If you say this about baptism, you also have to say this about repentance, confession and belief.
Not true. Repentance precedes saving belief in Christ and confession and belief are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together. The word of faith is in our mouth and in our heart, together. Water baptism follows. If we are not saved until we are water baptized, then salvation through belief/faith/believes unto righteousness/confession is made unto salvation is misleading. According to your argument, confession would not be made unto salvation, but unto baptism that is then done unto salvation but that is certainly NOT what Paul said in Romans 10:9,10.
You are confusing the biblical picture of belief with a simple mental ascension to a fact. Biblical belief is not merely accepting an intellectual fact or truth.
No I'm not. Simply believing that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ "happened" is simple mental ascension to that fact. But trusting exclusively in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the all sufficient means of my salvation goes beyond simple mental ascension to that fact. This is the belief that saves (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16). In regards to faith, those in the churches of Christ often fail to understand that there is a deeper, more substantive aspect of faith which is believing on Jesus Christ for eternal life, and most cannot distinguish between mere intellectual belief or assent from a personal faith that is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. They will cite that “even the devils believe” (from James 2:19) in their sermons and will contend that even the "faith of devils" is the same as any other faith except that the faith of devils lacks any moral or religious good works. They cannot grasp this DEEPER faith which trusts exclusively in Christ for salvation.
Scripture always presents true belief as a conduct of life. In other words, belief is a compossition of all of our thought speech and behavior.
The word translated faith is found in the Greek lexicon of the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and is defined as follows: #4102; pistis; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher),
especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity. The word translated believe is from the greek word pisteuō which means "to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to
entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ). Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Greek words for "pistis" and "pisteuo" are two forms of the same word. "Pistis" is the noun form, "pisteuo" is the verb form. Nothing in the root meaning of either word carries any concept of works. If you believe in Christ for salvation, then you are trusting exclusively in Him to save you, not in works. This belief will to one degree or the other result in actions appropriate to the belief - but the actions are NOT INHERENT in the belief. Faith is the ROOT and good works are the FRUIT of salvation.
Again, you are missing the point. These are two separat actions that are part of a single process.
I understand that confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart (not just in our head) that God raised Him from the dead are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together. Water baptism FOLLOWS AFTER "believes unto righteousness/confession made unto salvation." 1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and
no one can say that Jesus is Lord except BY the Holy Spirit. There is divine influence or direct operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person when confessing that Jesus is Lord. This confession is not just a simple acknowledgment that Jesus is the Lord (even the demons believe that), but is a deep personal conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is that person's Lord and Savior. So simply believing in our head (and not in our heart) that God raised Him from the dead does not result in righteousness and simply reciting the words "Jesus is Lord" not by the Holy Spirit from a check list of steps is not made unto salvation.
Peter is not saying that our baptism is not water baptism. What he is trying to get you to see is that the PURPOSE of baptism in water is not for the purpose of removing the dirt from your body. He is saying that water baptism is an appeal to God for a clean conscience.
Right after Peter says that baptism now saves you, *(conscious that his statement is liable to be misunderstood), Peter explains himself: Negatively, baptism does not save because water is applied to the body: “not the removal of the filth of the flesh.” Water can only cleanse the flesh outwardly; it does not cleanse the heart from sin. Positively, baptism saves because it follows a personal response to God as indicated by the phrase “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” It is that aspect of baptism (what is signified, “the answer of a good conscience toward God”) rather than the external rite (the sign, the application of water) that saves. The genitive in the Greek text is correctly translated as the pledge of a good conscience, not for a good conscience. It is a pledge made from a good conscience. Baptism is a pledge to God made from a good conscience. The symbol and the reality are so closely related that the symbol is sometimes used to refer to the reality and that seems to be what confuses many people. A FLOOD OF CONFUSION.
Then why can you not say this about baptism????
Baptism is not another aspect of faith. You don't baptize unbelievers in order to make them believers. We place our faith exclusively in Christ for salvation (at least genuine believers do) BEFORE we get water baptized. If someone drops dead of a heart attack before getting water baptized after they place their faith in Christ for salvation, they still have faith. The lack of water baptism did not change that. They also still have hope.
So is belief, repentance, confession, and baptism.
Is that what Paul said Ephesians 2:8? For by grace, you have been saved through baptism? Or through faith? Does faith precede baptism? Yes. Repentance "change of mind" precedes belief in Christ for salvation and confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord is chronologically together with believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead. Water baptism follows afterward. Faith is the instrumental means by which we receive salvation and salvation is signified, yet not procured in the waters of baptism.
Again, you must understand what belief is as it is present in scripture, not as a mere mental acceptance of a fact or a truth.
Saving belief in Christ is more than mere mental assent to the existence and historical facts about Christ. Saving belief trusts exclusively in Christ's finished work of redemption as the all sufficient means of our salvation. You seem to understand that this belief is no different than the belief of devils and the only difference is you add your works.
So you understand that not everyone who gets water baptized in church is a genuine believer.
We have some agreements. Praise God!
It was not left out as a simple act of omission. I only left it out because there is no passage that actually says that "repentance saves you" as is represented by the other examples. This of course does not minimize its partnership in the salvation process.
Acts 3:19 -
Repent therefore and
be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out.. of course the new direction of this change of mind in repentance is faith in Christ for salvation. That's why sins will be blotted out. That is in perfect harmony with ..whoever
believes in Him will receive remission of sins (Acts 10:43). Something that I find interesting. In Luke 13:3, Jesus said that unless we repent we will perish. In John 3:18, Jesus said whoever does not believe is condemned already. Yet NOWHERE in the Bible do we find "whoever is not water baptized will not be saved."
