Know and Love the Truth

By Jason Jackson

Have you ever had trouble buying a gift for someone — just the right thing, something he would really love? A radio announcement pitched, “Why don’t you consider giving a gift that outshines them all. Name a star after the man in your life.”

Unbelievably, there are enterprises that will name a star after your loved one for just the right price. And if you want to name the Sun after your uncle, call Saturn by the name of your dog, and the earth after your aunt Lucille — go ahead. But that doesn’t change reality.

Is seems today that truth is whatever people want it to be. But that is far from the truth. There are objective realities that exist independent of our recognition or acknowledgement.

Before Pilate, Jesus affirmed that he was born and came to bear witness of the truth, and “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (Jn. 18:37). Pilate dismisses the subject with the interrogative, “What is truth?” (Jn. 18:38). The answer is apparent for those who seek the truth sincerely. The answer is found in the events that followed — the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Truth is reality — that which is true about God. God is the Creator. To deny such is baseless and reckless speculation (Rom. 1:20). When individuals refuse to glorify God as God, and are filled with ingratitude, they willingly exchange “the truth about God for a lie” (Rom. 1:25).

Truth is reality about what God says. God reveals what is real, and therefore true, about man’s moral culpability. God makes known the plan of redemption, so we can learn of the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:5). Man’s sin and God’s plan are real. They are true. Therefore, God’s redemptive work is often labeled in Scripture as “the truth.”

Since God has revealed the truth, men are obligated to believe and know the truth (Jn. 8:32; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7). They must believe the truth; they can not create what is “truth to them” (2 Thes. 2:12; 1 Tim. 4:3). They ought to love the truth (2 Thes. 2:10), and because of its divine origin and power, they should “rejoice with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). But truth is not merely what one mentally accepts. Men are required to obey the truth (Rom. 2:8; 1 Pet. 1:22), making every effort to be established in the truth (2 Pet. 1:12).

Truth is reality about what God will do. The certainty of judgment is real. Some believe that they will escape the judgment of God (Rom. 2:3), but such is foolish optimism. God’s righteous judgment is certain, and he will render a moral verdict and enforce divine punishment through the man whom he has appointed, Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31). He is the Judge of the living and the dead (2 Tim. 4:1).

In view of the coming judgment, it is imperative that we do not “err from the truth” (2 Tim. 2:18). We must seek it sincerely and embrace it, or we will be deprived of the truth (1 Tim. 6:5). Sadly, some do not come to “a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7), for when the seed is sown, many hearers simply are uninterested in the truth.

Will all those who come to a knowledge of the truth, who lovingly embrace it, always cling to it tenaciously? Such is not the case. Some disregard the gospel that they once embraced (Heb. 10:26), and others will lie against the truth through their rebellious lives (Jas. 3:14). Some become so hostile towards Christianity that they “withstand the truth” (2 Tim. 3:8).

The truth of the matter is this: all who refuse to recognize God as their Creator, and Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, are individuals who “hinder the truth” (Rom. 1:18). Truth suppression is a dangerous proposition. What influence we could have on our family, friends, and coworkers by believing and obeying the truth! What accountability there is for those who suppress the truth!

God’s word is truth (Jn. 17:17), and truth is learned through a study of it. The Bible must have our time and affection (Ps. 1:2). Heaven’s word is more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey (Ps. 19:10). It certainly would be impossible to “explain” to the Lord how one could love the truth and rarely read the Bible. 

Oh sure! We love the idea of not going to hell. But fear only motivates so far, and so long. Love for God removes the dread of judgment and longs for the day when faith shall become sight (cf. 1 Jn. 4:17-18). The righteous shall survive by faith, God told Habakkuk (2:4), and faith only comes from hearing the words of Christ (Rom. 10:17).

We ought to fall down on our knees in thanksgiving for those who cultivated that moral sensitivity which encourages us to be receptive to the truth. Although it seems, at times, that “I alone am left,” remember that God had 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal in Elijah’s discouraging days. “Buy the truth and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23).

