How can one justify being a Christian if he claims to believe but is not baptized until some time later? Is he convinced that baptism does not save you?<\/p>\n\t
Many denominations teach people that belief is all that is required for salvation. Some, such as the Baptists, do practice a form of baptism, but they claim that its sole purpose is to make you a member of their denomination. According to their teaching, baptism has nothing to do with salvation, but it is just “an outward sign of an inward grace.” Many of the charismatic denominations redefine baptism from immersion in water to immersion in the Spirit. They also believe that baptism is not required for salvation, but they see two levels of salvation: those who believe are saved, but those who are baptized in the Spirit are sanctified. All of these practices are based on using selective verses from the New Testament.<\/p>\n
You did hit upon the core of the problem. They don’t really believe what God said. Instead of accepting verses, such as:<\/p>\n
“He who believes and is baptized\u00a0will be saved<\/strong>; but he who does not believe will be condemned<\/em>” (Mark 16:16).<\/p>\n
“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ\u00a0for the remission of sins<\/strong>; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (Acts 2:38).<\/p>\n
“And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and\u00a0wash away your sins<\/strong>, calling on the name of the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 22:16).<\/p>\n
“Corresponding to that, baptism\u00a0now saves you<\/strong>–not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience–through the resurrection of Jesus Christ<\/em>” (I Peter 3:21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
They search for ways to explain how these verses don’t really say what they are obviously saying. Therefore, they don’t believe what God said or don’t believe that God was able to express Himself clearly on this matter. They claim the name of a follower of Christ, but as Christ Himself said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?<\/em>” (Luke 6:46). And in another place, He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’<\/em>” (Matthew 7:21-23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: How can one justify being a Christian if he claims to believe but is not baptized until some time later? Is he convinced that baptism does not save you? Question: Many denominations teach people that belief is all that is required for salvation. Some, such as the Baptists, do practice a form of baptism,…<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,1388,99,143],"class_list":["post-4778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-baptist-church","tag-becoming-a-christian","tag-charismatic"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-teach-a-stubborn-person-the-truth-about-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":4778,"position":0},"title":"How do I teach a stubborn person the truth about baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for\u00a0your response. I did have another question that touches on your response. The same goes for denomination such as the AME. They teach false doctrine when it comes to baptism and yet proclaim to be saved. I have a female friend that swears to be saved and\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":38990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-the-church-of-christs-view-of-baptism-different-from-the-denominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":4778,"position":1},"title":"How is the church of Christ’s view of baptism different from the denominations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I recently came across a YouTube comment about baptism that puzzled me a bit: \"It's also important to know the church of Christ view of baptismal salvation is different from every other view; that of the Lutherans, Anglicans, Catholics or Orthodox.\" Is this a correct assessment? If so,\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":39470,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-my-baptism-valid\/","url_meta":{"origin":4778,"position":2},"title":"Is My Baptism Valid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Periodically, someone will approach me concerning his baptism. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Doubts have crept into his mind as to whether his baptism was valid \u2013 whether he really was a Christian or only pretending to be one. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Generally those with doubts were baptized young in life. Events have happened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25431,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-a-baptism-valid\/","url_meta":{"origin":4778,"position":3},"title":"When Is a Baptism Valid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Bassford Seven or eight years ago, I got a call from a brother in St. Louis who asked me to study with his mother.\u00a0 I set up the study and began, as I usually do, by asking her questions about her religious background.\u00a0 She explained that she had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Baptism5.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"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":4778,"position":4},"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 "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87864,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-resist-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":4778,"position":5},"title":"Why Resist Baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Marvin Rickett Nearly all denominations resist the Bible's doctrine of baptism in one manner or another. Some resist it by saying it is not essential to salvation. One can be saved without ever being baptized. Others resist it by teaching that one is saved before one is baptized. 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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778","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=4778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}