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 The
precise point at which God extends pardon to the sinner, though
a highly controversial subject, must be faced up to and
carefully considered by every heaven seeker. The answer to this
question involves every accountable being simply because all
have sinned and need saving (Rom. 3:23). It is an answer that
must be sought and understood personally. It will not do
to just line up with the majority or even to follow in the
family tradition. Here is something that involves eternal
consequences; something that I must be absolutely sure about and
something that cannot be left to mere chance or intuition. Since
only God can pardon, only God can set forth the terms of pardon.
Therefore,
the starting place is trust in God. Man must trust in God more
than self and more than any mortal. This means having more
confidence in what He says than in what I may feel, suppose or
imagine. Truly trusting in God is to esteem all His precepts
concerning all things to be right and allowing them to order our
every step (Ps. 119:128,133). Without such faith none can please
God, much less receive His pardon. Saving faith stems from “what
is written” (Jn. 20:31) and cannot be lawfully expressed in
ways that may seem right (Prov. 14:12). True faith is
influenced by Divine testimony, not by human testimonials. To
rely upon feelings and experiences as proof of pardon is to walk
by “sight” and not by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). Nothing is to be
trusted above what God says. Heaven is promised to only
those who do God’s will (Matt. 7:21) and every pardoned sinner
is one who has submitted to that will.
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Surely,
the testimony of Jesus is worth hearing on this matter. In
saying “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved”,
Jesus clearly puts the pardon after the baptism. In doing
so, He shows the kind of faith that God blesses is that which
expresses itself in baptism. It is not a matter of faith in
baptism, but it is faith in the One who commands baptism as He
does here in Mk. 16:16. Peter does likewise in Acts 2:38 only
adding the repentance that must precede baptism. Again, “what
is written” shows that remission of sins occurs at baptism and
not before. The reason is made clear in Acts 22:16 where we read
of Soul being instructed by God’s spokesman to “arise, and
be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name”. Sins
are washed away in baptism! Saul clearly believed before
this but he was not pardoned before this!
Further,
all agree that newness of life begins at the point of pardon. In
Rom. 6:4 Paul shows that we are raised from the burial of
baptism to “walk in newness of life,” proving again that
sins are remitted in baptism. The same process is called being
“born again” in Jn. 3:3,7 and the “washing of regeneration”
in Titus 3:5. Men are united with Christ in baptism (Rom. 6:5)
and men put on Christ in baptism (Gal. 3:27) simply because MEN
PUT OFF SINS IN BAPTISM! Faith that saves is faith that obeys.
Paul reminds the Roman brethren that they were made free from
sin after obeying gospel teaching which included baptism
(Matt. 28:18-20; Rom. 6:1-4). We are made free from sin in the
same way. Dan S. Shipley
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