{"id":47056,"date":"2016-02-04T15:02:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T21:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=47056"},"modified":"2022-04-27T15:05:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T20:05:14","slug":"can-i-get-forgiveness-of-my-sins-before-i-am-baptized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-get-forgiveness-of-my-sins-before-i-am-baptized\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I get forgiveness of my sins before I am baptized?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I have accepted Jesus as my Savior but there is this little detail: I am not baptized. My family is not Catholic, so I wasn&#8217;t baptized, but I truly believe in God and have been praying a lot lately for His forgivenesses. Is it okay if I&#8217;m not baptized? Will I still be forgiven? Also, if I decide to get baptized now (something I have been considering for a while), will I be forgiven for sins committed\u00a0<em>before<\/em>\u00a0baptism?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Forgiveness of sins is based on Jesus&#8217; death upon the cross. To gain that forgiveness, you have to join with Jesus in his death, which is what baptism represents. &#8220;<em>Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin<\/em>&#8221; (Romans 6:3-7). Thus, one of the things baptism gives a new Christian is forgiveness of his prior sins. &#8220;<em>Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name<\/em>&#8221; (Acts 22:16).<\/p>\n<p>Your faith and your repentance from your sins are steps in the right direction, but you haven&#8217;t reached the destination yet.<\/p>\n<p>See:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-do-to-be-saved-2\/\">What Must I Do to Be Saved?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-saves-a-person\/\">What Saves a Person?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-become-a-christian\/\">How to Become a Christian<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have accepted Jesus as my Savior but there is this little detail: I am not baptized. My family is not Catholic, so I wasn&#8217;t baptized, but I truly believe in God and have been praying a lot lately for His forgivenesses. Is it okay if I&#8217;m not baptized? Will I still be forgiven?&hellip;<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,1387],"class_list":["post-47056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-fogiveness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-person-isnt-baptized-does-that-mean-theyve-never-been-forgiven-of-any-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":47056,"position":0},"title":"If a person isn&#8217;t baptized, does that mean they&#8217;ve never been forgiven of any sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a person isn't baptized, does that mean that they've never been forgiven of any sin they've ever committed? Answer: \"Then Peter said to them, \"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8987,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-to-know-that-baptism-is-for-the-remission-of-sins-in-order-to-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":47056,"position":1},"title":"Do you have to know that baptism is for the remission of sins in order to be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The question I pose is, \"Does one have to have the knowledge that baptism is for the remission of sins, for such to occur?\" I understand that if one is taught by one who knows the truth, this would not even be a question. However, I can not logically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35304,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-sure-i-understood-the-purpose-of-baptism-when-i-was-baptized-should-i-do-it-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":47056,"position":2},"title":"I&#8217;m not sure I understood the purpose of baptism when I was baptized. Should I do it again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was baptized when I was eleven years old (I am sixteen right now), but I am not sure that I completely understood what the purpose of baptism was.\u00a0 It was my choice to be baptized, but at that age, I was aware that baptism brings me to God,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67689,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":47056,"position":3},"title":"Jesus and Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer On the third day of creation, God separated the dry land from the waters, and life came through the water (Genesis 1:9-13). This pattern was seen again when life came through the waters after the flood (Genesis 8:6-12). Again, it was seen when the children of Israel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38892,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-i-be-saved-if-i-only-got-baptized-because-all-my-friends-were-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":47056,"position":4},"title":"Would I be saved if I only got baptized because all my friends were being baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If I was baptized when I was 12 just because my friends were being baptized would this be a saving baptism? Answer: If your only reason for being baptized was to imitate your friends, then how was it different from following your friends in jumping into a pool? What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29048,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-spiritual-significance-of-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":47056,"position":5},"title":"The Spiritual Significance of Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Larson via Gospel Power, Vol. 16, No. 6, Feb. 8, 2009. \"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47056","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=47056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}