Igneous Quill

In the 1800s in the United States it was common among many churches to find a "prayer altar" where "sinners" could "pray their way through to salvation."  By the mid-1900s it had become even simpler, involving only a brief "sinners prayer," some version of which began to be included inside the covers of Bibles.  Earnest as these practices are, they do not reflect what we find in the teachings of the New Testament.

One time I was chatting with a friend whose church was contemplating going to "open membership."  This would mean that although the congregation would continue baptizing new members by immersion, it would permit people to transfer their membership in from non-immersing congregations without themselves being properly immersed.  In other words, life-long Methodists or Catholics who had been sprinkled as infants would be able to join the congregation without being baptized by immersion.  My friend supported this proposed change in membership requirements, citing to me Romans 10:8-10.

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved."

To my friend and many others, this passage seems crystal clear.  All that's required is faith and confession that Jesus is Lord.  It is never a good idea, however, to lift a single passage out of context and hang all of one's beliefs on it, especially about something so important as salvation.  Although the apostle Paul did write these words, two facts must be remembered:

1) The above passage was written to people who were already Christians.  This was a letter from the apostle Paul to a church in Rome.  It is not a letter written with non-Christians in mind as the primary recipients.

2) This passage was preceded by Romans 6:3-6.

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin."

Paul had already established baptism as the point at which new life begins, well before ever getting around to his comments on confessing the Lordship of Jesus.

After I left the Roman Catholic Church I continued for around two years considering myself an "evangelical" and studying the Bible alone and in groups.  I really did study the Bible, which made it all the more shocking to me when my eyes were opened to what it says about baptism.  I remember flipping from passage to passage that I had used before to support my belief in "faith alone," only to discover that I'd missed where baptism and even repentance (the latter I'd always pretty much understood) were mentioned.  Galatians 3:25-26 was one of those passages I sought out for reassurance:

"But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith."

Had I stopped there I would have continued with my old belief.  I kept reading, though:

"As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Galatians 3:27)

It goes on and on.

In the British science fiction show "Doctor Who" there's a device called a "perception filter."  Essentially, it keeps people from noticing things that someone doesn't want to be seen.  For instance, a perception filter on a door in a home could keep a family from noticing a room in the house for years.  The only way to see it is, generally, to know you are looking for it.  Then you can force yourself to see that which you feel as though you don't want to see.  Sometimes I think it looks as though a perception filter has been put on baptism in the Bible, keeping people from seeing the full and very simple truth about this practice.

If you would like to learn more about baptism, why don't you seek out a Christian Church or Church of Christ that holds to what the Bible says about it?  You may already be a member, even for years, of another Christian denomination.  If you've never been baptized by immersion, you are truly missing something important for disciples of Jesus.

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