If we look at this verse closely, we see that it is composed of two basic statements. 1—He who believes and is baptized will be saved. 2—He who does not believe will be condemned. Clearly, the determining factor regarding whether one is saved or condemned is whether or not he believes. In interpreting this passage correctly, it is important to realize that while it tells us something about believers who have been baptized (they will be saved), it does not say anything about believers who have not been baptized. In order for this verse to teach that baptism is necessary for salvation, a third statement would have had to be included, that statement being: “He who believes and is not baptized will be condemned” or “He who is not baptized will be condemned.” But, of course, neither of these statements is found in the verse.
Mk 16:16a is about salvation, a DIFFERENT subject than Mk 16;16b that is about condemnation. Therefore the qualifications for salvation is DIFFERENT than the qualification for being condmened.
There are two prerequsites in order to be saved > belief and baptism
There is one prerequsite for being condemned > unbelief
You are not interpreting this but COMPLETELY CHANGING it to fit your theology. Jesus NEVER said he that believeth is saved and then can be baptized later. You are changing the prerequsites Jesus gave to being saved to a prerequsite that fits your tholeogy is all that is taking place here.
Jesus used a progression of prerequsites in being saved 1) belief 2) baptism 3) saved
Therefore you must do 1 and 2 before you can get to 3. Therefore if a person has not done 1) then we logiaclly know he has not done 2 or 3. So when Jesus said he that has not believeth not that logically includes the unbaptized.
There is an old example that has the progession of prerequsites as Jesus used:
He that eateth and digesteth his food shall live,
he that eateth not shall die.
The prerequsites to live is one must digest. But one must first eat before he can digest.
So the phrase "he that eatheth not" logically imples one has not digested and therefore cannot live. It would be redundant and illogical to say "he that eatheth not, and does not digest the food he has not eaten, shall die"
mailmandan said:
False. Again, He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (general cases without making a qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes but is not baptized) but he who does not believe will be condemned. The omission of baptized with "does not believe" shows that Jesus does not make baptism essential to salvation. Condemnation rests on unbelief, not on baptism. So salvation rests on belief.
You continue to mix subjects. The subject of Mk 16:16a is
salvation and the subject of Mk 16:16b is
condemnation and the qualifications for each is different.
You post "
Condemnation rests on unbelief, not on baptism. So salvation rests on belief"
Again, the progression Jesus used is one must believe
before he can be baptized and be baptized
before he can be saved.
Therefore "unbelief" is the
same thing as not being baptized for the unbeliever does not meet the prerequsite to be baptized. He must first believe
THEN he can be baptized.
mailmandan said:
Yet nowhere does the Bible say that whoever is not baptized will be condemned. Jesus did say, He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Mk 16:16b "he that believeth not shall be condemned". Again the phrase "he that beliveth not" I
NCLUDES not being baptized. So the unbelieving person who has not been baptized because of his unbelief is condemned. The bible teaches bapism saves, 1 Pet 3:21, Acts 2:38, Mk 16:16; Rom 6:3-7; Col 2:12-14 so that logically implies that NOT being bpatized is a condemned state. The bible does not contradict itself.
mailmandan said:
Since Jesus clarifies the first clause with "but he who does not believe will be condemned," then baptism signifies salvation and there are not two conditions to being saved here. Where did Jesus mention two conditions in these 9 verses? John 3:15 - that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:18 - He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 5:24 - Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 6:29 - Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." John 6:40 - And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:47 - Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. John 11:25 - Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. John 6:26 - And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Did Jesus forget to mention baptism?
Is that what Jesus said in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26? Which prerequisite steps did He use here? Simply BELIEVES. Jesus NEVER said whoever is not baptized will not be saved. You seem to have more faith in baptism for salvation than you do in Jesus. That's not believing in Him but believing in baptism.
So you admit that believes precedes baptism and believes is not baptism. These are two distinct things. I already showed you where Jesus said 9 different times that whoever believes will be saved (without mentioning baptism). Now read Acts 10:43 - whoever (gets water baptized? NO) believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Acts 13:39 - all that (get water baptized? NO) believe is justified from all things.. Acts 16:31 - Believe in the Lord Jesus, (and get baptized? NO. Simply believe) and you will be saved. The Bible says believe and be saved, yet you say believe and still remain lost. Who should I believe? You or the Bible?
An unbeliever cannot be saved whether he gets baptized or not. There are plenty of unbelievers (and I'm not talking about atheists) that get water baptized in various false religions and cults, but they don't truly believe. They may believe in the existence of Christ and in the historical facts about Him, but a saved believer trusts exclusively in Christ for salvation and not in works. Anything short of faith (belief, trust, reliance) in Christ's finished work of redemption as the all sufficient means of salvation leaves you an unbeliever.
That is absolutely false. Believe does not include baptism. Believing is trusting in Christ for salvation. Baptism is being immersed in water afterwards. Two distinct actions. Trying to shoe horn baptism into believe is flawed hermeneutics. Do you also try to shoe horn good works in general into believe? Do you teach that believe is a synecdoche for good works as well? This is works salvation anyway you slice it.
Let people simply compare and contrast:
Jesus - he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved
mailmandan - he that beliveth is saved and can be baptized later if he desires
A world of difference between the two. You are simpy trying change what Jesus said for no other reason than to force it to fit your theology. You are not giving me an a valid interpretaion or even a valid argument on Mk 16:16.
