First of all, I do not teach salvation by works. I teach that if you don’t obey God He won’t give it to you. The obedient ones are the ones He chooses to give it to. Their obedience does not earn it, cause it can’t.
Your statement is an OXYMORON.
*Here is a quote taken from a church of Christ preacher -
"It is works of obedience that help to save us, not works of the law or works of merit." hmm.. Does Jesus need our
help to save us? Do our works
help Jesus save us? Think about it. *That is salvation by works whether you understand that or not.
Second of all, whether you accept it or not, the Bible says “baptism saves”. If you say that you are saved before baptism, that means that baptism does not save- which makes God out to be a liar. And we know this baptism is speaking of H2O because it’s compared to Noah’s ark, and it points out that it is not a bath that removes dirt from the body. Peter and the Eunich stopped the chariot to baptize where they did because there was much water (H2O).
CONTEXT. 1 Peter 3:21 tells us that baptism now saves you, yet when Peter uses this phrase
he continues in the same sentence to explain exactly what he means by it. He says that baptism now saves you-
not the removal of dirt from the flesh (that is, not as an outward, physical act which washes dirt from the body--that is not what saves you),
"but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (that is, as an inward, spiritual transaction between God and the individual, a transaction that is
symbolized by the outward ceremony of water baptism).
We could paraphrase Peter's statement by saying, "Baptism now saves you--
not the outward physical ceremony of baptism but the inward spiritual reality which baptism represents." By saying, "not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,"
Peter guards against saving power to the physical ceremony itself.
So in 1 Peter 3:21; it's not the water itself that saves us, but the "appeal-to-God-for-good-conscience". Just as the eight people in the ark were "saved THROUGH water" as they were IN THE ARK. They were not literally saved "by" the water. Hebrews 11:7 is clear on this point (..built an
ARK for the
SAVING of his household). *NOTE: The context reveals that ONLY the righteous (Noah and his family) were DRY and therefore SAFE. In contrast, ONLY THE WICKED IN NOAH'S DAY CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE WATER AND THEY ALL PERISHED.
Third of all, baptism envolves both physical water and spiritual living water anyways. Unlike us, when Jesus was pierced both blood and water flowed. This shows us that He is the living water that He spoke of with the woman at the well. And just as when we take the Lords Supper, it is both physically and spiritually done, and it envolves Christ’s spiritual blood, baptism is both physically and spiritually done, and envolves Christ’s spiritual blood. For we are baptized into His death- where both His blood and water flow- which saves us and makes us Holy. (Romans 6:3). For it is during baptism that we are placed in Christ, and God performs circumcision of the heart not by human hands. (Colossians 2).
You continue to confuse the symbol (water baptism) with the reality (Spirit baptism). As Greek scholar AT Robertson point out - "A symbol is not the reality, but the picture of the reality." You seem unable to grasp anything beyond your church of Christ indoctrination.
Did belief save Paul? No. Did prayer save Paul? No. Did fasting save Paul? No. Did being physically healed save Paul? No. Did obeying God save Paul? No. Ananias said to him “What are you waiting for? Arise, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
The first question that must be answered is "when was Paul saved?" Paul tells that he did not receive or hear the Gospel from Ananias, but rather he heard it directly from Christ. Galatians 1:11-12 says, "For I would have you know, brethren, that
the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ."
Paul had repented (Acts 9:6). "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Repentance means a "change of mind," and is wrought by the grace of God. Paul once persecuted the Lord (Acts 9:5), but is now ready to serve Him demonstrating the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:20). Paul had believed. He had Christ as his Lord (Acts 9:6). The Bible tells us that "no man can say that Jesus is Lord except "by" the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Paul had, by the work of the Holy Spirit, submitted to Christ as Lord.
