There is a casual attitude about sin among people who trust that the New Testament letters teaching that “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8) has exempted us from being held responsible for our actions.
This is a gross misunderstanding of what it means to be “saved from sin”. Keep reading the passage in scripture.
“the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world…our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:11-14)
Many of us who were born into Christian church-going families take our spirituality for granted.
- Now IF we be dead with Christ…Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him…
- Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
- Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin:
- but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (Romans 6:1-23)
The objective of salvation is restoration of a relationship with a holy God.
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile…you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled…to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel…” Colossians 1:20-22)
I am not proposing that we can “lose our salvation,” because John assures us that “My sheep…shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (Joh 10:27-28)
While working at a state mental hospital I had a patient whose life had been nothing but suffering severe abuse from his father, loss of his mother’s moderating influence, and mental illness (undoubtedly inherited from his father). Having been brought up in an Appalachian spiritualist denomination, he had spent weeks suffering hallucinations of burning in hell before psychotropic medication restored his awareness of reality. He was on the verge of being discharged to his father’s custody, whose denominational doctrine rejected psychotropic medications, knowing his mental illness would send his mind back to hell, when he approached me and asked about his salvation from hell.
How did he know to come to me? It must have been apparent from my dress, speech and behavior that I was not “worldly”. I was able to review his conversion experience with the biblical requirements (from memory) and assure him, using the above verse, that his father’s curses were the devil’s lies. According to the Bible he was saved from hell. He visibly relaxed, left the room to go to dinner, and immediately killed himself by intentionally inhaling food and choking to death.
I’ve never known anyone who put his faith in action in God’s word more than this young man.
“My sheep hear / respond to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life;” (John 10:27)
Suicide is not an unforgiveable sin. “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men…But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” (Mark 3:28-29)
This young man followed Christ to death. Most of us don’t go anywhere near that level of commitment and can’t even bring ourselves to experience social rejection for a righteous lifestyle.
“faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.“ (Romans 10:17)
“hereby we do know that we know / are one with him, IF we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him…” (I John 2:3-6)
Do we really believe Paul’s statement that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (II Timothy 3:16)?
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee?” (Joshua 1:9)
Not if we ignore and toss aside the Old Testament, despite the fact that the Jesus of Christianity has absolutely no validity without the Old Testament.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea…he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight…Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were 1) baptized of him in Jordan, 2) [for the purpose of] confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:1-6)
This was not an evangelistic gimmick. John the Baptist was following the Law of Moses which required outer washing in acknowledgement of one’s inner sinful state before coming into the presence of Holy God.
The Greek word “baptizo” was a common everyday word among Greek-speaking people, understood by the Latin word ‘immerse’, as when washing.
“the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud…Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them [a command as at Creation, not a permission] also wash their clothes.” (Exodus 19:9-10)
“to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office…Aaron and his sons thou shalt…wash them with water.” (Exodus 29:1-4)
“Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet…When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister…unto the LORD:” (Exodus 30:18-21)
“the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me…Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;” (Isaiah 1)
Findings of washing rituals dating back to the Babylonians show that all ancient religions recognized some form of spiritual cleansing, renewal or initiation that was accomplished through a washing or immersion in water. In Egypt, water, especially from the Nile, was believed to have regenerative powers, was used to baptize the dead in a ritual based on the Osiris myth of regeneration.
We can therefore recognize that the mixed multitude of people who rejected the Egyptian gods and submitted to YHVH under to Moses’ leadership understood the meaning of being baptized into a new life in YHVH under his sacral king Moses, as well as the pagan converts to YHVH’s Savior under the Apostle Paul’s leadership.
“brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;” (I Corinthians 10:1-2)
In the cult of Cybele, a baptism of blood was practiced in the rite of the Taurobolium: where one was covered with the blood of a bull…A well-known inscription attests that he who has received baptism of blood has received a new birth in eternity. A bath in the Greek sanctuary of Trophonion procured for the initiate a blessed immortality even while in this world. The mystery religions of that period often included ablution rites of either immersion or a washing of the body for the purposes of purification or initiation. Other concepts said to have been associated with these forms of cultic baptisms included the transformation of one’s life, the removal of sins, symbolic representation…a new beginning, spiritual regeneration. Paul’s teachings to these Gentiles made sense to them.
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death…Knowing this, that our old [mortal] man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:4-11)
Let’s put these commands in the context of ancient society’s daily life. Most people had one set of clothes which they didn’t wash regularly, nor did they take showers every night after a day exposed to dirt- and animal excrement-covered fields, roads and city streets.
Every instance of baptism / washing in the Bible results in a public expression of the invisible soul’s desire for sanctification.
Exactly like the opposite physical act of seductive dressing is a public expression of the invisible soul’s desire to sin.
Baptism must be a public show of change from the old to the new, as public as John ministering at the Jordan River and those who stood at the cross – identifying themselves as Enemies of the State, uniting with Christ Jesus / YHVH’s Chosen Savior.
“ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus…[that is] as many of you as have been baptized into Christ / the Chosen Savior.” (Galatians 3:26-28)
I know a missionary who baptized his converts in private so they would not experience shunning from their atheistic society. They weren’t planning of identifying with YHVH’s Savior in any other way either.
“Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
Kingdom Come 