Salvation Summaries

Does a person need to be baptized with water to be saved?

Before I answer this question using verses from the book of Acts, let me provide you with some personal and other background information on baptism.

My family is “all over the board” when it comes to baptism. I don’t mean we have wide ranging beliefs about baptism, but that our “baptismal” experiences have varied.  I was baptized as a baby in a Methodist church, and then baptized again in a non-denominational church when I was in my 30’s. The first baptism was a sprinkling; the second was by immersion in a swimming pool. My wife was baptized in a Mennonite Brethren church when she was in junior high school, and it was by immersion. We had our boys baptized in a non-denominational church when they were in late grade school, and it was also by immersion (prior to this, when they were infants, we had a special ceremony in our church where we dedicated them to the Lord, or essentially pledged to raise them up in a Christian household). Our daughter, who is in 7th grade, has yet to be baptized, but when this takes place, it will likely be by sprinkling, since this is the practice of the church we currently attend.

When to baptize, how to baptize, and whether baptism saves a person varies among church denominations.  Catholics and Lutherans believe a person must be baptized with water to be saved. Presbyterians and Methodists say that you don’t, but the benefits of baptism they describe closely resemble those of salvation. These groups baptize infants too, though Presbyterians also baptize adults (and I don’t know if the others do). Baptists and most non-denominational churches don’t believe baptism saves a person or that you should baptize infants, since baptism is for believers only in their view. I won’t solve the differences among these groups on who should be baptized or its purpose, but I’ll tell you what I believe the book of Acts says on this issue.

So, what is the answer?

Acts contains two sets of verses that appear to support the view that baptism washes away a person’s sins, and thus saves a person. Also, Acts contains roughly a dozen verses about baptism, and clearly portrays it as important.

However, when one reviews all of the verses in this book about baptism and salvation, a different picture emerges. In it, baptism with water does not forgive sins or save a person; rather, forgiveness and salvation come from hearing and believing the gospel message, and repenting of one’s sins. The purpose of baptism with water is to symbolize or illustrate the washing away of one’s sins when a person becomes saved.

Now, it’s possible that other books in the Bible support the view that baptism washes away someone’s sins. For example, some believe that John 3:5 (Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit) does this, though I interpret this verse differently (see my posts on the book of John for details). Also, some may use a combination of Bible verses and tradition to support their belief. That is fine. I don’t want to tell anyone not to be baptized if they, in good conscience, believe that they must do this to be saved.

But based upon my review of salvation-related verses in the book of Acts and many books in the New Testament, I do not believe a person must be baptized to be saved. Salvation is a spiritual transaction or event that God performs. It includes the forgiveness of sins and receipt of God’s Holy Spirit. We cannot do these things on our own, and God does not need our help to do them. In my view, water is simply water; it has no special power to save, and man cannot give it special power to save. At most, water can only symbolize or picture something that has been done, or will be done.

OK, enough said. Let’s move on to a few verses that indicate baptism washes away a person’s sins, and other verses where belief and repentance do this.

1^st set of verses where baptism with water appears to wash away a person’s sins

Acts 22:15-16 ¹⁵ ‘For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

At first glance, verse 16 appears to say that baptism washes away a person’s sins. Get up, be baptized, and your sins will be washed away, right?  Not necessarily.

The verse says Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins. It’s possible that baptism and the washing away of one’s sins are different events with no cause and effect relationship.

Also, the verse doesn’t end with “wash away your sins,” as it includes the phrase “calling on His name.” What does this mean? Does it relate to the washing away of a person’s sins, or baptism?

The Bible contains many easy to understand verses, and others that can be interpreted in more than one way. Verse 16 is an example of the latter, and as I previously said, I believe it is unwise to build a theology on verses that are unclear, or can be interpreted differently.

To better understand verse 16, we need to consider other verses in Acts that relate to salvation and baptism, and which are easy to interpret. One example of this is Acts 2:21, which says:

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 

Unlike Acts 22:16, this verse is simple, clear and easy to understand. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. There really is no other way to interpret it.  However, this verse does raise a question, and that is: what does “call on the name of the Lord” mean? If it includes baptism, then baptism would be required for salvation. If it does not, baptism would not be required, and thus not wash away a person’s sins.

