Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Ok, before I make any statements, I am sure this has been hashed out many times on this forum. I don't simply want to reread other discussions, so please humor me...

Is baptism essential to be saved? This isn't a question of whether baptism in Jesus name is essential, so lets not turn this into a massive debate on Jesus name or FSHG... I just want to know if baptism is essential...

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

There are several "bapstisms" mentioned in the Scriptures. Ref Hebrews 6:2. We can't even agree among ourselves how many baptisms there are and if any or all of them are essential unto salvation.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

That was not the question... you can't say, well there are so many so we cant agree... I am simply asking if full water submersion with the invocation of some name is required for salvation.

This isn't a debate about OT baptisms -- not ritual washings or cleanings.

I think you know what I am asking, just answer what you believe and explain why.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I think Sam's point is that just by asking for a simple answer doesn't mean there is one. Thus the rehashing. The long drawn out threads are long and drawn out for a reason.

For the record, I believe that I don't know. I certainly wouldn't want to risk not being baptized. How's that? ;)

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

No.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Yes.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Water baptism is an essential part of initiation into the church for a new believer.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Is that a yes or a no? :foottap

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

So the debate begins again on fatal heart attack on the way to the baptismal tank?

:chat

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Add to that a sovereign God who is in control.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

In control of what? :hmmm

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

YES. It is an essential part of initiation.

:)

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Oh, so it's like a hazing? :ursofunny

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

no comment

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Can someone please show any scripture that might hint that not being baptized will send a person to HELL? I don't want concrete proof I just want something to try to base this doctrine on.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I just want to know how the water washes sins away thats given more power to the water then Jesus I think we should do it to be symbolic but other then that....but we already beat this horse to death..LOL

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I wonder if it has to be water. Would, say, turpentine work too? Maybe even better? :lol

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

So are you saying it is a requirement for salvation?

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Why? Where is this commandment that we need to be baptized?

I only see a commandment that we should go forth and baptize people... where is there a commandment that we should be baptized to go to heaven?

Mind I am just seeking answers, not trying to choose a side here....

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Who said it has more power? I mean if it does provide a cleansing of sin then that is because of Jesus, not in spite of him.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Thats what I am saying people that say you have to be baptised to be saved if that is the case they are saying the water phsically removes the sin and we all know that cannot be cause that is Gods job...

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Colossians 2 compares water baptism for NT believers to OT circumcision. Abraham was justified by faith (i.e. his belief in God's word). Since God then commanded him to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant, however, his refusal to obey God's command would have resulted in loss of "salvation," or being cut off from the covenant (Gen 17).

If you follow this logic with baptism, we are saved through faith/belief alone, but failure to obey God's word and be baptized results in being cut off from the family.

Short answer - yes, baptism is essential for salvation (but salvation doesn't occur at baptism).

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38

I say yes its part of the full salvation plan.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

One does not get baptized to get saved, but because you are saved.

However, it grieves me that there are folks who have been deceived into thinking that they don't have to be baptized.


I compare it to the guy who was in the highway and hedges who was beckoned to come to the wedding after the original invitees rejected their invitations.

The guy showed up-- but he didn't have the right clothes on. He was cast out of the wedding feast, if I'm not mistaken.



It's the attitude of the person getting baptized that I address when I say, "No, you don't get baptized to get saved", but indeed, as a person who is saved, we must obey the scriptures.

Water Baptism by full immersion, with the invocation of the Name of Jesus, is CLEARLY A BIBLICAL COMMAND FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED UNTO SALVATION!

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

It is the will and plan of God for us to be baptized. As to essential for salvation or not, I leave that in God's hands. If there is a time that someone has a heart attack on their way to getting baptized, I don't think they will be precluded from Heaven because they had a heart attack, but I also don't believe God would let someone be struck dead on their way to church to be baptized. Never heard of it, anyway. (thanks, but don't want to, either. Please let me continue in my ignorance on this one. :) )

For direction, Mark 16:18, Acts 2:38, Acts 10:44-45... and Peter commanded Cornelius to be baptized-no "if you want to" stuff. But they got baptized because they were sincere believers, not to "get saved" or to stay out of Hell.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

All Christians get baptised. Jesus commanded it, the Apostles commanded it, and those who came to repentance were baptized. When one is in Christ he desires to do His will. It's that simple really.

