Lessons #71 and 72
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Worldliness hampers communication of God’s word (1 Cor 3:1-4)
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?
We continue with basic doctrines of the Christian faith that Apostle Paul would have communicated to the Corinthians because of the sentence I gave you milk, not solid food of 1 Corinthians 3:2. Recall that the apostle did not specify the basic doctrines that he considered milk that he gave to the Corinthians but because of what the Holy Spirit gave the human author of Hebrews we have idea of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. We have considered the subject of repentance and faith in God, so we move to the next basic doctrine which is resurrection. This topic of resurrection is because of the phrase the resurrection of the dead in Hebrews 6:2.
Resurrection
The subject of resurrection is an important element of the Christian faith, especially the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the preaching of the gospel as we can gather from the preaching of the apostles. Apostle Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost was focused on resurrection as the proof that Jesus is the Christ, so he stated about His resurrection in Acts 2:32:
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.
After the healing of a crippled man through Apostle Peter, he preached to the onlookers. During this preaching, he referenced the resurrection twice. The first was in Acts 3:15:
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
The second was as he concluded his preaching in Acts 3:26:
When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
The preaching of Apostle Peter to the onlookers was focused on resurrection for that is what Luke reported that disturbed the religious group that came to the temple about the same time Peter was preaching to the onlookers, as we gather from Acts 4:2:
They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
Following the special filling of the Holy Spirit of the early church in response to their prayer for boldness to preach the gospel, we read that their preaching concerned the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Acts 4:33:
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
When Apostle Peter was sent by the Lord to give the gospel to Cornelius and those gathered in his house, he again referenced the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the heart of his preaching, as recorded in Acts 10:39–41:
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
Hence, Peter, the only original apostle of the Lord Jesus whose sermon was recorded, indicated that resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the gospel preaching. When we move to Apostle Paul whose sermon was recorded, we find the same emphasis on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. When he preached the long sermon in Pisidian Antioch, he referenced the resurrection before he offered forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, as Luke recorded in Acts 13:36–38:
36 “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. 38 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
Apostle Paul no doubt preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ as central to the gospel message as evident in other references of his peaching of the gospel. He preached the resurrection of Jesus to the Athenians, according to Acts 17:18:
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
In his defense before Governor Felix, he referred to resurrection of the dead in Acts 24:15:
and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
Again, before King Agrippa he brought up the idea of resurrection in Acts 26:8:
Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
There is no doubt that resurrection of Jesus Christ was at the heart of the gospel message the apostle preached as per his explanation of the gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
1 Now, brothers, 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: 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,
Anyway, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the gospel message but the general subject of resurrection is part of the basic doctrine that should be given to new converts and so we will consider several facts that new converts need to understand about resurrection.
Resurrection from the dead was not a widely understood doctrine in the OT. It is probably for this reason that in the time of Jesus there were religious groups that did not believe in it. For example, the Sadducees did not believe in the concept of resurrection, among other things, as stated in Matthew 22:23:
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.
It is true that there was little information in the OT about resurrection, but there were passages that hinted to the concept of resurrection. Job spoke of his redeemer in a manner that indicates the concept of resurrection of his redeemer and himself, according to Job 19:25-27:
25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Prophet Isaiah hinted on the idea of resurrection when he wrote that the dead will live in Isaiah 26:19:
But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
Daniel’s prophecy conveyed the concept of resurrection from the dead in Daniel 12:2:
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Thus, although the doctrine of resurrection from the dead was not taught in many passages in the OT, the concept was there. The point then is that new converts should recognize that the doctrine of resurrection from the dead is one that God progressively revealed partially in the OT and more fully in the NT with the teaching of Jesus and the apostles and made more certain with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Another fact that should be taught to new converts is that believers will experience resurrection from the dead, according to the promise of Jesus Christ in John 11:25:
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
This truth that believers will resurrect from the dead is assured by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in Romans 8:11:
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Evidently, in the time of Apostle Paul, there were those who rejected the idea of bodily resurrection from the dead, so he defended the doctrine of resurrection from the dead by linking it to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as he argued in 1 Corinthians 15:12-15:
12 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. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
The fact the apostle taught in detail regarding resurrection suggests that he presented the doctrine without going into great details as he did in this passage. Thus, we are certain that part of the basic doctrine the apostle presented to the Corinthians was resurrection. That aside, the resurrection from the dead promised to believers is in the future and will take place at the time of the Second Coming of Christ, as stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16:
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Because resurrection is still future, a new convert should be taught to disregard anyone that teaches that resurrection has already taken place. Apostle Paul corrected this error of teaching that resurrection is a past event because there were some individuals who taught such doctrine, as we can gather from his assertion in 2 Timothy 2:18:
who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.
