Question:  Dear Greg,

            I hold a view similar to yours on baptism.  I have always felt that it is something you do after you are saved—being an outward sign of that salvation.  However, I recently ran across an interactive bible study that led me to the following scriptures.  Now I am not sure what I believe.  I want to believe the Word of God, but I realize that I could be missing a piece of the puzzle, which is often the case.  Please examine the following scriptures closely and let me know what you think: 1 Peter 3:21; Acts 22:16; Acts 2:33; Mark 16:16; Matthew 3:7; and Colossians 2:12.

            Thank you,

            Ray

Answer:  Dear Ray,

            Baptism occurs because people have been saved, not in order that they might be saved.  Baptism is not the gospel, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:17—it is a consequence of the gospel.  The gospel of God’s grace, the gospel of what Jesus Christ has done and is now doing for us saves. Baptism is not a part of what saves us.  We are not saved by righteous things we do (and baptism is certainly righteous—see Matthew 3:15) but because of God’s mercy (see Titus 3:5).

            In Acts 2:38 the meaning is better understood as “repent and be baptized as a result of the forgiveness of sins.  Baptism follows belief.  You asked about Mark 16:16—Jesus says “whoever does not believe stands condemned already” (John 3:18)—while no passage in the Bible says that those who are not baptized will be condemned.

            Colossians 2:12, as well as Romans 6, simply uses the picture of the watery grave of baptism as our death to the old man.  It is not a literal description, for if it were, then we would never sin from the time of our baptism on.  But we know that we do, as John tells us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves…” (1 John 1:8).  The same picture of washing away our sins is given in Acts 22:16 that you cite.

            The passage in 1 Peter 3:21 needs to be read in its context, rather than separated from its context.  Begin reading in vs.18, “For Christ died for our sins once for all…” The passage speaks of the picture of new life in Christ, of the days of Noah, the flood that was a picture of baptism, the ark that saved those who survived the flood.  Did the ark save them, or did God?  Does baptism save, or does God?

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht