“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16, NKJV).
Several years ago the church with which I was working had an exhibit at which we gave away gospel tracts during a three-day community celebration. Our tract on the New Birth caught the attention of one gentleman who had stopped by. “Isn’t this teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation?” he asked. I agreed that the tract so taught and affirmed that the Bible taught this as well. A rather spirited discussion ensued, to say the least!
Among the many objections the man offered was that baptism was “just a church ordinance.” I asked him to show me in the Bible where that was the case. Of course, he made no attempt to do so. Biblically, there is no such thing as a “church ordinance.” The word ordinance is merely another word for law. The church is not in the law-making business. There is but one lawgiver (James 4:12).
Sometimes even members of the body of Christ carelessly refer to baptism and the Lord’s Super as church ordinances (or, worse yet, as sacraments). Both of these expressions are foreign to Scripture. The church is not authorized to invent its own ordinances to impose upon its members. Rather, we are to obey the ordinances (laws) of Jesus Christ. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are two of many ordinances of the Lord. They are not in a special class apart from other things our Lord has told us to do. “Sacraments,” on the other hand, are purely the invention of men. No one ever heard of sacraments for over a thousand years after Jesus established His church.
Unwilling to surrender his point, my visitor re-phrased his argument: “Baptism is just a command; it has nothing to do with salvation.” Evidently he did not stop to think that faith is also commanded (Acts 16:31). Repentance is a command (Acts 17:30). Yet he believed both of those things were necessary for salvation! Indeed, Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).
–Joe Slater
