Truth Magazine

By Cecil Willis

For the past several weeks it has been our endeavor to survey the word of God pointing out what the Bible teaches on the subject of baptism. Thus far we have seen that only those who were capable of hearing, understanding, and rendering obedience to the gospel were subjects of baptism. In another lesson, it was seen that only the act of immersion in water in order to receive the remission of sins constituted the action of baptism as taught in the New Testament. We then attempted to study several separate passages that have direct bearing upon the action or purpose of baptism. We studied Mk. 16:16 which says, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.” Here it is stated that baptism is in order to one’s salvation. We reflected on Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them repent ye, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.” It is said that baptism is for the remission of sins. The statement of Ananais to Saul, the one-time persecutor, but later, the apostle, also states the purpose of baptism. Ananais told Saul to “arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Baptism is in order to wash away one’s sins.

Now this week we want to note one other passage in the New Testament that states explicitly the purpose of baptism, and then we intend to notice some of the things that baptism is said to do, as stated in the New Testament.

Baptism Saves

If there were no other passage in all the New Testament that had any bearing on the design or purpose of baptism, the one that we are about to suggest should be enough to satisfy those who are ready to accept a plain statement of the Lord, as to the purpose of baptism. Peter began by speaking of those spirits that were now in, prison, “that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved through water: which after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 3:20,21). Peter began by telling us about those that were saved from the world of sin at the time that God destroyed the world and its inhabitants by a flood. Noah had been previously warned by God of the impending flood, and had been given the responsibility to build an ark, to the saving of his house. Ile also was given instructions as to how this ark was to be built, and he minutely and meticulously followed God’s rules. As the floods came, as God had said they would, Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, were all that were saved. These eight persons were saved from the wickedness of the world by water. Peter in so many words said that these eight people were saved by water.

There is frequently a great deal of discussion as to how it was that these eight people were saved by water, but yet and still it is unequivocally and unambiguously stated that they were saved by water. However it might have been that this group was saved by water, be it remembered that Peter by the inspiration of the Spirit stated that they were saved by water. From this premise, he than proceeded to state that in a like figure, or similarly to the way in which they were saved by the water, baptism saves us. He said, “the like figure, wbereunto baptism doth also now save us.” If any statement of the Lord is made plain, and if language has any uniform meaning at all, then it follows that one of the things that baptism does for an individual is save him.

Sometimes people will object and reply that it is not really said that baptism saves one, but it is just a figure, but actually what is said that in a like figure to the way in which Noah’s family was saved in the ark by water, so also is the sinner saved by water in obeying the commandment of baptism.

It is also stated in this passage that it is not putting away of the filth of the flesh that saves a man, but it is the answer of a good conscience toward God. Peter was saying that it is not the washing of the body in the water that saves one, but it is the act of obedience that gives him a good conscience before God that procures his salvation. The import of this passage is made plain by asking the question, “Can one have a good conscience before God when he knows that he has not done what God commanded?” The answer is, “Certainly not!” One could not live with the assurance that God was approving him if he knew that he had violated a specific commandment of God. Neither could one have a good conscience before God when he knew that God commanded him to be baptized, and when he knew that he had not done what God said. Therefore, it is one’s obedience to the commandments of God that saves him, one of which commandments is that of baptism. So, by obeying the commandment to be baptized, one knows that he has done what God told him to do, so he has a good conscience, and God knows that he has done what He told him to do, so He saves him.

So one thing that baptism does, to which we call attention is that it saves one. Of course there are literally millions over this land, and possibly even many who are reading this who would differ with the statement that baptism saves you, but remember friends, that you are not differing with me, but with Peter. Peter said, that baptism doth also now save you. It ought to be pointed out that baptism alone does not save one, but it with all the other commandments of the Lord is the system of salvation. But even though it does not alone save you, it follows that one cannot be saved without it, for it is a commandment of the Lord, and Peter says it does save you.

Baptism Establishes Kingdom Citizenship

Another thing that baptism does is to put you into the kingdom of God. God has a kingdom, headed by Christ, and comprised of all those who do His will. There are certain blessings stored up for those who are in the kingdom, and certain punishments reserved for those who choose to remain outside the kingdom of God. The only way for one to receive the blessings prepared for those in the kingdom is to get into it. Jesus Christ plainly stated the conditions that must be met before one may enter the kingdom. As Jesus preached to Nicodemus, the teacher of the Jews, he told him: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). Jesus had just told this man that he must be born of water and the spirit in order to enter into this kingdom of blessings. Nicodemus was told to obey the instructions of the Spirit, and to be begotten into a new life by the Word of the Spirit. A part of the rules of citizenship into the kingdom of God, as here stated by Jesus is to be born of water. One cannot enter into this kingdom except that he be born of water.

