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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Last week\u2019s article discussed \u201cinfant baptism,\u201d concluding that infants are not proper subjects for baptism even if baptism is correctly defined as immersion. Now let\u2019s consider the vital question of what one is to believe prior to baptism.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God\u2019s word teaches that baptism is \u201cfor the remission of sins\u201d (Acts 2:38). It is to \u201cwash away\u201d sins (Acts 22:16). It is to receive salvation (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism puts one \u201cinto Christ\u201d (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3), where salvation is (2 Timothy 2:10). Despite such crystal-clear teaching, many professing Christians deny the connection between baptism and salvation from sin. When one says, \u201cBut I\u2019ve already been baptized,\u201d that person may well have believed he was saved prior to his baptism, and that his baptism was for the purpose of declaring his salvation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One prominent denomination states: \u201cAll who repent and believe in Christ as savior and lord are to be baptized. Thus they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with him to walk in newness of life\u201d (direct quote from the Assemblies of God website). According to this statement, dying with Christ and being raised to a new life occur before<\/u><\/strong> baptism, whereas Paul taught in Romans 6:3-4 that they occur AT<\/strong> baptism.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How can one obey the command to \u201cbe baptized for the remission of sins\u201d if he believes his sins were forgiven before baptism? Brother Tommy Hicks posed that very question in an interview with Dr. James T. Draper, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Brother Hicks asked: \u201cIf someone told you that he was saved before you baptized him, he could not have been baptized for the remission of sins, right?\u201d Dr. Draper answered plainly: \u201cThat is right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With sincere love for their souls, let us urge people who have been baptized \u201cto decare their salvation\u201d to correct that error by being baptized for the remission of sins as God teaches in His word!<\/span><\/p>\n Joe Slater<\/span><\/p>\n