by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
I honestly do not understand why there is so much debate surrounding baptism. To be clear, I get the doctrinal wranglings and how they have developed. I just don’t understand how they hold sway in light of what the Bible clearly says about baptism.<\/p>\n
I’m not even really sure why the issue of baptism gets caught up in the debate over being saved by works, faith, or grace. In Colossians 2:11-15, Paul makes the teaching incredibly clear.<\/p>\n
First, he states the Colossians were spiritually circumcised by being buried with Christ in baptism. Had they not been buried with Him, they could not be raised with Him. In other words, there is no life in Christ apart from being baptized with Christ.<\/p>\n
Second, the reason we need to be baptized is that we are dead. Some will suggest we can’t do anything because we are dead; therefore, we don’t have to be baptized because that is us doing something. That isn’t what Paul says. Paul doesn’t say we bury ourselves with Christ; rather, we have been buried with him in baptism. Just like every dead person who is buried is buried by someone else’s work, we are baptized by someone else’s work. The very picture of baptism is not us doing something; it is something being done to us. Someone else immerses and buries us. We’re not working at all.<\/p>\n
By the way, part of this point is to recognize that we don’t bury living people. In other words, we aren’t made alive by Christ through some other means and then get baptized. The notion of getting baptized to show everyone else what has already happened has us burying the living. But that isn’t baptism. Baptism is burying the dead and watching resurrection happen as the one being baptized comes up out of that watery grave.<\/p>\n
Third, we are not raised by faith in our working or even by faith in baptism’s working. We are raised by faith in the powerful working of God. God is the one who works in baptism. We don’t get baptized because we think we are accomplishing something in baptism. We don’t get baptized because we believe baptism accomplishes something. We get baptized because we believe God when He says He accomplishes something in baptism.<\/p>\n
In fact, this is why faith saves. Not because a moment of mental assent to some doctrinal statement about Jesus causes us to enter Christ. Rather, because if we actually believe Christ, we do what He tells us to do to be saved. If we don’t do what He tells us to do, we don’t actually believe Him.<\/p>\n
That is what baptism is. It is not a belief in ourselves or our work. It is faith in the powerful working of God. And that is the kind of faith that saves.<\/p>\n
Have you been saved by faith in the powerful working of God? Or have you followed a different path? If we can help you enter Christ the way Paul describes in this passage, let us know in the comments. We are happy to help.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Edwin Crozier I honestly do not understand why there is so much debate surrounding baptism. To be clear, I get the doctrinal wranglings and how they have developed. I just don’t understand how they hold sway in light of what the Bible clearly says about baptism. I’m not even really sure why the issue…<\/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":[27],"tags":[52,55],"class_list":["post-95595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":95595,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? 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