The Ultimate Degree of Faith (Part 3)

By C.C. Crawford

We now come to the ultimate of all proofs, surely the noblest manifestation of the obedience of faith that is recorded in Scripture. This occurred when God did prove Abraham by commanding him to offer up Isaac for a burnt-offering (Gen. 22:1-3). Here was a thing com­manded which by the universal judgment of mankind was wrong: no nation has ever been known to have been without a distinction between justifiable and unjustifiable killing, and the kind of killing that is always reckoned to be unjustifiable is murder, the taking of another man's life- by ones own authority, "with malice aforethought." (Of course, in this instance no "malice aforethought" was involved; nevertheless, by all human standards the act was wrong.) Moreover, it was surely wrong to deliberately kill a son, and the only son at that. And it was doubly wrong, in this instance, to kill the one who had been born "out of due season" as the Child of Promise. What an argument Abraham might have offered against obedience to this command! How could such an order proceed from the God who is infinite goodness? Was not this ordina­tion a complete disavowal by God Himself of all the promises He had made respecting Abraham and his seed?

No such unbelieving talk, however, fell from Abraham's lips. With him there was no occasion for argument: Yahwe had spoken and it was his portion simply to obey. We know the rest of the story, up to the very point of the patriarch's poising the deadly knife above his son, lying bound and helpless on the altar. No doubt he would have carried out the divine order fully, even to the killing itself, because, we are told, his faith was such that he "accounted God able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead, from whence he did also in a figure receive him back" (Heb. 11:19) . It was in this manner that God did actually prove Abraham and the depth of his faith, not only to himself, but to all mankind.

What is the application? In consequence of this inci­dent, the name of Abraham has gone down in sacred history as the Father of the Faithful and the Friend of God (John 15:14, 2 Chron. 20:7, Jas. 2:23, Rom. 4:11, 16). More­over, our salvation under the New Covenant is contingent not on our having the blood of Abraham coursing through our veins, but on having the faith of Abraham in our hearts (John 3:1-8, Rom. 4:13-17, Gal. 3:23-29, Jas. 2:20-26).

'Unbelief will call this obedience of Abraham an act of blind faith. It is blind faith, of course, to obey another man implicitly without question. It is never blind faith to obey God, for the' reason that God never commands men to, do anything simply to benefit Him. His commands are always, ultimately, for our good. Therefore, anything that God commands is made right by the fact that He commands it.

In the process of becoming a Christian on the terms laid down by apostolic authority, the penitent believer is confronted with one basically positive institution. That institution is baptism, as ordained by the Great Commission. It is the only positive institution the Holy Spirit has seen fit to associate with conversion under the New Covenant. That baptism is essentially a Positive institution (although it does carry with it the moral excellence of obedience to God) is evident from the following considerations. One can readily see that belief in Christ, repentance from sin, confession of Christ—all these are necessary to becoming a Christian. Belief is necessary to change the heart; re­pentance is necessary to change the will, the disposition, and the course of life. Confession is necessary as a public com­mitment and testimonial in the presence of, and for the benefit of, all those who themselves need divine redemption without which they are lost, both in this world and in the world to come. Confession is a public commitment to the new life which the penitent believer has espoused.

But why be baptized? What moral change is effected in baptism, other than the moral benefit that always fol­lows obedience to God? We reply that baptism effects no basic moral change: that change comes in faith and re­pentance in order that the baptism may be efficacious. Baptism is essentially transitional (1 Pet. 3:20-21). It is the abandonment of the old man and the putting on of the new (Rom. 6:1-11). It is the relinquishing of the old life of alienation and the assumption of the new life of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17, Tit. 3:5). It is the transitional act in which the believing penitent renounces allegiance to the world, the flesh and the devil, and accepts the authority of the Prince of righteousness. It is the formal act of obedience in which the one who was formerly an alien, is adopted into the family of God and thus made an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:16-17) of that "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away" (I Pet. 1:4, 2:22-25; Acts 26:18). Hence, baptism is administered "in the name of Christ" (i.e., by His authority), according to the formula, "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). It is the divine appointment wherein the re­pentant believer receives pardon of his sins (in the mind of God) and is formally inducted into Christ (Acts 2:38, Col. 2:11-12) and sealed "with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13, 2 Cor. 1:21-22; cf. discussions of spiritual circumcision, in foregoing sections herein).

It is evident that the dipping of a person in water could not per se have efficacy unto, salvation. It is equally evident that there is no power in water per se to take away the guilt of sin. And it is quite evident that God could pardon a believer without baptism as easily as with it, had He chosen to do so. The fact remains, however, that in the light of New Testament teaching, we have no indica­tion that He has chosen to do so. Baptism is said to be for remission of sins (Acts 2:38), for induction into Christ (Gal. 3:27) and is therefore a prerequisite of pardon (Acts 10:47-48). This is sufficient .for the man of faith. Un­belief will persist, however, in speaking of baptism as a "non-essential," a "mere outward act," a "mere external performance," etc. The Apostle Paul, on the contrary, writes of it as an act of obedience "from the heart" (Rom. 6:17), hence an act of faith; and the Apostle Peter de­scribes it as the "appeal of a good conscience toward God" (1 Pet. 3:21). &

“Baptism Now Saves You”

By Bob Myhan

Peter writes, “Baptism now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21-22, ESV).

We know that water baptism is under consideration, rather than Holy Spirit baptism, because the word, "this," points back to the word, "water," in verse 20. Water baptism “saves you” but “not as a removal of dirt from the body.” It saves you “as an appeal to God for a good conscience.” That is, if you are appealing to God for a good conscience when you are baptized, it saves you. Otherwise, it does not.

Water baptism, even as "an appeal to God for a good conscience," is not the cause of your salvation; it saves you "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." If it were not for this miraculous event, by which Jesus was fully and finally “declared to be the Son of God in power” (Rom. 1:4), water baptism could not save anyone. It is not the cause but a condition of salvation. The blood of Jesus washes away sins when one is baptized. (Rev. 1:5; Acts 22:16)

The Greek word translated "appeal," in the ESV, does not appear anywhere else in the New Testament but its verb form does appear fifty-nine times in fifty-eight verses. (Matt. 12:10; 16:1; 17:10; 22:23, 35, 41, 46; 27:11; Mark 5:9; 7:5, 17; 8:5, 23, 27; 9:11, 16, 21, 28, 32, 33; 10:2, 10, 17; 11:29; 12:18, 28, 34; 13:3; 14:60, 61; 15:2, 4, 44; Luke 2:46; 3:10, 14; 6:9; 8:9, 30; 9:18; 17:20; 18:18, 40; 20:21, 27, 40; 21:7; 22:64; 23:3, 6, 9; John 18:7, 21 (twice); Acts 1:6; 5:27; 23:34; Rom. 10:20; 1 Cor. 14:35) In each case, it is translated "ask," "asked," "asking," "demanded," "desired," or "questioned," depending on the tense. So the noun form must mean a "request" or an "appeal." Indeed, the ASV employs the word, "interrogation," and the NASB uses the word, "appeal."

Thus, it is only one whose baptism is "an appeal to God for a good conscience" who is saved. This is certainly in keeping with what our Lord said shortly before He ascended into heaven. (Mark 16:15-16) &