Another fact that should be taught to the new convert in connection with the resurrection from the dead, is that the resurrection from the dead is going to be bodily, that is, that it will involve the Lord giving to believers a glorious body of the type that is suited for eternal state, as implied in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44:
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
We do not know at this time what this resurrection body will look like, but we know that it will look like that of our Savior, as Apostle John implied in 1 John 3:2:
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
We can infer that the resurrection body is such that it is not going to be of the same matter as our present body so that it is not limited by space. This is because after resurrection Jesus with His resurrection body entered through closed doors, as in John 20:19:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"
Since Jesus after His resurrection traveled from place to place without any of the mode of transportation that we have today, it should also be true that the resurrection body we will have will be capable of traveling probably at lightning speed. Another observation regarding the resurrection body is that it is going to be sexless as implied by what Jesus taught concerning absence of marriage in heaven and comparing believers to angels in heaven, according to Luke 20:34-36:
34 Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Still another fact new converts should be presented with is that there are two types of resurrection from the dead. This is implied by Daniel’s prophecy, we cited previously, but Jesus also taught this truth in John 5:28-29:
28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
These two resurrections will not take place at the same time. There will be first the resurrection of believers and then that of unbelievers, as implied in Revelation 20:5-6:
5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
This passage is clear that believers will first resurrect just before the millennial reign of Christ and at the end of that period unbelievers will resurrect. Understanding of this doctrine should help the believer overcome the fear of death. It should also lead to putting more importance to spiritual matters than earthly things. This brings us to the next basic doctrine of the Christian faith, which is eternal judgment.
Eternal judgment
We include the subject of “eternal judgment” as part of the basic doctrine Apostle Paul would have taught the Corinthians since it is included in what the author of Hebrews considered elementary as indicated in the phase of Hebrews 6:2 eternal judgment. The subject of eternal judgment should be taught to new converts since it is the final act of God regarding humans before they settle in eternity, so to say. But, before we consider the subject, it is important to underscore to the believer that the member of the Godhead who is responsible for future judgments is the Lord Jesus Christ, according to John 5:22:
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
The concept of God’s judgment is one that is presented in the Scripture since we find several references to judgments carried out by God. The prophets declared of God’s past judgments such as flood judgment and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. They also wrote about God’s future judgment, as implied in Ecclesiastes 12:14:
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
However, it is unlikely the OT prophets had knowledge of the nature of the future and final judgment. It is this final judgment that is included as part of the elementary teaching of the Christian faith that new converts should be taught.
Jesus first taught of the nature of this future judgment when He presented it as involving separation of the righteous and wicked from all nations in Matthew 25:31-33:
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Apostle Paul taught of this coming future judgment. While addressing the Athenians, he spoke of this coming judgment in Acts 17:31:
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
During his defense before Governor Felix, the apostle spoke of this coming judgment in Acts 24:25:
As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, "That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you."
Apostle John wrote of this future and final judgment in Revelation 20:11-15:
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Thus, there is no doubt that there is a future judgment that is coming. This notwithstanding, there are other facts that the new converts should be presented about this future and final judgment. So, we present some of these facts.
First, this final judgment will involve three groups of God’s creations. The first group consists of unbelievers. Unbelievers are clearly those who will stand before the white throne of God mentioned in the passage of Revelation 20 that we cited previously. Their judgment will result in their being cast into the lake of fire. According to our Lord’s teaching, there will be degrees to the punishment of unbelievers in the lake of fire, as implied by the assertion of our Lord in Luke 12:47-48:
47 "That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
This truth that there will be degrees of punishment after the final judgment of unbelievers is also conveyed when Jesus spoke of it being more tolerable to those in Sodom and Gomorrah than the Jews who heard His message but rejected it, as stated in Luke 10:12:
I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Another group that will face God’s final judgment consists of believers. Apostle Paul mentioned this judgment to the Romans in Romans 14:10:
You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.
