness of God’s Holy Spirit, that our
faith, obedience, and belief in the gospel of Christ is a correct one.
Paul,
like Jesus and John, taught that water baptism and Spirit baptism constitute
one New Birth, which brings to us the Eternal Life that is in Christ. Paul
taught that there is one and only one: “one Lord, one
faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5). There are no contradictions
between this verse and the one in Hebrews, where Paul spoke of the foundational
doctrines the Church was founded upon. He wrote: “Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead
works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms” (Heb
6:1-2).
Therefore, Paul revealed that water and Spirit baptisms are considered as one
baptism in the sight of God. In other words, the New Birth does not consist
of water baptism alone, or Spirit baptism alone, but it takes both to
constitute the New Birth; one is incomplete without the other, for no one can
be saved by one alone, it takes both to receive Eternal Life! It takes both to
enter into Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.
It takes both to apply the blood
of Christ to a believer’s soul and spirit. This
is why God used the imagery of the blood being applied in three
places in the Old Testament in connection to the salvation He provided for
His children: 1) God saved all the firstborn children of God in Egypt from
death, who had the Lamb’s blood applied on the two side posts
and the lintel of the door to their home. 2) Under the Old or Mosaic
Covenant, God would not blot out Israel’s sins on the Day of Atonement, until
the Lamb’s blood was applied on the Brazen Altar in the Outer
Court, all the furniture the Holy Place, and on the Mercy Seat in
the Holy of Holies. All of these types represented Jesus’ death, burial,
and resurrection, and the New Birth of “water and Spirit” that
placed us into Christ!
Blood Is
For The Remission Of Sins: The Bible clearly revealed
that the precious blood of Jesus is for the remission of sins (Rom 3:25; Ga 1:4; Eph 1:7; Col
1:14; Heb 9:22; Rev 1:5). It also informed us that Jesus’ death at
Calvary alone did not bring remission of sin, but it also took His resurrection
from the dead, before His holy sinless blood could be applied to the human
race. For “if Christ is
not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1Co 15:17). Therefore, Jesus had to die, and be buried, and be
resurrected from the dead before His holy sinless blood could remit anyone’s
sins.
At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus
connected the New Covenant with His blood when He said, “For this is my blood of
the New Testament [or New Covenant], which is shed for many for [eis] the remission [aphesis] of sins” (Mt 26:28). The Greek noun “diatheke” is used 33 times and is translated as covenant 20
times, testament 13 times. It means a testament or will, a compact or a
covenant. The Greek word “aphesis” is used 17 times, and is
translated as remission 9 times, forgiveness 6 times, deliverance 1 time, and
liberty 1 time. Dr. Thayer declared it means: 1)
release from bondage or imprisonment 2) forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting
them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty. [29]
The
Word of God clearly declares that everyone who wants to be saved must enter
into Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, by means of the New Covenant, to
have the blood of Jesus applied to their spirit, soul and body. For the
scripture says: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, says the LORD: ‘I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their
minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission [aphesis] of these, there
is no longer an offering for sin”
(Heb 10:16-18).
The Name
Of The Lord Jesus Christ In Water Baptism Is For The Remission Of Sins: Jesus
gave His apostles and disciples the Great Commission or the Gospel of the New
Covenant. He told them “repentance
and remission [aphesis] of sins should be preached in His name
to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47). Peter, being in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, obeyed the Great
Commission by preaching water baptism for the remission of sins, in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He told the believing Jews, who believed the gospel: “Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for [eis - into] the remission [aphesis] of sins; and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”(Acts 2:38). In both passages of scriptures, Dr. Luke connected
remission of sins to the name of Jesus, which Peter connected to water baptism.
The Greek
preposition “eis” is in the accusative
case (direct
object) and essentially means “into.” Some preachers who distort or twist the Word of God
declare that “eis” should be translated as:
“because of the remission of sins.” The
NIV, DBY, RSV, NAB, and NAS all translate it as “for,” and the ASV as “unto.” There is not one translation of the Bible that I know of that
translated “eis” as “because of.” Not one of these false prophets would dare translate or interpret Matthew 26:28 as: “This
is my blood… which is shed for many because of [eis] the remission [aphesis] of
sins” (Mt 26:28). In this passage, the preposition “eis” is also in the “accusative case!” O’ the pits deceivers fall
into when they sow their seeds of deceit.
