Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
I write for work in addition to these religion articles for the Quay County Sun. There are a few words that took me a while to figure out. “It” is an easy word for me to deal with, but I used to get “its” contraction with “is” (it’s) confused with “its” possessive (its) because, as everybody knows, possessives are made by adding the apostrophe “s” to the end of any noun.
Some Bible words have been confused by men, leading to many of the denominations present today, which isn’t what Jesus wants (John 17:20-23; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:1-6). Admittedly, some Bible passages are hard to understand and easily distorted by people who want to lead others to themselves (Acts 20:26-31; 2 Peter 2:1-3).
Wolves in sheep’s clothing are fairly easy to identify by those who strive to grow as Christians by studying the whole Bible with an honest heart (2 Peter 3:15-18; 1:3-11; Matthew 7:15-27; Luke 8:4-15; Acts 17:11; Ephesians 3:1-7; 2 Timothy 2:15). Wolves often begin with the truth, even confessing Jesus as Lord, but eventually they start misleading, possibly by redefining words, but often simply by encouraging their listeners to disobey God by committing a sin or by omitting commands (Deuteronomy 13:1-11; we don’t stone people anymore, but we are to avoid false teachers; Genesis 3:1-5; John 8:39-47; Galatians 1:6-9).
The purpose and mode of baptism in salvation is an example of biblical word confusion. Jesus specifically authorized baptism by command and example, and the inspired New Testament writers expounded upon it as the process of adoption by God through forgiveness and to receive his divine nature, thereby entering the church, the body of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:22-23; 4:1-2; Acts 2:38-47; Galatians 3:26-4:7; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 8:9-17). The Bible leaves no question about the necessity of baptism in salvation by God’s grace as one becomes united with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 6:3-11; Galatians 5:24; 2:20-21).
The word “baptize” is a transliteration of the biblical Greek word meaning to dip, plunge or immerse. While sprinkling is connected to baptism, it cannot effectively replace immersion (Hebrews 10:19-22). In fact, sprinkling is limited in application directly to the heart and only by the High Priest, who now happens to be Jesus, and he only does it simultaneously with the external washing of our bodies, which actually has nothing to do with outward matters (Leviticus 4:13-17; Hebrews 9:11-14; Colossians 2:9-12; 1 Peter 3:21-22; Acts 22:16; Titus 3:3-8). If sprinkling had been authorized as a mode of baptism, the Ethiopian eunuch could have pulled out his water jug and said, “Look, here’s water. What keeps me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:35-39)
The “one baptism” mentioned in Ephesians 4:5 and described in Ephesians 5:25-27 also excludes any baptism not for forgiveness to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit and any claim of baptism of, by, or in the Holy Spirit to receive miraculous powers (1 Corinthians 13:8-10).
Unto what were you baptized when you believed (Acts 19:1-6; Mark 16:15-16)?
Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]