Is Baptism Part of the Gospel and Is Baptism Essential for Salvation?
Dear friends in Christ,
Recently, there has been some discussion on the West Coast Bible Study about the role of baptism in salvation. The question that arose was this: Is baptism part of the Gospel? Is it essential for salvation?
One person took the position that it was essential for salvation, and that without it, a person cannot be saved. I took the opposite position, that baptism is not an essential element of the gospel, and one can be saved without being baptized.
These are two different gospels, with different terms of salvation. One is a false gospel; the other is the true gospel.
Neither side disputed the importance of baptism, nor the necessity of baptism. What was at dispute was the role of baptism. Does it actually remove sin, or is it only a symbolic picture of the removal of sin? Is it the last step in justification, or is it the first step in sanctification? Is it the instrumental cause of cleansing from sin, or the consequent result of cleansing from sin?
In a word: Is baptism necessary for salvation? Is it part of the gospel?
One passage should settle the question, and that is 1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”
This statement shows that baptism is not part of the gospel; that it is something distinct from it, and is something that is not essential to it. Paul can never baptize, and still preach the gospel. Paul goes on to define what the gospel is in this same book in 1 Corinthians 15:1–11
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
The gospel is the message of salvation. Here is the content of Paul’s gospel message:
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time…
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
What is the gospel by which we are saved? Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and rose again the third day, and we have believed in Him for our salvation. Baptism is nowhere mentioned as part of the gospel by which we are saved, because baptism is not a part of the gospel.
This stands to reason. There are not two methods of salvation, one in the Old Testament and a different one in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, salvation was by grace through faith in God’s promised Messiah. All who were saved were also to be circumcised, but circumcision was not necessary for salvation, because Abraham was justified by faith in Genesis 15, but he was not circumcised until Genesis 17. Paul makes this exact argument in Romans 4, showing that Abraham’s salvation had nothing to do with his circumcision.
In the New Testament, salvation is by grace through faith in God’s provided Messiah. All who were saved were also to be baptized, but baptism, like circumcision, follows salvation; it does not produce salvation. It is connected to salvation, but it does not cause salvation, any more than circumcision caused salvation in the Old Testament.
If the Old Testament gospel was salvation by grace through faith in God’s promised Messiah, but in the New Testament, salvation is by grace through faith in God’s provided Messiah plus baptism, then we have two different gospels.
One is a salvation by faith plus nothing, and the other is salvation by faith plus the human work of baptism. To add baptism to the gospel is like adding circumcision to the gospel. And just as the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 condemned adding circumcision as a requirement for salvation, we must also condemn adding baptism as a requirement for salvation.
Peter specifically said in Acts 15:11, “But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they.” That is, we New Testament believers will be saved in the same way as they (the Old Testament believers) were. Both are saved the same way, through grace apart from works. There is only one gospel for both Old Testament and New Testament believers.
When the thief on the cross was cited as an example of someone who was saved by faith in Christ apart from baptism, it was asserted that he was saved before the resurrection of Christ, and therefore, the thief’s salvation was under the Old Testament, (which is false, because the New Covenant was instituted at the Last Supper, before the crucifixion) thus denying that salvation is extended on the same terms in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. But we have just proven that salvation was extended on the same terms in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, so however the thief on the cross was saved, it is the same way anyone could be saved: by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from baptism.
The argument was made that baptism was not a work because the one being baptized was a passive recipient of the act of baptism. This is not true because the one being baptized is not passive; he is actively going into the place of baptism by the self-initiated movement of his own body, and is actively placing himself into the hands of the baptizer. He is doing something to be baptized.
But let us for the moment accept the argument that the one being baptized is passive; it is abundantly obvious that the one baptizing him is certainly not passive. He is doing work as a human; he is, by his works, causing the cleansing from sin that the recipient of baptism is said to be experiencing.
So we have then salvation by grace through faith plus the works of the baptizer. Claiming that the one being baptized is passive does not solve the problem of baptism being a work. Some human is doing a work to produce cleansing from sin, whether it is the one being baptized or the one doing the baptism, or both. Only in infant baptism (an unbiblical practice) could the recipient of baptism be considered a passive recipient of baptism.
There are of course those passages cited by those who believe baptism is necessary for salvation, and to those we now turn.
But before we look at each passage, we need to make an observation, and it is this: We cannot just look at what a passage says and stop there, as though that settles the argument. We must also ask not only what it says, but also, what does it mean, by what it says.
We must look at the immediate, proximate, and remote context of the passage. We must look at the grammar of the passage. We must look at the definition of the words in the passage. We must examine it in light of other passages that speak to the same issue. In a word, we must interpret the passage, not just take a blind literal approach to it. We must do exegesis.
For example, when Jesus says in John 10:9, “I am the door,” a blind literal approach would compel us to say he is a wooden plank about seventy inches tall, thirty-two inches wide, and one and a half inches thick, because that is what the passage says. It is obvious that we cannot stop with “what does the passage say?” We must also ask, “What does the passage mean?” “What does the passage say?” is a place to start, but it is not a place to stop.
