Baptism in the Grace Dispensation

The following is a quote, taken from a message board, from someone who obviously believes baptism (with water) is ordained for the present dispensation, but not a necessary component of salvation.

“Hey guys. I’ve seen the baptism discussion and I would like to attempt to share with all of you what God has showed me in my studies.
Acts 2:38- What Peter means here becomes clear when we consider the possible meaning of being baptized “for” the remission of sins in the light of its usage, the whole context, and the rest of scripture.

First, the word ‘for’ (eis) can mean either “with a view to” or “because of.” In the latter case, water baptism would be because they had been saved, not in order to be saved.

Second, people are saved be receiving God’s Word, and Peter’s audience ‘ gladly received his word’ before they were baptized (Acts 2:41).

Third, verse 44 speaks of ‘all who believed’ as constituting the early church, not all who were baptized.

Fourth, later, those who believed Peter’s message clearly received the Holy Spirit ‘before’ they were baptized. Peter said, ‘Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ (Acts 10:47).

Fifth, Paul separates baptism from the gospel, saying, ‘Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel’ (1 Cor. 1:17). But it is the gospel that saves us (Rom. 1:16). Therfore, baptism is not part of what saves us.

Sixth, Jesus referred to baptism as a work of righteousness (Matt. 3:15). But the Bible declares clearly it is ‘not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit’ (Titus 3:5).

Seventh, not once in the entire gospel of John, written explicitly so that people could believe and be saved (John 20:31), is baptism noted as a condition of salvation. Rather this Gospel instructs people to ‘believe’ to be saved (cf. John 3:16,18,36).

It seems best to understand Peter’s statement like this: Repent and be baptized (as a result of) the forgiveness of sins. That this view looked backward to their sins being forgiven at the moment when they were saved is made clear by the context and the rest of Scripture. Believing or repenting and being baptized are placed together, since baptism should follow belief. But nowhere does it say, ‘He who is not ‘baptized”will be condemed’ (cf. Mark 16:16). Yet Jesus said emphatically that ‘whoever does not believe stands condemned already’ (John 3:18). Scripture does not make baptism a condition of salvation.”¹

My Answer:

Peter means exactly what the words say in English in Acts 2:38. “For” in the context has to mean “unto,” not “because of.” To render it “because of,” as this writer insists on doing, effectively reduces the English language to nonsense. No serious (honest) Bible scholar would think of doing such a thing.

The reason this writer does this is obvious: he wants this to be part of the “gospel of grace,” which says grace and “works of righteousness” (Titus 3:5) are mutually exclusive (Romans 6:14; 11:6; Ephesians 2:8,9; et.al.), and baptism—of which he correctly exposits—is a work of righteousness.² Therefore, to make this doctrine work, he cannot allow the verse to say what it plainly says. He must make a little “adjustment” to it.³

This is so wrong… and so unnecessary.

If he would follow 16th century Bible Scholar Miles Coverdale’s advice, he wouldn’t have to do this. He said, concerning Bible study:

“It shall greatly help thee to understand Scripture,if thou mark, not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after.”⁴

In other words, one should always consider the context of what one is reading: where is it, who is saying it, to whom is it being said, what is being said, and why? Let’s apply this and see what the outcome is.

In Acts 2, Peter is standing in Jerusalem, Israel’s holy city, preaching to who? Jews! Ye men of Israel! (verses 5, 14, 22, 36). Why is it Peter who stands up and speaks? Why not the beloved John? Because Peter, as a result of his confession in Matthew 16:16, got the keys of the kingdom. What gospel was Peter preaching to these Israelites there in Jerusalem? The same one the Lord told him to preach: “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23). This is about “the kingdom”, folks, not the gospel of grace!

What were these Jews repenting of? Killing their Messiah! (Acts 2:36) By repenting (showing Godly sorrow for this sin) and getting baptized, what did they receive? Salvation? No! They got the “gift of the Holy Ghost” (verse 38), an “anointing” (see 1 John 2:27) which enabled them to produce “fruit meet for repentance,” and to “endure unto the end” to be saved (Matt. 3:8; 10:22). They had to continue to be faithful in order to be saved and inherit the kingdom (which, according to Acts 1:6, they were looking to be restored. (It is also described as the “times of refreshing” in chapter 3:19; Also see 1 Peter 1:9,13)

Question: could anyone in the world today get saved by this gospel? Absolutely not. Why? Because–contrary to the claims of Neo-Pentecostals–nobody gets this anointing, and therefore nobody could endure or produce the fruit necessary to be saved.

