{"id":7737,"date":"2020-07-27T18:32:20","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T18:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=7737"},"modified":"2022-02-15T22:39:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T22:39:06","slug":"biblical-baptism-no-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=7737","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Baptism-No. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">[<strong>Note: \u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong> \u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Mere men did not invent the Bible doctrine of baptism. Jesus, in the Great Commission (Mat. 28:19\u201320; Mark 16:15\u201316), is its author, and He alone has the right to specify its element, purpose, antecedents, action, candidates, and every other facet of it. The New Testament is the exclusive source of this information.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Is baptism for everyone (i.e., all who are capable of responding to the Gospel)? One correct answer is, \u201cYes.\u201d The Great Commission indicates that the Lord wants everyone to hear, believe, and obey the Gospel, which includes baptism. However, another correct answer is, \u201cNo.\u201d Millions should <strong>not<\/strong> be baptized, not because God arbitrarily wills it, but because they are unprepared and unqualified for the act. Scriptural statements abound indicating various ones who should not be baptized:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those who do not believe in Jesus as the Christ: \u201cFor except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). Baptism will not benefit the unbeliever.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those who will not confess their faith, even though they may believe: Before Philip would baptize the Ethiopian, the evangelist required him to confess his faith (Acts 8:36\u201337; cf. Rom. 10:9\u201310).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those who will not repent of their sins: To repent means to determine to stop sinning and then to stop sinning. Those brought to believe in Christ by the preaching on Pentecost were told: \u201cRepent ye and be baptized&#8230;\u201d (Acts 2:38). Baptism is a hollow act if not preceded by repentance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those who seek to please others rather than to obey Jesus: It is right for parents, a spouse, or a friend to strongly desire one to be baptized into Christ. However, if one submits to baptism merely to please others, rather than to submit to the will of Christ, the act is vain. Those on Pentecost \u201cgladly received the word\u201d (Acts 2:41). One\u2019s obedience must be \u201cfrom the heart\u201d (Rom 6:17\u201318).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Those who do not know, or who deny, the purpose of baptism: The Bible states this purpose variously. It is in order to: be saved (Mark 16: 16), receive remission of sins (Acts 2:38), wash away sins (22:16), put on Christ (Gal. 3:27), and like expressions. Baptism is the line between those not forgiven and those forgiven, those not God\u2019s spiritual children and those who are, those in the world and those in the church. If one does not comprehend the purpose of the Lord\u2019s supper, he takes it in vain (1 Cor. 11:26, 29). So it is with baptism.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Baptism is for believers who will confess their faith in Christ and repent of their sins\u2014and who understand baptism\u2019s purpose in God\u2019s plan of salvation. Those lacking these Scriptural antecedents are not Scriptural candidates for baptism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note<\/strong>: I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle<\/em>, Denton, TX October 5, 2007].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong> From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note: \u00a0This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1 \u00a0page.] Mere men did not invent the Bible doctrine of baptism. Jesus, in the Great Commission (Mat. 28:19\u201320; Mark 16:15\u201316), is its author, and He alone has the right to specify&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=7737\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Biblical Baptism-No. 2<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,300,322,140,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baptism","category-belief","category-bible-baptisms","category-confession-of-faith","category-repentance","wpcat-37-id","wpcat-300-id","wpcat-322-id","wpcat-140-id","wpcat-38-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7737"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18742,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737\/revisions\/18742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}