Related Articles

• Spiritual Warfare Is Real, Difficult, and Dangerous
• Before I Die: An Excerpt
• The Wages of Sin and the Free Gift of God
• What Is Truth? — A Question for the Ages
• A Prayer of the Afflicted: A Study of Psalm 102
• Examine Yourselves!
• Living in Terror
• How Did the Samaritan Woman Know About the Messiah?
• The Value of Old Testament Study
• Did Balaam Prophesy Concerning the Messiah?

Scripture References

John 18:37; John 18:38; Romans 1:20; Romans 1:25; Galatians 2:5; John 8:32; 2 Timothy 2:25, 3:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Timothy 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 13:6; Romans 2:8; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Peter 1:12; Romans 2:3; Acts 17:31; 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 2:18; 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Timothy 3:7; Hebrews 10:26; James 3:14; 2 Timothy 3:8; Romans 1:18; John 17:17; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 19:10; John 4:17-18; Romans 10:17; Proverbs 23:23

Cite this article

Jackson, Jason. "Know and Love the Truth." ChristianCourier.com. Access date: September 9, 2021. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1209-know-and-love-the-truth

Necessity of Baptism

 

Hebrews 10:22 and the Necessity of Baptism

DAVE MILLER, Ph.D.

BAPTISMDOCTRINAL MATTERS

[Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted from AP’s book Baptism & the Greek Made Simple.]

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:19-23).

In addition to the host of passages that explicitly affirm the essentiality of water baptism for salvation, the grammar of Hebrews 10:22 provides additional verification. “Let us draw near,” or as Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest renders it, “let us keep on drawing near,”1 is a present middle/passive subjunctive verb used for exhortation—a “hortatory subjective.”2 This drawing nearer to God is to be accompanied by “a true heart in full assurance of faith.” The term rendered “full assurance” refers to a “state of complete certainty, full assurance, certainty.”3 

The recipients of the book already possessed faith (when they became Christians), but they now needed to mature their faith and bring it to a more complete state of assurance, conviction, and certainty (particularly since they were tending to revert back to their Jewish conceptions).4 This admonition is followed by two Perfect passive participles.5 The Perfect tense in Greek connotes “completed action with a resulting state of being.” Perfect passive participles describe action that is either coincident with or antecedent to the principal verb.6 Hence, the actions of “having been sprinkled” and “having been washed” occurred before the admonition to “keep on drawing near to God.” 

As Marcus Dods explains: “These participles express not conditions of approach to God which are yet to be achieved, but conditions already possessed.”7 Mounce conveys the thrust of the perfect passive participle even more forcefully: “since our hearts have been….”8 The following two participles, therefore, refer back to the point in time of their conversion—when they accessed the “blood of Jesus” (vs. 19). As Carl Moll noted in his comments on verse 22: “We thus refer the language, not to sanctification, but to justification on the ground of a propitiation.”9

The first participle speaks of “having had our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”10 In keeping with the subject matter of Hebrews, the notion of “sprinkled” undoubtedly harks back to and echoes the Law of Moses practice of sprinkling people and objects with various liquids (including water as well as blood) for purification purposes. However, it is a physical impossibility for one literally to sprinkle his heart, mind, and conscience. Hence, the writer is using figurative language. 

But how/when did they “sprinkle their hearts”? The answer lies in the fact that before one can become a Christian, one must alter his heart and mind, i.e., repent (Luke 13:3,5; Acts 2:38; 3:19; et al.). The Greek term for “repentance” literally means “a change of mind.”11 So the author and recipients of the book of Hebrews came to faith in Christ, and then repented of their sins. If, instead, the “sprinkling” here refers to the cleansing power of Christ’s blood, the design of baptism remains the same, since the two participles indicate coincident (with each other) actions. 

The former possible meaning is inviting since Romans 6 distinguishes between the “death” to sin that occurs in the mind of the prospective convert at the point of repentance which precedes the spiritual death or termination of sin which occurs in the mind of God at the point of burial in water.

