Tradition: Baptism Will Save the Soul

Tradition: Baptism Will Save the Soul

               Truth: Baptism Does Not Save the Soul

     Many false religions including Catholicism teach that baptism will save the soul. Therefore, infants, children and even adults are baptized in order to guarantee their spiritual security. I can remember having my own children baptized as infants before I was born again and came to the knowledge of the truth. My wife and I mistakenly accepted the traditional teaching of the necessity to have infants baptized so that if they died they would go to heaven, and besides isn't that what the church does with babies, baptize them?

     Well, the Bible certainly doesn't teach the necessity of baptism in order for the soul to be saved and go to heaven, although that is the traditional thinking of most of the people that have not been born again. Oftentimes when witnessing to someone they will tell me of when they were baptized thinking that they have done what is required of God. And, bless their hearts, for the most part, that is all they know at the time, until someone tells them the truth of the Word of God!

     If baptism was necessary to go to Heaven, then the thief on the Cross would not have been with Jesus in Heaven/Paradise that day when he died! But, Jesus was right of course, the thief did go to be with the Lord in Paradise even though he was never baptized, no, he never joined the church, and he never 'Walked the aisle' he surely went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ the moment he passed from this life into the next! Absent from the body and present with the Lord, Amen!

     In every instance in the New Testament, baptism always took place after the person believed, yes, believer's baptism is the Biblical teaching: 'Then they that gladly received his word were baptized...' (Acts 2:41) 'What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believe with all thine heart, thou may’ (Acts 8:36, 37) 'Many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized' (Acts 18:8).

     These are just a few examples of the Bible's teaching on baptism. Therefore, if you have never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and received Him as your personal Savior, that is the first thing you must do, believing with all your heart, repenting of your sin, turning to Jesus by faith. Then, after you are born again [born from above] it is time for baptism, for baptism is the next step of obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

     And, baptism by immersion is taught in Acts 8:36-38 when Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch ‘Went down into the water’. Therefore, immersion has been practiced since the beginning of the Church! If baptism by sprinkling or pouring was the method required, the eunuch in Acts 8 traveling through desert regions for many miles from Jerusalem to Ethiopia would have had enough water onboard for sprinkling or pouring. The Ethiopian Eunuch, it is believed, was a recent proselyte of Judaism and likely was immersed after he initially accepted its tenets. Also, Baptismal pools have been unearthed dated to 100 B.C. in Judea.

     And so, it was not until enough water was present for immersion that Philip baptized the eunuch according to the Biblical method for they were baptizing the saved in Jerusalem before this event occurred in Acts chapter eight. Also it is believed that John the Baptist immersed those who repented in the Jordan River during his ministry. Immersion gives the picture of the entire body, soul and spirit of the person being baptized is totally given over to what the mouth has confessed!

Chaplain L.E.Wolfe www.btmi.org I-85 Exit 35 SC  McPilot  Stop in, and please pray for our ministry!