Peter preached the same New
Birth message to the gentiles at Cornelius’ house as he did to the Jews on the
Day of Pentecost. He said: “To Him [Jesus] all the prophets witness that
through His name, whoever believes in [eivj -
into] Him will receive remission [aphesis] of sins” (Ac 10:43). Cornelius and those in his house then received the
Holy Ghost and began to praise God in tongues. Now, since water baptism in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and is part of God’s
New Birth message, Peter “commanded them to be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Verse 48,
NIV, also see the ASV, NAS, NAB, RSV, & TLB). Therefore, their New
Birth consisted of being born of the Spirit first and then the water!
Ananias obeyed the Great
Commission for he told Paul, three days after he became a believer
in the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord: “Why
are you waiting? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away [apolouo] your sins, calling
upon the name of the Lord” (Ac 22:16)! Since the verb is in the
imperative mood, it is a command and not an option; and because it is in
the middle voice, it means to be cleanse or purified from sins.
Therefore, water baptism in the New Birth is definitely connected to the blood
of Christ, which is for the remission of sins.
As we
look for the harmony in all of the above scriptures, we should ask where, or at
what point, does the precious blood of Christ remit a believer’s sins? Is it at
the moment one believes the gospel? If so, why has God through His Word
connected water baptism in the name of Jesus and Spirit baptism with remission
of sins? Is it when a believer is baptized in the name of Jesus? If so, why has
God connected Spirit baptism with remission of sins? Is it when a believer is
baptized into the Spirit? If so, why has God connected water baptism in the
name of Jesus with remission of sins?
Permit
me to ask you a question; can one Scripture in the Holy Word of God contradict
another? Since the obvious answer is no, let us follow the principles of
hermeneutics and find an interpretation that will harmonize with all the
scriptures on this most important doctrine. The only logical conclusion would
be that our sins are remitted through the blood of Christ, which is applied to
us when the name of Jesus is invoked over us in water baptism, and when we
receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Bible calls this the New Birth.
Another
way of stating the above truth, is by saying, our Day of Atonement, by which
our sins are blotted out of God’s memory forever, will only come on the day we
complete the New Birth. If we have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,
and we have not received the Holy Ghost, our Day of Atonement has not come. If
we have received the Holy Ghost and have not been baptized in Jesus’ Name, our
Day of Atonement is still in the future, for it has not yet come.
God by
His great grace cleanses our conscience from all the guilt of
sins the moment we believe the gospel and repent of our sins, but He will still
remember our sins until our Day of
Atonement has come. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that we believe
into the death and burial of Christ by being water baptized in the
holy sin cleansing name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe into His resurrection
by being baptized in the Holy Ghost. The blood of our Passover Lamb can only be
applied to our spirit, soul and body by means of the New Birth.
Water Baptism Is The Place Where God
Performs Heart Surgery On The Believer
God
established a covenant with Abraham, in which circumcision was given as a sign
and a seal of this covenant. Paul said Abraham: “received
the sign of circumcision, [as a] seal of the righteousness of the faith he had” (Rom
4:11). Every male child that was not circumcised was not in a covenant
relationship with God and was under the death sentence. God spoke to Abraham
and said: “the
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,
that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant” (Gen 17:10-14).
There was absolutely no way anyone could be saved without circumcision under
God’s Old Testament Covenant. The covenant of circumcision was symbolic
of cutting off the very fountainhead of sin, which came from the heart of man.
God told Israel: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take
away the foreskins of your heart… lest my fury come forth like fire”
(Jer 4:4).
The
apostle Paul told the Colossians that Jesus Christ performed heart surgery on
them or circumcised their hearts in water baptism. This circumcision of the
heart made it possible for the Holy Spirit to reign freely on the throne of
their heart. Paul said that the believer was: “circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands” (Col 2:11-12). What
was the result of this circumcision? The “putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh.” Where did this body of sin
originate? Jesus taught sin originates in our heart (Mt 15:18-19; Rom 2:29).
