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The thing that the writer of the booklet seems to be doing is to connect baptism simply with personal salvation; the idea of household salvation is not countenanced by him. We know, however, that Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his house (Hebrews 11:7) and that the flood typified baptism (1 Peter 3:20/21). There is therefore clearly in Scripture the idea of household salvation as well as individual salvation. Again, in Egypt the houses which had the blood sprinkled on the two door-posts and lintel were protected from the destroyer, provided none of those who lived there went outside before the morning (Exodus 12:22). We must however see that simply because persons are baptised and are in a certain sense saved they still need to be right with God inwardly. Scripture says: "The Lord , having saved a people out of [the] land of Egypt, in the second place destroyed those who had not believed" (Jude 5). Further, we know that all those who came out of Egypt had been baptised as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:2 "All were baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea". However in verse 5 Paul says that God was not pleased with the most of them, for they were strewed in the desert". We must be personally right as well as positionally right. Baptism, at most can make us positionally right; by faith we can be personally right with God. |
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The last quotation of the writer is from Acts 22:16 "And now, why tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptised". However the full quotation is: "And now why lingerest thou ? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name". The word "have thy sins washed away" would be too much for the writer of the booklet. He no doubt thinks that a person is baptised because his sins have been washed away, whereas the passage says that baptism washes them away. It is true that by faith Paul's sins were already removed from God's eye, but there also needed to be a washing away of Paul's sins before the Christian profession - he had been persecuting the assembly of God (1 Corinthians 15:9). |
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January 2000 |
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