Quote:
Originally Posted by votivesoul
In the Great Commission, we are called to do these three things:
- Teach all nations
- Immerse the taught
- Teach them to observe everything Christ taught the Apostles
It is evident therefore that some amount of the time spent evangelizing a person includes teaching, prior to baptism. I would not want to baptize anyone if after explaining to them the Gospel and the commitment to it one needs to make, if all I got was a blank stare. I wouldn't baptize such a person until I knew they had processed the info. If they don't comprehend, you haven't taught.
Lastly, receiving the Holy Spirit is the Scriptural seal of repentance. Many get immersed and don't receive the Holy Spirit. I don't judge, but there is a possibility that their repentance wasn't accepted by the Lord (i.e. He wasn't the One granting it, they just mustered it up for whatever reason).
Therefore, only when one receives the Holy Spirit can we truly say that God has accepted their repentance and sealed them as proof.
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What gets me is that we miss so much of the reasoning behind baptism. I have heard so many say show me in scripture. The problem is scripture was written 2000 years ago in a complete different society, with different understanding of things. And baptism is one of those things.
Baptism was first and foremost a ceremonial washing, representing the remission of sins. This was a Jewish custom long before the day of Pentecost. Secondly it was a public declaration of becoming a follower of one of the religious sects. Hence Johns baptism and the rebaptism of Johns disciples in
Acts 19.
Baptism was not anymore salvational than our keeping or not keeping the Lords Supper on a specific day of the year or not. Or even when on receives the gift of the holy ghost. Faith in the cross is where our salvation is made.
Some will quote Peter saying "baptism doeth also now save us", But we fail to look at the like figure of Noah. Was not Noah already righteous before the flood, hence Noah was saved by the flood not to become righteous but because he was righteous. Hence Peters words, "we are baptized not to be cleansed but as our answer that we have been cleansed".
How were the children saved by the Red Sea? Were they not already the children of God, Yes, they were baptized unto Moses by the Red Sea. Just as we are baptized into Christ by baptism. Hence baptism is more our personal identification to Christ and his kingdom than anything else.
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