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Everything We Need to Know about Water Baptism - Part Four of Four
Introduction
In this article we'll examine Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, and Acts 22:16, which are often used for supporting the view that water baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation. As we'll see, those passages do not support that view at all. Acts 2:38
On the surface, Acts 2:38 appears to say that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation: "Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins..."" (Acts 2:38)However, here are several reasons why Acts 2:38 does not prove that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation: 1. Acts 2:38 - The Problem of the Scriptural Contradiction
Consider the following illustration: A young girl wants to join the book club at her local library, and the advertisement says that whoever pays a $5 entrance fee can join the book club. When her father takes her to the library, he's told that whoever pays a $5 entrance fee and donates a book can join the book club. The father says, "Wait a minute, that's a different requirement from what your advertisement says." Notice that the father was given two different sets of entrance requirements, and they can't both be right because they contradict each other. Either there is one requirement for joining the book club (an entrance fee) or there are two requirements (an entrance fee plus a book donation). Now let's compare the two entrance requirements for the book club with two statements that Peter made:
Statement #1 says that there are two entrance requirements for the book club. If this is true then statement #2 is wrong because it's missing one of the requirements. Think about it for a moment. In exactly the same way, statement #3 appears to say that there are two requirements for our sins to be forgiven. If those are both requirements for receiving forgiveness of sins then statement #4 is wrong because it's missing one of the requirements. But statement #4 can't be wrong because Scripture doesn't lie. Therefore, if we claim that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation then we're causing Peter to contradict himself in the above two verses (statement #3 and #4). As we examine Acts 2:38 and Mark 16:16, it will become clear how statement #3 and #4 are both true, which is only possible if water baptism is not a requirement for receiving salvation. 2. Acts 2:38 - The Problem of the Logical Fallacy
Here's Acts 2:38 again: "Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins..."" (Acts 2:38)Based on this verse, those who believe that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation are making the following assumption: A person who repents and is not baptized is not forgiven.However, this assumption is based on a logical fallacy. In other words, it contains an error in logic. To see why, first look closely at these statements and verify that both of these statements are true: A person who breathes and is baptized is a living human.The above statements are true, but notice what happens when we form the negative of those statements in an incorrect way: A person who breathes and is not baptized is not a living human.The above statements are not true because this is an incorrect way to form the negative of the original statements. Here's the proper way to form the negative of the original statements: A person who does not breathe and is not baptized is not a living human.To learn more about the common logical fallacies that often cause people to make wrong assumptions when they study the Bible, see: When people use Acts 2:38 as evidence that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation, they're making a wrong assumption based on a logical fallacy. The assumption is wrong because they're using an incorrect way to form the negative of Acts 2:38. 3. Acts 2:38 - The Problem of the Singulars and Plurals
Notice that it's fairly obvious where we should put parentheses in the following sentence: Two girls and one is my daughter were singing their hearts out in the talent show.Clearly the parts of that sentence need to be grouped according to their number (singular versus plural), like this: Two girls (and one is my daughter) were singing their hearts out in the talent show.The rules of grammar tell us that singular terms need to be associated with singular terms, and plural terms need to be associated with plural terms. For example, intuitively we know that something is wrong when we mix singular terms with plural terms: Two girls (and one is my daughter) was singing her hearts out in the talent show.So it's important for singular and plural terms to correspond properly, otherwise the sentence makes no sense. The same is true for Acts 2:38, because it contains a mixture of singular and plural terms in the Greek: "Peter replied, "Repent [plural] and be baptized [singular], every one of you [singular], in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your [plural] sins..."" (Acts 2:38 NIV, brackets added)In the Greek (as we'll see in a moment), the word "repent" is in the plural, and "be baptized" is in the singular, and "you" is in the singular, and "your" is in the plural. Since water baptism is done in the name of Jesus Christ as we saw in Part Two, the following is actually what Peter was saying according to the rules of grammar: "Peter replied, "Repent (and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ) for the forgiveness of your sins..."" (Acts 2:38 NIV, parentheses added)We can now see that Peter told his listeners to repent for the forgiveness of their sins (see my article called How to Receive Salvation