I see no exceptions.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I am saying all new believers WILL be baptised. It is the first action (or at least one of the first actions) that is manifest in a new believer's life.

Do I question the faith of a believer who rejects baptism in an ongoing fashion? Yes - the same as I would question his faith if he continued living in obvious sin without repentance or remorse.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I see your logic, but I don't feel that it is valid enough... why would something so important be left to such an ideological comparison that it takes assumptions beyond what I am willing to make?

As I said, I am not trying to pick sides but to play the skeptic here and search for harder evidence I don't think this scripture is proof enough to assume that without an ideological circumcision or in a sense devoid of the common mark of baptism, I am not saved. Now, this scripture seems to make more sense than most I have seen but I still don't find it concrete enough to assume hell on millions of people...

Circumcision in itself is not creating a "cleaner" individual... God made man, and it was good... why would the cutting off of a foreskin make man any better in God's sight?

Was Moses family damned or "cut-off" because he didn't practice circumcision? (Joshua 5: 4-7) Then Moses passed this ancient custom to the people...

Jesus also compares circumcision to his own healing, so is it a requirement that every man receive physical healing from Jesus?

I mean, I need answers, I would prefer to see the facts, leave the opinions to the wayside...

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

You would question a mans lifestyle even if he had no conviction about his actions?

In that sense do you think men should follow all traditions blindly without seeking a personal connection from God?

Don't take that as a personal attack, my question is not as rude as I think it looks... but should you ever judge a man's heart? Should we judge the intent of a man?

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

This is my favorite post thus far... but it still doesn't imply salvation, just a slight insinuation that it my be a good thing to do...

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Your logic doesn't make sense (again don't take this as a personal attack) but you say it is something you do because you are saved, therefore you don't have to do it to be saved... but you change your stance and say people still have to do it... if you really believed what you said first you would have said "should" rather than "have"...

I just don't think ritualism is enough to make me feel compelled to get baptized... (while I have been) I just don't think ritualism or simply because everyone else did it is a good enough answer to imply it must be done...

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

If baptism could save u, u wouldn't need the cross. U aren't saved at baptism. U were saved 2k years ago when Christ gave his life for humanity.

A new believer is asked to be baptized as a physical response to a spiritual work. A public testimony of Christ's death, burial & resurrection.

If one refuses baptism, I would question his dedication and faith to Christ.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

If baptism is the only act of faith a man shows is he then a good Christian?

Maybe our priorities are out of line if this is what people think expresses their faith... symbolism is not true faith. Any man can go under water and get wet, it's true acts of faith like love and charity that I find to be the real expression of my belief in God.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Sure, baptism is one of many, however highly overrated...lol

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I have thick skin. :)

I am saying the primary guide is not conscience but is what is already written in scripture. Convictions are nice, but are notoriously unreliable, IMHO.

So yes, things like adultery, homosexuality, murder, are to be "judged" without regard to convictions one may have to the contrary.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Hello, I know I'm new here and nobody knows me. I found this forum on Google and this was the newest thread, so I figured I'd jump in.

Have y'all considered this text?

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Couldn't we ask your question this way;

Was the ark essential to Noah's salvation?

Anyway, hope it was OK to chime in. :)

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

I believe that water baptism is an essential part of God's plan. God judges the heart, so there may be exceptions. However, the exceptions appear to make the rule. If one can be baptized and isn't... I think they are playing with fire.

Re: Is baptism essential unto salvation?
 

Not offended.


But it's like this.

You don't "clean yourself up" and then come to Jesus.

He calls and you come to Him because He's calling you to repentance.

You don't continue in sin. You strive to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

These are things that a Christian MUST DO.

It doesn't save you, but you do it because as a Christian, this is what you are instructed to do.

Just as the new believer MUST DEPART FROM SIN, that same new believer MUST BE BAPTIZED.

If for no other reason than obedience.

This is why the scripture in Peter about baptism saving us is important:

IF YOU HAVE A GOOD CONSCIENCE TOWARDS YOUR NEW LORD AND SAVIOR, YOU WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT BY OBEYING THE SCRIPTURES.


But you don't get baptized to get saved. I'm speaking to the intent of one's heart and the way the Gospel should be presented-- a way that does not encourage "performance pentecost" or legalism or anything that would suggest that somehow our actions saved us.



How do you look at Communion?
In your mind, does taking Communion save you?