Posted on 11/04/2011 12:06:23 PM PDT by RnMomof7
1. The precious blood of Christ has a REDEEMING POWER. It redeems from the law. We were all under the law which says, "This do, and live." We were slaves to it: Christ has paid the ransom price, and the law is no longer our tyrant master. We are entirely free from it. The law had a dreadful curse; it threatened that whosoever should violate one of its precepts, should die: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." By the fear of this curse, the law inflicted a continual dread on those who were under it; they knew they had disobeyed it, and they were all their lifetime subject to bondage, fearful lest death and destruction should come upon them at any moment: but we are not under the law, but under grace, and consequently "We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
We are not afraid of the law now; its worst thunders cannot affect us, for they are not hurled at us! Its most tremendous lightnings cannot touch us, for we are sheltered beneath the cross of Christ, where the thunder loses its terror and the lightning its fury. We read the law of God with pleasure now; we look upon it as in the ark covered with the mercy seat, and not thundering in tempests from Sinai’s fiery brow.
Happy is that man who knows his full redemption from the law, its curse, its penalty, its present dread. My brethren, the life of a Jew, happy as it was compared with that of a heathen, was perfect drudgery compared to yours and mine. He was hedged in with a thousand commands and prohibitions, his forms and ceremonies were abundant, and their details minutely arranged. He was always in danger of making himself unclean. If he sat upon a bed or upon a stool, he might be defiled; if he drank out of an earthen pitcher, or even touched the wall of a house, a leprous man might have put his hand there before him, and he would thus become defiled.
A thousand sins of ignorance were like so many hidden pits in his way; he must be perpetually in fear lest he should be cut off from the people of God. When he had done his best any one day, he knew he had not finished; no Jew could ever talk of a finished work. The bullock was offered, but he must bring another; the lamb was offered this morning, but another must be offered this evening, another tomorrow, and another the next day. The Passover is celebrated with holy rites; it must be kept in the same manner next year. The high priest has gone within the veil once, but he must go there again; the thing is never finished, it is always beginning. He never comes any nearer to the end. "The law could not make the comer thereunto perfect."
But see our position: we are redeemed from this. Our law is fulfilled, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness; our passover is slain, for Jesus died; our righteousness is finished, for we are complete in Him; our victim is slain, our priest has gone within the veil, the blood is sprinkled; we are clean, and clean beyond any fear of defilement, "For he hath perfected for ever those that were set apart." Value this precious blood, my beloved, because thus it has redeemed you from the thraldom and bondage which the law imposed upon its votaries.
Full sermon here
kudos to CB for effort, results are another matter.
let’s see how he did:
1. not even tried, everyone knows no one was ever told to be baptized for “obedience” reasons. anyone claiming this has no clue what baptism is. ( i don’t care what baptist seminary they have a degree from )
2. not only doesn’t romans 6:5 not say baptism is an outward sign of the work completed by the Holy Spirit already, just two verses earlier in romans 6:3, Paul tells us those anyone BAPTIZED into Christ Jesus is BAPTIZED into his death.
so baptism is not an outward sign of something that has happened already.
3. the verses provided are not of anyone being told to say a sinners prayer for the remission of sins. Acts 2:38 and 22:16 clearly teach BAPTISM is for the remission of sins, not a “sinners prayer”
what did Luke mean in Acts 2:21 to call on the name of the Lord? see Acts 22:16 for the answer.
4. philippians 3:8 does not say we are placed “in Christ” by faith. Paul is clear in romans and galatians that we are BAPTIZED into Christ. in philippians, it is righteousness based on faith, not faith placing us in Christ.
5. acts 22:16 tells us how Paul received remission of his sins, “rise and be BAPTIZED and wash away your sins, calling on his name”
6. 1 Peter specifically says BAPTISM now saves you. of course we are saved by grace, how do we receive the grace of God? the Scriptures are clear, thru BAPTISM.
