Baptismal regeneration is a doctrine held by some “christians” which maintain that salvation is intimately linked to the act of baptism, and that salvation is impossible apart from it. This is no less than salvation by works in light of the clear teaching of Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:21 – 3:3 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. 1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
He explains to them that human works does not accomplish eternal life rather it is the grace of God that is RECEIVED by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Also I examined the authors teaching video in detail below (Brother), this post was in response to a rebuttal:
Well lets examine this view in light of scripture
- Mark 1 baptism of John- preaching a message of repentance/ a baptism for repentance (Tax Collectors and Lawyers rejected the message and therefore rejected who the message was about [Jesus] which shows/ proves their unbelief) [min. 2:00>] You said they rejected God’s purpose [I agree][2:47] and therefore God! If you reject God you reject His purpose, His command etc! *>Baptism like obedience, faith, call to holiness, call to stand firm, to speak the truth in love, to go into all the world and preach the gospel are all commands! God calls/commands all believers to do and practice these things. Disobedient unbelievers go to hell for their disobedience! Disobedience shows/proves unbelief!! :” Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” [John 3:18 ESV] So if you want to be condemned to Hell for eternity just simply do not believe you are already condemned!
- John’s Baptism- like you said John B was the fore-runner for Christ! Lets listen to John, “John answered them, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” [Matt. 311 ESV] John draws a comparison here for the reader/listener; John was waiting for someone greater! Who? Jesus the Christ! Why they had the baptism of repentance, was it not enough? It was not! They [we] need the Christ! We need to put are faith in Him; [not water] [this thinking puts water in comparison with Christ!] Christ is above water! Baptism only shows/proves a living/true faith exercised in obedience. Luke writes the same thing “John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Luke 3:16 Which baptism is greater? John draws a comparison!! Out with the old in with the new, “”Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” [Isa. 43:18-19] 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!”
- Here is another interesting command in relation to repentance from John B in the same context only a few verse earlier – “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. [Matt. 3:7-8 ESV]
So, John B says this first: “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” [v.8] then he says, ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” [v.11] {water does not save you the Spirit does because it seals you [Eph. 4:30]} *>The question is: is baptism a fruit in keeping with repentance? Yes!! Is it fruit of obedience? Yes!! Are those who are obedient onto salvation practice[er]/worker of obedience, are all men commanded to obey- are believers called live their lives as a living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God which is their reasonable service [Rom. 12:1-2]. Yes. IS this obedience and fruit? Yes!! Are unbelievers obedient? No! For,” They stumble because they disobey the word [or command], as they were destined to do.” [1 Peter 2:8 ESV] - [2:40] like you said the Pharisees, Sadducees and the lawyers [ect.] rejected the counsel/ purpose of the Lord, that again is a command; all people are commanded to have faith and believe- if man does not he is condemned because he has not believed in God’s Son, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” [John 3:17-18 ESV] *>Therefore refusing or not being baptized is actually a sign of a unbelieving harden heart. You will know them by their fruit are Lord said, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”[Matt. 7:16 ESV] **so if a man is disobedient to the Lord he is simply disobedient and we do not believe him to be a brother until he bears fruit in line with repentance, The Apostle wrote this way, “But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother [labeled as a Christian/called a Christian, ect.] if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.” [1 Cor. 5:11 ESV] In other words if someone professes to be a believer and does not act like one [or bear fruit in accordance with repentance] do not associate with that person!!
