by Matthew K. Clifton It is sometimes stated that the writings of the apostle Paul give no particular emphasis to baptism as a command of the gospel. In fact, the average “man on the street” evangelical adherent will claim that since Paul said Christ sent him “not to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 [...]
Archive for the ‘Salvation’ Category
Baptism: Spirit or water?
The objection is often raised that the baptism mentioned in Acts 2:38; Gal. 3:27; Romans 6:3,4; Mark 16:16 and Matt. 28:19, among others, is not referring to water baptism, but to “Spirit baptism.” I will endeavor to briefly show why these passages are to be understood as referring to water baptism of the believer.
‘Baptism doth also now save us’
From time to time it is asserted by some individuals that baptism in water plays no part whatsoever in the salvation of a man’s soul. However, to those who hold and teach such a view, 1 Peter 3:21 presents quite a stumbling block. Rather than teaching that baptism has no place in obtaining a right [...]
Consider yourself served!
Have you ever stopped to think of how important God considers His church? Consider this: In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said that He would build His church. In Acts 20:28, we read that Jesus purchased the church (His church) with His own blood. In Colossians 1:18 we learn that the body of Christ is the church, [...]
The night the lights went out
As so often happens, my young son awoke during the night crying. Bleary-eyed, I forced myself from the comfortable bed and staggered to his room, scooped him up and headed to the living room on the other side of the house. We sat in the rocking chair a while to calm him, and, neither of [...]
Is baptism essential for salvation?
Some have wondered why the church of Christ places so much emphasis on baptism. A more important question may be, “Why have so many denominations placed little or no emphasis on baptism?” The reason the church of Christ preaches baptism as essential to salvation is because that is exactly the position the Bible gives it. [...]
Baptism into Christ
The subject of baptism has confused many believers in Christ over the years. It is not the teachings of the Bible, however, that have caused this confusion, but rather man’s various “interpretations” of biblical teaching that is the source of the difficulty. When we take the sum total of what the Bible teaches on the [...]
Confessing Christ before men
Jesus caused a lot of friction in His earthly ministry, especially among the prevailing Jewish groups of that day. The biggest issue was that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, and most of the Jews were not ready to accept Him as such. In John 9:22, we read that “the Jews had already agreed that [...]
Repenting of sin
At this point we have had two installments on the subject of how one can know for certain he or she is a Christian. In the previous two articles, we noted that faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), and the faith we are to have is a faith in Jesus Christ [...]
Belief in Jesus Christ
We continue now in our series of articles on how one can know for certain he or she is a Christian. In our last article, we noted that faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). This necessarily rules out the ideas of being “born a Christian” because our parents were Christians, or [...]
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