Must I Be Baptized In Order To Be Saved?

Greetings,

    This is an argument which has been raging - and I use that word purposely because there seems to be an utter lack of civility over the issue, call it zero tolerance if you will; on the part of those who call themselves 'born-again' Christians and who reject either Baptismal Regeneration or Infant Baptism or both. I may reject my 'born again' brothers and sisters view of baptism and conversion - but I do not reject them.

    The unfortunate line of reasoning (and amusingly contradictory and illogical) is that a person who believes in Baptismal Regeneration and/or has been baptized as an infant isn't saved! It is never explicitly stated altogether as a coherent thought. It usually comes out in name-calling accusations once Scriptural arguments have been set aside in favor of ad hominem attacks by those who believe in 'believer baptism.' They seem to be saying that if you have been baptized as an infant, your baptism is not valid - an idea only about 500 years old.

    This would seem to suggest (on the part of these 'born again' Christians) that only 'believer' baptisms are valid and you must be baptized after making a 'decision' for Christ in order to be saved.

    But if baptism has no role in salvation, does the order matter? If only belief matters than why get your knickers in a twist over the order? Why get baptized at all?

    I mean, if you take this logic to it's natural conclusion, there are all sorts of things I can avoid doing to be saved right?

    I mean, I suppose that I could avoid taking communion my whole Christian life and still just believe and be saved. I confess, I do believe that is Biblically possible. I could also avoid ever reading the Bible and just believe, I am sure all kinds of illiterate Christians in centuries past never picked up a Bible and read it and still just believed and were saved. I also imagine that you could never drop one red cent in the offering plate and just believe and be saved, after all, all those poor people in developing countries probably rarely or never do right?

    Do you see where this is going? I am sure if we REEEELY put on our thinking caps, we can come up with a laundry list of all kinds of things we can avoid doing and still be saved because all we need do is just believe right? Are we saved by Grace alone, through Faith alone by Christ alone? Yes. Do some people misunderstand this and turn it into Gospel reductionism, cheap grace and easy believism? You bet - and the Baptismal Regeneration deniers have neither Scripture, Church History or logic on their side. There are several passages that clearly teach that Baptism saves - not apart from faith in Christ, let us be clear about that. There is no such thing as 'sola baptisma.' BUT, baptism is used as a means of conveying grace, not by water alone and not by ritual alone but because the water is enjoined by the Word - the Word of God, and the Word of God has great supernatural power.

    Now, let's look at some of those passages:

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ - 1 Peter 3:21

In Context:

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. - 1 Peter 3:18-22

    You really have to use a tortured interpretation to get away from the clear meaning of the text here which says, "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you . . . through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. - Romans 6:1-5

    So what does Baptism do? It unites us to the death and resurrection of Christ and Christ Himself. For Scripture also says:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. - Galatians 3:27

Some translations such as the NIV say,

for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. - Galatians 3:27

So, you still believe Baptism is only symbolic and contains no supernatural power? 

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. - Colossians 2:8-14

In Baptism, we:

1. 'Put on' or 'are clothed' with Christ, 
2. Filled in Him, 
3. Circumcised, 
4. Die with Him, 
5. Buried with Him, 
6. Raised with Him 
7. Our debt of sin is nailed to the Cross 
8. And we are set free from the Law.

Now as we see in Colossians 2:11, we are circumcised. When were Israelites/Jews circumcised?   

¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³ both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. - Genesis 17:10-13 

    The word offspring is זָרַע (Zaruh) which means seed in Hebrew, which makes sense as God is talking primarily about 8 day old male babies. Now obviously if an adult male back then was not yet circumcised, he was expected to be too - that was one of the terms of the Covenant. No awaiting a 'decision for Yahweh' here. Furthermore, God commanded Abraham here to circumcise all the males including 8 day old male infants and that became the custom.

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. - Genesis 21:4

And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. - Leviticus 12:3

But it wasn't just about being cut with a knife:

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. - Deuteronomy 30:6

Now notice the passive nature of the circumcisee, the action of being circumcised is being done unto the one receiving it.

It was done to John the Baptist:

⁵⁷ Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸ And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹ And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father - Luke 1:57-59  

And Jesus:

²¹ And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.²² And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) - Luke 2:21-23

For review now, what does Colossians 2:11-14 say?

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

    If circumcision = baptism and God circumcised the heart (Deut 30:6) of 8 day old boys, then isn't it possible (Matt 19:6) that God who forbade His Apostles from allowing little children come to Him (Matt 19:14, Mark 10:14 & Luke 18:16) also circumcises the hearts of infant children now in baptism which now saves us (1 Peter 3:18-22) ?

    Now another objection I hear is a misuse of the Reformation Solas (a way that would be utterly foreign to Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Cranmer, et al), which is when the objector says, "We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone without Baptism."

    What we have here is a combination of bad hermeneutics (*WHY* would you pit Christ against Baptism given what all the verses above say?), a-historical logic (using the Reformation Solas in a way diametrically opposed to the their very creators).

    Now note there is not 1 alone but 3 (grace, faith & Christ). Are the mistaken interlocutors misunderstanding what 'alone' means here? You bet they are. Grace alone means apart from the Law (works). Faith alone means apart from reason (the devils know God exists), Christ alone means without the Pope or any other gods.

As the verses already given attest, God uses baptism as a vehicle to save us, water combined with God's Word creates faith in the heart of the one who receives it.

    Now baptism isn't magic and its efficacy is not absolute. Remember what I said at the beginning? There are all kinds of things you could hypothetically avoid participating in or doing and still be saved - but why would you if you are a sincere Christian?

And the Christian parent has much to do with this too, the Bible says,

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. - Proverbs 22:6.

    It's not as if you can just baptize a baby and hope for the best. In Old Testament times, Jewish fathers were to train their sons from the Law of Moses and from literature such as the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs itself is one long discourse of advice given from father to son.

    At the time of the Reformation, Luther wrote the Large and Small Catechisms. The Small Catechism was for training the young basic Christian doctrine, the Large Catechism was so Fathers could know enough to employ the Small Catechism. This is how all modern Christian primary education began. Luther's closest friend and colleague, Philip Melanchthon is still called the 'Father of Germany' to this day for the role he played in establishing schools in Germany.

    In regards to how ancient the belief in baptismal regeneration is, I refer you to this short paper I wrote (and received an 'A' on at seminary) It addresses some other important points not discussed here.

    So must you baptized in order to be saved? No, you can be saved by grace, through faith in Christ all by itself, but baptism still does save as shown above.

+Peace+

Jim McGarigle
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