you have some very interesting theories about what the Scriptures teach about baptism.
we know the Apostles went all over the known world, preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. when they all died, they left a Universal Faith, including what baptism is for.
if you are right in your theory, we should expect to find the successors to the Apostles believing what you teach.
if you are right, you should be able to give me some Christian leaders or theologians between 95ad and the start of the 16th century that denied baptismal regeneration and taught this “two” baptism theory. can you give me three names of such individuals??
“can you give me three names of such individuals??”
Peter: “...when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ...”
Did the flood ‘save’ Noah, or did it separate him from the evil world? THAT is the salvation offered by water baptism: separation from the world!
Paul & Silas: “30Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”
Water baptism is important to do, but it doesn’t save you. Jesus saves. And Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit, not water!
John: “...31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
We receive life by believing, not by water baptism. What does the word of God say?
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” - 1 Cor 12
One spirit, one body, and “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
Frankly, I don’t think Catholics really believe in baptismal regeneration either. If they did, they would not wait to baptize a convert, since the convert would be in danger of hell from the moment he had faith until he was baptized. Indeed, it is hard to see how anyone would WANT to be baptized, since they would not be spiritually alive to recognize their need until AFTER water baptism.
I reject baptismal regeneration, but I believe water baptism is an ordinance of God, and I believe that someone who refuses to be baptized doesn’t truly believe. OTOH, many delay in baptism simply because it is not widely taught. We assume converts know, when most have never read the scriptures in detail yet.