Untitled article by M. E. S.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 6, 1858

CONDITIONS OF SALVATION. No. 6.

By M. E. S.

Is baptism taught by other Bible writers to be essential? See Acts ii. 38, a test already noticed to show the second condition, but it equally proves the necessity of baptism. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Observe, Peter says, "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins;" hence, not only repentance but also baptism is prerequisite for the forgiveness of sins.

Acts xxii, 16; Paul's account of Ananias' instructing him in the way of salvation, after he had seen the vision on his way to Damascus. "And now why tarriest thou? arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." He could not have washed away his sins by being baptized, had they before been all pardoned. We are not to infer from this passage that it is the water that washes away our sins; but baptism is the last step that brings us into Christ, who alone can take away sins; [Acts iv, 12:] and this being complied with, God remits our transgressions.

Let us illustrate. You remember in old times one Naaman, a Syrian, came to the prophet Elisha to be healed of leprosy. See 2 Kings v, 9-14. What did the prophet say to him? "Go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold I thought, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the lep-rer. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? (perhaps they were) may I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage." But his servants began to expostulate; "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

Now what healed Naaman? Was it the efficacy of the waters of Jordan? Suppose you if he had gone home after having dipped six times, he would not have been a leper still? It was the power of God that effected the cure, after he had dipped the seventh time. Had Naaman any claim upon the promise before he had fulfilled all the conditions? Certainly not. But after he had washed the seventh time, it remained alone for God to verify his word by Elisha, and heal the Syrian. Just so with the sinner: he has not the slightest claims upon the promise of pardon and redemption, until he has complied with the conditions laid down. God could not, without denying himself, justify man through the forgiveness of sins, after he had believed and repented, when he had required of him one more step; but after he has complied with all the conditions specified, it then devolves upon the veracity of God to remit his sins.

But remember, while faith and repentance must precede baptism, the Bible designates the kind of faith and repentance, (this we have already considered,) this kind alone stands in the plan of salvation; hence the "one baptism," [Eph. iv,] must be preceded by the "one faith" and a true repentance. Anything else would change the plan of salvation, and consequently the sinner could have no claim upon the promises by complying with it. As God was not bound to heal Naaman had he washed in the rivers of Damascus instead of Jordan, so neither is he pledged to fulfill his promise to save the transgressor until he has complied with all the precise conditions laid down for his justification. It matters not how many times he may have complied with conditions not quite those designated by inspiration, (although at the time he might have thought them the same) as they were not what God required; so they could not come into the order by which God proposes to save, and hence cannot avail, in the Bible plan we are considering.

But says one, faith and works go together. If one must have a perfect repentance he must equally have a perfect faith. Let us look at this a moment. James tells us he that offends in one point is guilty of all; but we are nowhere informed that if we do not believe every jot and tittle of God's revealed truth we do not believe at all. This is the difference. While there is much Bible truth that is not present truth, and essential to salvation, the repentance to be one that needeth not to be repented of, must be perfect. We must die to sin before we can be buried with Christ, for he was sinless, and he came not to save us in our sins, but from our sins. It may be asked, are we then to become holy, without sin, before we can be baptized. The Apostle explains dying to sin. Rom. v, 12, 13. "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." Well, when christians sin, must they again be baptized. We answer, if they were in the habitual violation of any part of the divine law, and were baptized in this state, they have been buried alive to sin, and also without a Bible repentance. Now when they come to die to sin and truly repent, they should have that "one baptism" which they could not have had in the previous condition, while sin had the rule over them, but when once in Christ (we understand we cannot get into him without complying with just the conditions laid down) John says, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John i, ii. And "if we (John was addressing his brethren, those who had fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ) confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." But we must have the righteousness of Christ to plead, before God can, upon the confession of our sins, forgive them. Since it is not our confessions that will atone for sins, but the blood of Christ which we secure by being baptized into his death. Do not think that Paul was governed by sin when he said, [Rom. vii: "I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me." In order to give sin the dominion over us, we must serve it with the mind as well as flesh. But the Apostle says, "With the mind I myself serve the law of God." Thus he differed from the unconverted, or those in possession of the carnal mind, which "is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be." Rom. viii, 7. Paul did naturally yield submission to the law of sin, but there was a warfare between this law and the law of his mind; still the former so often brought him under subjection that he cried, "O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of death." (Margin) "or sin whose wages were death;" referring to a cruel custom of fastening the living to the dead. "I thank God (he replies) through Jesus Christ our Lord." Yes, "thanks be to God which giveth us (shall give us) the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv, 57.

Having become Christ's by complying with the order laid down, are we then sure of eternal life? Christ tells us, [Jno. xv, 1, 2.] "I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away." Who are the branches? Verse 5, "I am the vine, ye (disciples) are the branches." Consequently those who are already in Christ will be cut off unless they bear fruit. What fruit is here spoken of? It must be the fruit of the Spirit, since there are but two kinds spoken of, and the other is the works of the flesh. Says Paul [Gal. v, 22] "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law;" i. e. these are conformable to the law.

The question may here be asked, "Has the law any claim upon christians? It reads, "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." Gal. iii, 24, 25. Let me inquire, in what sense is it ever a schoolmaster. We have seen that the law by convincing of sin, presents nothing but condemnation, and obliges the sinner to look to some other source for justification. In this way it points to Christ; but when once in him, we are justified. The law is no longer required to teach us of a Saviour we have found, therefore its office as school

master ceases; but are we no longer bound to obey its precepts? Does our becoming christians allow us to commit all manner of sin? "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law," he replies, who said we were "no longer under a schoolmaster." Again he continues, [Rom. vi, 15] "Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." Why? "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Then if we do not obey Christ we are not of his servants. What does he require? Jno. xii, 26, "If any man serve me let him follow me." What path did Jesus tread in which we are to follow him? He kept his Father's commandments [chap. xv, 10,] and he says, "Whosoever shall do the will of God (his will is expressed in his law) the same is my brother and sister and mother," thus exalting his servants to a station equal to his own.

Faith, repentance and baptism we understand to constitute the foundation of the christian's life; and this once laid, he is to raise the superstructure by working "out his own salvation with fear and trembling," relying upon God "which worketh in you," says Paul, Phil. ii, 12, 13, "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." He is to "add to his faith virtue, (Doddridge, courage,) and to virtue knowledge," &c. Please read 2 Pet. i, 5-12. Says Peter, "If ye do these things, ye shall never fail : for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Dear reader, let us be like the noble Bereans, who "searched the Scriptures daily, whether these were so." God grant we may be able to understand his Word, and be sanctified through the truth, which can only be as we obey the truth, and receive the light as it presents itself.