The next participle, which describes action that occurred coincident with the sprinkling, adds “having had our body washed with pure water” (again, Wuest’s literal rendering). Observe that the use of the term “body” (singular-soma), not sarx (“flesh”) indicates a literal washing of the physical body with H2O—unlike the figurative use of sprinkling in the previous participle.12 The only activity associated with Christianity that involves water applied to the body is baptism. Lenski insisted that “the New Testament knows of only one washing, namely baptism.”13

Writing in the 19th century, Robert Milligan noted: “Indeed, nearly all eminent expositors are now agreed that there is here a manifest reference to the ordinance of Christian baptism.”14 To summarize, in Hebrews 10:22, the inspired writer urges his Christian audience to continue to draw closer to God, even as they had commenced that approach when they first believed, repented of their sins, and were baptized.

One other observation that merits consideration: in the very next verse, the writer admonishes his readers to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” The term “confession” is the noun form (homologian) of the verb that means to confess. The New Testament plainly declares that one of the prerequisites to initial salvation/forgiveness—in addition to faith, repentance, and baptism—is oral confession with the mouth (Romans 10:9-10). Macknight rightly notes: “The apostle in this exhortation referred to that confession of their hope of salvation through Christ, which the primitive Christians made at baptism.”15 If that is the confession that the writer has in mind in verse 23, then the writer alludes to all four prerequisites to salvation in two verses: faith, repentance, confession, and baptism.

Endnotes

1 Kenneth Wuest (2002 reprint), The New Testament: An Expanded Translation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), p. 529; Also R.C.H. Lenski (2001 reprint), The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson), p. 347.

2 William Davis (1923), Beginner’s Grammar of the Greek New Testament (New York: Harper & Row), p. 76; H.E. Dana and Julius Mantey (1955), A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto: Macmillan), p. 171; Ray Summers (1950), Essentials of New Testament Greek (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press), p. 108).

3 Frederick Danker, rev. and ed. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press), p. 827.

4 See the meaning in Colossian 2:2 and Hebrews 6:11, as well as the verb form used in Romans 4:21, Colossians 4:12, and Romans 14:5.

5 Summers, p. 103; Davis, p. 156.

6 Davis, p. 157.

7 Marcus Dods (no date), “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), 4:346-347, emp. added.

8 Robert Mounce and William Mounce (2011), The Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan), emp. added. See also NCV and ISV.

9 Carl Moll (1870), The Epistle to the Hebrews (New York: Charles Scribner), p. 175, italics in orig.

10 Translated by Wuest, p. 529.

11 Danker, p. 640.

12 See Henry Alford (1874), Alford’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980 reprint), 4:196.

13 p. 350.

14 Robert Milligan (1950), The New Testament Commentary: Epistle to the Hebrews (Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate), 9:282-283.

15 James MacKnight (no date), A New Literal Translation, from the Original Greek of all the Apostolical Epistles (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker), p. 556, emp. added.

Baptism and the Greek Made Simple

---

Published November 22, 2021

REPRODUCTION & DISCLAIMERS: We are happy to grant permission for this article to be reproduced in part or in its entirety, as long as our stipulations are observed.

Reproduction Stipulations→

6 Reasons to Believe in Jesus Video 6 min

https://apologeticspress.org/video/6-reasons-to-believe-in-jesus/ 

Please click on the link above and follow the prompts.  Thank you.

 

“Everybody Knows the Bible Contradicts Itself”

DAVE MILLER, Ph.D.

ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES

If my memory serves me correctly, it was 1969. I was a sophomore at Camelback High School in Phoenix, Arizona sitting in a social studies class. Our regular teacher was absent that day. In her place was a college student-teacher who was fulfilling his college requirements for a degree in secondary education from Arizona State University. We were in the midst of a class discussion when a young lady interjected her comments, prefaced by the words, “The Bible says….” She was abruptly interrupted by the teacher with these words: “Everyone knows that the Bible contradicts itself. In one place it says ‘an eye for an eye’, while in another place it says ‘turn the other cheek.’ So we won’t be using the Bible in this discussion.”