Someone answers, “Yes, one must be born of water, but it is not here stated that baptism is the birth of water.” I agree that in so many words, it is not stated that baptism is the birth of water. I know of but two interpretations that men have placed on the expression, to be “born of water.”‘ One group of men maintain that the birth in water is baptism, while others contend that the birth in water is the natural birth. Nicodemus was one of this latter group. He thought that the birth in water involved his going back and being brought forth again from his mothers womb but Jesus corrected him of that mis-impression. He told him that he was not referring to a physical birth, when he commanded the birth of water. Denominationalists sometimes contend that the fluid accompanying a natural birth is a birth of water, but it is not. Technically, it is amniotic fluid, and is not water at all. Had Jesus not corrected this error of concluding that the birth of water was the natural birth, a technicality would have, for the fluid is not water.

The only birth commanded by the Christ that involves water is baptism, and Jesus here said that one must be born of water before he may enter the kingdom of God. I have heard many who have said, that even though Jesus said to be born of water, he did not really mean water. How far are men willing to go to avert the commandments of God? Jesus said to be born of water. Think just a moment, please, about this statement that Jesus did not really mean water. Suppose that He had meant to tell Nicodemus, as well as us also to be born of water, what would He have said? If water does not mean water, what would he have said if He had meant water? Friends you must admit that the commandments of the Lord are plain, and here He told the man to be born of water, to be baptized, or he could not enter into the kingdom of God. So a second thing that baptism does is to make one a citizen in the kingdom of God. One cannot receive the blessing of salvation outside the kingdom of God, and one cannot receive the blessings of the kingdom except he be baptized. This is the same thing as Peter said in 1 Pet. 3:21, the passage we studied earlier where he said that baptism doth also now save you.

Baptism Puts One in the Body

A third thing that the scriptures teach that baptism accomplishes is that it puts one in the body. As Paul discoursed on the analogy between the human body and the church of the Lord, or the body of the Lord, he told us how one enters the body of the church. He said, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For in one spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:12,13). He said that we were all baptized into one body. We are not told in this passage what the one body is, but in other passages we are told. But in this scripture we are told that we enter the body by being baptized into it. Whatever the body is, we must enter it by baptism. In Eph. 1:22,23, Paul told us what this body that one enters by baptism is. He said that God put all things in subject under the feet of Christ, when he raised him from the dead, “and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Paul said that Christ is the head of the church which is His body. In Colossians 1:18, the same truth is stated, but in slightly different words. Here he said, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). Christ is here said to be the head of the body, which is the church. In both these passages, the church and the body are identified with each other. They are made synonymous.

Paul said that one is baptized into one body, and that the body is the church. If one enters the body by being baptized into it, then he does not enter it as denominationalists teach. They teach that you are to be voted into the church. The writer Luke said that those that were saved were added to the church (Acts 2:47) and he recorded in Acts 2:38 what Peter told them to do to be saved. He told them to repent and be baptized. We see the great harmony in scriptural teaching when we read that one is to be baptized in order to be saved. Then we read that the saved are added to the church, and then the great apostle Paul summed up this process by saying that one is baptized into the body, which is the church.

The significance of baptism is further pointed out when one understands that the church is the body for which Christ died. Paul said to the elders of the church at Ephesus, “Take heed unto yourselves and all the flock over which the spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord, which is purchased with his blood” (Acts 20:28). The church is purchased with the blood of Christ, and it is the body of Christ. It is in the body of Christ that the blood flows. It is in the church that one may receive the benefits of the shed blood of Christ, which is said to have been shed “for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). If one is to receive the remission of sins, it must be by the blood of Christ, which was shed in His death. Paul said that we are baptized into His death (Rom. 6:3,4). So baptism puts one into the body of Christ, or it puts one into the church of Christ, but only the saved are added to the church, so baptism saves one and at the same time, he is added to the church, the organization purchased with the Lord’s blood. Baptism into the church, by the authority of Christ, is salvation by the blood of Christ!

Conclusion

So in summary, here are the things that baptism does, as we have tried to point out in our lesson this week. Baptism saves one (1 Pet. 3:21); it puts one into the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:5), and it puts one into the church (1 Cor. 12:13), which is the same as the kingdom. We are pleading with you to cease listening to the teaching of men, who would tell you baptism is inessential, but study the passages that we have suggested,,as well as the rest of the New Testament to see why you should be baptized, and what baptism does for you.

Truth Magazine XX: 42, pp. 659-662
October 21, 1976

By William V Beasley

“You are being influenced by the writings (books) of men!” is an accusation made by unthinking Christians against their preaching brethren. This is said as if to be guilty of such was equal to complete unfaithfulness, or, at least, the first step in complete apostasy. None of us, myself included, should want to become unfaithful or to take even the first step in apostasy-but, we hasten to ask, is the possession of, study of, learning from, reading of and/or use of books written by men a sign of unfaithfulness or apostasy?

To being “influenced by the writings (books) of men” I must plead guilty. Many such have influenced me and this many times. That was the purpose, in fact, that I purchased such-to be influenced by what the books contained. I would hate to think I had wasted the hundreds of dollars so spent. Pleading guilty to being influenced by the books of men is not to say that I have gullibly accepted everything therein presented. Such is not the case and I trust never will be. Sometimes the influence has been to see how far afield man can go and thus to strengthen our determination to “let God be found true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).