- [3:30] Yes John did Baptize for the remission of sin; “before Jesus came”, for John was the fore-runner in which John himself states “but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…. [Matt. 3:11] John is saying he Baptized with water and Jesus will baptize with ___________!! These scriptures are not at odds with each other rather it is saying that God reacted [reacts] in different ways at different times “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets [John Baptister], 2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” [Heb. 1:1-2 ESV] Here is another, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,” [Acts 17:30 ESV]
- The Apostle affirms that the Gospel of Christ is supreme when He writes, “For I delivered to you as of first importance [or could be translated “most importance”] what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” [1Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV], This is of most importance and he fails to include the water baptism, that is because it is not of most importance!! So if we put so much emphasis on baptism, and other works of the law for remitting our sins we make the grace of Jesus: the Gospel of no point/purpose: “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law [or parts of the law], then Christ died for no purpose.” [Gal. 2:21 ESV] Yes I agree the law/commandments were commanded, the show the character of God and they show / prove fruit and obedience to God, however we can not think that they will make us right with God [or get us into heaven] like the Jews thought in which Jesus tells, “You search the Scriptures [and do other works] because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, [John 5:39 ESV]
- Baptism is commanded like many other commands however a true believe in the gospel is imperative for the Apostle wrote, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” [1 Corinthians 1:17 ESV] “lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power?” Yes. The cross of Christ the gospel is the only means by which men are saved, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”” [Acts 4:12 ESV]
- [5:38 in relation to the video clip] Matt. 28: 18-20 is simply the Great Commission – All authority has been given to Jesus therefore go and make disciples [leaners, followers, believers, students, apprentice] baptizing confirming, showing /proving demonstrating the outward expression of the work God has done so the world can see that that person is identified as a Christian [Christ follower]; teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded us!! Teaching them all the commandments that Jesus taught for they have the Spirit of obedience now? For a disobedient unregenerate person does not obey commandments, for, “The natural person [without the Spirit, unregenerate, unsaved] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” [1 Cor. 2:14 ESV] Ok, if the unsaved can not understand the things [how can he practice them, he cannot] he sure can not practice them, [even if one wanted to say he practiced them by mistake it would be acceptable because what is offered onto God must be done out of a pure heart with God in mind. In order for something to be truly good it must be God centered!!!
- [8:16] In relation to Acts 2:38 – Repent and be baptized! The Question I would ask is can an unsaved person be Baptized? Yes, they can be dipped in water! Now, next question can a truly repentant person, one who has truly turned away from his sin in obedience to God refused to be baptized? I would say it is probably possible but unlikely for it takes supernatural power to turn away from sin: – “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” [Rom. 6:17-18 ESV] If good and perfect gift comes from God [James 1] in this case it is freedom Paul explains it like this, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” [Phil. 2:13 ESV] Paul states that God is the initiator and the continuer of the work He started.
- [9:46] You said it was grace and love that the Father has bestowed upon us by sending His Son!! So if we have to do something to get this grace it is no longer grace but a work, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” [Rom. 11:5-6 ESV]
- [10:08] 1 Peter 3 “the water saved them?” I think you meant the opposite – they were saved from the water because it was a flood that God sent to punish wicked men? God destroyed the world with a flood [water?] flood=water! Ark = protection/salvation; they were found in the ark as the believer will be found in Jesus on the Day of Judgment!! Noah and his family believed God therefore they built an ark got inside and therefore because of their obedience and God’s grace they were saved from God’s wrath [judgment]
- [1 Peter 3:21] Peter is not at all referring to water baptism here but rather a figurative immersion into Christ as in the illustration of the Ark as previously stated in #11 the believer is found in Christ not having a righteousness of own [as in baptism] “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—“ [Phil. 3:9 ESV]
- Here is the illustration the Peter is referring to: Judgment fell on Christ for are sin as judgment fell on the wicked generation in Noah’s day by way of the Flood!!! The believer who is in Christ is thus in the Ark of safety like the 8 [Noah and his family]; this interpretation is further confirmed; to make sure he [Peter] is not miss understood he writes “not as the removal of dirt from the body [1 Peter 3:21b]” [like a bath]; those who were in the water of the flood were destroyed [drowned, perished] those in the ark [Christ] lived! The ark [like Christ] saves from God’s wrath [eternal damnation]!!
- [1 Peter 3:21c] “an appeal to God for good conscience” “appeal” signifies the idea pledge/agreement – the one who truly agrees/believes follows and lives out that belief in good conscience!!
- “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41 ESV)
Observation #1: the individual first received the word of God other translations say they embraced the word of God. This is significant for it shows that baptism comes after receiving the (gospel). Therefore they were convicted and accepted the verdict and the solution. Verdict is that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s Holy standard and one can only be justified by faith in Christ Jesus (God). Therefore one goes to God humbly seeking mercy and grace, not pride and arrogance saying I did this or that.