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Is this some kind of composition rule? Since when does any "case" require qualifications for unusual circumstances to be valid?
General statements (but he who does not believe will be condemned) enhance more definitive statements (he who believes and is baptized will be saved) but never negates them.
This is clearly what you are attempting to do with this one verse. What is the purpose of Jesus negating Himself in the same breath. Its just 15 little words but you are trying to say that Jesus in one sentence contradicts Himself.
If we are condemned by unbelief what would be the point of Jesus adding "and not baptized"?
On your question, Doctrine is not based on what is not said but what is said. Consider the following verse,
"If you declare with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Roman 10:9
I cannot show you a verse that states, "whoever does not believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead is condemned". Does the lack of this verse negate the need to believe in the resurrection of our Lord?
General statements (but he who does not believe will be condemned) enhance more definitive statements (he who believes and is baptized will be saved) but never negates them.
This is clearly what you are attempting to do with this one verse. What is the purpose of Jesus negating Himself in the same breath. Its just 15 little words but you are trying to say that Jesus in one sentence contradicts Himself.
If we are condemned by unbelief what would be the point of Jesus adding "and not baptized"?
On your question, Doctrine is not based on what is not said but what is said. Consider the following verse,
"If you declare with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Roman 10:9
I cannot show you a verse that states, "whoever does not believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead is condemned". Does the lack of this verse negate the need to believe in the resurrection of our Lord?
The first thing I did after being saved, once the Holy Spirit started talking with me, was to make plans for my baptism. The HS guided me all the way through this process. I didn't think I had any options other than to obey. My conclusion: Baptism is pretty important. I rest my case. 
Death bed conversions. It naturally follows that we get baptized "after" we believe, but if you are on your death bed and cannot get baptized before your death, you are still saved because you BELIEVE (Acts 10:43; 11:17; 13:39; 16:31; Romans 1:16 etc..) which is in harmony with Mark 16:16(b) ..but he who does not believe will be condemned. *NOWHERE does the Bible mention "water baptized or condemned."
*Jesus clarifies the first clause with "but he who does not believe will be condemned” so believe and is baptized = general cases without making a qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes but is not baptized. *So what happened to baptism in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26? What is the ONE requirement that Jesus mentions 9 different times in each of these complete staments? BELIEVES. *What happened to baptism? *Hermeneutics.
Jesus did not contradict Himself and if Jesus meant to say that water baptism was absolutely required for salvation, then He certainly would have mentioned that in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26. But He didn't. Your method of hermeneutics is "isolate, build and ignore." Isolate a handful of pet verses, build your biased doctrine on them, then ignore the context and what the majority of scriptures has to say otherwise on that subject. That's called flawed hermeneutics.
Because if we are condemned by a lack of baptism, it needs to be said in order to prove your doctrine. In essence, Jesus has given both the positive condition of belief (whoever believes will be saved) and the negative condition of unbelief (whoever does not believe will be condemned - John 3:18). Therefore, we can say with absolute certainty that belief is the requirement for salvation. *NOWHERE in the Bible do we find a statement such as "whoever is not baptized will be condemned." Therefore, we cannot say that baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation based on Mark 16:16 or any other verse. Those who do so are basing their argument on faulty human logic.
Confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together. Romans 10:8 - But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart" (together) that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, (notice the reverse order from verse 9-10) - that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Confess/believe; believe/confess.
I find it interesting that confess "precedes" baptism in your multi-step plan of salvation and if we are not saved until after we are water baptized, then Paul lied to us in Romans 10:9,10. God forbid!
*1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except BY the Holy Spirit. There is divine influence or direct operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person when confessing Jesus as Lord. This confession is not just a simple acknowledgment that Jesus is the Lord (even the demons believe that), but is a deep personal conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is that person's Lord and Savior. So simply believing in our head (and not in our heart) that God raised Him from the dead does not result in righteousness and simply reciting the words "Jesus is Lord" not by the Holy Spirit from a check list of steps as if they are simply a set of magic words that are recited as an additional requirement for salvation is not unto salvation.
What do you think that "believing in Him/believing the gospel" entails? The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16). To BELIEVE the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of your salvation. Not trust in Christ + "water and works" for salvation -- "different gospel."
In 1 Corinthians 15:12-14, we read - But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, we read - 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Paul makes it clear that if we don't believe the gospel (which includes the resurrection of Christ) then we are lost. It's also not enough to simply believe "mental assent" that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ "happened." Even the demons believe that. *We must also TRUST in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. Trusting in "water and works" for salvation "in addition" to trusting in Christ renders Christ an IN-sufficient Savior.
*Jesus clarifies the first clause with "but he who does not believe will be condemned” so believe and is baptized = general cases without making a qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes but is not baptized. *So what happened to baptism in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26? What is the ONE requirement that Jesus mentions 9 different times in each of these complete staments? BELIEVES. *What happened to baptism? *Hermeneutics.
Jesus did not contradict Himself and if Jesus meant to say that water baptism was absolutely required for salvation, then He certainly would have mentioned that in John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26. But He didn't. Your method of hermeneutics is "isolate, build and ignore." Isolate a handful of pet verses, build your biased doctrine on them, then ignore the context and what the majority of scriptures has to say otherwise on that subject. That's called flawed hermeneutics.
