![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top_53_bmp-251x300.jpg\")
Jesus’ Death on the Cross John 19:25<\/p><\/div>\n
The most popular objection resides in Luke 23:39-43. “What about the thief on the cross?” they ask. “He wasn’t baptized for the forgiveness of sins, but Jesus told him that he would be with Jesus in paradise.”<\/p>\n
I don’t see much basis for the assumption that the thief wasn’t baptized (for all we know, he may have been), but there’s an even more significant problem for the argument than that. It presumes that we find forgiveness of sins through Jesus now in the same way that people did during Jesus’ ministry, and we know for certain that isn’t true.<\/p>\n
Consider, for instance, the account of Mark 2:1-12. This story is a favorite in children’s Bible classes because of its dramatic story arc (“They dug a hole in the roof <\/b>and lowered their friend through!”), but the faith of the friends, and even Jesus’ healing of the paralytic, are not the true point of the story. Instead, in Jesus’ own words, all of this is recorded because it establishes that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.<\/p>\n
In other words, alone of all people who ever have walked the face of the earth, Jesus could say to somebody, “Your sins are forgiven you,” and it would be true. For anybody else to make such a claim would be blasphemy. For Jesus, it was a statement of fact.<\/p>\n
The paralytic is not the only recipient of grace through the spoken word of Jesus. The same thing happens to the sinful woman in Luke 7, another sinful woman in John 8, and Zacchaeus in Luke 19. To that list, we can add another – the thief on the cross. Even granting the assumption that he wasn’t baptized, why did Jesus tell him he would be with Him in paradise? Because the Son of Man had authority on earth to forgive sins.<\/p>\n
These stories provide powerful illustrations of the power of the grace of Jesus, but they can’t provide us with a pattern to follow. The Son of Man is no longer on earth. He no longer has conversations with people to tell them that they are forgiven, and no other human being has the authority to issue grace by fiat.<\/p>\n
Today, then, rather than presuming that Jesus has forgiven us in the absence of confirmation from Him, we need to look to the pattern of salvation established by His disciples. We cannot expect to hear His voice telling us that our sins are forgiven, but we can expect forgiveness as we submit to His will – through belief, repentance, confession, and baptism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford When it comes to discussion about baptism for the forgiveness of sins, most Christians know all the steps of the dance. If we’re studying with a non-Christian and we show them passages like Acts 2:38 and I Peter 3:21, one of two things is going to happen. Either they are going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[52,47],"class_list":["post-28443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":81568,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/simplifying-the-thief-on-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":28443,"position":0},"title":"Simplifying the Thief on the Cross","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Forget for now that the thief lived and died under the Mosaical Law, and Jesus's Covenant didn't become effective until after He died (Hebrews 9:16-28). Forget for now that we don't know if the thief had been previously baptized by either John or Jesus's apostles before he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":511,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-thief-on-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":28443,"position":1},"title":"What about the thief on the cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am still a little confused about what I need to actually do. I heard about baptism, but they say that the thief on the cross wasn\u2019t baptized. Isn\u2019t he in heaven? Answer: I appreciate the time taken to ask questions concerning your salvation. Personally, I don\u2019t believe the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/views-of-mark-1616\/","url_meta":{"origin":28443,"position":2},"title":"Views of Mark 16:16","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Mark 16:14-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus had just one meaning in mind when he spoke Mark 16:16. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It isn\u2019t for men to put their own spin on Jesus\u2019 words - II Peter 1:20-21 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not that this has ever stopped people from trying \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God doesn\u2019t author confusion -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95358,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-saved-without-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":28443,"position":3},"title":"Can You Be Saved Without Baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Can a person be saved although they have not been baptized? Was this the case of the thief on the cross? Jesus commanded baptism in His name after He was raised from the dead (Mark 16:15-16). The thief was like David, pardoned under the terms of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52482,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-faith-alone-save-one-from-his-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":28443,"position":4},"title":"Does faith alone save one from his sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does faith alone save one from his sins? Answer: Faith does save (Acts 16:31). Grace saves (Acts 15:11). Jesus saves (Acts 4:12). The message saves (Acts 11:14). The resurrection saves (Romans 5:10). Hope saves (Romans 8:24). Confession saves (Romans 10:10). The gospel saves (I Corinthians 15:2). Knowledge saves (1\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24308,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-it-matter-how-you-are-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":28443,"position":5},"title":"Does it matter how you are baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I get confused about baptism.\u00a0 I believe a person should be baptized by immersion.\u00a0 Some feel the mode does not matter - just as long as you get baptized.\u00a0 I have attended a Baptist church that says baptism does not save you - that the thief on the cross\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}