WATER BAPTISM

"The story of Jothram"

  

There was once a man named Jothram who lived in the days of Samuel.  One day in a state of desperation Jothram committed the sin of theft.  Due to a traveling priest he is soon after confronted with Gods law.  He feels horrible about his sin and comes to a point of true Godly sorrow and repentance. (II Cor. 7:10) At this point he wants nothing to do with the stolen goods, but only to get right with God immediately.  He then asks the priest what he must do in order to be forgiven and be made right with God.

The traveling priest says, "If you want to be forgiven, the law says you must restore what you have stolen, bring an offering to a priest, and have atonement made for your sin" (Lev. 6:2-7). Jothram is ecstatic. He gathers up the stolen goods and returns them with joy.  He then gets the best ram he can get. The ram is so beautiful.  Jothram is truly clearing himself of wrong.  (II Cor 7:11)

  

So now he is on his merry way to make atonement.  As he walks he is filled with joy knowing his heart is clear.  But then an awful thing occurs. Robbers spot Jothram and this most beautiful ram and they say 'lets kill this fool and take the ram'.  And they do.

  

Now news of this tragedy reaches the community and particularly the teachers of the Law.  Immediately there is much talk and concern.  The question on everyone's hearts is "was Jothram forgiven or is he soon to suffer the wrath of God" There is so much difference in opinion that there is a split down the middle of the teachers.  The Antinomians believe that Jothram had to be forgiven because God forgives all based solely on ones faith and repentance.  Yet the Judaizers believe that no matter where the heart was in regards to faith and repentance, one could not be forgiven without following the proper procedure written in the law.

  

Both groups met tremendous difficulties due to their interpretations of this matter.

  

Among the Judaizers there was a strong bondage occurring to dos and don'ts of the law.  The people began to neglect true inward faith and repentance and relied on their works as prescribed in the law for their justification.  In this state many were falling into condemnation and hopelessness because they did not truly have the faith that works by love to keep them in the commands.

  

Among the Antinomians the people were no longer zealous to follow the teachings of Gods Word.  Take this one fellow for instance. He thought along these lines after committing theft like Jothram.  "Well, I don't have much money right now, I think I'll work a while and save up so it's less painful to restore, and besides the weather hasn't been great at all recently.  I think I'll wait until the summer when the journey to make sacrifice will be more pleasant.  I mean why hurry when these things are optional and aren't what saves me anyways"

  

All the peoples of the community were beginning to see that something was dreadfully wrong with each of these groups and their interpretations.  Lawlessness and condemnation were abounding.  Confusion was everywhere.

  

Now there was a small group among the teachers of the law; so small that they had no voice in the matter during the split.  These teachers had the true wisdom of God and a small remnant of the community who were of God came to them for help.

  

They brought the following wisdom to all those who would hear though they were few.

  

1.  We must teach all of God's Commands in all of their fullness, not leaving out one jot or tittle.  Regardless of our understanding of them we must not shrink from declaring the 'whole council of God' (Acts 20:27).

2. We must teach that God is not a God of unreasonableness and harsh bearings upon men of ignorance or inability but can be relied upon to be "the just judge of all the earth"(Acts 10:35).

3.  We must teach that no man go against the teachings of God presuming upon the grace and mercy of God that has been given to men in the past as that would lead to his certain destruction (Hebrews 10:26).

  

Sadly no one in the community took heed to the wisdom spoken.  Eventually all of these teachers and those who listened to them were persecuted and driven off into exile by the others.

  

Now let us come over into the 21st century as we deal with the issue of water baptism.  Let's examine what the Word of God says to see if there are any direct teachings concerning water baptism.

  

Mathew 28:19 ~ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them"

Mark 16:15-16 ~ "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved"

Acts 2:37-38 ~  "When they heard this, they said what shall we do?"  Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized"

Acts 8:35-36 ~  "Then Philip preached Jesus to him. Now down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"

I Peter 3:21 ~ "Baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"

  

There are many more scriptures concerning baptism but these are sufficient.

