My dear Z, what you are missing out on is that The God has guided this poor man all his life, whenever he has permitted Him to do so; and in this case, into discipleship with a man who has studied the Bible daily for years, and who has faithfully and precisely translated the entire New Testament from the Koine Greek Majority/Byzantine textform as proposed by the scholars Robinson and Pierpont, and related it also to small differences between it and Scrivener's Received Text that backed the English Crown-authorised Version, In doing so, he has addressed not only the meaning of every word in its grammar and syntax setting, but also by the style of the author in the cultural and historical context within which it was written.
Do you think I will place your estimate of what these Scriptures say, above that of my teacher and other commentators like him, which also on my own studies your assumptions ring falsely against the better, Biblically-consistent testimony? The answer is, of course, no; and it is just a little unrealistic to think otherwise.
Now, as for the baptism with which Jesus initiated His chosen students into discipleship (including Judas Iscariot), and by which they baptized other followers as committed disciples, its purpose is not to complete a believer's salvation by finally dismissing his/her errors, but rather it is a ritual for the induction by the delegated authority of the Godhead--The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost--of professed followers of The Christ into an irreversible commitment to a lifetime of discipleship under such disciplers as have been appointed, themselves teaching and keeping watchfully secure and without change whatsoever Jesus as the Master, Messiach, and Lord commanded His Disciple/Apostles.
The Gospel promise is that in the moment that the Foreknowing God, Who examines the thoughts and intents of a human's heart, discerns that the decision of repentant faith is lasting, right then the human's past errors are removed from His knowledge and permanently forgotten, with justice He completely cleanses that individual's record from all sins, He judicially declares that person "Not Guilty," and frees him/her from the bondage of sin, to be securely kept and transformed by the ongoing renewal of the mind through having been given a new heart and the indwelling Spirit of The God.
In the uninspired AV translation of Acts 2:38, the proper rendering of the preposition "eis" in the minds of the first-century Greek speakers who heard it has the verbal meaning "on the basis of"; which is its use in the foundational sense, exactly as it is used in Matthew 12:41:
"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here" (from the AV).
That is, sounding out the Greek,
"hoti metanoaysan eis to kayrygma Yona"
"because they repented on the basis of Jonah's proclamation as an herald"
So in that correct sense, the individuals professing repentance were to be permitted the induction rite of baptism, a public confession of having committed to be disciples of Christ, on the basis of their sins having already been forgiven and forgotten at the very moment one's belief in Him became real to him (and hence theoretically also to God), thus making them candidates for acceptance into the Company of the Committed, as fellow disciples, to join the assembly of brethren, to pray, to receive the doctrine of the apostles being in fellowship with them, and to break bread together in Remembrance, having received the Gospel with gladness of heart.
Of course, you know and have seen many individuals who have been overcome emotionally by forceful preaching, have been spiritually awakened to their pending condemnation, have grasped at the saying of a prayer of admitting their guilt, and been rushed into a water baptism without having had a true, lasting change of mind; and who, after these delirious effects have worn off in hours, days, or weeks simply gone back to their customary old ways, and not followed through. Like Judas, and Simon Magus, and Hymenaeus, and Alexander, and Diotrophes, these have swerved away and become vain janglers; or merely climbed back into their graves of spiritual death and become unresponsive; and all that after having been baptized, being wrongly told that baptism remits one's sins, and beenn defrauded such that a heavenly residence is now so secure that nothing else is required of them.
Make an account of that, if you can. Religious leaders defend their false presentations by calling that outcome "backsliding," but I simply do not believe their strategic deflection of responsibility for the phenomenon. These baptized people were simply not saved at all, IMO, but have in addition become gospel-hardened.
Now, Z, It is possible to continue to deal with the sticking points you brought up, but only if you can accept that your assumptions might be so wrong as to lead you into deep error, for my time is precious, and I am not interested in further adversarial debate on this issue.
With respect --
**..into discipleship with a man who has studied the Bible daily for years,..**
Jesus put four fisherman and a tax collector out in front of the other seven, when it came to sharing some of their personal backgrounds for us in the scriptures.
But, who had to be physically blinded, as well as scolded by an invisible source, to finally realize the error of his ways? Paul, of course, who was very well educated in the scriptures by the elite, and in other subjects as well.
Nicodemas was no slouch, yet was admonished by the Lord: “Art thou a master of Israel, and knoweth not these things?” Jn 3:10
Jesus said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Matt. 10:25
Jesus also said, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt. 7:14
Look at Apollos (Acts 18:24-28):
an eloquent man,
and mighty in the scriptures,
was instructed in the way of the Lord,
fervent in the spirit,
taught diligently the things of the Lord,
but LACKED the conversion instructions. How do I know this? because the passage tells me that he only knew the baptism of John.
It only took a couple of tent makers, Aquila and Priscilla, that had been converted under Paul, to get him straightened out. As highly educated as he was, he was still teachable.
And of course, as soon as that account ends, we find Paul encountering the ‘certain disciples’ that were of a similar condition to Apollos, pre-correction.
The obsession to pinpoint a precise split second of crossing to faith from unbelief is something that only God knows, so I don’t try to nail down the condition of someone’s heart. The middle two types of soil, in the parable of the sower, show seed dying, and new life coming from it, only to die by failure. That tells me that I’m not to decide who’s not ready to receive the Word of God, but to just testify of it. (the sower didn’t try to be hyper-selective about where his seed was sown.)
But again, this obsession to declare when someone has faith before even they move a muscle, is trying to be God. For even in his own testamonies, there was action shown by the person(s) involved, before their faith was acknowledged.
God’s wisdom in doing that is surely deeper than we can know. But, by having that requirement, he gets the recipient to involve himself wholely (physically and emotionally) to the matter. One of the biggest problems in Christianity (loosely speaking) is the argument that saving faith comes without action. Therefore anyone is saved, and the result is loosened morality, empty churches, etc. (after all, all one has to do is think the confession, right?)
The dogged effort by many to fight, ignore, ‘retranslate’, or devalue Acts 2:38, tells me that the devil absolutely despises it.
Continuing to discuss the Word is not a problem. How quickly I can, is variable.
Praying you don’t have any serious trouble from the snowstorm, imardmd1. I hate snow (kinda sorta).