In much the same manner I (along with countless others) have been influenced by speaking person-to-person with other people, but, once again, it was not a hook, line and sinker acceptance of everything presented. Some of my brethren have a phobia of written commentaries and will, while making oral comments on the meaning of a passage of scripture digress enough to tell you how terrible it is to use (mention) commentaries. The primary meaning of “commentary” is “a comment.” When we explain what a passage means we have thereby authored (or plagiarized) a commentary on that passage. The type of communication (oral vs. written) used is the only difference in principle between the two types of commentaries.

Granted people, even our brethren, have misused the writings of men. When asked what a passage of scripture meant, one brother said something like ‘ “I’m not sure what that means. I don’t remember what Brother McGarvey had to say about it.” In listening to preaching, private instruction, personal conversations, reading books (commentaries, etc.) we need to receive such with all readiness of mind, and search the scriptures daily, whether these things be so (see Acts 17:11).

Truth Magazine XX: 42, p. 658
October 21, 1976

By Ron Halbrook

“The sower went forth to sow,” said Jesus in the parable, explaining, “The seed is the word of God.” In 1955 Brother Eugene Britnell began a , small mimeographed bulletin in Tuckerman, Arkansas, in an effort to sow the seed of the kingdom. The paper moved with him to the Arch Street church in Little Rock in 1961 and was put out for many years by that church. It had a wide circulation and a definite punch. With the exception of September, 1974, through September of 1975 (during which time Brother Britnell edited the Gospel Guardian), The Sower has been published without interruption for twenty years.

But in January of 1975, The Sower went forth under a new arrangement. No longer a work of Arch Street, it is owned by The Sower Publications, which consists of Brother Britnell and his son Olen (who is also business manager). It will appear monthly on a subscription basis, with a “variety in type, material, arrangement and illustrations.” Rather than specializing in any one subject, editor Britnell will deal with pressing problems of morality while teaching also “on Catholicism, denominationalism, communism, liberalism, institutionalism, and all other ‘isms.'” While seeking to propagate New Testament Christianity, The Sower promises to “teach and hope for the time when all ‘isms’ become ‘wasims.'” The paper will allow discussion of both sides on controversial issues, but will not be a bland hodge-podge of conflicting doctrines. “We shall never allow that which we consider to be doctrinal error to go unchallenged.”

There has been a proliferation of new papers in the last couple of -years. While one editor has spoken of plans to still be mailing out his paper in the year 2000, editor Willis of Truth Magazine says he feels fortunate to make it through a new year! There are problems for subscription papers appealing to the same basic reading audience, but in the case of papers teaching the gospel this should not be the case. As Benjamin Franklin said in the first number of the American Christian Review, which appeared in January of 1856, “There is not the least danger of our circulating too many publications, any more than of our sending out too many preachers. . . .” In terms of the need for teaching the truth in a world of darkness and sin, Franklin was 100 percent right! To the extent that any preacher or paper fills that need, it or he does good. Not only will Christians benefit from reading such papers, they will bless other people by having such papers sent to them. Brother Britnell in his opening editorial points out that “even the paper of the homosexuals, The Advocate, has a circulation of more than 60,000 copies, and that is far more than the total circulation of papers among conservative Christians.”

Those who wish to subscribe should send $4.00 per year in advance to The Sower, P.O. Box 5624, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205. The Sower is a 16-page monthly.

Truth Magazine XX: 42, p. 658
October 21, 1976

By Luther Blackmon

There are many excuses offered for quitting the church, but none that God will accept I am sure. Not many people are honest enough just to face up to reality and admit that they have quit. They are just femporarily absent for a few month or years (as if the Lord had given them a furlough or leave of absence) and they “are just as good Christians as ever-they just haven’t been coming.” If this were not so tragic it would be laughable. Such people have lied to themselves so long and blamed other people for their spiritual lethargy (hat they have actually come to believe these excuses (lies) themselves. But if you want to see such a person wake up to the fact that he has been lying about his unfaithfulness, just let him have a check-up and discover that he has a only a few months or weeks to live. Right away he forgets all about those time-worn, frazzled out and motheaten excuses he has been leaning on. And-most likely he will come to worship the next Sunday and make confession of unfaithfulness. He has forgotten the complaint that some member of the church didn’t treat him right or the church was not friendly or somebody criticized the way he (or she) was dressed or laughed at his accent or colloquialisms. These are not important any more. They never were really important. They just offered a smoke screen to a fellow who loved his pride and his job and his recreation and nearly everything else above the Lord. Now he can see these little hypocritical alibis for what they really are. But it may be too late. Now he can never be sure that he is coming back because he really wants to do right or because he is afraid o~’ what awaits unfaithful Christians. He knows down in his heart that if he had not discovered that he was going to die pretty soon, he would have gone on perhaps indefinitely, with his lame excuses.

There are things along the way that discourage all of us from time to time. Sometimes people can be very cruel in their remarks. I could name quite a few instances in my life as a Christian when things were said and done that hurt me deeply. But it wasn’t the Lord (hat hurt me, so why should I QUIT THE LORD because SOME MAN insulted me? Let us not kid ourselves as to why we are not attending worship. We are not deceiving the Lord, that’s certain.

Truth Magazine XX: 41, p. 653
October 14, 1976