7. Acts 2:38 is clear about what the people had to do: repent and be BAPTIZED for the remission of sins and receiving the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10 is very interesting. it says the Holy Spirit fell on them as Peter spoke. it does not say the people accepted Christ as Savior and then were baptized by the Holy Spirit. clearly the Holy Spirit falling on them did not mean they were saved, it was merely to show Peter salvation was for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. once Peter realized they accepted His message concerning Jesus and who He was, he ordered they be BAPTIZED.
8. again no scriptures are provided where the Bible says “water baptism” or “spirit baptism”. no, the Bible only calls the sacrament, “baptism”.
why? because there are not seperate “water” and “spirit” baptisms, no as Paul tells us in Ephesians, there is only ONE BAPTISM.
in summary, we can see from the Scriptures that what the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has taught about bpatism has been true for 2,000 years.
You don’t read all posts to you? Number one was much earlier by itself. And surely you didn’t expect that I would think that you would see that those questions were answered do you? I knew full well you would deny.
"But Now" is yer Waterloo, Napoleon. You've worked very hard to "prove" a point of "Time Past" and if you were Israel and part of the Kingdom promises, I would say KUDOS to you. But alas. You're a mere neither Jew nor Gentile, dead in your sins, who is working hard to find salvation in the Jewish Kingdom. Rejecting the gospel of your salvation for the gospel for the Nation Israel. "Dispensational Envy" is an effort in futility. And a complete waste of time. Since you cannot go back to "time past". And you cannot go forward to the "ages to come". It's "But Now" or nothing.
Ephesians 2:11-13. And 2 Tim. 2:15.
you are the “sola scriptura” person, not me.
you made assertions about baptism that can’t be backed by scripture, i merely devised a method to point this out.
the correct analogy would be if i believed “sola scriptura” and said the bible says mary was assumed into heaven and you pointed out that John 21:26 ( made up verse ) says Mary died and was buried, you then challenging to prove Mary was assumed when it contradicts John 21:26.
The dispersion in James is projected to the Jewish people scattered throughout the world. Disapora
Vut the dispersion in 1 Peter is aimed at the Gentile Christians that are scattered, not the Jewish population that is scattered. Again — Disapora — two different meanings and times.
Right. That’s what I said, isn’t it? They are not gentile Christians to whom he is writing.
when you start playing the “greek” game like the jehovah witnesses do, you are in trouble.
the context determines what the proper translation is. it is clear Peter’s answer is future, namely repent and be baptized....so what follows must be future as well.
every honest translator, protestant or catholic agrees on the translation.
So understanding the Greek meaning gets me in trouble? I think not.
>> every honest translator, protestant or catholic agrees on the translation.<<
As long as they agree with the CC is that the test? LOL
Find a place in scripture where it says “be baptized and then repent”. Maybe you could find a place where a person was baptized before they were told they were saved.
sorry, you are correct #311 is your answer to #1.
but, of course, everyone can read post #311 and see that it doesn’t provide any scripture where anyone was told to be baptized to be obedient.
can’t we all agree this is just a 16th century tradition of man?
Not when we take all of scripture into account.
Paul answers this dipensational nonsense best in Galatians 3:23-29.
and btw, since i am a Christian, i am part of the “Israel of God”
Introduction to the Letter of James
The letter is addressed to “the twelve tribes in the dispersion.” In Old Testament terminology the term “twelve tribes” designates the people of Israel; the “dispersion” or “diaspora” refers to the non-Palestinian Jews who had settled throughout the Greco-Roman world (see Jn 7:35). Since in Christian thought the church is the new Israel, the address probably designates the Jewish Christian churches located in Palestine, Syria, and elsewhere. Or perhaps the letter is meant more generally for all Christian communities, and the “dispersion” has the symbolic meaning of exile from our true home, as it has in the address of 1 Peter (1 Pt 1:1). The letter is so markedly Jewish in character that some scholars have regarded it as a Jewish document subsequently “baptized” by a few Christian insertions, but such an origin is scarcely tenable in view of the numerous contacts discernible between the Letter of James and other New Testament literature.