  

Before we get too far into this please remember that we are speaking nothing at all here of the faith and repentance that are required for salvation.  This is not a dissertation on salvation but rather what the Bible does say about water baptism and its significance.

  

From the above scriptures it is clear Jesus has commanded us that when one wishes to make disciples of men he must baptize them in water (please note that this must be water baptism as one man cannot baptize another in the Spirit, only Jesus can).  Jesus states once again in Mark that after the gospel is preached to every creature there will be a response.  The proper response that is acceptable to God will include both faith and works, in particular baptism.

  

That the disciples understood this as the meaning of Jesus words is now confirmed in the Acts of the Apostles.  When asked how to respond to the gospel message, Peter promptly said "repent and be baptized" There was no thought about it. Baptism was just naturally included because the Lord had commanded it.  Then again we see Philip "preaching Jesus".  Now right after he "preaches Jesus" the eunuch asks to be baptized (please note that this was in 'water').  Is this coincidence?  We think not.  Obviously somewhere in the middle of preaching Jesus Philip let this eunuch know that all who wanted to receive Jesus would respond through repentance and water baptism.

 

Lastly we have the wisdom of great Peter who knew for sure that some would distort this teaching of water baptism as have done the regenerationalists.  He tells us that it is baptism that saves us but that it is not some miraculous power of the water or the baptism itself.  Rather he affirms what Jesus spoke in Mark and states that it is the 'answer' of a good conscience towards God.  Mark said that the 'response' or may we say 'answer' of those who would be saved was belief and baptism.  So Peter affirms that it is actually the responding or answering God's call in faith that saves us and that baptism is simply the biblical physical method God has prescribed to answer the call.

  

Lets Recap:

  

1.  To become a disciple one must be baptized

2.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved

3.  Repent and be baptized was the answer to how to be saved.

4.  Preaching of water baptism was included in preaching Jesus.

5.  Baptism saves us, not water but proper response to gospel.

  

It would be very hard for one to refute these conclusions.  You have to seriously twist the words of God and distort the simple teaching of scripture.  So what will we do with these scriptures?

  

Will we do as the Antinomians and declare that this is non-essential because so many other verses in the bible speak only of having faith and repentance?  Example:

  

Many will presume upon God's mercy simply because he gave Cornelius, his friends, and relatives the Spirit of God before baptism.  Why would we then take an example of extreme circumstances and apply them to our lives where no such circumstances exist?  Are you of the first group of Gentiles to get saved?  Does God need to give the Spirit to you to show that gentiles are now accepted and can freely be baptized?

  

Will we do as the Judaizers and teach that going under water is what actually saves a man and without water God will never be willing to forgive a man regardless of his circumstances?  

 

Example:

  

Many will teach that it is the actual water that cleanses your sins and even if you are locked in a jail, in a dry land without water, or trip and break your neck on the way to the baptismal that you will be damned for not having gone under the water.

  

Will we get into a mess of confusion by trying to refute these different teachings and coming so hard against them that we throw out the baby with the bath water?  Example:

  

Throwing out either the necessity of Baptism as a command of God as done by some who teach that baptism is optional or by throwing out the necessity of true repentance and faith as do the Catholics by baptizing their babies and declaring them saved without faith and repentance.

  

God help us to be as the noble remnant in Jothram's day who did not fall into any of these traps that have been laid by the devil for our destruction.

  

Conclusion of the matter:

  

In fighting so hard against those who teach error let us not fall into error ourselves.  But let us teach the whole council of God that in the last day our works may be tried and found to be gold silver and precious stones.

  

Let us be as faithful Naaman (2 Kings ch.5). When Naaman asked, "how can I be healed?" God told him to dip in the Jordan River 7 times.  Naaman simply decided to believe God and follow his command.  Did the water of the Jordan River heal Naaman?  Of course not, he was healed by the mercy and grace of God which he received both by believing and obeying the command given to him by God.