Because if we are condemned by a lack of baptism, it needs to be said in order to prove your doctrine. In essence, Jesus has given both the positive condition of belief (whoever believes will be saved) and the negative condition of unbelief (whoever does not believe will be condemned - John 3:18). Therefore, we can say with absolute certainty that belief is the requirement for salvation. *NOWHERE in the Bible do we find a statement such as "whoever is not baptized will be condemned." Therefore, we cannot say that baptism is absolutely necessary for salvation based on Mark 16:16 or any other verse. Those who do so are basing their argument on faulty human logic.
Confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead are not two separate steps to salvation but are chronologically together. Romans 10:8 - But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart" (together) that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, (notice the reverse order from verse 9-10) - that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Confess/believe; believe/confess.
I find it interesting that confess "precedes" baptism in your multi-step plan of salvation and if we are not saved until after we are water baptized, then Paul lied to us in Romans 10:9,10. God forbid!
*1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except BY the Holy Spirit. There is divine influence or direct operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person when confessing Jesus as Lord. This confession is not just a simple acknowledgment that Jesus is the Lord (even the demons believe that), but is a deep personal conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is that person's Lord and Savior. So simply believing in our head (and not in our heart) that God raised Him from the dead does not result in righteousness and simply reciting the words "Jesus is Lord" not by the Holy Spirit from a check list of steps as if they are simply a set of magic words that are recited as an additional requirement for salvation is not unto salvation.
What do you think that "believing in Him/believing the gospel" entails? The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16). To BELIEVE the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of your salvation. Not trust in Christ + "water and works" for salvation -- "different gospel."
In 1 Corinthians 15:12-14, we read - But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, we read - 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Paul makes it clear that if we don't believe the gospel (which includes the resurrection of Christ) then we are lost. It's also not enough to simply believe "mental assent" that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ "happened." Even the demons believe that. *We must also TRUST in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation. Trusting in "water and works" for salvation "in addition" to trusting in Christ renders Christ an IN-sufficient Savior.
The word of God is never alone.
We are saved by grace through faith. Eph 2:8 does not read saved by grace through water baptism. Grace and faith are not alone but you cannot substitute one for the other. Grace without faith or faith without grace is of no effect.
For the cause of Christ
Roger
We are saved by grace through faith. Eph 2:8 does not read saved by grace through water baptism. Grace and faith are not alone but you cannot substitute one for the other. Grace without faith or faith without grace is of no effect.
For the cause of Christ
Roger
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[SUP]8 [/SUP]For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [SUP][a][/SUP]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [SUP]9 [/SUP]not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph. 2: 8,9)
Many people read these two verses and assume that all works are excluded from salvation including baptism. We have to be very careful with our assumptions as they will most often take us where are presuppositions have already gone. As we read the next verse we get quite a different slant to things.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Eph. 2: 10)
As we read this verse we discover that was one of the reasons God created us- to do good works. Wow! Then as our assumptions kick in, some will say yes we are to obey, but our obedience has nothing to do with salvation, we obey to be obedient. Forget Heb. 5: 9, [SUP]9 [/SUP]And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. (Heb. 5: 9) And the mind games go on until we are hopefully confronted with the truth:
Calling on the name of the Lord saves. (Acts 2: 21)
Repentance saves. (2 Cor. 7: 10)
Confessing His name before men saves. (Rom. 10: 10)
Baptism saves. (Mark 16: 16; 1 Peter 3: 21)
The washing of regeneration saves. (Titus 3: 5)
Obedience saves. (Heb. 5: 9)
Yes, there are works of performance that do not save, these include works of the law (Gal 2: 16), works of righteousness (Titus 3: 5) and our own works. (Gal. 3: 12; 2 Tim. 1: 9)
But works of faith do save. (Rom. 2: 6-10)
God bless.
Many people read these two verses and assume that all works are excluded from salvation including baptism. We have to be very careful with our assumptions as they will most often take us where are presuppositions have already gone. As we read the next verse we get quite a different slant to things.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Eph. 2: 10)
As we read this verse we discover that was one of the reasons God created us- to do good works. Wow! Then as our assumptions kick in, some will say yes we are to obey, but our obedience has nothing to do with salvation, we obey to be obedient. Forget Heb. 5: 9, [SUP]9 [/SUP]And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. (Heb. 5: 9) And the mind games go on until we are hopefully confronted with the truth:
Calling on the name of the Lord saves. (Acts 2: 21)
Repentance saves. (2 Cor. 7: 10)
Confessing His name before men saves. (Rom. 10: 10)
Baptism saves. (Mark 16: 16; 1 Peter 3: 21)
The washing of regeneration saves. (Titus 3: 5)
Obedience saves. (Heb. 5: 9)
Yes, there are works of performance that do not save, these include works of the law (Gal 2: 16), works of righteousness (Titus 3: 5) and our own works. (Gal. 3: 12; 2 Tim. 1: 9)
But works of faith do save. (Rom. 2: 6-10)
God bless.
Wow. You completely took that out of context. Paul was not rebuking them for their doctrine of baptism. Paul was rebuking them for division among them. (see 1 Cor 1:12-13) Paul was absolutely not saying that baptism was not required. If it wasn't required, then Paul had no business commanding Cornelius and his household to be baptized in Acts 10. And he unnecessarily baptized Crispus and Gaius.