This was originally published on an online magazine I was writing for in 2014. The site no longer exists. But I though it important to save this and share it here. Quite a bit of controversy was stirred up by a Baptist pastor who actually did a whole SermonAudio about me and how horrible I am, that my theology is wrong. There's libel about me on his site (which I will provide in a different blog post as I write about the topic of slandering people) and went after me on Twitter. Many, many people came to my defense and called him out for being mean-spirited. He never did repent. He kept saying I'm stupid because there is no creed that even mentions Baptism (he's wrong - the Nicene Creed does). Also, a note that when I wrote this I was a Lutheran, and so I held to monergism. I am working through all of that and would now say I'm a synergist, but not in the way a Calvinist who is arguing with an Arminian about their soteriology. I do believe salvation is the work of God (per Ephesians 2.8,9, and would add Romans 4.1-4). I believe He must make the move to, how shall I say? Enlighten us? We are unable to "make a decision for Christ" without the working of the Holy Spirit. So, when we see in Acts 2 that St. Peter's audience was cut to the heart and asked "what shall we do?" to be saved. The answer, recorded in Acts 2.38,39 are is: "And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”" They were cut to the heart because God did something to make them feel that way in their spirits and then were commanded to repent (they could choose to repent and be saved or not to repent and not be saved). I will go much further into this another time. I'm just noting it here due to my monergistic stance back when I wrtote this article. Here is the original article about Re-Baptism: January 13, 2014 The controversy over whether a Christian should be rebaptized if the person has already been baptized in one church or another denomination is cleared up using Christian creeds and confessions. They help explain the Bible about this doctrine of Baptism. The question only comes to us from Baptists because of their belief about what baptism is. The Lutherans, Presbyterians, and other paedobaptist Christian bodies believe that baptism is the work of God and should only be done once in a lifetime. The Baptist (or the word credobaptist may be used), however, believes it is a confession of faith on the believer’s part, a baptism with water because of the inner working of the Holy Spirit already done to them. They consider baptism a command of God to be obeyed instead of the promise of God to His Creation to bring people into the Body of Christ. It is considered by the Southern Baptist Convention to only be applicable for those who understand the Gospel. Rather than a fully monergistic stance, the credobaptist position requires the person to respond to the Gospel proclamation to be considered a believer in Jesus Christ. The Southern Baptist Convention website article, How to Become a Christian, states: “As soon as you have decided to receive Christ into your life, you can and should be baptized.” This statement explains the position: you decide to become a Christian (not monergistic) and you then are allowed to be baptized. To be baptized before the decision from understanding the Gospel would be unbiblical to the credobaptist but orthodox to all other Christians worldwide. The credobaptist sees rebaptism as biblical because the person needs to obey the command to be baptized only after receiving Christ. A Lutheran or Reformed pastor, on the other hand, if asked by a new person at their church, “I was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church as an infant, but I no longer believe what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Do I need to be rebaptized?” The pastor would answer, “Your baptism was valid as long as it was in the Trinitarian formula, which the Roman Catholic Church does, so you do not need to be rebaptized. Baptism is the work of God, not of man, so since He already worked that into your life even though it was by man’s hand, we would not say that God did not work, and we have to redo what He already did.” Here are a few quotes from leading theologians and Christian confessions which prove the Church teaches that re-baptism is un-biblical: “Against these absurdities we shall be sufficiently fortified if we reflect that by baptism we were initiated not into the name of any man, but into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and, therefore, that baptism is not of man, but of God, by whomsoever it may have been administered. Be it that those who baptised us were most ignorant of God and all piety, or were despisers, still they did not baptize us into a fellowship with their ignorance or sacrilege, but into the faith of Jesus Christ, because the name which they invoked was not their own but God’s, nor did they baptize into any other name. But if baptism was of God, it certainly included in it the promise of forgiveness of sin, mortification of the flesh, quickening of the spirit, and communion with Christ. Thus it did not harm the Jews that they were circumcised by impure and apostate priests. It did not nullify the symbol so as to make it necessary to repeat it.” – John Calvin “The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered unto any person.” – The Westminster Confession of Faith, 28.7 “Therefore he has commanded all those, who are his, to be baptized with pure water, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”: thereby signifying to us, that as water washes away the filth of the body, when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized, when sprinkled upon him; so does