Where did this heart surgery take place? “Buried with Him in
baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him.”
The
apostle Paul openly declared in the above verses that God circumcised our
hearts in water baptism, where our human spirit no longer desires to
live in or practice sin. Drs. M’Clintock and Strong speaking of this verse wrote:
The obvious
reason for the comparison of the two rites is that circumcision was the entrance
to the Jewish Church and the Ancient Covenant. They
continued by saying: whereas water baptism is the entrance into
the
Christian Church and the New Covenant.... Paul therefore calls baptism the
circumcision made without hands and speaks of the putting off of the sins of
the flesh. [30]
For
this reason, Paul declared that God’s children have power over sin, whereby we
are no longer its slaves. Paul wrote: “How shall we who died to sin live any
longer in it”
(Rom 6:2)? Paul went on to tells us how and when we became
dead to sin. He said: “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried
[sunthapto] with Him through
baptism into death…. For if we have been united together in the likeness
of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the
body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves
of [or
practice or continue in] sin…. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that
we shall also live with Him” (Verses 3-8).
Let my
readers take note, the apostle declared that God’s children became dead to sin
in water baptism, not when they repented of their sins. Even though repentance
means that a believer should be determine and make ever effort to forsake all
sins and turn their back on it, and turn their face toward God, this does not
mean he or she has the power to live in continuous victory over sin. Only a
heart transplant can give the believer the power to live for God in holiness,
and that takes place in water baptism.
If the
word buried has any meaning at all, there is absolutely no way that water
baptism in these verses of scripture could represent Spirit baptism. Dr. Thayer defines the Greek
verb “sunthapto” as: to bury together with… Rom 6:4… Col 2:12; for
all who in the rite of baptism are plunged
under the water (#5094). Dr. Bauer defined it as: of the
believers being buried together with their Lord in baptism… Col 2:12 (#7100). All of the above references should be ample proof to anyone with an
honest heart that Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12 are
speaking of water baptism and not Spirit Baptism.
When
the apostle declares that the believers’ old man has been crucified what does
he mean by that? It cannot mean that our sinful nature has been eradicated,
eliminated, or exterminated, for if that was so there would be no way that a
child of God could sin, even if he or she wanted to. The very fact that John
told holy men and women of God “if anyone sins” (1Jn 2:1), lets us know that born again believer still have
a sin nature. If God’s children had no sin nature, then why did Paul teach that
the new heart or nature that God has given all born again believers, which is
the very nature of Christ or the Holy Spirit, wars against our old nature or
old man (Ga 5:16-17).
Therefore,
I ask again what does Paul mean that our old man was crucified with Christ? The
answer is given over and over again not only in this passage but in the entire
chapter. Paul admonished all of God's children that they should not be ignorant
of what happened to them when they were baptized into Jesus’ death and burial. He
simply told them that they have now entered into or became partakers of Jesus’
death, and burial, and therefore our old man or sinful nature was put to death
with Jesus at Calvary. According to Paul, God has circumcised our hearts
and has given us a new nature, and has removed the old sinful nature,
not out of our flesh, but from the throne of our hearts; or in other words, the
old man no longer rules and reigns on the throne of our hearts any longer. It
does not control our desires any longer. Therefore, we are no longer slaves to
sin.
We do
not have to live in or continue in, or practice sin any longer; in other words,
sin does not have dominion over us or dominate our heart’s desires any longer,
whereby we are its slaves, for the new heart or new nature that God has given
us desires holiness and righteousness. The Holy Spirit of God is now free to
rule on the thrones of our hearts. This is why the great apostle Paul told us
that we are a: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2Co 5:17).
The
apostle Peter, like Paul, gave a similar analogy of the role of water baptism
in bringing the believer into a New Birth, whereby the believer becomes a New
Man. He compared how Noah and his family were saved by means of water, to the
role water baptism plays in the believer’s salvation. He said: “this water symbolizes baptism that
now saves you” (1Pe 3:20-21, NIV). Let my readers take note; the
Bible did not say water baptism was a mere sign or symbol of salvation.
