Re: Baptism -- Qohelet Web Ministry

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Date Posted: 14:33:17 03/07/02 Thu
Author: Jay Dee
Subject: Re: Baptism
In reply to: Rick 's message, "Baptism" on 17:25:13 03/05/02 Tue

One thing to keep in mind is that God does the saving. We need to avoid taking a mechanical view of salvation. It is not as if we go through steps mechanically and because we have "pushed the right buttons" so to speak, that the salvation machine spits out salvation.

God saves us on the basis of his grace and our faith (Eph 2:8-9). God has instructed that the way we initially demonstrate that faith is through baptism (Col 2:12; Mk 16:16). God gives the Holy Spirit on the basis of our faith (Gal 3:2). You cited the case of Cornelius receiving the Holy Spirit BEFORE his baptism. This is true. God gave him the Spirit before baptism. However, In Acts 19, the disciples there received the Spirit AFTER their baptism as did the Samaritans in Acts 8.

As I said, we should not take a mechanistic view of salvation. God is clearly the one who saves. Jesus is the one who gives the Spirit. So why did he give the Spirit to Cornelius before he demonstrated his faith in baptism? We can't be certain. Maybe it was to make an impression on Peter. He reaction of willingness to baptize COrnelius, a gentile, shows that this may have been what it took to convince Peter that the Gentiles can be a part of God's kingdom as well as Jews.

So it seems that the case of Cornelius was an exception to the way people normally are saved and received the Spirit. However, we do not live our lives by exceptions. If a person jumps out of a plane without a parachute and survives, does that mean we all can? No. It was an exception. The normal rule is that when someone jumps from a plane without a chute, he will die.

God has specified how he wants us to respond to the Gospel. It involves baptism. If God chooses to do it a different way, that is his choice, since he is God. Besides, if we refuse to do what God wants, what does that say of our faithfulness to him?

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Replies:

Re: Baptism -- Richard, 23:57:13 04/05/02 Fri

Re: Baptism -- Jay Dee, 13:03:03 04/06/02 Sat

Re: Baptism -- Richard, 23:20:10 04/06/02 Sat
- Re: Baptism -- Jay Dee, 00:45:47 04/07/02 Sun
  - Re: Baptism -- Richard, 16:23:04 04/07/02 Sun
    - Re: Baptism -- Jay Dee, 14:03:11 04/10/02 Wed
      - Re: Baptism -- Richard, 15:49:26 04/11/02 Thu
        Re: Baptism -- Jay Dee, 00:45:33 04/12/02 Fri