In my prior post, I talked about the meaning of calling upon the Lord, and showed that the Lord also calls people to save them. Here is my conclusion from that post:

The Lord Jesus calls sinners to repentance and gives them the promised Holy Spirit at the time that they are saved. The same people that Jesus calls are those who, in turn, call upon Him for salvation. In short, Jesus calls, and the people He calls respond by calling upon Him.

Calling upon the Lord means that you ask Him to save you, but calling is not done by just anyone. A person who calls upon the Lord is one who has heard the gospel message about Jesus, and now believes in Him. It is someone who trusts in Jesus, and confesses Him to be Lord.  And, it is a person who believes in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  If this describes you, then when you call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved according to Acts 2:21.

As you can see from this conclusion, calling on the name of the Lord includes a number of things, but not baptism.

As a result, I believe the best way to interpret Acts 22:16 is as follows:

Calling upon the name of the Lord saves a person. When a person is saved, his/her sins are forgiven. Baptism symbolizes or illustrates the washing away of sins brought about by calling on His name. A person should be baptized immediately, or soon after, becoming saved.

2^nd set of verses where baptism with water appears to wash away a person’s sins

Acts 2:38-39 ³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

In this set of verses, Peter seems to be saying that a person must be baptized in the name of Jesus to have their sins forgiven. However, he also says a person must repent. So which is it? Is it baptism or repentance (or both) that results in forgiveness of sins? Fortunately, Acts contains several clues that we can use to answer this question.

Clue #1: belief in the gospel (which includes Jesus)

Acts contains a number of verses where belief in the gospel message (and thus in Jesus), rather than baptism, brings about forgiveness of sins and thus salvation. Several examples are below.

• Acts 10:43-44 ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” ⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

• Acts 13:38-39 ³⁸ “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  ³⁹ Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

• Acts 16:30-32 ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved– you and your household.”  ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house

• Acts 5:19-20 ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out.  ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”

Also, several books in the New Testament say the same thing. One example is in Romans 1:16, which says “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

In addition, another verse in Acts shows that belief, or faith in the Lord, cleanses a person’s heart (the NIV version uses the word purified, but the NAS version uses cleanse). Thus faith, not water baptism, cleanses, or washes one’s sins away.

• Acts 15:8-9 ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.  ⁹ He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

Clue #2: repentance

The book of Acts also shows that repentance can bring about forgiveness of sins.  Examples of this are below.

• Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

• Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

• Acts 14:14-15 ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

• Acts 26:17-18 ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

• Acts 20:21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

• Acts 17:30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

Clue#3 (belief and repentance)

Now, some of you may be saying, “I’m confused. Does belief in the gospel, or repentance, bring about the forgiveness of sins?

I have two answers to this question.

Answer one is that belief and repentance are closely related, and there can be a cause an effect relationship between the two depending upon how repentance is used. For example, when a person hears the gospel message, that person learns not only about who Jesus is (the promised Messiah), but why He came to this earth (to save His people from their sins), and the sacrifice He made (death on a cross) because of our sinfulness. Once this is understood, the natural next step is to confess to Jesus one’s sins, and repent of them. As a result, belief and repentance are periodically used together in the same verse given their cause and effect relationship:

• Acts 11:21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

• Mark 1:14-15 ¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  ¹⁵ “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

• Acts 20:21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

• Matthew 21:32 ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Answer two is that repentance has more than one meaning, and in some cases it is used in a general way to encompass all that goes into salvation (thus, hearing, believing, repenting). We see this in the following verses:

• Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

• Luke 13:3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

I believe Peter has this meaning in mind when he tells the crowd in Acts 2:38-39 to repent.  In other words, he’s saying, “be saved, and be baptized…”  This is consistent with his comments in the next two verses, Acts 2:40-41, where Peter tells others to save themselves (“With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”).

Clue #4: baptism after belief

The fourth clue is that the normal pattern in the book of Acts is for baptism to follow a person’s hearing of the gospel message and believing in it, or hearing, believing and repenting. As we just saw from a review of other verses in Acts, hearing and believing the gospel message, or hearing and repenting, results in salvation. As such, baptism – at least in the book of Acts – takes place after a person becomes saved rather than to save a person.

• Acts 2:40-41 ⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”  ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

• Acts 8:12-13 ¹² But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³ Simon himself believed and was baptized.