the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath, unto children of God. Therefore we believe, that every man, who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal, ought to be but once baptized with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same: since we cannot be born twice.” – Belgic Confession, Article 34 “Water baptism does not guarantee that the person baptized has true faith in the Messiah, but it is so closely tied to the baptism of the Spirit we receive at conversion that people should not be rebaptized even if they come to faith in the triune God after experiencing the sacrament. Those who have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit need not ever be rebaptized...” – R.C. Sproul “For here is the water together with the Word of God, even though he does not receive it as he should, just as those who unworthily go to the Sacrament receive the true Sacrament, even though they do not believe. Thus you see that the objection of the sectarians is vain. For (as we have said) even though infants did not believe, which, however, is not the case, yet their baptism as now shown would be valid, and no one should rebaptize them; just as nothing is detracted from the Sacrament though someone approach it with evil purpose, and he could not be allowed on account of his abuse to take it a second time the selfsame hour, as though he had not received the true Sacrament at first; for that would mean to blaspheme and profane the Sacrament in the worst manner. How dare we think that God’s Word and ordinance should be wrong and invalid because we make a wrong use of it? Therefore I say, if you did not believe then believe now and say this: The baptism indeed was right, but I, alas! did not receive it aright.” – Martin Luther, The Large Catechism “And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.” – The Nicene Creed Due to the different understanding of what baptism is and does, only the Baptists rebaptize a person. If a person comes out of a cult where the person was not baptized in the Trinitarian formula, a person must be rebaptized because the first baptism was not valid according to the Bible verse Matthew 28:19, which states, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (English Standard Version) There is no recorded instance in the Bible where someone was rebaptized in the Trinitarian formula: in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Baptist must form the conclusion that rebaptism is biblical from a source other than the Bible or from the misunderstanding that a person must be saved by Jesus Christ first and that if they realize later that they were not truly saved, they should be rebaptized to obey what they consider to be a work to be done after regeneration. Their argument that infants ought not to be baptized usually goes like this: “I don’t see infant baptism in the New Testament anywhere.” To remain consistent, the credobaptist needs to also say the same of rebaptism, “I don’t see rebaptism in the New Testament anywhere.” The other problem with rebaptism is that since credobaptists believe a person coming out of the Roman Catholic Church into a Protestant church, they ought to be rebaptized because the priest is not a believer in Jesus Christ and has false doctrine. The question is, though, what if your Baptist pastor who baptized you ten years ago becomes a false teacher – do you need to be rebaptized? Often the credobaptist will affirm that a person should be baptized again, but the answer is no. If the Baptist pastor becomes apostate, everyone in that church does not need rebaptism. The man in the pulpit does not make the baptism valid. It is God who makes baptism valid. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4.4-6) “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16.16, ESV) “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2.38, ESV) “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col. 2 8-12, ESV) Citations SBC (n.d). How to Become a Christian. Official Website of the Southern Baptist Convention. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.sbc.net/knowjesus/baptism.asp Sproul, R.C. (n.d.) One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Ligonier Ministries, the Teaching Fellowship of R.C. Sproul. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/one-lord-one-faith-one-baptism Calvin, John (1536) Institutes of the Christian Religion: of Baptism. The Spurgeon Archive. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/calvin/bk4ch15.html#one.htm Knox, John, et al. (1646) The Westminster Confession of Faith 28.7. Daily Westminster. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from https://dailywestminster.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/wcf28_7-5 de Brès, Guido (1561) The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 34 of Holy Baptism. Creeds of Christendom. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://www.creeds.net/belgic Luther, Martin (1530) The Large Catechism. The Book of Concord. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from http://bookofconcord.org/lc-6-baptism.php The Council of Nicaea (325) The Nicene Creed. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Retrieved January 13, 2014, from https://www.ccel.org/creeds/nicene.creed.html Forgiven much, Tamara Jack Check out my 90 lb. Weight Loss Journey with Weight Watchers HERE! To contact me, email: [email protected] (You can contact me for prayer, too.) Where to find me: Facebook: AssisiRosaries Page HERE YouTube: AssisiRosaries Channel HERE YouTube: Tamara Wigs Out Channel HERE Instagram: AssisiRosaries HERE Instagram: TamaraWigsOut HERE
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