Baptism: Essential For Church Membership But Not For Salvation?

The design and purpose of New Testament baptism continues to be discussed and debated. Even though some religious groups go at great length to prove that Bible baptism is an immersion in water, they will declare that it has nothing to do with a person’s salvation. This is evident as one can read in The Hiscox Standard Baptist Manual by Edward T. Hiscox. Over the years our brethren have debated our Baptist friends as to the purpose of water baptism while both sides agreed that baptism is by immersion only. Furthermore our Baptist friends will teach that it is required that a person must be immersed in order to be a member of that denomination. This kind of reasoning would, in short, state that an individual could be saved without ever joining this denominational body. Our religious friends teach that when a person repents and believes in Jesus Christ as being the Son of God, he is saved at that point in time. And that baptism would be considered a work of man and not of God. Yet, they would require a ‘non-essential’ (baptism) to be experienced by a ‘saved’ individual in order to be a member of the Baptist Church. As you can see, they separate salvation and church membership; that is, you are saved by faith only but you have to be immersed in order to be a member of their denomination. But they are not the only religious organization that teach and practice this doctrine relative to baptism. In fact, the majority of denominations teach that baptism has nothing to do with being saved from past sins.

Recently, there have been two denominations/community churches mentioned in the area newspapers. One is the Centerpoint Fellowship that meets in the Legends Marriott Hotel in Prattville and the second one is the Journey Church that is located in Millbrook. Both groups have grown numerically since their beginning in our area. Because I did not know of their particular beliefs I began reading their respective websites. First of all, the Centerpoint Fellowship has a section on their website in which they explain their doctrine regarding baptism and the Lord’s Supper under the heading, “WHAT WE BELIEVE” And I quote: “The Church on earth observes two sacraments given by Jesus Himself. Baptism symbolizes Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. While not required for salvation, it is an outward demonstration of having accepted Christ’s saving grace at the beginning of a believer’s journey with God” (Emphasis, mine, RE). Basically what is taught here is similar to other religious organizations on the subject of baptism and that is a person is saved when he comes to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and confesses the same. And usually there will be a sinner’s prayer to God for the forgiveness of sins. He is later immersed to show forth that he has been saved by the grace of God. Here again you have a religious organization requiring what they consider a ‘non-essential’ act (baptism) of salvation.

The second religious organization is the Journey Church. I also began to examine their doctrine and practices as found on their website. Under the heading “GET CONNECTED” you will find a secondary heading “BAPTISM”. Please read carefully the following: “WHAT IS BAPTISM? Baptism is cause for celebration. That’s because baptism is your first public profession of faith. It’s a way to show that you’ve accepted Christ. In the same way a wedding ring is used as a symbol of a deep and lasting commitment to a spouse, baptism is a symbol of a deep and lasting relationship with God” (Emphasis, mine, RE). Again, “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BAPTISM? It is a symbol of Christ’s burial and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-4). It is a symbol of your life as a Christian (2 Cor. 5:17). Baptism does not make you a believer; it shows that you already are one! Baptism does not save you; only your faith in Christ does that” (Emphasis, mine, RE). Under the heading “WHY BE BAPTIZED” they do teach that “Christ commanded it (Matt.28:19, 20)”. They then raise the question, “WHEN ARE WE TO BE BAPTIZED? They teach “As soon as a person decides to believe in Christ, he or she can and should be baptized (Acts 2:41). A description is given about the baptismal service: “When it’s time, you will enter the water and state your name and proclaim you are a Christ-follower. Then the pastor or person who is baptizing you will say a few words and lower you just under the water. (Through the years, we have found that baptism is much more personal when the person being baptized says their name and proclaims “I am a Christ-follower” or similar acknowledgement). The point is made clearly that “Baptisms are scheduled regularly throughout the year at Journey. Upcoming dates are announced during our weekend services and can be found on our website” (Emphasis, mine, RE).

In a careful reading of the foregoing statements of beliefs and practices of both of the prior mentioned religious organizations it is plain to see that neither teaches that baptism is essential for salvation. It is simply an outward sign or a symbol of one having been saved by faith only. While the Journey church does admit that baptism is commanded, they would explain that it is necessary to become a member of their organization. Their reference to Acts 2:41 is as follows: “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that about three thousand souls were added to them.” This would be in agreement with verse 47 of the same chapter: “(P)raising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church (unto them) daily those who were being saved.” Their teaching would be that when the believer is saved he is then to be baptized in order to be added to the church (other believers). While this denomination stresses the importance of being baptized, they do not require that it has to be done immediately, even though they may say that baptism should be done soon after one is ‘saved’. In fact they schedule baptisms on a regular basis and they announce when such will take place in the future. And the “pastor or person” who may be doing the baptizing says nothing about it being for the remission of sins and the reason is that they believe the one being baptized is already saved.

