{"id":50382,"date":"2017-04-19T19:25:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=50382"},"modified":"2022-07-22T19:27:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T00:27:36","slug":"do-you-all-believe-the-only-way-to-be-saved-is-through-baptism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-all-believe-the-only-way-to-be-saved-is-through-baptism\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you all believe the only way to be saved is through baptism?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I was reading more on the La Vista Church of Christ website, and I was a little confused about something. Do you all believe the only way to be saved is through baptism?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

I have a question for you: Can a person be saved by ignoring what God commanded to be done?<\/p>\n

For example, under the Old Law, the Israelites were commanded to be circumcised. If they were not circumcised, “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant<\/em>” (Genesis 17:14). Being circumcised didn’t earn the person salvation. However, it was a command of God, and not being circumcised meant that this person was not a part of God’s covenant. He could not be saved by the terms of that covenant when he wasn’t willing to obey it.<\/p>\n

Under the New Law circumcision is no longer required, something replaced circumcision. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses<\/em>” (Colossians 2:11-13). Baptism does not earn you salvation — salvation is a gift given by God through the death of Jesus. However, baptism is commanded by God, and to not be baptized means you are rejecting the offered gift. “Corresponding to that,\u00a0baptism now saves you<\/strong>\u00a0— 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>\n

There were different requirements for being saved under the Patriarchal Age and the Mosaical Age, but today, under Christ, there is only one way to be saved. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me”v<\/em>” (John 14:6). The way we are told to put on Christ is through baptism. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 3:26-27).<\/p>\n

Now baptism is not the only thing required by God before He gives us His gift of salvation, but it remains a requirement that cannot be ignored. Can you be saved without love? Paul says everything is worthless without it (I Corinthians 13:1-3). Yet, having great love for God and mankind doesn’t make God obligated to give you salvation. Our best attempts at love is never enough; yet, without love, I cannot be saved. For more on this, see: What Saves a Person?<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I was reading more on the La Vista Church of Christ website, and I was a little confused about something. Do you all believe the only way to be saved is through baptism? Answer: I have a question for you: Can a person be saved by ignoring what God commanded to be done? For…<\/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":[52,47],"class_list":["post-50382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-romans-49-12-indicate-that-we-are-saved-prior-to-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":50382,"position":0},"title":"Does Romans 4:9-12 indicate that we are saved prior to baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you explain why Romans 4:9-12 does not indicate that we are saved prior to baptism? I am not sure how to put the answer into words for an acquaintance that insists that he was saved prior to baptism regardless of clear passages of Scripture. Thank you! Answer: When\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":42364,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-justification-through-faith-is-a-sinner-forgiven-when-he-prays\/","url_meta":{"origin":50382,"position":1},"title":"Is justification through faith? Is a sinner forgiven when he prays?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, I was reading your article on\u00a0the NIV\u00a0and I found it very informative! I just want to start off by saying thank you I had no idea there were a few discrepancies I needed to be aware of. With regards to this, I had a question. I\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":2040,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/abraham-wasnt-baptized-so-why-should-we-need-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":50382,"position":2},"title":"Abraham wasn’t baptized, so why should we need it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Romans chapter 4 it talks about Abraham being saved by belief.\u00a0 \"For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness\" (Romans 4:3).\u00a0 \u00a0Did they baptize in the Old Testament?\u00a0 Nowhere that I have read.\u00a0 Now you might say that baptism wasn't\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":18075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-baptists-christians-and-where-does-the-bible-speak-against-creeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":50382,"position":3},"title":"Are Baptists Christians and where does the Bible speak against creeds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have discussed with a lady the fact that one has not put on Christ until she has been baptized into Him. She is a Baptist but has been discussing the Bible with an open mind. She said her preacher told the congregation this weekend that they are \"bought\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":49451,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-only-males-were-circumcised-how-did-females-enter-the-old-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":50382,"position":4},"title":"Since only males were circumcised, how did females enter the Old Covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother, This question came up in a recent Bible study. We were covering the book of Romans, the last few verses of chapter 2. Circumcision came up. After a little discussion, a sister in Christ asked how women made a covenant with God under Mosaic Law, since circumcision was\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":2952,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-command-circumcision\/","url_meta":{"origin":50382,"position":5},"title":"Why did God command circumcision?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did God command Abraham to cut off the foreskin? Answer: Many of the commands that God gave man early on appeared to be meaningless at the time it was given. Only later did God reveal the meaning of the practice. As an example, God commanded that the Israelites\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50382","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=50382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}