• Acts 9:17-18 ¹⁷ Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord– Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here– has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  ¹⁸ Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized…

• Acts 10:44-47 ⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.  ⁴⁵ The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.  ⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said,  ⁴⁷ “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”

• Acts 16:13-15 We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.  ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.  ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

• Acts 16:30-33 ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved– you and your household.”  ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.  ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.

Clue #5 (circumcision and baptism)

The last clue applies to certain churches that believe baptism in the New Testament replaces circumcision in the Old Testament. Acts clearly shows us that a person does not have to be circumcised to be saved (see Acts 15). If circumcision was not required for salvation, and baptism replaces circumcision, then baptism would not be required for salvation.

Conclusion

The book of Acts contains two sets of verses where baptism with water appears to forgive a person’s sins.  However, when one reviews all of the verses in Acts about baptism and salvation, we see that baptism with water does not forgive a person’s sins or save them. Rather, salvation comes from “calling upon the name of the Lord.”  It also comes from hearing the gospel and believing in Jesus, or hearing the gospel and repenting, or, believing and repenting.  All of these – calling, believing and repenting – are different ways of saying and doing the same thing.  Baptism with water symbolizes or pictures the washing away of sins that occurs when a person is saved.  It is an important event, and should be done immediately after one becomes saved, according to Acts.

Now, let me make a few comments about infant baptism.  I know godly people who believe that infants of believing parents should be baptized, and they use two sets of verses in Acts, along with verses in other New Testament books, to support this view.

One verse is Acts 2:38-39:  38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off– for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

In interpreting verse 39, they seem to emphasize children more than the other groups (you, all who are far off), and also assume that children includes infants.  In addition, they seem to de-emphasize the last part of the verse, or all whom the Lord our God will call. Last, if I understand them correctly, the “promise” in verse 39 refers not to the Holy Spirit, but to God’s blessing of Abraham, and how all of his descendants can receive the same blessing, which is salvation.

I have a different view of how “children” and the “promise” should be interpreted.

• First, just because the verse says children does not mean that it includes infants.

• Second, I believe the promise in verse 39 refers to receiving the Holy Spirit at the time a person becomes saved rather than Abraham’s blessing, even though receiving the Holy Spirit is part of the blessing.  I base this view on the following verses: Acts 1:4-5 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:32-33 32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Acts 2:17 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

• Third, the promise Peter mentions refers to the prophecy in Joel that he quoted in Acts 2:17-21 17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  It is important to note that this prophecy says “your sons and daughters”, which I believe can be interpreted as children, since sons and daughters can be children, and because they would be younger than the “young men” and “old men” he subsequently mentions, for Peter is listing these groups of people by age – from youngest to oldest.  In addition, these sons and daughters, or children, cannot be infants because they have the ability to prophecy.

• Fourth, the most important part of verse 39 is not “the children,” “you,” or “all who are far off,” but rather “all whom our Lord God will call.”  Peter’s point is anyone God chooses to call – children, young adults, old adults, Jews, Gentiles – will receive God’s promised Holy Spirit at the time they are saved. While God can certainly call anyone He chooses to, I believe those whom He will call are the same ones found in prophecy of Joel, and this would exclude infants.  I also believe the ones He will call are those who will call upon the Lord for salvation (as per Acts 2:21), and this would also exclude infants.  I’m not saying infants cannot be saved, but rather, the verses in Acts do not appear to support infant baptism.

The second verse they use to support the view that infants should be baptized is in Acts 16:14-15, where members of Lydia’s household were baptized, and they assume that households, during that era, always include infants.

14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

However, I don’t believe we should assume that every household includes infants.  For example, in Acts 11:13-14, we learn that Peter will bring the message of salvation to an entire household, and all in the house will be saved: 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’  In this case, it would be inappropriate to assume that this particular household includes infants, for infants would not be able to hear and understand the gospel message in order to be saved. As an aside, in my personal household, my wife and I have three children – two sons and a daughter – but none is an infant.

As I mentioned, there are other verses from other New Testament books these people use to believe in infant baptism, and they may well interpret these verses correctly. However, based upon my understanding of the verses in Acts, I do not believe this particular book supports infant baptism. Instead, it supports believer’s baptism, or being baptized after a person receives forgiveness of sins and becomes saved. With that said, I don’t want to tell anyone to not be baptized or to not baptize their children if they, in good conscience, believe that baptism with water is necessary for salvation.