for a full understanding of repentance and forgiveness of sins), and he parenthetically told them to be baptized in water. This is exactly the same situation as reading the following sentence out loud: "Two girls and one is my daughter were singing their hearts out in the talent show" (try reading it out loud). It's completely clear that part of that sentence is parenthetical based on the singular and plural terms, just as it's completely clear that part of Acts 2:38 is parenthetical based on the singular and plural terms. The mixture of singulars and plurals demonstrates that Acts 2:38 does not support the view that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation. Here are some things that Bible scholars say about the singular and plural terms in Acts 2:38: "And be baptized every one of you (kai baptistheto hekastos humon). Rather, "And let each one of you be baptized." Change of number from plural to singular and of person from second to third. This change marks a break in the thought here that the English translation does not preserve." (Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament, Acts 2:38) For all of these reasons, Acts 2:38 does not support the view that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation. Mark 16:16
On the surface, Mark 16:16 appears to say that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16)However, here are several reasons why Mark 16:16 does not prove that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation: 1. Mark 16:16 - The Problem of the Dual Support
Let's assume for a moment that in order to receive salvation we must believe in Jesus and be baptized in water. In this case, the first part of Mark 16:16 is a true statement: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..." (Mark 16:16)Now let's assume for a moment that in order to receive salvation we only need to believe in Jesus. In this case, the first part of Mark 16:16 is a true statement: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..." (Mark 16:16)Notice that if believing is the only requirement for receiving salvation then we're saved no matter what we do after we believe (such as being baptized after we believe). So if we receive salvation by believing in Jesus, then whoever believes and is baptized will be saved by his or her belief. The first part of Mark 16:16 is true if baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation, and it's also true if we receive salvation by believing in Jesus. It supports both views, so it doesn't prove that either view is right. 2. Mark 16:16 - The Problem of Using Multiple Elements
Notice that this is a true statement: Whoever breathes and is baptized is a living human.The above statement is true, but clearly it doesn't mean that a person is required to be baptized in order to be a living human. Now apply the same reasoning to the first part of Mark 16:16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..." (Mark 16:16)Again, the above statement is true, but it doesn't mean that a person is required to be baptized in order to be saved. To make this point more clearly, notice that we can add more elements and still have a true statement: Whoever believes and is baptized and lives in Texas and has brown hair and owns a pet and wears glasses will be saved.The above statement is true, but clearly it doesn't mean that a person is required to live in Texas or have brown hair or own a pet or wear glasses in order to be saved. What this demonstrates is that if a statement has multiple elements in it (two or more), then we don't have enough information in that statement to determine if any of those elements are requirements. Since the first part of Mark 16:16 is a statement that has multiple elements, it doesn't provide enough information to determine if any of those elements are requirements. Therefore, the first part of Mark 16:16 doesn't prove that baptism is required for receiving salvation. Now take a look at the second part of Mark 16:16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16)In the second half of Mark 16:16 we're specifically told that whoever does not believe will be condemned. Therefore, the second half of Mark 16:16 makes it clear that belief is a requirement for receiving salvation. But there is no corresponding statement in Mark 16:16, nor anywhere else in the entire Bible, which says that whoever is not baptized in water will be condemned. This is another reason why Mark 16:16 does not prove that water baptism is required for receiving salvation. 3. Mark 16:16 - The Problem of the Logical Fallacy
This is the first part of Mark 16:16 again: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved..." (Mark 16:16)Based on this verse, those who believe that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation are making the following assumption: A person who believes and is not baptized is not saved.However, this assumption is based on a logical fallacy. In other words, it contains an error in logic. To see why, first look closely at these statements and verify that both of these statements are true: A person who breathes and is baptized is a living human.The above statements are true, but notice what happens when we form the negative of those statements in an incorrect way: A person who breathes and is not baptized is not a living human.The above statements are not true because this is an incorrect way to form the negative of the original statements. Here's the proper way to form the negative of the original statements: A person who does not breathe and is not baptized is not a living human.To learn more about the common logical fallacies that often cause people to make wrong assumptions when they study the Bible, see: When people use Mark 16:16 as evidence that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation, they're making a wrong assumption based on a logical fallacy. The assumption is wrong because they're using an incorrect way to form the negative of Mark 16:16. For all of these reasons, Mark 16:16 does not support the view that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation. Acts 22:16
