1- The gospel that saves is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ...
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By
this gospel you are
saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[
a]: that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was
buried, that he was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."
2- We must obey the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to escape hell...
"With flames of fire He will take vengeance on those who know not God and who
obey not the
gospel of His Son."
3- How does the bible say we obey the gospel?...
All of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death. 4 We were therefore
buried with him through
baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life. 5 For
if we have been united with him in a death
like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his."
Did you see that? The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus- which we must obey by baptism (joining Christ in death by dying to self, burying our sinful self in the watery grave of baptism, and being raised to newness of life.
4- The only thing that saves is Christ's blood washing away our sins, all other things only save because they lead us to Christ's blood- which we receive during baptism...
In Colossians 2 it says during baptism, without human hands, God performs circumcision of the heart
with Christ's blood- that is when and how we receive Christ's blood. In speaking of new testament chrisitians, Revelation 7:14 says "These are those who have washed their robes, making them white in the blood of the Lamb." And what did Ananias say to Paul? What are you waiting for? Arise, be baptised and
wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." There is nothing magical about the water we are baptized in, what takes place during baptism is spiritual.
You need to
go back and re-read posts #663 and #700. You continue to confuse the reality (Spirit baptism) with the picture of the reality (water baptism).
Water baptism
pictures a person being buried with Christ (submersion under water) and being raised to new life with Christ (emergence from water). This
symbolizes the person's union with, and incorporation into Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit which previously took when we believed/placed faith in Him for salvation (Acts 10:43-47; 11:17; 15:8,9).
Water baptism is an
outward, physical symbol of the inward, spiritual conversion of Christians. The allusion is to the SYMBOLISM of baptism which was the OUTWARD SIGN of the separation. Water baptism as a
picture of death, burial and resurrection
symbolizes our likeness to Christ in his death and resurrection. One is the picture or likeness of the other. Water baptism is
not the reality but only a picture of the reality.
Paul clearly teaches that what is signified in baptism (buried and raised with Christ) actually occurs
"through faith." Christians are "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12). Justification on account of union in Christ's death, burial and resurrection is brought about
"through faith" - and is
properly symbolized by immersing the new believer in and out of the water.
Since believers receive the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection (justification), and that through faith, believers must be spiritually united to Him (delivered and raised up with Him). If baptism is taken as the instrumental cause, then
Paul contradicts what he had established before, namely that salvation/justification is by FAITH, not baptism.
In regards to Acts 22:16, the Greek aorist participle, epikalesamenos, properly translated means "having called" on the name of the Lord. Paul’s calling on Christ's name for salvation preceded his water baptism. It is absurd to think that Paul had not yet called upon the name of the Lord and that water baptism is all the same as calling on the name of the Lord. This "washing away of sin" in water baptism was only
"formal" or symbolic.
*As Greek scholar AT Robertson points out -
baptism here pictures the washing away of sins by the blood of Christ. Water baptism does not wash the soul. This occurred earlier when Paul came to faith in Christ.
Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary makes not of the importance of the Greek in Ananias' statement. When Ananias tells Paul to "arise, be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord," the tense of the last command is literally "having called" (aorist middle participle). "Calling on [epikalesamenos] --- 'having (that is, after having) called on,' referring the confession of Christ which preceded baptism." [Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, vol. 3 pg. 160].
Kenneth Wuest picks up on this Greek nuance and translates the verse as follows: "And now, why are you delaying? Having arisen, be baptized and wash away your sins, having previously called upon His Name." (Acts 22:16, Wuest's Expanded NT). The thief on the cross was saved when he called on the name of the Lord in faith - "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (Luke 23:43) *The thief was not even water baptized.* No Scripture is to be interpretated in isololation from the totality of Scripture. Practically speaking, a singular and obscure verse is to be subservient to to multiple and clear verses, and not vice versa.
In Acts 10:43, receiving remission of sins is connected with "believes in Him" and not with baptism (Acts 10:43-47). In Acts 9, the Savior told Ananias that Paul "is a chosen vessel unto Me" (v. 15), although the apostle had not yet been baptized. Before Paul was baptized, Christ had already commissioned him to "bear [His] name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15); such a commission is not God’s portion for one still lost and under divine wrath.
Before Paul’s baptism, Christ had set him aside as one who would "suffer for His name’s sake" (9:16). Can one who is a child of the devil, as all the lost are (Ephesians 2:1-3, John 8:44), really suffer for Christ’s sake? NO. God accepted Paul’s prayers before his baptism (Acts 9:11). People in the church of Christ teach that God does not hear an unsaved man's prayer, quoting in this regard John 9:31 - "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will." Well, Paul was a worshipper of God, calling Christ "Lord" and then setting out to do His will. All of these things characterized Paul before he was baptized. So, Paul had already believed in Christ when Ananias came to pray for him to receive his sight (Acts 9:17).
*It also should be noted that Paul at the time when Ananias prayed for him to receive his sight, he was
filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17)--this was
before he was water baptized (Acts 9:18). Verse 17 connects his being filled with the Spirit with the receiving of his sight. We know that he received his sight prior to his baptism.
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