Question:  Hi Greg,

            I noticed your Q/A for baptism and was wondering if I might indulge the topic a little more.  Why is baptism considered a work?  It’s a passive thing.  You do nothing but surrender yourself.  It’s not a work of merit.  It seems to be a work of God.

            Is saying the sinner’s prayer a work?  If saying the sinner’s prayer is not work, then why did the Jewish people believe it was a work to pray?  Many people may feel justified as the Pharisee vs. the tax collector, for things they do.  Just like one who prays to God may feel like he is justified for praying to God and should be rewarded.

            John

Answer:  Dear John,

            I could not agree more.  The problem, in some people’s minds and theology, is that baptism is a condition for salvation, a condition for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  But, as we explain, baptism is usually a simple public acknowledgment of the acceptance of Jesus Christ and his righteousness, rather than a completed requirement on the part of the sinner.

            Even the sinner’s prayer—the act of repentance—is a gift of God.  We do not generate our own repentance, for the act of repentance is foreign to sinful human nature.  Naturally, we resist God.  We do not voluntarily, of our decision, decide to repent—God moves in us to give us that ability to respond to him.

            Nothing we do, of and by ourselves, has any salvific merit.  Salvation is all about God, all about what Christ has done for us—nothing about us.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht