What must I do to be saved?

Let us say that a fellow with no religious training is one day moved by God to consider his salvation. Not knowing exactly where to turn to gain information on this subject, he dusts off the old family bible that he inherited and begins to read the New Testament for the very first time in his life.

Beginning with the gospels, he encounters the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He discovers that this Jesus is also very concerned with man’s salvation and speaks of it often and with compassion. Finding his heart strangely warmed by Christ’s words, he pays particular attention to them and begins to take notes.

He reads of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus in John 3, and His words in verse 5, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. Having skipped ahead previously and learned of the Holy Spirit whom Christ promised to send to His Church, our man feels he understands that part of it, but what about this water business; what could that mean? Reading down the chapter to the point immediately after Jesus’ dialog with Nicodemus, he comes to verse 22 and sees, “After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them, and baptized”.

“Oh, baptism; that’s what the water means!” our fellow exclaims. Reading further into the New Testament, this idea is confirmed by Jesus in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” and is again emphasized in His final instructions to His disciples in Matthew 28, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. Working his way into the Acts of the Apostles, our friend reads of Peter’s great sermon on Pentecost in which he powerfully demonstrated to the Jews that this Jesus, whom they had delivered up to crucifixion, is indeed both Lord and Christ, the long-promised Messiah. Cut to the quick, they asked Peter, “What shall we do?” Our guy identifies with this question. “Yes, what shall I do?” he asks aloud. He then reads Peter’s response, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”.

Well there you have it; water and the Spirit. Believe in Jesus and in all that He taught and be baptized for the remission of your sins. Things are beginning to gel for our man. Next he discovers the concordance in the back of his bible, and looks up the word baptism in its several forms. He reads Peter’s description of baptism as the antitype of Noah’s Ark, by which humanity was saved from the flood, and encounters Peter direct and plain words “even baptism doth now save us”. He reads of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch and how, after hearing the message of Christ, the eunuch requested immediate baptism for his salvation.

“Clearly baptism is intimately linked to the salvation process in the teaching of both Jesus and His apostles,” our fellow concludes. But still he wonders how this is so. He then comes upon Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 which describes baptism as the literal joining of the believer to Jesus Christ in both His death and resurrection. “So this is why baptism is essential,” he exclaims. “It is one thing to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but I must actually be joined to Him through baptism!” This thought, while mysterious to him, actually moves him very deeply and like the eunuch, he is now very eager to find someone who will baptize him into Christ.

He hops in his car and drives to the first church he finds. The sign out front says, “Praise Christian Center” and the caption under that reads, “A bible-believing community”. This sounds good, he thinks, and he goes inside. He finds a middle-aged fellow wearing a polo shirt and Dockers who introduces himself as “Pastor Bob” and asks how he might be of service. Our man replies, “I’d like to be baptized, sir”. Pastor Bob eyes the fellow suspiciously and asks, “Why do you want to be baptized?” Our guy replies, “Because I want to be saved, sir” and goes on to tell his story of how through reading his bible he has come to faith in Christ and wants to be joined to Him through baptism.

At this, Pastor Bob looks down at his desktop, shaking his head sadly. “I see you’ve been listening to the Catholics,” he concludes. “Son, you don’t need to be baptized to be saved, and baptism doesn’t do anything. If you have already acknowledged your sins before God and have accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are already saved”. “But what about all those verses that connect baptism to salvation?” our friend asks. “The bible doesn’t say that,” Bob insists, “OK, maybe it seems to say that if you haven’t been taught how to look at the bible properly, but baptism is just an outward showing of an inward doing and portrays the salvation that has already taken place in your soul”. Our guy considers this for a moment before asking, “Where does it say that in the bible?” Pastor Bob is now beginning to shift in his seat a bit and replies, “It doesn’t specifically say that anywhere in the bible, but that’s what it means. You need to start coming to our bible studies on Wednesday nights to let us teach you how you should understand your bible”.

“I don’t get it,” our guy innocently protests. “Are you saying that the bible has a hidden meaning and that I can’t just read it for what it says?” “You need to be taught how to read your bible, son,” Bob replies a bit testily, “Otherwise you’re going to wind up like those poor Catholics who believe in baptismal regeneration or in the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Table. That’s why I lead bible studies; so I can teach my people what the bible really means in what it says”. A bit nervously our friend asks, “But what did Jesus mean when He said, ‘He who believes and is baptized shall be saved’?” Bob rolls his eyes and answers, “He who believes and ties his shoes will be saved. He who believes and eats french fries will be saved. Don’t you get it? It’s the believing part that saves you, not baptism”.

“Then why did Jesus say it that way?” our guy asks. At this, Pastor Bob stands up and says, “I have to be at the golf course in fifteen minutes; why don’t you just come back on Wednesday night and we can work on setting you straight then. Have a nice day, OK?”

Back in his car and driving home, our friend wonders if he should stop reading his bible for now. “I was just convinced that I needed to be baptized,” he laments. “How was I supposed to know that all that stuff is just symbolic and doesn’t really mean what it says?” He then remembers a lady at work who had mentioned that her daughter had recently been baptized in the Catholic Church. “What a mistake,” he thinks to himself. “I had better go and straighten her out about what the bible really means as soon as possible. I wouldn’t want her thinking that she or her daughter are really saved!”