Baptismal regeneration: I tend to apply the same rule here that I apply to Calvinism. There are roughly 500 verses in the New Testament alone that discuss the role of believing and faith. There are about 20 involving predestination. I prefer to interpret the 20 in the light of the 500.
With baptismal regeneration, I prefer to interpret the one verse (Acts 2) in light of the 500. I also think scripture is very clear on the importance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and how THAT is what makes us a Christian.
It is also extremely clear that baptism FOLLOWS belief. It does not create belief.
There is no scriptural account of an infant being baptized. There is no account in scripture of anyone being baptized without belief preceding it - unless the belief and baptism were false.
The one verse you have says:
“37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “ Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
That verse, by itself alone, can mean you are baptized in order to receive forgiveness of your sins, or it can mean you are baptized in response to your forgiveness from sin. See here: http://www.studylight.org/com/rwp/view.cgi?book=ac&chapter=002&verse=038
The advantage to interpreting it the latter way is that then the 500 verses on faith and belief make sense. If someone interprets it to mean baptism causes the forgiveness of sins, it turns the 500 verses upside down and renders them meaningless.
It is also an error to link baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit, since the two are NOT linked in Acts.
“14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.” - Acts 8
In this case, the baptism of the Holy Spirit – which is God’s prerogative – occurred later, probably because this was the first time the Gospel was preached outside of Israel (to Samaria). In Acts 10 we saw the Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit BEFORE baptism.
Remembering it, Peter told the Apostles: “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ “
In Acts 16 we find:
“29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They said, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. 33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.”
Notice they did not say “Believe and be baptized”, but they also did not withhold baptism for months of training either. Please remember that being saved can refer to either justification (saved from the effect of your sin) or sanctification (being saved from the wicked world, as Peter discussed in Acts 2 and in 1 Peter 3).
“Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.” - Acts 18
Believed - “together with his entire household”. “Believed and were baptized”, not ‘baptized to belief’.
You have often cited this verse: “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’”
But lists are not always given as ‘Do A, then B, then C, and D will result’. My daughter was still lazing in bed, and I told her to get her room clean! Get out of bed and do some work! That didn’t mean she should clean her room from her bed and THEN get up. I meant she should do all those things.
This is one of the problems when we try to turn scripture into a systematic theology text. Textbooks are written logically, while God’s goal in scripture is to reveal Himself.
In 1 Cor 1 we read: “14-17 It makes me thankful that I didn’t actually baptise any of you (except Crispus and Gaius), or perhaps someone would be saying I did it in my own name. (Oh yes, I did baptise Stephanas’ family, but I can’t remember anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to see how many I could baptise, but to proclaim the Gospel. And I have not done this by the persuasiveness of clever words, for I have no desire to rob the cross of its power. 18 The preaching of the cross is, I know, nonsense to those who are involved in this dying world, but to us who are being saved from that death it is nothing less than the power of God.”
Notice Paul was sent to proclaim the Gospel, not to see how many he could baptize.
We also read: “10 1-7 For I should like to remind you, my brothers, that our ancestors all had the experience of being guided by the cloud in the desert and of crossing the sea dry-shod. They were all, so to speak, “baptised” into Moses by these experiences. They all shared the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink (for they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ). Yet in spite of all these wonderful experiences many of them failed to please God, and left their bones in the desert. Now in these events our ancestors stand as examples to us, warning us not to crave after evil things as they did. Nor are you to worship false gods as they did. The scripture says—‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’”
Baptism by water doesn’t make you a believer. It does not reconcile you with God. Not unless you believe and repent. Then God pours out his Holy Spirit, typically when we believe, but sometimes later – although God knows who His own are and will bring them through completely in His time. It is the Holy Spirit who is our seal and promise, not a baptismal certificate.
Scripture says (Ephesians 1) “And you too trusted him, when you heard the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. And after you gave your confidence to him you were, so to speak, stamped with the promised Holy Spirit as a guarantee of purchase, until the day when God completes the redemption of what he has paid for as his own; and that will again be to the praise of his glory.”
Please note this IS an explicit timeline. “AFTER you gave your confidence to him you were, so to speak, stamped with the promised Holy Spirit as a guarantee of purchase...”
And in Romans 8:
“9-11 But you are not carnal but spiritual if the Spirit of God finds a home within you. You cannot, indeed, be a Christian at all unless you have something of his Spirit in you. Now if Christ does live within you his presence means that your sinful nature is dead, but your spirit becomes alive because of the righteousness he brings with him. I said that our nature is “dead” in the presence of Christ, and so it is, because of its sin. Nevertheless once the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you he will, by that same Spirit, bring to your whole being new strength and vitality.”
we must approach the Scriptures from the standpoint that they comprise the written Word of God, therefore the whole Bible is true and it does not contradict itself.
the doctrine of baptismal regeneration is not opposed to faith, quite the opposite faith is required to receive the sacrament.
the problem that those who deny baptismal regeneration have is there are too many verses which teach it and there are no verses that indicate baptism is for any other purpose than regeneration ( for example, no verses exist which state baptism is for obedience nor a public testimony )
the other huge problem those who deny baptismal regeneration have is the Universal Church itself. the Apostles went all over the known world preaching Christ, teaching and baptizing. then laid hands on faithful men to carry out their mission once they passed and those men laid hands on other men and so on.... what did these men find when they compared what was taught by the Apostles in Greece, Rome, Jerusalem, Northern Africa, etc, etc? THEY FOUND EVERYONE WAS TAUGHT AND BELIEVED BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. there is no historical record of anyone who denied baptism was for the remission of sins and being sealed with the HolY Spirit. the doctrine is not only taught in the Scriptures, but it was obviously taught as a Apostolic Tradition, since it was a universally recieved doctrine of the Church.
now you can choose to hold to a doctrine that contradicts historical, orthodox Christian belief and only came into existence in the 16th century, i do not.