Thanks Belteshazar, I have to think about what you are saying. Are you saying that Baptism itself is regeneration ? What are you saying I am not getting? Please try to be succinct.
pastorbillrandles wrote:
“Thanks Belteshazar, I have to think about what you are saying. Are you saying that Baptism itself is regeneration ? What are you saying I am not getting? Please try to be succinct.”
OK, let me try to be succinct. To save space I will not even include Bible references, but simply use Bible language.
Salvation is spoken of in three different ways in the Bible:
1) Jesus is the Savior. Therefore Jesus saves. In this sense the Bible testifies to the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, WON our salvation with His perfect life and sacrificial death. He did this entirely unassisted, after which He declared, “It is finished.”
2) Baptism saves, as does the preached Gospel (the power of God unto salvation). In this sense the Bible testifies to the fact that Jesus Christ commanded that disciples are to be made by these means throughout the world. Through these God-established means the salvation Christ WON then and there (that is, at Calvary 2000 years ago) is DISTRIBUTED to us here and now (wherever here and now are for us).
3) Faith saves, as Jesus and the apostles say so many times. In this sense the Bible testifies to the fact that faith, which is the gift of God not of works, is a heaven-sent gift of God to us, who are dead in trespasses and sins, and enemies of God. Thus faith RECEIVES the salvation Christ WON then and there and DISTRIBUTES to us here and now.
These three senses in which God in His word uses the term save/salvation are often played off against each other as if they were in conflict, and thus the plain words and sense of the Scriptures is contradicted one way or the other. But all three senses are true and correct, and beautifully connect the one to the other, and so uphold the absolute truth of God’s word, that SALVATION is by grace (DISTRIBUTED by God’s power and gift) through faith (RECEIVED) for the sake of Jesus Christ alone (WON).
When it comes to those who lived before the time of Christ and up until He said, “It is finished,” and later commanded His disciples to go forth and make disciples, they looked forward to SALVATION WON. But because God, who cannot lie, promised it, it was a certainty. In the same way SALVATION was DISTRIBUTED in view of it being WON, but the means were forward looking rather than backward looking as now, but still just as certain since God does not lie. Faith was the instrument of SALVATION RECEIVED then as now, and simply looked to the coming One, and the SALVATION He would win and distributed to Israel first and then to the nations.
Succinct enough?
P.S. Does baptism regenerate, i.e., make alive spiritually? Yes. That is what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, for it is through baptism and the word that faith, saving faith, is given by God.