Folks, this is a works salvation message! This is not the gospel of the grace of God proclaimed by the Apostle Paul. Compare it, if you will, with what Paul says in Acts 13:38,39:

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man (Jesus Christ, ressurected from the dead) is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

Notice five things that are different here: 1.) This is in Antioch, not Jerusalem, and Gentiles are present (verse 42); 2) No accusation of crucifying the Lord is made , therefore; 3) no charge to repent or be baptized is demanded; only to believe; 4.) the result is forgiveness (not remission) and justification “from all things”; 5.) apart from the works of the law.

This is in perfect accord with the doctrine of Romans chapters 3-10, and absolutely contrary to the doctrine of Matthew through John, and Acts 2 and 3.

Why? Because neither Jesus Christ (in his earthly ministry), nor his 12 disciples preached the gospel of grace. Their gospel was a purely Jewish message that included keeping the law (Matt. 5:19), and Romans 11:6 clearly says that law and grace are mutually exclusive.

The grace gospel is the exclusive domain of the Apostle Paul, who said, “I came not to baptize…” (1 Cor. 1:17)

The problem here, folks, is the Christian religious establishment wants this all to be the same message, but scripture plainly militates against this.

Fitting a square peg into a round hole

A skilled carpenter can fit a square peg into a round hole by trimming off the edges, then filling up the gaps with putty, sand and paint it, and make most folks believe it fits. This is what the religious system must do (and does) to make Scripture support the mixed gospel message it preaches.

God isn’t fooled by this chicanery. The “church” that was being called out in Acts 2 is not extant in the world today, nor is the message given them. The message for today is “the gospel of the grace of god” (Acts 20:24), which calls for no one to be physically baptized for the remission of sins, or for any other reason. It calls both Jews and Gentiles to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”(Acts 16:31); who “died for our sins..was buried…and rose again the third day…for our justification” (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Romans 4:25).

Holy Spirit Baptism

The moment one believes this he/she is “baptized by one Spirit into one body…. the body of Christ..” (1 Cor. 12:13, 27). The “one baptism” of Ephesians 4⁵ is this baptism. And it is a spiritual baptism, not a physical one. If you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit–at the moment you did this–baptized you into His body, saved you and sealed you “unto the day of redemption“(Eph. 1:13,14; 4:30). From that point on, nothing you do or fail to do can affect this⁶, which was certainly not true of those believers Peter was preaching to in Acts 2 and 3. (to wit: Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5)

To add something to this is to do despite to the “grace wherein we stand” (Romans 5:2), i.e., “The dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2), in which all church ordinances practiced during the Acts—including the ordinance of water baptism—have been abolished (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14).

The failure of the vast majority of the church establishment to see this truth is driven by the refusal to obey the following admonition in Paul’s second letter to Timothy:

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)⁷

In making this statement, Paul cannot possibly mean by it anything other than to separate (divide) out what he says from what the other new testament writers say—doctrinally speaking. When one does this, and follows the instructions in his epistles⁸ to their end, allowing the scripture to say what it says, approaching it without any presuppositions, one will have to conclude that the ordinance of water baptism has no place in the body of Christ in the present dispensation (Eph. 3:2).

Mike Schroeder

All Scripture references in my answer are taken from the King James Bible, which I believe to be the only Bible currently published in the English language that is inspired and completely trustworthy. Please feel free to re-print or distribute this article.

Post Script

Are you saved? Jesus Christ—“who knew no sin”—and his sacrificial death on the Cross, has made the way for “everyone that believeth…to be reconciled to God. History has shown that whatever peace man has achieved in the world can only be temporary. The Bible says that individual men and women can know, beyond a doubt, that they are saved and bound for heaven, and therefore have absolute and permanent peace, regardless of what is going on in the world, by trusting Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their eternal salvation. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Have you done this? If not, why not now?

Notes