All salvic verses do not mention the blood of Christ nor grace. So that must mean, according to your "interpretation", the blood of Christ, grace along with bpatism are not necessary to salvation.
mailmandan said:
Must or will? Keeping His commandments is not forced or legalistic for those who love God. What do you believe it means to "keep" His commandments?
Keeping > OBEYING His commandments is how one loves Christ.
CHrist does not force anyone to obey His commands, that obey because they love Him.
But the point being: no obeying = no love.
mailmandan said:
You read the Bible through the lens of works salvation. Keep yourselves in the love of God is supplemented with three circumstantial participles of means in the original; they answer the question, "How does one keep himself in the love of God?" By building yourselves up in your most holy faith; by praying in the Holy Spirit; and by looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Was Peter, Barnabas and the rest of the Jews keeping themselves in the love of God in this situation at Antioch in Galatians 2:11-15? Was anything said about them not remaining saved? The phrase "keep yourselves in His love" does not convey the idea that we need to keep God loving us by good works to maintain our salvation. The word "keep" means to attend to carefully, take care of, guard. We do this by building ourselves up in our most holy faith; by praying in the Holy Spirit; and by looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. If we temporarily stumble in an area of our life, does that mean in those moments that we are attending to carefully, taking care of, guarding the love of God? Jude did not say here to keep yourself saved by works.
I have partici[ated on various religious forums for many years. I have yet to come acroos that forum, that poster that showed me the verses where Jesus said "Do nothing and thou shalt be saved".
Agan, Jesus equates love to obeying His commandments. Logically then Jude's command means for one to keep himself in the love of God means one must keep on keeping God's commandments...."
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." Jn 14:21
mailmandan said:
Without the blood of Christ, none of us would be holy, without spot, without blame.
Johnsaid Christ wshed us from our sins in His blood, Rev 1:5
Jn 19:34 jesus shed that blood that washes away sin in His death
Rom 6:3-7, by NO COINCIDENCE it is water baptism that puts on into the death of Christ to contact that shed blood. Faith only is dead, no verse say a dead faith puts on into Christ's death.
mailmandan said:
You need to read verse 6 and 7 together. 1 John 1:6-7 - IF we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Does that describe a Christian to you? 1 John 3:10 - By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 2:11 - But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. As you can clearly see, those who walk in darkness are children of the devil, not Christians. But IF we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Walking in darkness is descriptive of lost unbelievers. Walking in the light is descriptive of saved believers. Only saved believers are in the light. Acts 26:18 - to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. 2 Corinthians 6:14 - Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? Lost unbelievers walk in darkness, not in the light. Genuine saved believers walk in the light, not in darkness. IF confirms these positions in verses 6 and 7. It's one or the other.
Both verse begin withthe conditonal wrod "IF". SO it is a choice Christans have to make to choose to either walk in light or walk in darkness, Christ does not force the Christian agiasnt his will to walk in either. Those that choose to love Christ will walk in llight, ie, obey/keep His commands.
The unavoidable implication of the verse is that the CHristian must choose to walk in the light if Christ blood is to continue to wash away all sins. John did not say IF YOU CONTINUE TO DO NOTHING Christ's blood continues washes away all sins. So the implication is that salvation is not all one sided but
BOTH God and man have a role in savlation. God and Christ did their part by coming to earth and shedding blood for mankind. Man has a part by obeying Christ so that blood will wash away sins. Christ's blood does not randomly, unconditionally or for some unkown resaon wash away men's sins. Therefore obeienet works play a mjor role in manmsn saltion and why James could say
BY WORKS a man is justified, for God justifes the man with the obedient faith. Do works in and of themselves justify? No. Again, it takes a specific work, an OBEDIENCE to God's will for work to justify. Since God made obedience necessary to being saved, then it takes
BOTH God and OBEDIENCE to be saved. Savation is not possible without both.
God ALONE will NEVER save the man who remains disobedient to Him.
mailmandan said:
You need to have faith that trusts exclusively in Christ for salvation and not in water and works. If our faith is not trusting exclusively in Christ for salvation, then we are still in darkness and walk in darkness regardless of how religious we think we are and try to be.
You turned this into salvation by works. Being faithful unto death could include any number of works, according to your logic. From beginning (Ephesians 2:8) to end (1 Peter 1:9) salvation is through faith in Christ. Keeping Christ's works (not our own works) is accomplished first by "the word of their testimony" which we speak. "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them [past tense]: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). The word, "keeps," (same Greek word for "keep" His commandments - John 14:15) in Revelation 2:26, comes from the Greek word tereo Strongs #5083 and means to keep, to guard, to watch over, preserve. The only way to keep His (Christ’s) works, is to continually trust in what He accomplished for us on the Cross. The way that these great and wonderful benefits become ours is because we trust exclusively in Christ for redemption (Romans 4:5; Philippians 3:9).
Only those with faith walk in the light. When you say faithful obedience, you then imply salvation by works. Those who walk in the light practice righteousness and not sin. Works salvationists does not do this. Without faith it's impossible to please God. I do not teach what James refers to as "faith only," which is an empty profession of faith.
Those who believe have already repented and have already confessed. Those who submit to believer's baptism do so because they already believe and are saved (Acts 10:43-47).
Repentance is not possible without first believing. You have not biblically shown it to be.