There is a common question: “Is baptism necessary for salvation?” In light of so much Scripture on the matter, this is a surprising question. In this brief study, we will let the Scriptures answer the question directly while noticing that it is really the wrong question.
So, is baptism necessary for salvation?
Mark 16:15‑16
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
This passage most clearly defines baptism as a requisite part of salvation — without baptism, one cannot be saved.
And yet, the question and such a blunt answer misses the beautiful point of baptism. It is like saying if one does not eat, he will die — and yet there is so much more to eating than just preventing death.
We don’t just want not to die — we want to live. Not dying is so finite, living is infinite with possibilities.
After Peter had preached at Pentecost, his listeners did not ask, “How do we not die?” A finite question with a finite answer. Instead, they asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37
They asked a hopeful, open-ended question leading to life.
Acts 2:38 tells us that Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”
There is depth to Peter’s answer beyond a simple stamp of salvation — in baptism one has his sins released — forgiven. There is a fresh start and hope in such an answer.
Some will say that baptism is simply an outward sign of obedience. While I cannot deny that it is such an outward sign — we might specifically notice that it is an adherence to Christ’s word that starts us on the road of discipleship:
Matthew 28:19‑20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
If we are His disciples then we are to follow his instructions, the first of which is to be baptized. It is the beginning of our Christian walk, not a conclusion that we are saved. It is upon this first act of obedience that one will hopefully build a habit of obedience to a risen Savior who died for our sins and purchased our lives away from sin with His blood.
It is sin that baptism addresses. Listen to Romans 6:1‑11:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, from this passage, we see that baptism is so much more than a simple switch from “unsaved” to “saved.” Through baptism, one is reborn to live apart from sin and death: alive — in newness of life — living to God, for God, and in God’s everlasting embrace.
Baptism is not some work that must be achieved but a transition from death into life by the holy operation of our Father in heaven who washes away our sins by the blood of Christ.
It is that operation that was foreshadowed by circumcision in the Mosaic covenant.
Consider Colossians 2:11‑14:
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Ironically, not only is baptism not viewed as some “work” in scripture, but it represents freedom from all of the ordinances found in the first covenant and all the “works” required by its adherents to demonstrate one’s faithfulness before Yahweh God.
Instead, Christ did the great “work” at Calvary when He died for all our sins — taking upon Himself our sins and being separated (for a time) from His Father because of our sins.
It strikes me that when one is considering salvation, the proper question is “What prevents me from being baptized?”
Acts 8:26‑39 brings the whole matter into focus:
Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
When we hear the Ethiopian’s exuberant response to the Gospel of Christ, we have to realize that the only question that truly exists about baptism for the informed hearer of the Gospel message may vary only slightly from his question — it might be best formed in this fashion: “Where is water that I may be baptized?”
The discussion of baptism may be contentious for some and yet others may simply have not been informed about what God’s word says about baptism. Our hope is, however, that anyone possessing the knowledge of these few simple verses and so many more (Acts 16:11-15; 18:8; 22:16; Galatians 3:27; 1 Peter 3:21 …) will see baptism in the light that our Lord intends: Baptism is certainly an essential element of salvation and more — it frees us from our former lives in sin — it frees us to live according to God’s will without regrets — it renews us as newborn children before our Father in heaven.
Baptism is but one small part of our walk in Christ. It is, in fact, only the first step upon His path for our lives. It is, however, that first step. Let us embrace this and all of the truths found in God’s word with great humility and love for our fellow man.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.”
So they brought Him a denarius.
And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”
They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.
This passage describes just one of the many attempts the Pharisees made to trap Jesus – to get Him to make a mistake – and hopefully, peel off a large number of His disciples.
They were not interested in a truthful answer or even a Godly answer. Their only interest was to preserve their own power and discredit Jesus. After all, the Romans were universally hated by the Jews – how could anyone defend paying taxes to Rome?
Jesus’ answer speaks to authority. Interestingly, He managed to address the authority of Rome while driving home the authority of God, exposing the Pharisees for not giving God what is due Him, their honest and true worship.
Let us take Jesus’ question, first, at face value: “Whose image and inscription is this [on the coin]?”
The Greek word translated as “image” in this passage is “eikon” and is defined as a likeness as in that of a statue or profile (such as on a coin). It is the word from which we get our modern word “icon” (this Greek word appears 23 times in the New Testament).
Such an image or imprint on a coin, showing the likeness of Caesar, Jesus was pointing out, indicated that the coin belonged to Caesar, minted and distributed by his authority. The image together with the inscription.
The answer to His question is returned, “Caesar’s.” There is no controversy as to whom this coin belongs. Jesus completely disarms any further argument when He concludes, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
We will take these two assertions separately …
Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
Though difficult for the people of Judea to accept, everything around them, including the currency they used, belonged to Rome. They were a conquered region and people. If the money they used was minted by the Temple, you would imagine they would have no problem paying their offerings to the Temple.
Well, we will come back to that.
Staying on the Roman coins, Jesus gives the obvious recognition that what belongs to Caesar should return to him. He had every right to ask to be given what belonged to him.
Listen to Paul in Romans 13:1-7:
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Taking just verses one and seven together, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
Paul’s teaching is consistent with that of Jesus. Furthermore, it was not a new principle for the people of God – Christians or Jews. It is one’s civic duty to obey the laws of the land and honor those who rule over us.
