Posted on 02/23/2015 1:11:03 PM PST by LearsFool
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit… (Titus 3:5)
How beautifully the apostle in these strong words extols the grace of God bestowed in baptism! He refers to baptism as a washing, whereby not our feet only, not our hands, but our whole bodies are cleansed. Baptism perfectly and instantaneously cleanses and saves. For the vital part of salvation and its inheritance, nothing more is necessary than this faith in the grace of God. Truly, then, are we saved by grace alone, without works or other merit. So, eternally pure love, praise and gratitude for, and honor unto, divine mercy shall possess us; we will not boast of nor delight in our own powers or achievements: as has already frequently and sufficiently been declared.
(Excerpt) Read more at gnesiolutheran.com ...
Great paragraph from the link:
This verse clearly indicates that salvation is not to be secured by works, but is an instantaneous gift. In physical birth we are given, not one member alone–hands or feet–but the entire body and the life; our life operates, not to effect birth, but because we are born. Similarly works do not render us pure and godly or save us: we are first made clean and godly and receive salvation; then we freely perform good works to the honor of God and the benefit of our neighbor.
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So true. Yet many Christians deny and discount the commandment to be baptized, deny the necessity to be baptized unto salvation, and even (mistakenly) claim that baptism is a "work".
From Luther ....”Concerning the time when Infants Baptisme was first invented, Luther in his Booke of Anabaptisme acknowledgeth, that it cannot be proved, by Sacred Scripture, that childrens Baptisme was instituted by Christ, or begun by the first Christians after the Apostles, for one thousand yeares since it came to be in use in the church, and was established by Pope Innocentius.” A. R. [Andrew Ritor], The Second Part of the Vanity and Childishness of Infants Baptisme (London, 1642), 8.
So what about the thief on the Cross?
I believe this about baptism:
Although it is a great sin to condemn or neglect [baptism], yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated, or saved, without it: or, that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated.
Exactly right. I’m afraid many are simply being misled, having never heard from the pulpits this part of the gospel.
They need to heard the rest of the gospel Christ gave to His apostles to preach. Only then can they decide whether to (A) believe and be baptized, and thus be saved or (B) disbelieve and be condemned (Mark 16:15-16).
Sorry, the word cross should not have been capitalized.
Luther’s position in not quite the Roman Catholic position.
For Romanism, a child receives grace in baptism without faith. Luther states in a Postil sermon:
This they have inferred from the former opinion, that little children receive grace in this way without faith, solely by the virtue and power of the sacrament, as, they dream. Therefore they also ascribe the same thing to adults and to all men, and utter such things from their own mind, and thereby they have in a masterly way eradicated and made void and unnecessary the Christian faith, and have set up human works alone by virtue of the power of the sacraments.
So what about the thief on the Cross?
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What about him? What about Abraham, Moses and every other child of God who died before God’s perfect plan of Grace was established?
So no deathbed or foxhole conversions without getting wet, then?
Would Paul, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, had been killed, would he have died in his sins, since he was not baptized until he reached Damascus?
To directly answer your question: They were saved by faith. They believed, and it was credited to them as righteousness.
I cannot play God. Can’t and won’t play “what if” games when it comes to eternal salvation.
But I do know this. Preaching a message of salvation WITHOUT the essential element of baptism is as valid as teaching that repentance is not an option. Or that confessing the name of Christ is unnecessary.
And I know that preaching a “Billy Graham Crusade message” that one might be saved by saying a “believers prayer” is also unscriptural.
The question they had to make up an answer to
To directly answer your question: They were saved by faith. They believed, and it was credited to them as righteousness.
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Thank you. That answers your question about the TOTC. Now. Since we are no longer under Law, but under Grace, we now have a perfect plan of Salvation - through Grace - which includes baptism for the remission of sins.
Simple answer: no one knows.
However, considering that he had be mocking Jesus only a few minutes prior, and that he was a thief, I would say by his actions he was no follower of John the Baptist or Jesus until he asked Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom.
Did Christ baptize anyone ? Did the apostles baptize babies ?
No it is not scriptural
You would say? Why not just admit you don’t know whether the thief was baptized or not?
The Pharisees and Sadducees went out to John to be baptized. Later they murdered Jesus. What would you say about them?
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