Study of Denomintions 05/23/2010

A Study of Denominations
Cont. from last week
--Baptism--

Argument: Baptism requires a baptizer. If you make baptism a requirement for salvation, you also require a baptizer, adding someone to the salvation that comes through Christ alone.

Answer: First of all, we should note that the term "baptizer" is foreign to the New Testament after discussion of John the Baptist. The focus is never on the baptizer, but that one is baptized.

Nevertheless, the foundation of this argument-- the idea that needing a baptizer adds a person to salvation-- is undermined by Romans 10:14:
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Every group recognizes the need for belief, and Paul says that belief can come only when one "hears" the Word of God. Is Paul "adding" someone to the salvation that comes through Christ alone by positing that someone must preach the Word? Absolutely, because it makes little sense to posit that the understanding and eventual salvation through Christ is done in a vacuum, without any human intervention. If the Word is spread through the preaching of men, then there is no problem with men baptizing others so that they can be saved.

Argument: Well, if baptism is what gives remission of sins, wouldn't you need to be baptized every time you sin?

Answer: Baptism is a one-time act that transforms the individual into a new creature, described as being "born again of the water" in John 3:4 . After being born again, we must confess our sins, and by doing so, we are forgiven, as John says in 1 John 1:9:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Scriptures do not require continual baptism for remission of continual sin.

Argument: What if an airplane crashes into the desert, and a Christian on that plane converts everyone but cannot baptize them, and they all die without water. Are they saved?

Answer: This is one of many kinds of such arguments: it may involve different details, but the idea is the same: a person is hindered from being baptized and dies.

All of these arguments are really argumenta ad absurdum. They posit unlikely situations, and are really self-defeating. One could simply change some of the details and return the argument, using belief, repentance, or something else of the sort. "Well, what if someone is hearing the Gospel, sees that Christ is Lord and that He died for his sins, but just before he could repent, he is struck by lightning and dies. Is he saved?"

The answer, invariably, is, "God will decide." If that is true in the circumstance of one before repentance, so it is with the one before baptism. God said that we should be baptized for remission of sins, and that is the rule. We are to preach the rule, not dwell on some ludicrous exceptions. After all, it is likely that the one with whom you speak is near plenty of water, and the only hindrance would be a lack of faith or understanding in his or her need to be immersed in water for the remission of their sin.