John 1:12
Baptism is not necessary for salvation because all you need to do is believe in Jesus to be saved. All you need to do is to trust Christ for salvation. These are the assertions made in the anti-baptism arguments. So, let’s turn our examination to the scriptures offered by these anti-baptism proponents. In this podcast, we look at the assertions made in the article from GotQuestions.Org titled “Does Acts 2:38 Teach Baptism for the Remission of Sins?”
That article presents the main arguments of the anti-baptism side very well. The article concludes with a list of nine scriptures commonly used to support the view that water baptism is NOT necessary for salvation. As we shine a critical light on each of these scriptures and their associated conclusions, we will discover five basic errors.
Five Common Errors
The first common error occurs in interpretation. We’ll see a misapplication or misunderstanding regarding the scripture being used.
The second error unfolds when we apply, what I call the “all / only” assumption. I explain this shortly.
The third error is that the scripture chosen as the proof text to prove that baptism has nothing to do with salvation, has nothing to do with baptism. Baptism is never even mentioned.
The fourth error is the now familiar mistake of deeming baptism as a work of human effort.
The fifth and infrequently used error occurs when we equate baptism with Old Testament Laws and rituals such as circumcision or sacrifices.
Here are the proof texts used to claim that baptism is not necessary for salvation. I’ll read them in case you are taking notes:
John 1:12, John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Romans 3:21-30, Romans 4:5, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 3:9, and Galatians 2:16
Now remember, a specific question has been asked, “Is water baptism necessary for salvation?” These scriptures are offered as the best responses to argue the anti-baptism point of view.
The First Argument – Receive Christ to Be Saved
Let’s begin with John 1:12. This is a famous passage about receiving Christ. It reads like this…
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”
We make three errors when we use this scripture as our proof text.
First, this scripture has nothing to do with baptism.
In order to get your agreement that this scripture IS about baptism, I must employ the second error. I must claim that receiving Christ is all that is necessary or the only thing that is required for salvation. This is the “all / only” argument.
To make this argument work, I must convince you that; even though this scripture does not mention baptism it really is about baptism. Since it mentions salvation but not baptism, I ask you to conclude that baptism must not be necessary. After all, if it was important, baptism should be mentioned in this particular scripture! This is a fallacy of “circular reasoning.”
Obviously, the word “all” does not appear in this passage and there is no compelling evidence to conclude that receiving Christ is the only thing involved in God’s plan of salvation. Let’s avoid crafting our conclusions based on things which are not in a particular scripture. This scripture does not say belief is all we need. Using the same logic should we conclude that repentance is not necessary as well? That would mean I can make Jesus my savior and live like the devil!
So, the “all / only” error is the second problem using this scripture as a proof text against baptism for the remission of sin.
There is one final problem. This one is pretty major and it has to do with a pretty amazing misinterpretation of the scripture. When you see the error, you will not believe you missed it. Shockingly, in spite of the glaring nature of this really bad interpretation, this bad interpretation has become super entrenched in modern evangelicalism! In fact, they’ve even created a clever, easy to remember, metaphorical math formula to illustrate it. It’s so popular, I’ve even seen it printed on T-Shirts! It reads…
Believe + Receive = Become.
This little formula was designed, probably by Billy Graham, to help people understand what John 1:12 is teaching; that if a person will believe in Christ and receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, they will become children of God. Some of the greatest preachers in the world have used this clever formula to promote the notion that all a person needs to do is receive Christ for salvation.
So, what’s the problem with interpretation here?
The formula is wrong!
It’s easy to spot the error. Let’s look at this scripture again.
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…
The subject noun of the second portion of the sentence is “He,” referring to God. The verb in this scripture is “gave.” This distills down to, “He gave.”This is basic middle school grammar. “He gave” is the subject / verb pair. Next, we need to ask, “What did He give?”
The direct object… what “he gave” is “the right,” or “the power,” to become children of God. He did not give salvation. We do not “become” anything as a result of our receiving and believing. The sentence does not read, “Yet to all who received him, to this who believed in his name; they became children of God.”
The correct formula should be:
Believe + Receive = Given the right.
Having the right or power to do something is vastly different from actually doing it, true? You may have the right to vote but you must exercise that right at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way.
This passage does not tell us how to become a child of God. It tells us that God gives us something… something special, the right or the power to become his child. We are not yet children, but we now have a new spiritual gift which God gives us. What we do with that power is what determines our eternal destiny.
Receiving Christ is synonymous with accepting the message, which is second step in the Biblical Plan of Salvation after hearing the message of the Gospel. When we accept the message, God gives us a very real, very precious gift… the power to become his child. Unfortunately, many people confuse this wonderful new spiritual gift of the “right” God gives them with a personal salvation experience. And, in fact, most people are either told… or led to believe that they were saved when they accepted Christ. This passage does not say that by any wild stretch of the imagination.
Here’s why I think the confusion occurs. When someone submits themselves to the Gospel message for the very first time, they are surrendering their life to Christ. Ending that massive spiritual tug-of-war with God feels great! We no longer have to fight a war we cannot win.
Feelings of incredible relief might overwhelm us. These feelings come after a very special spiritual event. God just gave us something… but it was not the Holy Spirit or eternal life! He gave us a new “right” we did not previously posess. Next, we are told by the folks around us, “Yep… you just go saved!”
That’s not what happened! God gave you a right, not salvation.
At this point in the process, you might think a new surrendered soul would become curious about what is happening to them. I think we would expect them to start reading and studying their Bible. Wouldn’t you expect to see some spiritual hunger. If I really believe I just got saved, wouldn’t it be reasonable to think there might be more to the story… there might be something else I could do for my Lord?
If we don’t begin an earnest exploration of the decision we have made to make Jesus our Lord and to obey His commands, maybe we should humbly ask ourselves, “Did I ever really and truly surrender in the first place?”
Modern evangelicalism gets folks to make emotional decisions to follow Jesus but completely misses immediate obedience to Christ in baptism as the culminating event of that decision. Baptism is the only Biblically prescribed way to “obey the Gospel.” So many good hearted folks make Jesus savior but few truly make him Lord. If we don’t obey Christ’s commands, he is not our Lord and we are not saved until our faith is made complete by our obedience.
Do you doubt this? Listen to Romans 1:5.
“Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.”
John 1:12 is one of the most misused passages in this entire argument and this error has a massive and devastating impact on The Biblical Plan of Salvation because some of the most famous and influential preachers, in all of history, have promoted this error. Do not be deceived. A preacher’s influence or popularity does not make the promotion of this passage, as a method of salvation, accurate or true.
Having a right or the power to do something is far different than exercising the right. Let’s determine in our hearts to not just accept the message but to humbly submit to any command Christ asks us to do. John 1:12 is not about baptism. It’s not a good scripture to use for the purpose of denying the biblical requirement that salvation comes as a result of our obedience in baptism. Without question, we must believe and receive but we also must have a Faith that Obeys.
Enjoy!
Dana Haynes
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