Volume  3    Issue   24   April 20th, 2003

A publication of the:
Butler church of Christ

Our meeting location is:
201 5th Ave.
Butler, PA 16001
724-287-0628 (building) / 724-282-9417 (home/office)

Assembling Times:
Sunday Bible Class - 9:30 AM
Sunday Worship – 10:30 AM
Wednesday Bible Class – 7:00 PM
 

Editor / Preacher –
Brian A. Yeager
 

Check out the web site:

http://www.wordsoftruth.net

I recently read an article in response to the “Church of Christ” and I found the following statement:
 

“A Philippian jailer asked (Acts 16:30) an important question to Paul and Silas: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" In response (v. 31) Paul and Silas said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved." Paul didn't include water baptism!” ⁽¹⁾

Keith Johnson, the author of the above quotation, has obviously missed some key passages in the New Testament and he has contextually misrepresented other passages.  He is not alone in this failure to properly exegete the inerrant text of the Bible.  Notice the following:
 

“The following was written to some friends in the Church of Christ (a church that believes that water baptism is necessary for salvation):

Let us now go to the Scriptures to see what the Bible teaches about salvation, about what a person must do to be saved and about the relationship between salvation and water baptism.

1. The Bible teaches that to be saved a person must “BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.”
In Acts 16:30 the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas this crucial question: “What must I do to be saved?” What answer did these men give to this needy jailer? Did they say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized and thou shalt be saved”?  If baptism is necessary for salvation, then why is nothing said about baptism in Acts 16:31? It’s true that this man was baptized (verse 33), and yet this does not change the fact that Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” If water baptism was a condition of salvation, then this would have been the perfect place for Paul to have said so.
2. The Bible teaches throughout the New Testament that FAITH and FAITH ALONE is necessary for salvation.” ⁽²⁾

Our article is going to deal with those who try to take water out of God’s plan for redemption.  They believe in a “dry cleaning” system of faith only, despite the clear proof in the New Testament that baptism is a requirement for those accountable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This doctrine is false, and we as God’s elect must be prepared to properly answer this false doctrine (I Peter 3:15 and I Thessalonians 5:21).

Both of the above referenced materials used the example of the “Philippian Jailer” to display their belief of faith only.  However, as do many false teachers, they failed to properly follow the context of this example.  True faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ will produce action (Matthew 13:23 and James 1:21-25).  In the case of the “Philippian Jailer” Paul and Silas taught him and then baptized him.  Notice the proof: Acts 16:32-33 “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.  And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.”  This conversion account is only one of nine in the book of Acts wherein all accounts show baptism as an necessity to be saved (Acts 2:37-41, Acts 8:4-13, Acts 8:26-39, Acts 9:1-20, Acts 10:44-48, Acts 16:13-15, Acts 18:8, and Acts 19:1-7).  Surely, the two above writers understand that God would not have men do that which was meaningless, nor would God express baptism by way of a command (John 3:1-5) if He did not require water baptism. [TO BE CONTINUED IN THE BULLETIN NEXT WEEK].

(1) Johnson, Keith; “WATER BAPTISM AND SALVATION: A Response to the Teaching of the Church of Christ”; http://www.acns.com/~mm9n/Baptism/D6.htm
(2) The Middletown Bible Church, Middletown, CT; “Does Water Baptism Save”; http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/salvatio/baptsave.htm

Quick Notes

Those In Need of Our Prayers:
Kathren is in KY visiting her daughter, Joan Croyle, George and Deanna are in Florida, and Gina Goforth.

Gospel Meeting / Door Knocking:
Keep our meeting scheduled for May 4th – May 8th in your prayers.  Invite folks and hand out the flyers that are in the back of the auditorium on the table.  If you are able to door knock see the schedule hanging on the bulletin board.