Online Bible Study - Foundations of Faith

Baptism

What God's Word Says About Baptism
John 3:1-6 & 16: "Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.' In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.' 'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again.'" And also vs. 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." In these words of Jesus the necessity of baptism cannot be questioned. He specifically says in vs. 5&7, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit…You must be born again." We need this washing of regeneration. (To obtain additional information about baptism and to learn about Jesus' own baptism, read also in John 3:22ff.)

God's Word, the divinely inspired Holy Bible, emphasizes that it is necessary that a person be "born of water and the Spirit" to be a Christian, that is, to be saved and enter Heaven. It is also clear from God's Word that faith is the absolute requirement for the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation. Mark 16:16 says, "He that believes and is Baptized shall be saved. He that believes not shall be damned."

Spiritual believing, or "faith," is not just knowing and believing anything. Faith is given to us by the Spirit. Christian faith is complete trust that Jesus Christ, God's Son, is the second person of the Holy Trinity of God, and the Savior and Redeemer of the world. It is the Spirit-given trust that Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection was a sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world. Faith, manifested in baptism, is true faith.

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