In Acts 22:16, a Christian named Ananias visited Saul of Tarsus (later to be known as the apostle Paul - Acts 13:9) and told him: "Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16)According to people who believe that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation, Saul was still "in his sins" at this point because he still had sins that needed to be "washed away." In other words, their argument is that Saul needed to be baptized in water in order to be forgiven of his sins. Before Saul received salvation and became the apostle Paul, he was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians to their death (Acts 9:1-2, 22:3-5, 26:4-11). On his way to Damascus, he had a supernatural encounter with Christ: "As he [Saul] neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything." (Acts 9:3-9)Notice what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus. First, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone around Saul and his companions (Acts 9:3, 22:6, 26:12-13, above), and they fell to the ground (Acts 9:4, 22:7, 26:14, above). Then a voice said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4, 22:7, 26:14, above). Saul responded by asking, "Who are you, Lord?" (Acts 9:5, 22:8, 26:15, above). According to Bible scholars and Greek dictionaries, the Greek word for "Lord" in these passages (kurios) can mean "Lord" in the divine sense, or it can mean "sir" in the human sense. So imagine the scene. Saul was persecuting the followers of a dead man named Jesus, when suddenly Jesus revealed Himself to Saul. Because of this supernatural event, Saul realized that Jesus had been resurrected, and Saul immediately made a dramatic turnaround in his life. He responded in faith to this revelation of Jesus by asking, "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10, above). Is it reasonable to claim that Saul was using the word "Lord" (kurios) in the merely human sense at this point? After all, Saul had suddenly come face to face with the realization that his former religious views were fundamentally wrong, and he humbly submitted in faith to the Lordship of Christ. Saul went through a radical change of mind and a radical change of direction at the moment when Jesus revealed Himself on the road to Damascus, and he immediately became a person who had been completely converted to Jesus Christ. This is the very essence of salvation. Saul received salvation on the road to Damascus. Sometimes people argue that when Saul asked, "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10, above), he was actually asking, "What shall I do for salvation, Lord?" They also argue that when Jesus said, "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do" (Acts 9:6, above), Jesus was actually saying, "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do in order to become saved." The conclusion of this argument is that Saul was told to be baptized for the purpose of washing away his sins and receiving salvation (Acts 22:16, below). However, one problem in that argument is that Saul was a Pharisee who would have believed that he was going to heaven. Therefore, it would never have occurred to him to ask what he needed to do for salvation. A second problem in that argument is that Saul did not ask, "What shall I do for salvation, Lord?," and Jesus did not say, "you will be told what you must do in order to become saved" (look closely at Acts 22:10 and 9:6, above). These are things that people are reading into Scripture because of their belief that baptism is a requirement for receiving salvation. A third problem in that argument is that Scripture specifically tells us what Jesus told Saul to do: "'Now get up and stand on your feet. I [Jesus] have appeared to you [Saul] to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'" (Acts 26:16-18)Jesus told Saul what to do in his ministry. Jesus was not sending a non-Christian out into ministry, He was sending a Christian out into ministry, and later He taught Saul what to preach (Galatians 1:11-12). Notice how Saul responded: "So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." (Acts 26:19-20)In Acts 26:16-18 (above), Jesus said that He was sending Saul out to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles. Saul pointed out that he was not disobedient to the vision from heaven (Acts 26:19, above), which tells us that he had responded in faith and obedience to the Lordship of Christ on the road to Damascus. Saul soon began carrying out his commission, going around and preaching that people "should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds" (Acts 26:20, above). Saul spent three days in Damascus after he saw Jesus (Acts 9:3-9, above). Here's what happened next: "In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered. The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight." "Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name." But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?"" (Acts 9:10-21)In Acts 9:10-12 (above), the Lord told a disciple named Ananias where to find Saul. Saul had already received salvation as we saw above, so Ananias did not need to preach the Gospel to Saul. Notice that the Lord did not tell Ananias to preach the Gospel to Saul, but instead He told Ananias to heal