Paul prayed (Acts 9:11). "Behold, he is praying," the Lord said to Ananias. This indicates that Paul's praying was pleasing to God. Campbellites teach that God does not hear an unsaved man's prayer, quoting in this regard John 9:31 - "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will." Well, Paul was a worshipper of God, calling Christ "Lord" and ready to do His will. All of these things characterized Paul
before he was baptized.
So, Paul heard and believed in Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul had already believed in Christ when Ananias came to pray for him to receive his sight (Acts 9:17). It also should be noted that Paul at the time when Ananias prayed for him to receive his sight, he was
filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17)--this was
before he was baptized (Acts 9:18). Acts 9 does not specifically tell us when Saul was filled with the Spirit, but verse 17
connects his being filled with the Spirit with the receiving of his sight. *We know that he
received his sight prior to his water baptism. It's also interesting that when Paul recounted this event again later in Acts (Acts 26:12-18), he did not mention Ananias or what Ananias said to him at all. Verse 18 again would confirm the idea that Paul received Christ as Savior on the road to Damascus since here Christ is telling Paul he will be a messenger for Him concerning forgiveness of sins for Gentiles as they have faith in Him. It would seem unlikely that Christ would commission Paul if Paul had not yet believed in Him and was not saved.
The Greek aorist participle, epikalesamenos, properly translated means "having called" on the name of the Lord. Paul’s calling on Christ's name for salvation preceded his water baptism. It is absurd to think that Paul had not yet called upon the name of the Lord and that water baptism is all the same as calling on the name of the Lord. This "washing away of sin" in water baptism was only "formal" or symbolic. As Greek scholar AT Robertson points out - baptism here pictures the washing away of sins by the blood of Christ. Water baptism does not wash the soul. This occurred earlier when Paul came to faith in Christ. Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary makes not of the importance of the Greek in Ananias' statement. When Ananias tells Paul to "arise, be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord," the tense of the last command is literally "having called" (aorist middle participle). "Calling on [epikalesamenos] --- 'having (that is, after having) called on,' referring the confession of Christ which preceded baptism." [Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, vol. 3 pg. 160]. Kenneth Wuest picks up on this Greek nuance and translates the verse as follows: "And now, why are you delaying? Having arisen, be baptized and wash away your sins, having previously called upon His Name." (Acts 22:16, Wuest's Expanded NT).
*No Scripture is to be interpretated in isololation from the totality of Scripture. Practically speaking, a singular and obscure verse is to be subservient to to multiple and clear verses, and not vice versa.
The only thing that saves is Christ’s spiritual blood, because it spiritually washes away our sins. How did Paul get this spiritual blood of Christ in order to wash away his sins? Does this verse say “What are you waiting for, believe in God in order to wash away your sins.” No, it does not say that. I know you have many more verses, good verses about the importance of faith, but what does this scripture mean to you? Cause to me it means I must obey the gospel by baptism in order to receive Christ’s blood.
The language in Acts 22:16 is similar to the statement of Christ when He took the bread and said, "This is my body" (Matthew 26:26). The bread was only the emblem of His body. Baptism is the emblem of the washing away of sins by the death of Christ. Every time a believer is immersed he washes away his sins in the same SENSE Paul did: not literally, but ceremonially, pointing to the blood of Christ by which sins are actually washed away.
“With flames of fire (hell) He will take vengeance on those who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of His Son.”
Good day to you sir.
In Romans 10:16, we read: But they have not all
obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed our report?" We can clearly see that we
obey the gospel by choosing to believe the gospel. Refusing to believe the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8) is
refusing to obey the gospel.
The gospel is a message of grace to be received through faith. The gospel is not a set of rituals to perform, a code of laws to be obeyed or a check list of good works (including water baptism) to accomplish as a prerequisite for salvation.
The gospel simply sets forth Christ crucified, buried and risen (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the
power of God unto salvation for everyone who
believes.. (Romans 1:16). We obey the gospel by choosing to believe/trust in Christ's finished work of redemption as the all sufficient means of our salvation. Praise the Lord!