Looking back on that event over 50 years later, I shudder to imagine the extent to which destructive seeds of doubt were sown in the hearts of numerous young people regarding the divine authenticity of the Bible and Christian morality. Such a dismissive, cavalier attitude on the part of a person placed in a position of authority no doubt wielded a monumental impact on juvenile minds. Yet his surface, superficial treatment of Scripture betrayed an abject ignorance of the Bible as well as what can only be described as extreme prejudice. “Prejudice” is defined as “an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge.”1 The teacher had pre-judged the Bible, having come to a conclusion that was based on inadequate evidence. It was the Sixties—a time when sinister forces were operating to overthrow the founding principles of America. As Bob Dylan’s 1964 song declared: “The Times They Are a-Changin’.”2

Since that time, attacks on the Bible and the Christian religion have intensified and become common place through the public educational system of the nation. For decades now, many professors, instructors, and teachers at every level of schooling have been brazen and fearless in their relentless assault upon the religious and spiritual moorings of America. Their hostility toward God, the Bible, and Christianity have come to thoroughly permeate and dominate public education. Their skepticism has burgeoned into acceptance of ideologies that forthrightly reject the Christian worldview, including atheism, Marxism, and eastern religion. In the meantime, no telling how many millions of Americans—from childhood to adulthood—have lived their lives since then, having rejected Christianity based of such flimsy misinformation foisted upon them via the flawed beliefs of their mistaught teachers.

But “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Legion have been the skeptics over the last 2,000 years who have maintained that the Bible contradicts itself. An innumerable host of alleged discrepancies have been brought boldly forward and foisted upon an unsuspecting audience. Yet, scores of volumes have been written over the centuries that provide logical, decisive refutation of all such allegations leveled at the Bible. They have all been adequately answered and the Bible fully exonerated—providing yet additional proof of its own divine origin.3

The nature of human existence is such that all human beings are under obligation to weigh the evidence and arrive at the truth. All are fully capable of doing so—and all will be held accountable for doing so. Those who lack the will or interest to do so will be judged accordingly. Jesus stated forthrightly: “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Paul enjoined: “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). And as John insisted: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Whether that young student-teacher realized it or not, he functioned as a false prophet that day in that Phoenix school classroom. It was the responsibility of all who listened to him to do as the noble Bereans who “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

By the way, what about the alleged contradiction touted by the student-teacher before the classroom filled with vulnerable, naïve youth? Even a casual, surface analysis of the Bible shows that the “eye for an eye” allusion refers to the Lex Talionis4 of the Old Law which were designed to limit the amount of punishment by making it fit the crime (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21). Hence, these laws were built into the Hebrew civil law code for the purpose of regulating civil society in 1500 B.C. The latter allusion, “turn the other cheek,” is a reference to Jesus’ remark in the Sermon on the Mount in which He was teaching the necessity of not being vengeful or retaliatory when a person is mistreated by another person (Matthew 5:38-42). Incredibly, the two references have nothing to do with each other, apply to completely different circumstances, and in no way constitute a biblical contradiction. Using them to level such a lame accusation demonstrates, to say the least, gross rhetorical incompetence.

Endnotes

1 Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/prejudice.

2 Bob Dylan (1963/1964), “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” Bob Dylan Newsletter, https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/times-they-are-changin/.

3 See the three volumes in The Anvil Rings series at https://store.apologeticspress.org/collections/books/products/apbkel0001.

4 “The lex talionis gave permission for mutual injury”—Edward Young (1964), An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), p. 111; See also Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan, eds. (2001), The Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues of the Bible (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 543; William Miller (2006),  Eye for an Eye (New York: Cambridge University Press), p. 65.

---

REPRODUCTION & DISCLAIMERS: We are happy to grant permission for this article to be reproduced in part or in its entirety, as long as our stipulations are observed.