It is now time that we examine the New Testament regarding what constitutes scriptural baptism as well as some thought provoking points of interest. I greatly encourage you to read all of the scripture references that are given in this discussion.

1. Justification by faith is a scriptural expression and doctrine that is found in Romans 5:1, 2. Please observe that it is faith in Jesus Christ that we have access to the grace of God by which we are saved (Ephesians 2:5, 8). Man cannot save himself by his own good works, even when we do all that is commanded of us we are to say "We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).

2. However, if it is the work of God then a person has to submit to the requirement of God in order to be saved. Even faith is a work of God (John 6:29) and so is baptism since it is commanded in Matthew 28:19, 20).

3. Not all baptisms are scriptural and acceptable to God. Even the baptism of John the Baptist was commanded of God at one time but after the death of Christ, it was null and void. The eloquent Apollos was led by Aquila and Priscilla to understand that the baptism of John that he was practicing was not acceptable and “explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:24-26). The twelve disciples in Ephesus who undoubtedly were baptized with John’s baptism because of the influence of the teaching of Apollos were scripturally baptized “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:1-7).

4. The apostles were instructed to “preach the gospel to every creature”. Jesus further stated in great clarity, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved…” The conjunction “and” brings together two things of equal importance, belief and baptism and they cannot be separated when it comes to salvation from past sins (Mark 16:15, 16).

5. The Holy Spirit guided the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost to tell believers to “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:36-38). The preposition “for” in Acts 2:38 is from the Greek word EIS and is “a preposition governing the Accusative, and denoting entrance into, or direction and limit: into, to, towards, for, among” (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament) and therefore does not in any sense mean that one is to be baptized because he is already saved. There were about three thousands souls who did what Peter instructed them to do and they “were added to them” (Acts 2:41). Luke wrote in Acts 2:47 that “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Thus, the Lord who saved them also added them to the church. Being saved from sins and later ‘joining the church’ was unheard of in the first century. The Holy Spirit guided the apostle Paul to write in 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” Paul makes it very clear in Colossians 1:18 that the body is the church when he writes about Jesus being “the head of the body, the church…” (See also Ephesians 1:22, 23). Salvation from past sins and church membership occur when one is scripturally baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins”.

6. The analogy of a wedding and the ring symbolizing baptism is not accurate. When the wedding vows are repeated by the couple being married there is then a ring ceremony following. It is AFTER the ring ceremony that the preacher pronounces the couple as being husband and wife. So if the ring symbolizes baptism, the couple is formally pronounced as husband and wife AFTER the ring ceremony. This would be more accurate and scriptural. It is then that we are “married” to Christ (Romans 7:4, KJV) following our baptism for remission of sins.

7. In Acts 16:30, 31, the Philippian jailer was instructed to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” But Luke does not say that he believed in verse 31. How could he when he did not know of Jesus Christ. Since faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him” (verse 32). Washing their stripes would imply that the jailer was a penitent person (verse 33). “And immediately he and all his family were baptized” (verse 33). It was then that the Holy Spirit had Luke to write that the jailer and his household “rejoiced, having believed in God…” (Verse 34). A saving obedient faith is when a person complies with all the commands of God in order to have past sins forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.

8. Saul, though he had prayed for three days as a penitent believer (Acts 9:9), was told by a disciple by the name of Ananias to “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). If Saul had been saved as penitent believer, why did Ananias instruct him to be baptized in order to have his sins washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:5)?

9. It is admitted that baptism is a form (likeness) of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:1-5; 6:17, 18); but, you will observe that “newness of life” followed baptism and not prior to this act of obedience.

10. Here is a verse of scripture that is so clear and plain that it would take expert help to misunderstand it as found in 1 Peter 3:21: “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (KJV, Emphasis, mine, RE).

It is indeed sad that some members of the church of Jesus Christ are being influenced by these religious organizations that do not teach the truth regarding the Lord’s directives pertaining to what an alien sinner should do in order to receive forgiveness of sins. Neither should we give encouragement to “Pastors” who refuse to teach all that God requires of sinners to obtain salvation in Jesus Christ as found in the Word of God. Our desire is the same as our Heavenly Father that is expressed in 1 Timothy 2:3, 4: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”