baptism as a requirement to be saved is faith plus works

by Larry
(Virginia)

Calling baptism a work is not a stretch. The word for " work" or "deed" in the Bible is "Ergon " and means " to toil ". Here is a question for those who teach that you are not saved until you are baptized; Did God carry you to and immerse you under the water on the day that you were baptized? No. Man did, and he did it by toiling, or working. If man cannot be saved unless man toils (water baptism), then man cannot be saved without works ( faith and works ).

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baptism as a requirement to be saved is faith plus works

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Nov 04, 2010

Faith Plus Works
by: Paul Pavao

So you're saying that being baptized qualifies as toiling?

I guess nowadays someone can say "that's faith plus works," and Christians become scared and back off.

James--an apostle and a pillar of the apostolic churches whose letter is in our Bible--devoted an entire argument to the fact that faith plus works is necessary to salvation (2:14-26). Why would we think 'faith plus works' is a bad thing?

Paul said--3 times--that living in the flesh will keep us out of the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Eph. 5:5; Gal. 5:19-21). He said that if we want to "reap" we must not grow weary in "doing good" (Gal. 6:9), and the context indicates he meant reaping eternal life.

That is far more faith plus works that saying that baptism is the apostolic way to receive the promise of God.

Peter was even more clear. He says, "BE DILIGENT to make your calling and election sure, for IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, you will never stumble; for IN THIS WAY an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus the King" (2 Pet. 1:10-11).

Every single one of us who believes that only the righteous will live eternally in God's kingdom acknowledges at the very least that the grace of God will lead a person to walk in obedience to Christ. Even Calvinists believe that. Eternal security believers argue that born again people will live righteously out of gratitude to God, and most will admit that if there's no righteousness, then the person has not been born again.

Thus, even for these people, a requirement of baptism is not a problem because they require much more as a supposed automatic product of the grace of God.

(I need to point out here that those who believe that the unrighteous will inherit God's kingdom are believers in a false gospel and have to deny numerous direct scriptural statements to the contrary--e.g., Matt. 7:21 and 1 Cor. 6:9, among dozens of others.)

Note, too, that both Martin Luther and John Calvin, the first and greatest promoters of _sola fide_, both believed in baptismal regeneration in a much stricter way than I have taught it here.

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