LOL, all 4 questions???
Your kidding right!
What part of this do you not understand?:
1. I believe John's WB that signified repentance was superseded by Christ's SB (per
Matt. 3:11, cf.
Rom. 5:5,
1Cor. 12:13)
2. That WB continued to signify SB (in
Acts 2:38 &
10:48), which is the understanding by modern Baptists
3. At no time was the washing with water essential, but rather it is faith in Christ's atonement (
1Peter 3:21) that satisfies GRFS.
4. I also believe that WB replaced circumcision as the outward rite/work signifying saving faith (Rom. 2:28-29, 3:21-26 & 4:1-5:1).
At
the moment of conversion/repentance or accepting Christ Jesus as Lord (ACTS 20:21), Jesus’ Holy Spirit (HS) enters the convert’s heart (RV 3:20), plugging the person into the power of God, which moment
is called “baptism by the Spirit” (1CR 12:13). Confusion may arise from the fact that Paul says there is only one baptism (EPH 4:5), but elsewhere the NT seems to refer to two types of baptism: one by water and another by the HS (MT 3:11, JN 1:26-33, ACTS 1:5). Any confusion is resolved by understanding that
the two types of baptism are harmonized if baptism with water is viewed as a symbolic way of portraying baptism by the HS. (Most Bibles have a footnote for MK 16:9-20 saying that the passage is not a reliable or well-attested part of the NT canon, so it is problematic to cite v.16 as requiring water baptism for salvation along with drinking poison or handling asps as signs of being saved.)
Again, at the moment of repentance/acceptance, God’s HS enters believers’ spiritual hearts (RV 3:20), uniting them with God as heavenly Father (RM 8:9) and identifying them with Christ’s worldwide/catholic body or church (CL 1:18), which is called spiritual rebirth (JN 3:3-8) or baptism (1CR 12:13). Paul referred to the comparable moment for Abraham as spiritual circumcision. Instead of commanding water baptism for salvation, Paul said in one place (RM 10:9-10) that a convert should confess “with your mouth” in order to be saved, even though elsewhere (EPH 2:8-9) he taught that one is saved by faith.
Both
outward confession and water baptism may be seen as works manifesting love for God that every new Believer will want to (but we cannot say “must”) perform as soon as possible following his/her decision to have saving faith (cf. MT 3:13-15, ACTS 2:38). Although Paul did not command baptism, he administered it (in ACTS 16:33, 18:8, 19:5 & 1CR 1:114-16) even though he said Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel (1CR 1:17). IOW, Paul’s focus was on preaching (spirit baptism) and he probably left the water baptizing to his assistants.
The outward evidence that someone is Spirit-filled (EPH 5:18) or walking with God is the manifestation of the fullness of Christ (EPH 3:19, 4:13) or fruit of the Spirit, which consists of such attributes as those listed in
Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Jesus said “All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (JN13:35, 1JN 4:7-21), because “love” sums up the moral character of God (1JN 4:7-8). He did NOT say “…if you are water baptized.”
I was never holding on to it so everything’s cool as far as I’m concerned