One In Jesus

The case for baptism as the moment of salvation

Okay. I’m sure this sounds like odd phrasing, but I’m trying to make a point. No one — no Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant — believes that the saving power is in the water. However, some do believe the water to be absolutely essential for the saving power — the sacrifice of Jesus — to save an individual believer. This would be the view of Catholics, the Orthodox, Lutherans, and most Arminian Protestants.

The question is, of course: What does the Bible say? Now I’ve argued elsewhere that the traditional Church of Christ exegesis of the “baptism verses” is pretty much right, although I’m not sure we build a sound theology from the exegesis. (“Exegesis” is the interpretation of the words of the Bible. “Theology” is deriving principles from the exegesis.)

Before trying to build the case for a Third Way, let’s consider some of what the Bible actually does say about baptism in some familiar and some less familiar verses. Continue reading →

Well, I wasn’t really intending to pick on the Calvinist-Arminian controversies for the entire series, but here’s another place where the two traditions disagree — and another place that needs a Third Way solution.

Background

The traditional view, going back at least to the Second Century, is that baptism is the occasion or moment of salvation — it’s when salvation occurs. It remains the view of Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Anabaptists, and Arminian Protestants, such as most Anglicans, Methodists, and members of the Churches of Christ.

However, Calvin separated baptism from salvation —

As the use of the sacraments will confer nothing more on unbelievers than if they had abstained from it, nay, is only destructive to them, so without their use believers receive the reality which is there figured. Thus the sins of Paul were washed away by baptism, though they had been previously washed away. Continue reading →