Godhood of Jesus

 

Prepare Yourself to Talk About the Godhood of Jesus

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Some Christians do not prepare themselves to answer questions people have about Christianity.¹ 

Other followers of Christ study a sundry of Bible truths and are able to help others see God’s will about various important matters: from the sanctity of life (Genesis 9:6) to the sinfulness of all forms of sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5-6); from the essentiality of water baptism (Acts 2:38) to the importance of worshiping God Almighty “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).² 

For those faithful Christians who care enough about teaching heavenly revealed truths to others (cf. Mark 16:15-16; Acts 8:1-4), let me plead with you not to overlook preparing yourself to teach the most fundamental truths of the Christian Faith, including, and especially, the Deity of Christ.

In the latter part of 2020, Newsweek magazine³ reported a survey conducted by a Florida-based, non-profit organization called Ligonier Ministries.⁴ Though the sample size was not the largest in the world (3,002), it was still at least three times greater than the average political poll (500-1,000).⁵ Furthermore, 630 of those surveyed were self-described evangelicals.

 What did the survey show? No doubt, the most surprising part of the poll for many Christians was that 52% of those surveyed indicated that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.” What’s more, another 12% were unsure. Only 37% of the Americans surveyed “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed that Jesus was God.

If this poll even remotely reflects the beliefs of the approximate 330 million Americans, Christians must seriously reflect more on God’s saving Gospel—on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). 

To be saved, we must come to learn Who Jesus is (Matthew 11:29), and we must come to believe Who He is (John 8:24; cf. 8:48-59—the Great “I Am”). While on Earth, did Jesus not ask pointed questions to various ones about His nature?

• “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew 16:13).
• “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:41).
• “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (John 9:35).
• “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins…” (Mark 2:9-10; cf. 2:7).

If we care about lost souls and pleasing God (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8), we must prepare ourselves to tell our friends, neighbors, and co-workers Who Jesus is. He was not a created angelic being, and He was not merely a “great teacher”—and certainly not an imperfect “great teacher.” He was not merely a man! 

As the Scriptures revealed in the Old Testament (Isaiah 9:6; 7:14; cf. Matthew 1:23), so the Scriptures revealed in the New Testament (in many ways⁶): Jesus is Divine. He was and is God⁷—one Personality of the Godhead.⁸

“Christ Jesus, Who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7). 

Yes, our holy God lovingly stepped out of the splendors of heaven and humbled Himself so that He might make sinful man holy and acceptable before God (1 Peter 1:15-19).

Friends, in addition to offering evidence for the existence of God and the inspiration of the Bible, nothing is more important nor more fundamental than learning the biblical Truth regarding the nature of Jesus. 

Let’s take the opportunities that God gives us to immerse ourselves in these truths, and let’s teach the many non-believing, precious souls around us (and abroad!) the soul-saving truths of Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

[We hope that the Apologetics Press website, study Bible, books, journals, tracts, and videos will be helpful in your studies and evangelistic efforts.]

ENDNOTES

¹ For a discussion on why every Christian should be involved in apologetics, see Eric Lyons (2021), “Preparing to Give an Answer: God’s Defense Recipe in 1 Peter 3:15,” Reason & Revelation, 41[5]:49-58, May, https://apologeticspress.org/apPubPage.aspx?pub=1&issue=1344.

² For a plethora of material on these subject matters and many more, visit apologeticspress.org. You may especially want to visit the “Doctrinal Matters” section of our site and check out the various topics under which a number of articles are listed.

³ Benjamin Fearnow (2020), “52 Percent of Americans Say Jesus Isn’t God but Was a Great Teacher, Survey Says,” Newsweek, https://www.newsweek.com/52-percent-americans-say-jesus-isnt-not-god-was-great-teacher-survey-says-1528617.

