Naaman received cleansing from leprosy, not salvation by grace through dipping.
Mere "mental assent" belief in Jesus (no different than the belief of demons - James 2:19) followed by moral reformation, lip service confession, water baptism and works conjured up through the flesh in an attempt to receive salvation by works is not obedient works, but is a distorted 5 step works based flawed gospel plan of salvation. We have access by FAITH into GRACE (Romans 5:2). Saved by grace through faith, not works (Ephesians 2:8,9). It's not hard to understand, just hard for you to ACCEPT because of your biased church doctrine that tickles your ears and feeds your pride.
God didn't say saved by grace through water baptism and good works in Ephesians 2:8,9. He said saved through FAITH, not works, but FOR good works, so your works are not obedient works and they do not access God's grace.
Naaman listened to the man of God and dipped 7 times in the Jordan and was cleansed, but did not receive eternal life from dipping and was not even a believer in God until AFTER the healing had occurred, so you can't compare this with salvation by water baptism. Do we have access by FAITH into grace or by water baptism into grace? - What does ROMANS 5:2 say?
It does not say faith
and baptism or faith
and works, so it's faith (rightly understood) IN CHRIST alone. You try to "shoe horn" works "into" faith and pervert the gospel.
It's saved through faith, not works, not saved through work, not works. Faith is not just another work, hence saved through faith, not works. Repentance and faith are inseparable in salvation and repentance actually "precedes" saving faith in Christ. You reverse the scriptural order! Matthew 21:32 - For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you
did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not
repent and believe him. Mark 16:16 -
Repent and believe the gospel. Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of
repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. *Notice the scriptural order. According to you, these verses should read - "believe him and afterwards repent," "believe the gospel and afterwards repent," "faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and afterwards repentance toward God."
Amen!
That's because repentance is a change of mind about our sinful position and need for Christ to save us and the new direction of this change of mind is faith in Christ for salvation.
Two sides to the same coin. Inseparable in receiving salvation. If we have truly repented then we have faith in Christ for salvation and are saved. If we have faith in Christ for salvation then we have already repented. To say that we have repented but we don't have faith in Christ for salvation is an oxymoron. Also, to say that we have faith in Christ for salvation but we never repented is also an oxymoron.
Confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead not as two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together. Romans 10:8 - But what does it say? "The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart" (together) that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, (notice the reverse order from verse 9 to verse 10) - that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Confess/believe; believe/confess. *Again, not two separate steps to salvation but chronologically together.
Read on -
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 the part which saves you),
but the answer of a good conscience toward God (that is, as an inward, spiritual transaction between God and the individual, a transaction that is symbolized by the outward ceremony of water baptism).
Repentance is included because it already took place in the process of changing our mind and placing our faith in Christ for salvation. Confession is included because faith and confession are not two separate steps to salvation, but are chronologically together. Water baptism is not included because it FOLLOWS repentance/faith/confession (Acts 10:43-47; 11:17,18; Romans 10:9-10). So mere "mental assent" belief + moral reformation + lip service confession + water baptism does not = salvation. You've been duped.
You need to get over this faith ONLY obsession. When James said faith ONLY, he was talking about an empty profession of faith, dead faith that ONLY professes to be genuine but demonstrates by the lack of works that it's dead (James 2:14-24). Genuine faith is not without repentance or confession and why would someone with genuine faith refuse to be water baptized? So genuine believers are not claiming to be saved by faith ONLY "in that sense" but we are saved by the kind of faith that trusts ONLY in Christ for salvation (Ephesians 2:8,9). All the attempted moral reformation, lip service confession, water baptism and works conjured up through the flesh in the world in a vain attempt to be saved by works will not save you without genuine faith in Christ.
No I did not rewrite Mark 16:16 and I did not ignore the rules of grammar either. You ignored the second half of the verse. Jesus
clarifies the first clause with
"but whoever does not believe" will be condemned. The
omission of baptized with
"does not believe" shows that Jesus does not make baptism absolutely essential to salvation. Condemnation rests on unbelief, not on baptism. So salvation rests on belief, which is in perfect harmony with what Jesus said in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11;25,26 but you completely ignore these verses in which you would have to rewrite to include baptism. Like I said before, "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. *No mention of baptized or condemned.
False. Stop ignoring the second have of the verse by which Jesus clarifies the first clause.
False. But whoever
does not believe will be condemned. *Baptized or condemned nowhere mentioned. Compare that with John 3:18 - He who
believes in Him is not condemned; but he who
does not believe is condemned already, because he has not (been water baptized? NO!)
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
You consistently ignore the second half of Mark 16:16 which clarifies the first clause (
and also harmonizes with what Jesus said in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6;29,40,47; 11;25,26) but you ignore these verses as well and end up distorting Mark 16:16 in a way that fits your theological bias, "baptized or condemned."
