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.
In Colossians 2:13-14, Paul declares the glorious achievement of that day when he says, ”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.”
With Jesus’ dying breath He made it known that the old covenant was fulfilled, making way for the new covenant in His blood saying, “It is finished.” John 19:39
Luke records the desperate request of a dying man who realizes he is in the presence of his God. Along with the other criminal and the crowd, just a short time earlier, this man had been reviling Jesus. (Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32)
The question of the thief on the cross seeks to address baptism as something superfluous to salvation under this new covenant. It often goes something like this, ”Why must one be baptized to be saved if the thief on the cross was saved without baptism?”
It interests me how many other people there are to whom Jesus granted forgiveness before His death that go unnoticed by this question. This unnamed criminal was not special in this way. Let us consider two other specific instances. In fact, Luke records both.
Luke 5:17-26 finds Jesus teaching in a home so full that friends of a paralytic, knowing that Jesus could heal him, had to lower the man through an opening they made in the roof because there was no other way in. We learn in verse 20, “When He saw their faith, He said to him, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’”
Just two chapters later, in Luke 7:36-50, Jesus is eating at the house of a Pharisee by the name of Simon. Luke tells us that “a woman in the city who was a sinner” came in, washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and anointed His feet with fragrant oil. While the Pharisee was dismayed that Jesus would allow this, the Lord took the opportunity to teach that this woman knew better what debt was to be forgiven her than the Pharisee and his guests. Jesus told her “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:48
In both instances, those present are astonished and upset asking, “Who forgives sins but God alone?” Luke 5:21 and “Who is this who even forgives sin?” in Luke 7:49.
Though they are unaware of it, the answer is given in the first question. God alone can forgive sins. We know what they could not accept, that in Jesus, God walked among them in the flesh. (Colossians 2:9; John 8:58; John 1:1,14)
God alone decides how and when He will forgive sins. This brings us back to the thief on the cross, the last person forgiven by Jesus before He died — before the old covenant had ended. The new covenant was not yet in effect. Paul writes in Hebrews 9:16-18, “For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.”
Jesus told His disciples how forgiveness would be accomplished in the new covenant — the New Testament. He instructed them after He was resurrected:
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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.” Amen.
and
Mark 16:15-16
And He said to them, “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.
Jesus spoke these words just days before Peter preached at Pentecost and when those who heard him were cut to the heart asked “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Acts 2:37
Pentecost was only fifty days from the crucifixion (when the thief was forgiven and saved) where Peter answers by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38-39
He tells them to repent and be baptized. Why be baptized? For the forgiveness of sins.
This is a promise, and Peter makes it known that it applies to everyone there on that day, to their children, and even to us today. What a wonderful promise fulfilled when we come out of the water of baptism.
Paul puts it this way:
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. Romans 6:3-6
Once before, God used water to save mankind from sin. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:20 that “once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” Peter continues, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 3:21
Just a few weeks after Jesus and the two thieves died on their crosses at Calvary, and a few days after Jesus ascended into Heaven — having taught the disciples that those who believe and are baptized would be saved — Peter confirms to the crowd at Pentecost that they must repent and be baptized for the forgiveness (or remission) of their sins.
Every conversion event in the book of Acts follows that same pattern. The Ethiopian nobleman, upon hearing the Gospel taught to him, doesn’t ask if he has to be baptized. Instead, he asserts, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Acts 8:36
We began this discussion noticing that Paul, In Colossians 2:13-14, demonstrated that the old covenant was fulfilled and the requirements of the law were removed when Jesus died on the cross.
Please consider the larger text, 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.
No longer must anyone be circumcised in the flesh. As Paul expresses in Romans 6, we are buried with Jesus in baptism and raised again to life — resurrected, forgiven of our sins.
Neither Jesus nor the whole New Testament, make any other provision for salvation. There is a pattern that is taught:
- Believe in Jesus
Jesus teaches in John 3:16 and John 11:25 and in many other places that we must believe in Him. - Repent of our sins
Peter tells us that we must repent in Act 2:38. Jesus teaches in Luke 13:3, “unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” - Confess Jesus as Lord, the Son of God
When, in Acts 8:37, the Ethiopian nobleman asks to be baptized, Philip says to him, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The man answers, “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Jesus declares, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32 - Be baptized for the remission of our sins
It wasn’t enough for Paul to simply recognize Jesus as Lord when he is confronted by the Son of God on the road to Damascus. He is not forgiven at this moment because he is under the new covenant, unlike the thief on the cross.
Instead, Acts 9:18 informs us that Paul is baptized. He recalls in Acts 22:16 Ananias telling him, “And now why are you waiting, Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.“
Paul would later write in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Just as in Romans 6:3, he says we are baptized into Christ, but also adds here that at baptism we put on Christ.
Salvation is only found in Christ. Paul says in Romans 6:11 that after being buried like Christ in baptism, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The greatest objection to baptism is that it requires action on our part — salvation by works. And yet, the same objection is not made regarding belief, repentance, or confession — all things that we do.
James makes it clear that we must be moved to action or our faith is empty. He writes in James 2:14, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” And in verses 18-20:
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
He concludes in James 2:24, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” and verse 26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
To take the whole Gospel in context we cannot assert that we earn our salvation by what we do, rather that our faith (if it is real) requires that we respond in obedience.
Baptism is a directive from Jesus. When we go into the water of baptism, we are meeting Jesus at the cross. In this, we are like the thief, dying with Jesus to be born again freed from sin.
Born again. While in John 3:16 Jesus asserts, “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Just a few short verses before, Jesus says the following to Nicodemus in John 3:3-5:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
In the new covenant, one cannot enter His kingdom unless he is first born again of water and the Spirit. Because the new covenant had not come yet, the thief on the cross was not subject to this.
If one is obedient to Christ in baptism, they are saved just like the thief on the cross. Let us read together, the account of his salvation from Luke 23:39-43:
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
The criminal who was saved believed in Jesus (verse 42 – “remember me when you come into your kingdom”), repented of his sin against Jesus (verse 41 – “This Man has done nothing wrong”), confessed Jesus as Lord (Verse 42), and we know that he died with Jesus at the cross just like we do in baptism.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one baptism that saves from sin. Consider reading each of the conversion accounts in Acts and notice that all followed the inspired directive of Peter in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”
Do you have questions? Would you like to know more about God’s plan of redemption — His plan of salvation? Please contact me and I would be happy to have a study of God’s word with you.
May God bless you richly.