A major
debate in some religious circles is whether or not baptism is an essential step
in the salvation process. One of the arguments against the necessity of baptism
is the claim that it is a “work,” and since we are not justified by works,
baptism has no part in our justification. But this argument is misleading. The
Bible describes a number of different kinds of works, so to lump them all
together in the same category is to distort the biblical facts.
Is
baptism a
work of the devil (1 John 3:8)? Is
baptism a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21)? Is baptism a work of the Jewish
Law (Rom. 3:27; Gal. 2:16)? Is baptism a work of human merit (Eph. 2:9) or
ingenuity (Acts 7:41)? Is baptism a good work (2 Tim. 3:17), or a work of faith
(1 Thess. 1:3) or of God (John 6:28)?
Seeing that baptism is a divine directive (Matt. 28:19; Acts 10:33, 48), it is not something humans have devised in
an attempt to save themselves. In fact, the penitent believer who obeys the
command of baptism is not working at all but is passive while someone else does
the baptizing. This is not to say, however, that baptism is not a work. The
question is, what kind of work? Is it a work of man, or a work of God? Paul
writes in Colossians 2:12, “buried
with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the
working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (NKJV, emp. added).
Baptism is a work of God. When one is
baptized “for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38), it is God who does the
forgiving. When a believer is baptized and is saved (Mark 16:16), God is the
one who does the saving. In baptism I do not save myself. To teach otherwise is
to discount the necessity of believing in Jesus, since this also is a work of
God (John 6:28-29). Claiming that one is justified by faith alone without
baptism or any other obedient action is contrary to the word of God: “You see then
that a man is justified by works and not by faith only” (Jas. 2:24).
Why argue with the Bible? Just do what it
says.
--Kevin L. Moore
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Colossians 2.11 - 12 clearly state that baptism is "in the working of God."
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