Here are the passages:
But notice that the second clause of the verse is not parallel with the first clause.
Notice what the second clause does not say: It does not say: “He that believeth not and is baptized not shall be dammed.”
The lack of baptism is not a cause of damnation. Only unbelief is the cause of damnation.
So it follows that if lack of baptism is not a cause of damnation, then the presence of baptism is not the cause of salvation.
What is parallel in both of these clauses is that believing causes salvation, and believing not causes damnation. It is belief and belief alone that makes the difference between those who are saved and those who are damned.
Why then is baptism mentioned so closely alongside belief and salvation? Because it is the first evidence of salvation, it is inseparably connected to salvation, and because the Great Commission requires every disciple to be baptized. (Matthew 28:19–20) But baptism is not part of the gospel, because the lack of baptism never resulted in damnation. Only unbelief results in damnation.
In this verse, the preposition “for” (eis in the Greek) does not mean “in order to obtain” that is, “be baptized in order to obtain remission of sins.”
The preposition “for” means “because of.” For example, if I say: “Take two aspirin for your headache,” it is obvious that I do not mean: Take two aspirin in order to obtain your headache.” What I mean is “Take two aspirin because of your headache,” Or, “Take two aspirin because you already have a headache.”
“Be baptized for the remission of sins” means “be baptized because of remission of sins,” or “be baptized because you already have remission of sins.”
The preposition eis is used this way many times in the scriptures. For example, Matt 12:41 “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
The word “at” is the translation of eis. “They repented because of the preaching of Jonas” is the clear meaning. They did not repent in order to obtain the preaching of Jonas.
Likewise, we do not get baptized in order to obtain the remission of sins. We get baptized because of the remission of sins that was obtained when we repented and believed in Jesus Christ.
Acts 10:43 says: “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Remission of sins comes from believing in Jesus, not by baptism.
But does it?
The middle clause “wash away thy sins” is to be taken with the last clause “calling upon the name of the Lord,” not the first clause “arise and be baptized.”
In other words: “Arise, and be baptized. And wash away your sins [by] calling upon the name of the Lord” is the idea being conveyed. That this is the meaning is clear from Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It is calling on the name of the Lord that saves and washes away sins, not baptism.
The Bible explicitly tells us that the washing away of sins is caused by the blood of Christ, not by the waters of baptism.
Revelation 1:5 — “Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
1 John 1:7 — “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Revelation 7:14 — “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Baptism is a picture of cleansing, but it is not the cause of cleansing. The cause of cleansing is the blood of Christ, and the means to obtain it is by calling on the name of the Lord, and the way to publicly declare that you have been cleansed of your sins is to submit to the ordinance of baptism.
Baptism is the visual symbolic image of the washing away of sins, and a declaration that we have called upon the name of the Lord for the cleansing of our sins, but it does not cause the washing away of sins.
But plucking a phrase out of the middle of a verse is not how interpretation is done. Context matters, and the context of verse 21 is verses 19 and 20.
The context is Noah and the flood, vs. 20. There, it says eight souls were saved. Their salvation had a relationship to water. The relationship is this: They were saved through (dia with the genitive) water.
But let me ask you a question: Were they saved by the water? No! They were saved by the ark. Notice Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
So Noah was saved in relationship to water, but he was not saved by water. He was saved by the ark.
Now notice the first phrase of vs. 21 “The like figure…” is a translation of the Greek antitupos, from which we get our English word antitype. There is a type and an antitype here in vs. 20 and 21. The parallel idea between the type and the antitype is that water is related to salvation in the same way in both vs. 20 and 21.
Water was related to Noah’s salvation in the same way water is related to our salvation. Water did not save Noah any more than baptism saves us. The ark saved Noah, and we are saved by our Ark of Safety, the Lord Jesus Christ.
What then is the relationship between water and salvation? The waters of Noah (the flood) marked a transition from the old world to the new world; a transition from the old life to the new life. Noah went through this transition when he went through the flood.
IN THE SAME WAY, (The like figure) baptism marks our transition from the old life to the new life, and a separation from the world we used to live in, into the world we now live in.
How did our salvation happen? Not by being washed in water – not by the putting away of the filth of the flesh, BUT by the answer of a good conscience toward God that trusts in the resurrected Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
What then is the proper place of baptism?
Matthew 28:18–20 tells us:
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Only after an individual has become a disciple, that is, a self-conscious believer in Christ and a committed follower of Christ, is he supposed to be baptized. Make disciples, and baptize them, that is, all the disciples, but only the disciples. Baptism follows conversion; it is not part of conversion. It is the first work of obedience that a believer does to declare his commitment to Christ before the world.
We must not pervert the gospel of Christ by adding anything to it, that is not a part of it. The West Coast Bible Study will not allow the doctrine that baptism is necessary for salvation to be taught. It is a false gospel. May those who hold to it, repent of it.
May God fill you all with His Spirit so you may rightly understand His word. I love you all.
In Christ’s love,
Max WB7MAX