Saul. In Acts 9:17 (above), Ananias greeted Saul as "Brother Saul." Ananias understood that Saul was no longer an enemy to be feared, but instead Saul was a brother in the Lord. Next, Ananias referred to Jesus as "the Lord," acknowledging that Jesus was Saul's Lord, whom Saul had seen and spoken to on the road to Damascus. Ananias was treating Saul as a Christian brother. So Ananias was not sent to lead Saul to salvation, but instead he was sent so that Saul would be healed and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Many Christians assume that receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation is the same as receiving the "baptism" of the Holy Spirit, but my series called How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit explains in scriptural detail that these are always two separate and distinct events with two separate and distinct purposes. We must choose to receive the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in obedience to God (after we automatically receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation) because it empowers us by providing certain gifts of the Spirit for the assignments that God needs us to do, and then we're able to be filled with the Holy Spirit. For more on being filled with the Holy Spirit, see chapter 5 in the free PDF of my book called "Divine Healing Absolutely Is for Today." In Acts 9:21 (above), the expression, "those who call on [epikaleo] this name," is clearly a reference to Christians, and a few verses earlier we see that Ananias referred to Christians as "all who call on [epikaleo] your name" (Acts 9:14, above). With that in mind, take a look at Acts 22:16: "A man named Ananias came to see me [Saul]. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on [epikaleo] his name.'" (Acts 22:12-16)The Greek word epikaleo ("calling on") means "to invoke, pray to, worship," according to The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the Old and New Testaments (Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, epikaleo). In Acts 9:10-11 (above), Saul was praying to ("calling on") the Lord before he met Ananias, and Ananias knew that Saul had been "calling on" Jesus' name because Jesus specifically told Ananias about it (Acts 9:10-11, above). Therefore, when Ananias said, "Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name" in Acts 22:16 (above), this does not mean that Saul needed to be saved. Remember, Ananias already knew that Saul was saved, so it would be reasonable for Ananias to tell Saul to be baptized "since you have already been calling on His name." This is consistent with the original Greek as these Bible scholars point out: "Unfortunately, the KJV, NASB, and NIV translate it "calling on," instead of "having called" or "since you called upon" His name" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the Old and New Testaments, Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, apolouo, emphasis added)So in Acts 22:16 (above) Ananias was not telling Saul to get baptized in order to receive salvation because Ananias knew that Saul was already saved. A more consistent interpretation of Acts 22:16 would be something like: "And now, what are you waiting for? Since your sins have been forgiven, let's wash those sins away." Ananias was using a figurative expression for washing sins away through baptism because, as we saw in Part Three, baptism is never described as a "washing." If we claim that Ananias literally meant that Saul was not saved before he was baptized, then this would contradict all of the evidence (above) which shows that Ananias knew that Saul had already received salvation on the road to Damascus. For further evidence that Saul's baptism was not for the purpose of his salvation, here are some things that Saul (also known as the apostle Paul as we saw earlier) said concerning how to receive salvation: "The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house." (Acts 16:29-32)In Acts 16:29-32 (above), a jailer asked what he must do in order to be saved. Paul said that he must believe in the Lord Jesus, and that by believing he would be saved. Paul said nothing about baptism. In Acts 20:20-22 (above), Paul said that he had not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful. What did he specifically preach? He preached that Jews and Greeks must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus (Acts 20:20-22, above). Again, Paul said nothing about baptism. In the entire New Testament, neither Paul nor anyone else ever said that being baptized in water is a requirement for receiving salvation as we've seen throughout this series. For all of these reasons, Acts 22:16 does not support the view that baptism is a requirement for salvation. Conclusion
In this series we've seen that:
Back to Part Three. For the glory of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh, was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification. Dave Root home page and email: https://www.vividchristianity.com "Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3) "Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist - denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:22-23) "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God." (1 John 4:15) "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." (1 John 4:1-3) "And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist." (2 John 1:6-7) "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." (Romans 4:25) |
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| All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (R). NIV (R). Copyright (C) 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. (Emphasis added.) |