Today in our worship services we concluded our study in the Gospel of Mark. If you weren’t there, I would encourage you to go to iTunes-podcasts-search Westlake Baptist Church and click on the microphone, and you can listen to the message for free. We were in Mark 16 and the theme for the sermon was that Jesus, the Servant of God, sends us. However, there is a verse in Mark 16 that often causes some confusion and brings up questions. Actually, there are two passages there in Mark 16. There is one about handing snakes and drinking poison and not being hurt. However, that’s not the one I am going to deal with in this post. Though I might deal with that in another post, we will see. The controversial verse I’m speaking of in Mark 16:16 which says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” So the question that is brought up is this, is Jesus teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation? In something that is a little different, I want to present the two main arguments on this topic. One argument says it is necessary. The other argument says it isn’t necessary. Then I will share where I fall theologically on it, and finish this post up with why this matters to us today.
Theological Belief 1: Baptism is necessary for salvation. Proponents of this view simply say, “read the text.” The text clearly says, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” That seems pretty straightforward. Of course they would also point to other passages such as Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 where he says, “repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). They will also point to James 2 where James says that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17, 26). They say that baptism is the first work that we do. Then finally they will point to 1 Peter 3 where Peter says ,”Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:20-21). Again they will say, read the read and it makes is pretty clear. So that is view one.
Theological View 2: Baptism is not necessary for salvation. Proponents of this view say that baptism is an outward symbol of the inward work done in our heart by Jesus when we surrendered to God’s grace through faith and were saved. They will point to Romans 6:3-4 where Paul says, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life.” Here Paul is saying that baptism is a symbol of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. That as we go into the water we are dying to ourselves, and we bury the old us, and God raises us into this new life given to us by His grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. Proponents of view 2 will also say that is baptism is necessary for salvation then there are two indisputable conclusions in Scripture. First, the thief on the cross was not saved, because he was not baptized. Second, if baptism is necessary for salvation, then that means salvation is by works. However, we know that Scripture clearly teaches the opposite, especially in Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” So there are the two views on baptism. Now to the next section of this post.
My personal theological conviction. I, personally, come down on the second view side of this argument. I do not believe that baptism is necessary for salvation for the previous reasons mentioned. While I do understand that the previously stated passages including there in Mark 16 can be confusing, I believe as we understand the context of the passages we can get to the true meaning of them. First, we must understand that baptism was a given in those days. If a person placed their faith in Jesus Christ, the way that they would demonstrate that would be that they would be baptized. They wanted people to know that they had been saved by grace through the blood of Jesus. They wanted to demonstrate to people that God has washed away their sins, and that they were now a child of God. Jesus, certainly would have believed that any true follower of His would follow in His example of being baptized. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus says if you confess Me before men, I will confess you before My Father. But if you don’t confess Me before men, then I will deny you before My Father” (Mt. 10:32). One of the ways that a believer confesses Jesus as Lord is by public baptism. If a person says they believe in Jesus and claims to be a Christian, yet will not publicly follow through with baptism, one should wonder why they won’t do that. This understanding of baptism was the natural result of confessing faith in Jesus helps explain Mark 13 and Acts 2. But what about 1 Peter 3? Again, context is important here. Peter in this passage is talking about how a Christian should live in a fallen world. Peter uses Noah and the flood as a symbol. What did the water represent in the flood of Genesis 6-9? It represented God’s judgment and death because of sin. Peter even says that baptism doesn’t wash off the external filth, but rather is a sign of a good conscience towards God. In other words, I am baptized as a public declaration that I have been inwardly washed of my sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. I also fall on the side of the second view point because Jesus Himself was baptized (Mt. 3). Certainly Jesus wasn’t being baptized because He needed to be saved. He was and is the Savior, the one who is saving sinners like me. However, in understand that baptism is a symbol of having a right relationship with God because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection; Jesus’ baptism then gives us the example of what we should do because of what He has done for us. So while I believe that baptism is a symbol, I also believe that it is more important than that as well. If it is just a symbol, then we can downplay the need for baptism and I believe that is a mistake. I believe baptism is important for two reasons. First, Jesus was baptized. If I call myself a Christian, which means “little Christ”, then I am going to strive to emulate the one I claim to follow. Second, baptism is commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission passage of Matthew 28, “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizingthem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19, bold is mine for emphasis). Now what? I want to close this with a few practical items.
- Baptism doesn’t save you, but it is important.Hopefully, this has come through clearly in this post. If you profess to be a Christian, unless there is something physical or mental that prevents you from being baptized; I believe Scripture commands us to be baptized.
- Context is king. This passage and the others hopefully show that reading a verse in its appropriate context can give clarification to the meaning. If we just isolate one verse or a portion of a verse apart from its context, we can change the meaning, and we would fail to “rightly divide the word of truth” as we are told to in 2 Timothy 2:15.
Pastor Justin