This same judgment is presented to the Corinthians as judgment that will take place before Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Unlike the judgment of unbelievers, the result of the final judgment of believers is for receiving rewards. The rewards are certainly going to be in degrees or in accordance with spiritual success on this planet. In other words, believers will receive their rewards based on their performance under the Holy Spirit on this planet. It is this that is implied in the apostle’s teaching recorded in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
It should be clear that the eternal rewards are not going to be the same for believers. Some will receive great rewards, but others will not. The Lord demonstrated this truth in the parable that involved the use of money or the Ten Minas given in Luke 19:17-19:
17 "'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' 18 "The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.' 19 "His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.'
It should be emphasized to the new converts that the judgment of believers in no way puts them in danger of eternal damnation. This is because those who have believed in Christ have escaped God’s wrath. They have passed from death to life and so will never face condemnation, as the Lord Jesus taught in John 5:24:
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
The Holy Spirit, through Apostle Paul, makes similar declaration when it is asserted that believers are free from condemnation, even of the law in Romans 8:1:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Still another group that will face final judgment consists of angels. Apostle Peter makes a reference to this judgment in 2 Peter 2:4:
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
Jude wrote of the same thing in Jude 6:
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home — these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
We do not have any details concerning the judgment of angels, regarding the fate of the angels who are condemned in this judgment but the two passages we cited imply that these angels who are condemned will also spend eternity at the same location as unbelievers. Interestingly, the Scripture tells us that believers would be involved in the judgment of angels without providing any details, as we read in 1 Corinthians 6:3:
Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
In any event, the first fact concerning this eternal judgment is that it involves three groups of God’s creations.
Second, the final judgment should be recognized as a time when God will punish those who rebelled against Him and reward those who are obedient to Him, as implied in Revelation 11:18:
The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great — and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Third, this eternal judgment will be a time when people’s secrets are revealed. Jesus taught this in Luke 8:17:
For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul makes the same point in Romans 2:16:
This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
The implications of this doctrine of eternal judgment are many but let us mention two of these. Believers should be careful of their conduct and their thoughts on a moment by moment basis since they will stand before the Lord. Another implication is that believers ought to operate with the mindset that they will be rewarded in the future, so they should not be discouraged in their endeavors spiritually. In effect, it does not matter what you find yourself doing, do it with the mindset that you are working for the Lord who will reward you at the appropriate time. Of course, the fact that the believer will not face eternal judgment to determine his eternal destiny should be of great comfort to the believer to realize that sin is not really the issue for him at that point but evaluation of how he remained under the control of the Holy Spirit in all he did.
Baptisms
The last basic doctrine that Apostle Paul would have taught the Corinthians concerns baptisms. There are two reasons for including the subject of baptism as basic doctrine the apostle would have taught the Corinthians. First, he had referenced water baptism when he denounced the partisan spirit that existed in their local church. Second, the human author of Hebrews included the topic among the elementary doctrines he mentioned; for he wrote in Hebrews 6:2 about baptisms. The use of the plural “baptisms” is puzzling to some. However, the plural usage is to be understood as a reference to Jewish ceremonial washings and Christian baptisms. Of course, there are those who provide different interpretations, but we believe that the one we have provided is probably what the human author of Hebrews had in mind. The basis of this interpretation is given in our detailed study of the phrase in Hebrews study. If you are interested in the details of how we arrived at our interpretation, we refer you to lessons 93 and 94 of Hebrews study in the website of Berean Bible Church, Bay Springs, Mississippi. That aside, we will briefly review, with some additions, what we studied there regarding the subject of baptisms focusing on what the apostle would have taught to the Corinthians and what should be taught to new converts in general regarding this subject.
