Bible believe Christians were PERSECUTED by the Catholic church....this baptismal regeneration teaching is FALSE! Don't fall for it
For centuries before the Reformation, baptismal regeneration was rejected by Bible-believing Christians, whom the Roman
Catholic Church therefore persecuted, tortured and slaughtered by the millions. Non-Catholics taught from Scripture that baptism was only for those who had believed the gospel: "teach all nations...baptizing them [who have believed]" (Mat:28:19
); "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized" (Acts:2:41
); "[W]hat doth hinder me to be baptized?...If thou believest [in Christ] with all thine heart, thou mayest" (Acts:8:35-37
). Infants can't believe in Christ.
Consider Cornelius's household: they heard the gospel, believed it and were baptized. That there were no infants baptized is also clear, for they had all gathered "to hear all things that are commanded thee of God" (Acts:10:33
). "[T]he Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard [and, obviously, understood and believed] the word" (v 44); and they spoke with tongues (v 46). That they had "received the Holy Ghost" (v. 47) convinced Peter that they were saved. Therefore, he baptized them (v 48).
Nor can infant baptism be supported from the case of the Philippian jailor who "was baptized, he and all his" (Acts:16:33
). Again there were no infants present because Paul and Silas preached the gospel "to all that were in his house" (v. 32), and "all his house"
believed (v 34) and were then baptized.
The early Reformers such as Martin Luther were Catholics who, unfortunately, retained some
Catholic dogmas, among them baptismal regeneration and infant baptism.
These heresies are still held by some Protestant denominations today. The issue is a serious one. If baptism is essential for salvation, then to reject that gospel is to be damned. But if salvation is through faith in Christ alone, then to add baptism as a condition for salvation is to reject the true gospel and thus to be eternally lost. The Bible declares that it is wrong to teach salvation by faith in Christ plus anything else, such as keeping the Jewish law (Acts:15:24
). Paul cursed (anathematized) those who taught this false gospel that damns the soul (Gal:1:8-9
). A gospel of salvation through Christ plus baptism is equally false.
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