SALVATION AS BAPTISM IS NOT JUST BEING BORN AGAIN BUT…

SALVATION AS BAPTISM IS NOT JUST BEING BORN AGAIN BUT DYING AND RISING IN CHRIST.

I request that when responding to a post like that on baptism, do some reading and look at all different perspectives then present your argument with supporting evidence. If indeed we believe in every verse in the bible, then we should find no problem believing in what Joshua Ofori posted quoting scripture. Faithfully look at the following verses: 1. Mathew 3: 11 “As for me, I baptize you [g]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you [h]with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Bible speaks about Being Baptized as synonymous to being saved i.e Salvation is NOT JUST BEING BORN AGAIN BUT DYING AND RISING IN CHRIST. John the Baptizer being the last Prophet in the line of the prophets of Old, said ( Mathew 3:11 above) that Jesus’ form of Baptism would be salvific because this baptism is wrought by the Spirit and fire. The work of the Fire of the Spirit is to judge and convict the world of sin as recorded in John 16: **8 **And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; **9 **concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; **10 **and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; **11 **and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. This is the process of salvation and water does not have any effect on the sinner except washing the COVID-19 from the hands and the skin of the body.

Christian Baptism is Salvific because when a sinner confesses by his mouth that Jesus is Lord,and believes in heart that Jesus died and rose again, he/she is saved. At that point, Baptism occurs by the Holy Spirit as in Romans 6: 1** **What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? **2 **May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? **3 **Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? **4 **Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. **5 **For if we have become [[a](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28074a)]united with *Him* in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [[b](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28074b)]*in the likeness* of His resurrection, **6 **knowing this, that our old [[c](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28075c)]self was crucified with *Him*, in order that our body of sin might be [[d](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28075d)]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; **7 **for he who has died is [[e](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28076e)]freed from sin.

In Romans 10; **8 **But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, **9 **[[e](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28198e)]that if you confess with your mouth Jesus *as* Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; **10 **for with the heart a person believes, [[f](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28199f)]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, [[g](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010&version=NASB#fen-NASB-28199g)]resulting in salvation. This goes on to emphasize that at the Point a sinner becomes a child of God(John 1:9) He/she is baptized in the Body of Christ (1Cor 12:13)

In Mathew 28:19 it is written: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I a m with you [f]always, even to the end of the age.” The disciples are commanded to to go and make disciples from all nations. Making somebody a student, means recruiting him/her to become a learner.

The process of transformation begins when one is baptized in the Triune God. There is no water mentioned in this verse here. Had water been important, Jesus would have said, Baptizing them in the water in the name of the father , the Son and the Holy Spirit. The water baptizers wrongly read into this verse saying that the word Baptize means immerse in water, that is a lie. This is what the Greek translation says:πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

The Greek word βαπτίζοντες is a verb in the present participle Active, from root verb βαπτω translated in English to dip, to immerse, to plunge, to draw wine to dye, and to imbue. The word βαπτίζω on the other hand, is Is a compound verb from βαπτω and ζάω. ζάω (zao) translated in English (Mounce) means to be alive, to live a life; in the NT this can also refer to the resurrection life, Jesus Christ is then *the Living One. *A further definition by Mounce states that the word ζάω means to live, to be possessed of vitality, to exercise the functions of life, Mt. 27:63; Acts 17:28; τὸ ζῆν, life, Heb. 2:15; to have means of subsistence, 1 Cor. 9:14; to live, to pass existence in a specific manner, Lk. 2:36; 15:13; to be instinct with life and vigor; hence, ζῶν, living, an epithet of God, in a sense peculiar to Himself; ἐλπὶς ζῶσα, a living hope in respect of vigor and constancy, 1 Pet. 1:3; ὕδωρ ζῶν, living water in respect of a full and unfailing flow, John. 4:10, 11; to be alive with cheered and hopeful feelings, 1 Thess. 3:8; to be alive in a state of salvation from spiritual death, 1 John. 4:9 (BillMounce.com)

Therefore we can confidently conclude that the words βαπτω (bapto)and ζάω (zao) , contracted to ζω , are put together to form a compound verb βαπτίζω (baptize) which should be translated as dip-live, immerse into life, cause to live, make alive, rise to life etc. In this etymology of the word βαπτίζω there is no water involved. Now matters of salvation are closer in meaning to the renderings above than to the rituals of washing COVID-19 off the hands and skin. Water never washes sins and cannot wash the sins of the world because the Blood of Jesus Christ did this perfectly well at Golgotha.

Another argument given by the water baptizers that the word BAPTIZO means immerse in water. A look at several passages including 1 Cor. 10: 2..** **and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; **3 **and all ate the same spiritual food;1 Cor. 12:13, Luke 12:50 and Mark 10: 38 , the word Baptism is used without reference to water. A closer look at two of these demonstrates that Salvation is being Baptized into the Body of Jesus Christ. Mark 10 :38..But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. Here Jesus is telling us that Baptism is salvation. Dying to sin and rising to a new life in Him. He promised his disciples the same.

A vivid description of salvific Baptism is in Luke 12:50 where Jesus directly connects Baptism to his death. βάπτισμα δὲ ἔχω βαπτισθῆναι καὶ πῶς συνέχομαι ἕως ὅτου “(But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!) In these words of Jesus Christ we can see what Paul writes to the Romans 6: 1-6 and Ephesians 2:And you [[a](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29231a)]were dead [[b](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29231b)]in your trespasses and sins, **2 **in which you formerly walked according to the [[c](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29232c)]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. **3 **Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, [[d](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29233d)]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the [[e](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29233e)]mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. **4 **But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, **5 **even when we were dead [[f](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29235f)]in our transgressions, made us alive together [[g](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29235g)]with Christ (by grace you have been saved), **6 **and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly *places* in Christ Jesus, **7 **so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. **8 **For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [[h](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29238h)]that not of yourselves, *it is* the gift of God; **9 **not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. **10 **For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Salvation is not just being born again but dying and rising again in Christ Jesus.Water baptism is not Christian but a Jewish ritual to remove bodily dirt from their skin before entering the Temple.

In Conclusion, just as the Apostle Paul Ephesians 4:5-6 ** **One Lord, one faith, one baptism, **6 **One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Water baptism is not Christian but Jewish and that, Being in the Holy Spirit and Fire is one and the same thing as being Saved i.e Salvation is NOT JUST BEING BORN AGAIN BUT DYING AND RISING IN CHRIST. The ONE BAPTISM is Salvation.