The church in Corinth consisted of Jewish and Gentile believers and so as part of the teaching on baptisms, the apostle would have corrected previously held notion about the significance of ritual cleansing by water. A previous held notion would have included the belief that water was necessary for absolute cleansing of a person. So, it would be important to convey to new converts that the true contamination of a person is not outward but inward in that sin contaminates the soul, as Jesus conveyed in Mark 7:20-23:
20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"
Therefore, the new convert is to be taught that it is important to deal with inner pollution through confession of sins and that ceremonial washings intended to make things clean are not necessary in the Christian faith for at least two reasons. First, because teachings that imply true cleansing of a person could be obtained through such rituals are human traditions that have no divine warrant. Second, the ceremonial rites based on water with divine warrant were only in existence up to the time that Jesus offered Himself on the cross for our sins, according to Hebrews 9:10:
They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
The phrase until the time of the new order is more literally until the time of setting things right or until the time of reformation. The time of the new order or settings things right refers to Christ and His work. Since Christ had offered Himself on the cross, He brought the ultimate purification from sin, making it unnecessary to seek purification from any ceremonial washing.
Correction of the improper belief in the significance of ritual washing is to be followed by the significance of water baptism. The practice of water baptism was commanded by the Lord Jesus in the great commission of Matthew 28:19:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Thus, water baptism usually followed immediately after conversion. This was the case after Apostle Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost for those who believed were immediately baptized, as we read in Acts 2:41:
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
When Philip the evangelist preached the gospel to the Samaritans, those who believed were baptized immediately, according to Acts 8:12:
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
The Ethiopian eunuch upon his conversion was immediately baptized by Philip, as we read in Acts 8:36-38:
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
You would note that there is no verse 37 in the NIV as you find, for example, in the Authorized Version or the NASB that puts it in a bracket. Verse 37 literally reads, And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” The reason there is no verse 37 in the NIV and in most modern English translations is because the reading is not found in the most ancient reliable manuscripts, indicating that it was not in the original. There is no reason scribes would have omitted it if it was part of the original text of Acts since the earliest occurrence of verse 37 is in a sixth century manuscript. It is known that the sentence I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God found in verse 37 of such English versions as the KJV and the NASB is a formula that was used in the early church in baptismal ceremony. So, it could have been written in the margin of a copy of Acts. It was probably then inserted as part of the text probably due to the feeling that Philip would not have baptized the Ethiopian without securing a confession of faith, which needed to be expressed in the narrative. The point is verse 37 of those English versions that included it was not in the original Greek text of Acts. That aside, it is interesting to note that it was not Philip that suggested water baptism for the eunuch, but he did that himself. Bear in mind that he was a proselyte who had gone to Jerusalem to worship. This suggests that to be admitted into Judaism he would have undergone the ritual water baptism practiced in Judaism. It must be because he understood the meaning of water baptism as a ritual that was initiatory into a new system of worship or relationship with God that he requested another baptism to indicate his new-found faith. As we said, Philip did not instruct the Ethiopian eunuch to be baptized, but Apostle Peter demanded the Gentile converts he preached the gospel in the house of Cornelius to be baptized immediately, following their conversion and their receiving of the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 10:47-48:
47 "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
By the way, this passage proves that water baptism is not necessary for salvation. Those baptized here were already saved as indicated by their having received the Holy Spirit. Lydia was baptized immediately following her conversion, as evident in Acts 16:14-15:
14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.
The Philippian jailor was baptized soon after his conversion, as we read in Acts 16:33:
At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
The former disciples of John the Baptist that believed in Christ, were also baptized immediately following their conversion, according to Acts 19:4-5:
4 Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
Two observations need to be made in connection with these examples of water baptism recorded in Acts that we cited. First, in all cases, conversion preceded water baptism and so salvation was never an issue with water baptism. Second, all these took place on the same day of conversion, but Apostle Paul had to wait for three days before he was baptized, as we can learn from Acts 9:9, 17-19:
9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
Apostle Paul’s water baptism seemed to be an exception to the practice probably because of the nature of his conversion. Hence, we cannot be too dogmatic when converts are not immediately baptized. Anyway, there is more to be said about water baptism and so we will continue with it in our next study.
08/31/18