⁴ See “A Majority Of Americans Think Jesus Is A Great Teacher Yet Reject His Claims To Be God,” Cision PR Newswire, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-majority-of-americans-think-jesus-is-a-great-teacher-yet-reject-his-claims-to-be-god-301119281.html. See also “The State of Theology” at thestateoftheology.com.

⁵ See National Council on Public Polls, http://www.ncpp.org/?q=node/6.

⁶ John 1:1-15,14; 10:30-38; 20:28; Romans 9:5; Colossians 1:16; Philippians 2:5-11; etc.

⁷ See the “Deity of Christ” section of the Apologetics Press website (apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10). Cf. Kyle Butt & Eric Lyons (2006), Behold! The Lamb of God (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

⁸ See Kyle Butt (2015), “The Trinity,” Reason & Revelation, 35[10]:109-119, October, apologeticspress.org/apPubPage.aspx?pub=1&issue=1203.

---

Copyright © Apologetics Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Does the Water Regenerate?

DAVE MILLER, Ph.D.

BAPTISMDOCTRINAL MATTERS

Q:

Do you believe that when a person is baptized that it is the water itself that regenerates? Or do you believe that when a person is baptized it is the washing by the Holy Spirit that regenerates?

A:

The water certainly has no cleansing power whatsoever. The only reason why Peter could say that “baptism saves” (1 Peter 3:21) is because that is the point at which we are forgiven of sin based on the sacrifice of Christ. Hence, it is Christ’s blood—and only His blood—that cleanses sin (1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 1:5). [Recall that Peter clarified his “baptism saves” statement by adding “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” So baptism “now saves” via the atoning work of Christ, i.e., His death, burial, and resurrection—which is the Gospel (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).] The H2O of baptism is parallel to the water of the Jordan in 2 Kings 5. Naaman’s leprosy was not cleansed by those waters—but by God Himself the moment Naaman met the terms/conditions of cleansing (i.e., immersing 7 times). Similarly, the waters of the Pool of Siloam possessed no healing power. It was solely Jesus who restored sight to the blind man—on the condition that the man would go to that pool and apply the water to the mud Jesus had smeared on his eyes (John 9:7). Neither water nor mud, then or now, has any cleansing capability. They were merely mediums/conduits Jesus used to impart the blessing of physical cleansing to the blind man. The same may be said of the waters of baptism. God has always used physical conditions as preludes to His blessings, but the power remains within God’s own mind. Hence, salvation occurs in God’s mind the very moment a person complies with God’s stipulated condition(s). Water baptism is not the HOW of salvation—but, rather, the WHEN.

Regarding the “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5) by allowing Scripture to interpret itself [see AP’s book Baptism & the Greek Made Simple, p. 142], it becomes apparent that the Holy Spirit regenerates people via His Gospel message which instructs the individual to be immersed in water. The term “Spirit” in John 3:5, 1 Corinthians 12:13, and Titus 3:5 all refer to the message (“word”—Ephesians 5:26) that the Holy Spirit provided via inspired writers/spokesmen. When that same message is presented to hearers today, requiring them to manifest faith, repentance, oral confession, and immersion in water (Romans 10:17; 2:4; 10:9-10; 6:3-4), and the individual complies with those prerequisites to salvation, when that individual rises from the water of baptism, he/she may then be said to have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (i.e., based on the blood sacrifice of Christ, the Holy Spirit regenerated the individual by means of His stipulated prerequisites to cleansing by that blood). The Holy Spirit regenerates people via their obedience to the Gospel. Notice how Peter words it: “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22-23). “Through the Spirit” is a textual variant that may not have been in the original text, but it is nevertheless an accurate representation of the facts, since the only way for anyone to receive salvation from God is for Him to tell us how we may do so. God did so via the Gospel message authored by the Holy Spirit. When we read Scripture and implement its instructions in our lives, we are being influenced and instructed by the Spirit.

REPRODUCTION & DISCLAIMERS: We are happy to grant permission for this article to be reproduced in part or in its entirety, as long as our stipulations are observed.

Reproduction Stipulations→