Listen now to Peter in 1 Peter 2:13-17:
Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men — as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
1 Samual 24 teaches us that though Saul was trying to kill David, David would not disrespect the sovereign king of Israel to attack him. Saul’s conduct did not earn him this respect. Instead, it was David’s respect for God and the authority given to Saul by God.
Saul would soon enough no longer be king and David would take his rightful place on the throne, but that day had not yet come. David did just as Paul also teaches so many generations later, “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” – and Peter, “Honor the king.”
We need to remember that though the government may sometimes treat its citizen badly or it behaves contrary to what we like – we are to respect our government, our president – regardless of who is in power. It is God that has given the government its authority.
This is true today and it was true when the Pharisees questioned whether or not to pay taxes to Rome.
Render to God the things that are God’s
The Jews were no better in giving to God what belongs to Him and this was not a new problem in the time Jesus walked among the Jews. Hundreds of years before, Malachi writes, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.” Malachi 3:8
When God’s people do not respectfully give back to God as He has prescribed today, we are no different than the Jews of old who would rob God in tithes and offerings.”
It would be easy for most of us to increase our contribution on Sunday if we were assured that what we gave was all God asks of us. The fact is, though, it is symbolic of what God actually asks of us: everything!
There is no part of our lives, our possessions, our attitudes, our hearts that do not belong to God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We were bought at a price. We belong to Him.
In Galatians 6:17, Paul declares, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Also from Galatians 2:20, “ … it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me …” And finally, Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
The message is plain, we give to God what belongs to Him. We give ourselves back to God, we are His, and we have His imprint on us if we are His.
Romans 8:9
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
The imprint for all to see is the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23
The imprint of Jesus is on our lives – and by it, we know that we belong to Him, just as surely as that coin, the denarius, belonged to Caesar.
What, then, will we hold back from God?
Nothing. How could we? We owe everything to God!
As we consider our lives in the coming days and weeks, we need to do an honest inventory of what we give to God and what we do not. There isn’t a single one of us that will not be impacted by this self-examination.
Paul gives us the stark need for this. He says in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.”
Let us hold nothing back from God. Let us never be found disqualified Let His imprint on us be evident for ALL to see.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed a scenario of a cat sealed in a box with a flask of poison and a radioactive source, its fate uncertain because we could not observe the cat. The famous conclusion was that the cat was both dead and alive, simultaneously. This was a quantum mechanics problem.
Fortunately for us, faith is not nearly as complicated as quantum mechanics. Hebrews 11:1 demonstrates that our faith is not in what we see, but that is not the same as being uncertain. The Psalmist affirms, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of Yahweh is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.” Psalms 18:30
The question is, “Do we trust in Him?” I don’t mean do we say the words, but do we truly trust in Him? Do we trust that God will do all He has promised or do we see His promises as a cat in a box?
When we view our faith like this cat, we are allowing for doubt. It might sound positive to say the cat is both dead and alive at the same time, but we all know that it can only be one or the other. If, for discussion sake, God has promised to protect the cat, the cat is alive. With man, the cat is dead — with God, the cat lives!
The fact is faith is only faith when it is applied. James puts it this way, “faith without works is dead.” James 2:20,26
Let’s go back to the cat. We can’t see the cat, but we trust God that it is alive.
Do we? Have we left its food dish out where it will expect to find it upon returning to the house? Or are we looking for another cat but holding off for just a while to see what really happens?
How about in our lives? Do we step out in faith knowing that God is faithful or do we just say we trust Him?
I say the cat’s alive and I just bought it a brand new bag of food. How about you?
Jesus on the cross of Calvary is simultaneously an awful and wonderful event. Awful because of the brutality of the crucifixion and because Jesus had to die. Wonderful because of the incredible gift we have only through the death of the perfect Lamb of God.
The thief on the cross gets an undue amount of attention in the context of the day. His story is not the headline, but another story of the cross. He was one of two thieves that hung beside Jesus. His story is important, but the question that is derived from his circumstance risks overshadowing the true importance of the events of Calvary.
Jesus has a wonderful interaction with a Samaritan woman in the city of Sychar which was in Samaria. He talked with her of living water and told her details about her own life that He did not learn from gossip among strangers, but because He has the mind of God. This is the conclusion of that conversation:
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” John 4:19-26
I want to notice a particular short phrase that Jesus utters in His conversation with her at the well. He says in John 4:22, “salvation is of the Jews.”
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14
How do we look at our lives? Do we live in the past? Are we resting on our successes or dwelling on our failures?
Paul could look back at his life and see epic failure as one who stood against the cause of Christ … one who was at times solely responsible for the imprisonment and death of His disciples! What a heavy burden!! Surely thinking of this, he writes in 1 Timothy 1:15 that he is the chief of sinners.
Paul also had the opportunity to enumerate the great successes of his life as one we could argue was the greatest of all the Apostles, planting many churches and leading countless souls to Christ .. but that was not his way.
Though the landscape of his life was littered with failures and successes, he teaches us that the past is the past. What matters is what we do today, looking forward to our Heavenly goal.
What occupies our minds each morning when we wake up? Are we present in this day, eager for the challenges that await us? I too have spectacular failures and some pretty fantastic successes in my yesterdays … but I challenge myself each day to focus on what this day holds.
The Psalmist declares, “This is the day Yahweh has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 With this mindset, we can let yesterday be yesterday and press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!