It unequivocally and without dispute declared water baptism plays an important
role in our salvation. What does your pastor declare?
Professor
Maurice Goguel, in his book on church history The Primitive Church, confirmed this truth when he wrote: The idea of being saved from water would have been expected rather
than through water…. The preposition may signify as it usually does by
means of - in this case the meaning would be, ‘he was saved by water which
carried the Ark....’ The common feature between the Ark and baptism is that
they are means of salvation. [31]
Since
the Bible boldly proclaimed that Noah and his family were save by means of
water, what does this mean? Before we can examine the role the water played in
their and our salvation, we must understand what the Ark represented. This
story clearly portrays the salvation God offers to all men through the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Ark represented the man Jesus Christ. Just
as Noah and his family had to be in the Ark to be saved, all of mankind must be
in Christ to be saved from death and God’s wrath.
The
Ark was made of wood and had only one door and three levels (Gen 6:14-16). The
wood represented the humanity of Christ. The one door to
the ark represented the man Jesus Christ as the one and only mediator between
God and man (1Ti
2:5-6; Jn 10:7-9). For everyone who wants to be saved must go
through Him and get into Him. The three levels of the ark represented the
three natures of Jesus’ humanity, that is, His Spirit, Soul, and body. The
Spirit represented the highest level of the ark; the Soul the middle level, and
the body being the lowest nature represented the lowest level.
Now,
let’s examine the part water played in Noah’s and our salvation. The lowest
level of the Ark was entombed by water, which gives us a
beautifully portrait of Jesus’ death and His body entombed in the grave. The water was
the medium that God used to carry the ark to a new
world, which was a type of the resurrection and His ascension into
heaven. For Jesus’ death and burial was the medium that made the
resurrection possible. Jesus could not have been raised from the dead if He had
not first died.
Therefore,
water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is how believers, like Noah
and his family, can get into or become partakers of our Lord and Savior’s death
and burial. It is the medium that carries the believer from the old world of
bondage and sin to a new world of freedom and power. It is also the medium that
makes it possible for us to receive His Holy Spirit, which places us into
Jesus’ resurrection. Water baptism in Jesus’ name is God’s guarantee to
believers that they will receive His great and precious gift of the Holy Ghost
(Acts 2:38).
To
summarize the above story, Noah and his family to become saved from the wrath
or judgments of God, they had to FIRST believe God’s flood gospel, that
is, there was going to be flooded. Therefore, their only hope of salvation was
the Ark of Christ (Gen 6:17-18). SECOND, their faith would have to lead them to
action, for “faith without works is dead” (Ja 2:26).
Noah’s faith had to lead him to obey God’s explicit instructions or plan
of salvation (Gen
6:14-16; 7:5). Noah’s faith led him to enter into the Ark of
Christ, whereby he became entombed or buried inside of the Ark.
THIRD,
God used the water as the medium to carry all those in the
Ark of Christ to a place of safety. Let Us not forget, that God
delivered Noah and his family from the old world of sin they lived in by means
of water that carried the Ark to a new world. In the old sinful world sin sat
on its throne, which was located in the hearts of mankind, as an unconquered
king that enslaved it subjects. But in the new world Noah and his family were
free from the strong power and influence of sin. For all the sinful works of
the flesh were drown with all the sinners and left behind in the old world.
This
is a beautiful illustration of what water baptism in Jesus' Name will do for
the believer today. The apostle Paul in Col 2:10-11 and Rom 6:1-6
confirmed this great truth Peter taught in the above verses. Paul emphatically
declared that we entered into Jesus’ death and burial by means of water baptism
in His holy and glorious name. It was there that the old sinful heart was
circumcised, whereby sin no longer rules on the throne of our hearts any
longer. We are definitely free from its power to control out desires. This is
why we are no longer slaves to sin. Because the old man has been removed from
the throne of our heart, the Holy Spirit of God is now free come in and
reign.
Let us
never forget, the same baptismal waters that brought Noah and his family to a
place of safety and a new world, also condemned and destroyed all those who
refused to believe and obey God message of salvation. This same truth
definitely applies today, for all those who refuse to believe and obey Acts
2:38, God’s New Birth message, will die lost being on the outside of the Ark of
Christ. Yes, Jesus said what He meant, and meant what He said, every believer
in the gospel “must be born of water and Spirit.”
The Importance Of Water Baptism In The New Birth
The International Standard Bible Encylopaedia in an
article on the “ordinance of baptism” declared: Scripture… states in detail particular baptismal
blessings: (a) Regeneration, Tit 3:5; Jn 3:3,5. Despite Calvin and
others, the overwhelming consensus of interpreters still agrees with the
ancient church and with Luther in explaining both these texts of baptism. (b) Remission
of sins, or justification (Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Cor 6:11; Eph 5:26;
Heb 10:22)…. (c) The establishment of a spiritual union with Christ, and
a new relationship with God (Gal 3:26,27; Rom 6:3,4; Col 2:12). In this
connection the prepositions with which Grk: baptizein
in the New Testament connects may be noted. Grk: Baptizein eis, ‘to
baptize into,’ always denotes the relation into which the party
baptized is placed…. (d) The sanctifying gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor
12:13; Tit 3:5). [32]
This encyclopedia went on to
say: In the
New Testament we find that baptism is intimately connected with the following:
with remission of sins, as in Acts 22:16… with engrafting into Christ, with
union with Him, as in Gal 3:27 and union in definite ways in His
death, His burial, and His resurrection, as in Rom 6:3‑6…
with entering into a new relationship with God, that of sonship, as in
Gal 3:26‑29; …with the gift of salvation as in Mk 16:16 and Jn 3:5. From
these and similar passages theologians conclude that baptism is a sign and a
seal of our engrafting into Christ and our
union with him, of remission of sins, regeneration, adoption and Eternal Life. [33]
Dr.
James Hastings in his great work entitled, The Encyclopedia Of Religion and Ethics, speaking about the importance
of water baptism in the history from the 1st through the 8th century
declared: The
dominant ideas were those of forgiveness of sins [and] regeneration.... He is born
again to another world, and whereas in the world, which he leaves, he was
under the control of evil spirits and fate, and in the world that he enters he
is under the control of the Holy Spirit.... The change effected by baptism was
attributed to the name [of Jesus invoked at baptism] and to the water, which
were regarded as actually effective and not merely symbolic. This
view is strange to modern minds, especially to Protestants.... From the second
through eight century... the notions of baptism
in the church have not essentially altered. The result of baptism was universally
considered to be forgiveness of sins. [34]
Some
of the last words Jesus spoke to His apostles and disciples when giving them
the Great Commission were: “He who believes and is baptized will be
saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:16, YLT). Let
my readers take note, our great God and Savior placed believing the Gospel and
water baptism as two necessary elements in His plan for salvation. The verb “will
be saved” (swqh,setai) in
this verse is in the future tense, passive voice, and indicative mood. This
means salvation was in the future and not at the very moment one believes and
is water baptized.
All those who willingly
or ignorantly wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction, interpret
Jesus’ command this way: “He that
believeth is saved at that moment, and then should be baptized so they can make
a public confession of their salvation.” Anyone who would interpret this
scripture this way would be guilty of adding to and subtracting from the Word
of God. This can only mean that they are under the curse of Deuteronomy 4:21 and Revelation 22:18, unless they repent of this
evil. Therefore, Jesus in this passage, just like the passage when He spoke to
Nicodemus on the New Birth, connected salvation to water baptism.
The
apostle Matthew, like Mark, revealed that water baptism was part of the Great
Commission Jesus gave to his apostles. Matthew recorded Jesus’ teaching on
water baptism as: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name….” (Mt 28:19). The
physician Luke recorded Jesus’ command to baptize this way: “And
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47). The
apostle Peter knew and fulfilled the Great Commission when he preached
to the great multitude on the day of Pentecost. He said: “Repent
and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost” (Acts 2:38, KJV). In this verse, the great
apostle told us how to become saved. He declared water baptism in the sin cleansing
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the reception of the Holy
Spirit are how the New Birth takes place.
This
was the answer Peter gave to the thousands of Jews who crucified Christ, when
they asked him “and the rest of the apostles,
‘Men and brethren, what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)? The very context of these
scriptures reveals that these people believed Peter’s preaching about
Christ. This led them to repent. Therefore, they now wanted to know “how
they could be forgiven of their sins,” or “how they could become saved.” Peter, with the assent of all
the apostles who were present, told them clear and understandable terms how to
become born from above, in other words, how to become “born of the water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5).
Ananias
also connected water baptism to the remission of sins and salvation, when he
baptized Paul; for he told Paul: “Why are you waiting? Arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on [invoking] the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). The
apostle Paul connected the “New Birth of water and Spirit baptisms” to
justification, remission of sins, and the bath of the New Birth. Paul declared:
“You were washed, but
you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co 6:11); and “He saved us, through the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5). The
apostle Peter in clear and precise words proclaimed, baptism does “now
save us” (1Pe 3:21). Water baptism definitely
plays a part in our salvation, by placing the believer into the death
and burial of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where And When Did The Apostle Paul Experience The New Birth?
The
majority of Protestant denominations teach that Paul became born again on the
road to Damascus, but the Word of God does not agree with their position. The
following is the biblical order of events that happen to Paul on the road to
Damascus. No preacher would deny that it was there Paul saw Jesus in a vision,
and believed in His resurrection. It was there Paul acknowledged Jesus as the
LORD, repented of his sins, and obeyed the Word of God by going to Damascus.
The
Bible says it this way: “Suddenly a light shone
around him [Paul] from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice
saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are
You, LORD?’ Then the LORD said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting…. So he, trembling
and astonished, said, ‘LORD, what do You want me to do?’ Then the LORD said to him, ‘Arise and go into the
city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:3-6).
The
Bible also reveals that Paul prayed and fasted in Damascus for three days while
waiting for God to show him what to do (vss 8-9). Now tell me Preacher,
in the above order of events that happen to Paul, at what point would you
declare him to be saved or born again. If you say he received eternal life on
the road to Damascus, then please tell me how could a saved man not have the
Holy Spirit, or have his sins remitted?
For
Ananias came to him after these events, laid his hands on him and prayed for
him to receive his “sight and be filled with the Holy
Spirit. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like
scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized” in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 9:17-18). Therefore, the Bible
undeniably reveals that Paul was born of the Holy Spirit of God 3 days after
he believed the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
The
Samarians, like Paul, did not receive the Holy Spirit when they believed the
gospel. In fact, they were not born of the Spirit even after they were baptized
(Acts 8:5, 12). It was about 7 days after these events transpired: “When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the
word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down,
prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He
had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus” (vss 14-16).
It was
3 days after Paul believed the gospel that Ananias told him: “Why
are you waiting? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away [apolouo] your sins calling
on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16, also 6-15). Those who pervert the
scriptures teach that this verse should read: “Arise and be baptized for your
sins have been washed away.” The KJV, NKJ, NIV, ASV, NAS,
and RSV all translate this verse correctly as “Arise
and be baptized and wash away your sins.” Professor Darby’s translated it
as: “Arise and get baptized, and
have thy sins washed away.” The New American Bible translated it as: “Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed
away.”
Drs. Friberg speaking of this
verse says the Greek word “apolouo” is used: in the NT of the relation of baptism to pardon for
sins, as a breaking from the sinful past, wash away one’s sins (AC 22.16); become pure (1C 6.11) (#3176). Dr. Thayer defined it as: to wash off or away in the N. T.
twice in 1 aorist middle… 1 Cor. 6:11… [and] Acts 22:16. For the sinner is unclean, polluted as it were by
the filth of his sins. Whoever obtains remission of sins has his
sins put, so to speak, out of God’s sight -- is cleansed from them in the sight
of God. Remission is (represented as) obtained by undergoing baptism;
hence, those who have gone down into the baptismal bath… (Titus 3:5; Eph. 5:26)
are said… to have washed themselves, or…
to have washed away their sins, i. e.
to have been cleansed from their sins (#652).