| The Problem | | Acts 2:38--The "Causal eis" Debate | | Acts 2:32--The Burden for the Causal eis | | Acts 2:38--The analysis of the Causal Eis | | Acts 2:38 - Blood Guilt: Forgiveness or Justification? | | Acts 2:38 -- Blood Guilt: Corporate and Personal | | Acts 2:38 -- Blood Guilt: Resolution and Closure | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People and The Covenant | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People and The Church Age | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People: The Structure of Acts | | Acts 2:38 --A Covenant People: Escaping National Judgment | | Acts 2:38 -- Conclusion |
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Salvation and Water Baptism
by
Ronald R. Shea, Th.M., J.D.
Acts 2:38
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What is Christian Fellowship
"Remission," or "forgiveness," does not inherently refer to eternal justification before God. The word "forgiveness" is probably used more often in Scripture in the relational sense rather than the positional sense. For example, I mention a father the disobedience 16-year-old son. From a biological and legal standpoint, he is the father of the boy. That is the position he occupies relative to his son. But imagine that that same boy is rebellious, disrespectful to teachers at school, but he amuses himself with vandalism, and is otherwise a disappointment to the father. The father-son legal relationship is there, but the vitality of their relationship is not. Until the boy changes his mind about his conduct, and about the general trajectory of his life, he will have little fellowship with his father.
Or again, a man and wife may have a legal relationship, and experience the legal benefits of that relationship. For example if there is a tax deduction for being married, they may claim that deduction. If one of them dies intestate, the surviving partner will, under most laws, inherit some or all of the estate. This is a legal consequence of a legal relationship. However, God intended for relationships to be relational, not sterile. There are many loveless marriages, and while they enjoy the legal benefits of marriage, they do not enjoy the dynamics of the relationship.
Similarly, one Enters into an eternal legal relationship with God the moment he believes on His Son Jesus Christ at the one who paid in full for his sins by His death on the cross, and who rose again from the dead. This is often referred to as "positional" justification. In a positional or legal sense, one who has believed on Jesus is "all right" with God. However, in a relational sense, each of us remains of sinners, and prone to wander from the fellowship which we enjoy with our God. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the believer is admonished to maintain that fellowship, or to restore it to its vitality, by turning from sin, and walking on the path of righteousness. Within the Old Testament, most of the animal sacrifices were directed to relational forgiveness, not personal justification. A good example of personal fellowship within the New Testament is 1st John 1:9 is such a verse. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
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Remission and Fellowship
Bearing in mind therefore, a distinction between personal fellowship and eternal justification, let us revisit the text of Acts 2:38.
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:28
Most words have a "field of meaning," and it is often dishonest to represent a word as meaning one specific thing. However, as it is used in Scripture, the Greek word translated "remission" or "forgiveness," in Acts 2:38 would, in most cases within Scripture, be more akin to "forgiveness" such as in the sense of 1st John 1:9, personal fellowship with God.
The question therefore looms: if Acts 2:38 is dealing with relational forgiveness and not positional justification, does a believer have to be baptized to have fellowship with God? On one level, I would say "yes" to that question. Jesus is adamant that we publicly confess or acknowledge Him if we hope to rule and reign with Him or share in his glory. Jesus said, "if you confess me before men I will confess you before my Father. If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father." (______)
It is hard to imagine how any "secret service Christian" who hides his faith in Christ out of shame can claim to have an abiding and vital relationship with Jesus Christ. And even of someone cannot speak, they can give a public testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ through water baptism. Today, many Christians want to give their "testimony" (which has typically been reduced to "my life story, my 15 minutes of fame.") Sadly, many of the same Christians are totally unaware of their phones "testimony" should be directed to how they came to grips with the incarnate God who died on the cross for their sins. Equally sad, these same people are often times unwilling to be baptized publicly.
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Acts 2:38 - Blood Guilt: Forgiveness or Justification? |
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