Introduction -- First Letter of Peter
This letter begins with an address by Peter to Christian communities located in five provinces of Asia Minor (1 Pt 1:1), including areas evangelized by Paul (Acts 16:6–7; 18:23). Christians there are encouraged to remain faithful to their standards of belief and conduct in spite of threats of persecution. Numerous allusions in the letter suggest that the churches addressed were largely of Gentile composition (1 Pt 1:14, 18; 2:9–10; 4:3–4), though considerable use is made of the Old Testament (1 Pt 1:24; 2:6–7, 9–10, 22; 3:10–12).
The contents following the address both inspire and admonish these “chosen sojourners” (1 Pt 1:1) who, in seeking to live as God’s people, feel an alienation from their previous religious roots and the society around them. Appeal is made to Christ’s resurrection and the future hope it provides (1 Pt 1:3–5) and to the experience of baptism as new birth (1 Pt 1:3, 23–25; 3:21). The suffering and death of Christ serve as both source of salvation and example (1 Pt 1:19; 2:21–25; 3:18). What Christians are in Christ, as a people who have received mercy and are to proclaim and live according to God’s call (1 Pt 2:9–10), is repeatedly spelled out for all sorts of situations in society (1 Pt 2:11–17), work (even as slaves, 1 Pt 2:18–20), the home (1 Pt 3:1–7), and general conduct (1 Pt 3:8–12; 4:1–11). But over all hangs the possibility of suffering as a Christian (1 Pt 3:13–17). In 1 Pt 4:12–19 persecution is described as already occurring, so that some have supposed the letter was addressed both to places where such a “trial by fire” was already present and to places where it might break out.
check the KJV if you don’t believe.
do you think the Greek Orthodox may know something about what the Greek text says?
btw - i don’t try to find scriptures for doctrines that are not true.
wouldn’t “all of the scripture” include at least one verse that says it?
especially since no one believed it before the 16th century?
Like the teaching that Jesus was not the only sinless human on earth?
Because we are commanded to be baptized. It is as simple as that.
How is it important?
It clears our consciences that we have followed God's command. Those who don't wish to exercise their faith in baptism should examine their faith.
and finally, if it is important, why would the Holy Spirit allow no one to correctly understand it for 16 centuries?
Baptism saves you as an appeal to God for a clear conscience (1 Pet 3:21). It's the act of obedience to God's commandment, however we understand it. This act of obedience is for our benefit. That isn't to say that those who are not baptized will not be saved. It simply shows evidence that if we have a desire to be baptized (whatever form we believe to be correct) than it is something that we can look back at in our lives as a starting point.
Presbyterians who baptized children under the covenant view, claiming God's promise that one day He will lead them to Christ, can look back on that promise. Baptists who believe in immersion for renewing of the mind and soul can look back on the day they were baptized. I've come to believe that it doesn't matter whatever interpretation is correct. It all serves the same purpose. It is given to us as a sign of Christ death, burial and resurrection that we can cling to.
I might add that communion (or the Eucharist) is just the opposite. Unlike baptism where we look back, communion looks forward proclaiming the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus until the day He returns in His glory.
I didn't say God was the author of confusion. Only the Catholic Church. :O)
"If ye have heard of the DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME TO YOU-WARD:.."
"That in the DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, and WHICH ARE ON THE EARTH, even in him." Eph. 1:10.
"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the DISPENSATION OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME FOR YOU, TO FULFILL THE WORD OF GOD;" Col. 1:25.
"For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL is COMMITTED UNTO ME." 1 Cor. 9:17.
So sorry to hear you think that Paul's own writings regarding dispensations are nonsense.
And BTW: no, if you are a Christian, you are part of the Church the body of Christ. Not the Israel of God. You see, the body of Christ is made up of believers where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male not female, bondman or free. We are all one in the body of Christ. That is part of the "But Now" you seem unable to grasp or believe.
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