Baptism and Salvation

Questions related to baptism and salvation are relentless because the answers are based on either selective quotations from the Bible, or strong personalities asserting their views. The answers are found in understanding the history of baptism, and the definition of salvation.

When I got saved and entered the Christian world from rabbinical Judaism, I was surprised to discover there was no information in any of the Bible encyclopedias or dictionaries about the history of baptism. After the Maccabean war, Pharisees sent out groups of missionaries consisting of a minimum of ten men to establish synagogues in the Gentile world. These effectively became embassies to represent the nation of Israel as a sovereign country, and as an outpost to organize international trade. Gentiles learned about the miracles related to the Maccabean war and the final testimony of Antiochus IV recorded in 2 Maccabees 9, and the historical validity of the God described in the Old Testament presented by the Pharisees. Many Gentiles believed in the living God, and in addition to circumcision, baptism was established to convert a Gentile to Judaism. I provide references for these facts in the radio programs I recorded on Hanukah and Baptism.

When John the Baptist showed up at the Jordan River and baptized people, baptism was nothing new. He was baptizing Jews, and this was new. The messages communicated by a Jew getting baptized caused such a stir that the Pharisees sent out a delegation to hunt John down and question him. I explain this in detail in the recordings on Baptism and in the verse by verse study on the Gospel of John in the Living God Ministries radio archive. This was foundational for the people to understand their need for a personal salvation to enter into a personal relationship with God. Baptism opened the conversation about the need for repentance, obedience and subsequently the grace and mercy of God, regardless of being either a Jew or Gentile.

Radio Programs on Baptism

The early church continued to encourage baptism because it was not until Acts chapters ten and eleven that it was acknowledged a Gentile could be saved without first becoming a Jew. When this was discovered through the direct intervention of God, it was possible for the Jewish believers to begin to let go of water baptism. I explained this in detail in the verse by verse study I recorded on the book of Acts, available in the radio archive.

Radio Programs on Acts

There was no real change in an understanding of salvation, besides a Gentile could be saved without becoming a Jew through baptism. The disagreements were related how a person was to live the Christian life. An example of these disagreements is recorded in Acts chapter 15. Baptism was never considered to be a part of salvation beyond the Gentile conversion issue, or the rededication to the Mosaic Law for a Jew. The reason why people have argued the subject of baptism ever since is because of a lack of understanding of the history and purpose of Baptism, and a poor understanding of the definition of salvation by Jesus the Messiah.

For decades I have asked countless people to tell me their understanding of the Gospel. It has been very unusual for a Christian to give me an answer to this question, and most of the rest have given me partial quotations from the Bible, or said they just believe Jesus died for their sins so they can go to Heaven. These answers were for the most part not wrong, but they were very much incomplete. A question like, “does a person have to be baptized to be saved,” is really a statement that a person has no understanding of the history of baptism and the definition of salvation. Baptism was about converting a Gentile to Judaism, and salvation is about solving a problem that began with Adam and Eve.

The problem Adam and Eve faced had nothing to do with needing to be baptized, it had to do with the consequences of their decision. When God created them, He breathed within them the breath of life, which was a unique construction of words that describe the Holy Spirit of God. They were made spiritually alive with the presence of the Spirit of Life within them. The law of God was that they would absolutely die in the very day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The death they experienced was a spiritual death, the absence of the life of God, the Holy Spirit of God. The physical death was an additional consequence, and a blessing in the sense that this earth is not heaven. The solution to the problem was to first resolve the sin problem that caused spiritual death, and then the spiritual death problem by restoring the life of God lost in Adam. The restoration of the Holy Spirit to make us spiritually alive is being save from being spiritually dead. It is a resurrection that will have the additional consequence of a physical resurrection into the kingdom of heaven. The problem has to do with sin and death, and the solution has to do with forgiveness and the restoration of life. I explain this throughout the radio programs I recorded, but focused on this subject more in the program I recorded on the gospel, and in the first two programs in the series on forgiveness. You can find these in the Living God Ministries radio archive.

Radio Program on The Gospel

Radio Programs on Forgiveness

Radio Programs on Baptism

If you would like a copy of the book on Baptism, select to be informed of Aaron’s books on the home page of the Living God Ministries website.

Living God Ministries

Common Questions:

Is baptism necessary for salvation?

I would encourage a person to think more clearly about what it means to ask a question like this. The first thing I think you should notice is that this question declares they do not know what salvation is. If you knew what salvation was, you would not be asking if baptism was necessary or not. You would already have this clearly determined. Asking this question is good, but it does suggest a person is not likely saved. Does this mean the problem between man and God is that man needs to submerge his flesh in water? Anyone can do that and still reject God. Perhaps this means a ritual washing needs to be performed as part of the procedure to be saved? Therefore, salvation is following a procedure, because the problem between man and God is that man needs to perform a procedure? I don’t think people give enough thought to what their questions reveal about what they believe and don’t believe. This question can only be answered with a clear description of the Gospel in terms of a problem and a solution. I described above the radio programs where I gave a complete presentation on the Gospel, and there is a video on the home page of the Living God Ministries website.

Living God Ministries

Radio Program on The Gospel

Is there proof that baptism is necessary for salvation?

If there was proof that baptism is necessary for salvation, this would no longer be a topic of discussion. The Scriptures were not written for the purpose of answering this question, and just as there are many verses people point out that support the point of view they wish to have, there are many others that would not support their point of view. People try to assert a proof on the subject with selective verses in the Bible, not all of them. When they are all considered, there are contradictions that in my opinion prove there is no such proof, and that the question has to be answered differently. When I am asked this question, I understand the person has no idea how baptism or salvation are defined, or the problems they solve.

Is there proof that baptism is not necessary for salvation?

Trying to prove that something does not exist will take much more time than you will be alive. Eventually, you will realize this is not possible. We can point to an example of a person being saved without being baptized, but that is an example and not a proof.

Can you go to Heaven if you don’t get baptized?

When you go before your God once you physically die, do you really believe He is going to ask you the question, “So tell me, did you get into a tub full of water and submerge your flesh in it before you were brought here?” Is that the kind of question you really think He is going to ask you? I am confident many people will have done that and they still won’t be granted a place in Heaven. Heaven is the place of the living, the home of the living God. If you have been made spiritually alive through the resurrection by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within your spirit, made into a new creation, a child of God, then you have a place among the living in Heaven. This question tells me the person is not likely going to Heaven because they do not know the Gospel, even if they do get baptized.

Radio Programs on Baptism

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