Is Baptism Required?
Q. I recently attended a church that is part of the Restoration Movement. This is the first I’d heard of it, but what puzzled me is that they believe baptism is necessary for salvation. They quote Acts 2:38 and Mark 16:16 in their literature. Could you please give your take on these verses?
A. Baptism is the evidence of salvation, not a requirement for it. It’s the public confirmation of a decision made in the heart. Mark 16:16 encourages baptism as evidence of salvation but does not say that the failure to be baptized will result in condemnation. Only the failure to believe can cause that. The same is true of Acts 2:38. In both cases baptism is shown to be an important step in the salvation experience. But nowhere is it described as an essential prerequisite. If it is then the thief on the cross could not have been saved.
A. Baptism is the evidence of salvation, not a requirement for it. It’s the public confirmation of a decision made in the heart. Mark 16:16 encourages baptism as evidence of salvation but does not say that the failure to be baptized will result in condemnation. Only the failure to believe can cause that. The same is true of Acts 2:38. In both cases baptism is shown to be an important step in the salvation experience. But nowhere is it described as an essential prerequisite. If it is then the thief on the cross could not have been saved.
This is another one of my many Bible confusions lol. When I first started going to church, I honestly believed that you have to get baptized to be saved because my mom had friends who are Catholic and baptism is very important to them. It also made sense to me. And then I heard from others that it is not what saves you and then I began to wonder why people do it. But it is pretty confusing because Mark 16:16 says something along the lines "Whoever believes and is baptized is saved" so it makes it seem as if that is part of the requirement. But then afterwards it said that those who refuse to believe will be condemned. I noticed that baptism wasn't mentioned then. Thank you for clearing that up! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that! I have been looking up a few verses about baptism to clear any confusion. Dad read it and his confusion came back lol. You really do have to be careful with how you interpret the Bible at first glance. And there are people who will tell you different things. But if we were to get baptized in order to be saved, then it would mean that we would have to rely on a certain action to be saved!
ReplyDeleteI left Steve a comment. Here's to it actually being approved! lol But it's an easy misunderstanding.
ReplyDelete