Edward Fudge of GracEmail believes that righteousness
is PRIOR TO BAPTISM and that baptism is a SIGN of the faith God gives
to certain people. Abraham's circumcision is used as the model. We
will review this GracEmail and show why we respectfully
disagree.
Edward
Fudge: The minister of a large Church of Christ
asks, upon reading Romans 4:10-11, whether baptism, like circumcision
in this passage, is a "sign" and "seal" of righteousness which we
have by faith even before we are baptized.
Paul's point here, of
course, is that God declared Abraham righteous by faith many years
before he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, so that
Abraham's justification is indeed a model for people of all nations
and not only for Jews.
Behold, I Paul say
unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Galatians 5:2
For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Galatians 5:3
Spiritual circumcision is not
related to the flesh. It is the operation of God which separates the
spirit from the dead "flesh" in Baptism:
In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Colossians 2:11
Buried with him
in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God,
who hath raised him from the dead. Colossians 2:12
Circumcision was not just a
token: it was that which made one a citizen of the commonwealth of
Israel. This was the antitype fulfilled in water baptism explained in
the Flood and the Red Sea.
Edward Fudge:
Some Jews in Paul's day
valued circumcision so highly that they expected God to bless them
merely because they had undergone this physical ordinance. Others
expected God's favor because they were Abraham's descendants, a fact
of which their circumcision always reminded them.
Without a doubt. Some still
value "unbaptism" to the point of trusting it.
Edward
Fudge: Paul here
rejects both claims. Abraham received God's verdict of acquital -- he
was declared "right" in God's sight -- because he relied on and
trusted in God, NOT because he was a Jewish patriarch, and certainly
not because he was circumcised. God declares Abraham justified by
faith in Genesis 15:6, Paul notes, and God
does not institute the ordinance of circumcision until Genesis
17.
Faith, here, is not simple
belief. Rather, it is the "Amen"
Aman
(h539) aw-man'; a prim. root; prop. to build up or support; to foster
as a parent or nurse; fig. to render (or be) firm or faithful, to
trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; mor. to be true or
certain; once (Isa. 30:21; to go to the right hand: - hence assurance, believe, bring up, establish, /
fail, be faithful (of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely,
trusty, verified), nurse, (-ing father), (put), trust, turn to the
right.
And thine ears shall hear a
word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye
turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21
But bring your
youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. Genesis
42:20
The Lord appeared to Isaac He said that the blessings would
come (not because of the Law of Moses) but-
Because
that Abraham obeyed
my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Genesis 26:5
The faith which causes one to
be righteous is the faith which "goes to the
right."
Edward Fudge:
Seen at its best,
circumcision SEALED or stamped a Jewish man as one who trusted in God
alone, and it SIGN-i-fied that a Jewish man was righteous by faith.
Circumcision was thus a "sign" and "seal" of the man's right standing
("righteousness") before God, based on his trust in the
Almighty.
And ye shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token (evidence) of the covenant betwixt me and you. Genesis 17:11
Owth (h226) oth;
prob. from 225 (in the sense of appearing); a signal (lit. or fig.), as a flag,
beacon, monument, omen, prodigy,
evidence, etc.: - mark,
miracle, (en-) sign, token.
It is a fact that being
Baptized is a sign that God will give us A holy spirit or A good
conscience or consiousness. When the Pharisees "rejected the counsel
of God" it was a sign that they were UNbelievers and therefore
treacherus.
And this shall be a
sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord
will
do this thing that he
hath spoken; Is.38:7
When God hallowed the
sabbaths as a token
And hallow my
sabbaths; and they shall be a sign
between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.
Eze.20:20
Does this mean that the
Sabbath as a SIGN (of several things) can be polluted (meaning with
music, pollution or prostitution) could be IGNORED as long as people
just had faith? No!
Beriyt
(h1285) ber-eeth'; from 1262 (in the sense of cutting [like 1254]); a
compact (because made by
passing between pieces of flesh): - confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant,
league.
Baptism does not mean
SALVATION: it means death. It is compared to hypnosis and often
HYPNOSIS created by instrumental music.
Baptismos , ho, dipping in water, immersion
lethargic
sleep
Baptism
kômoomai , Pass., fall
into lethargic sleep. kôma , atos, to, (perh. cogn. with keimai, koimaô)
deep
sleep, autôi . .
malakon peri kôma kalupsa Il.14.359 ;
ê me . . malakon
peri kôm' ekalupsen Od.18.201 ; kakon de he kôma kaluptei Hes :
metaphor: of the effect of music, Pi.P.1.12.--Not in Trag.
kaluptô [lengthd. from Root !kalub, v. kalubê
to cover with a
thing
to cover or veil
oneself,
baptizô, dip,
plunge
to be
drowned, ebaptisan
tên polin flooded the city,
2. draw wine by
dipping the cup in the
bowl,
If you baptize people
BECAUSE they are saved by faith only then it CANNOT BE baptism
because baptism is BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD.
God made the covenant with Noah
because He intended to baptize those who were SPIRITUAL DEAD by
drowning them.
And, behold, I,
even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all
flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every
thing that is in the earth shall die. Gen 6:17
But with thee will I
establish my
covenant; and thou
shalt come
into the ark,
thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee.
Ge.6:18
In 1 Samuel 17:8 the word
means to "choose."
Edward Fudge:
Were Paul living today,
and should he hear some Christians rely on their baptism for their
standing with God, I have no doubt he would respond much as he did
concerning circumcision. God does not declare anyone righteous today
because s/he receives baptism. Gospel baptism is rather a visible and
physical sign of one's invisible heart-faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It seals that faith in one's own personal experience. The
baptized person may always look back on his or her baptism and say,
"I am a believer. I have been baptized."
No, Paul would say what Peter
said of those who believed:
Then Peter said
unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for (in
order to) the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38
For ye are all the children of God by
faith in
Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26
Pistis
(g4102) pis'-tis; from 3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; mor.
conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a
religious teacher), espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstr. constancy in such
profession; by extens. the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:
- assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27
Paul used "faith" in the same
way Moses used it. Faith is the Amen, the righteousness by going to
the right hand. Mental ascent has no value unless it is made
alive by obedience. To Paul becoming children
of God by faith is explained by the "for as many of you as have been
baptized" put on Christ.
Except to Calvinists who
believe that God "gives" faith to those predestinated for heaven,
baptism is no more of a work than is faith which Paul said "comes by
hearing the Word of God." If you agree with Edward's understanding
then we urge you to Click
Here.
Edward
Fudge: Abraham believed
God's seemingly impossible promise that he and Sarah would have a
son, and God imputed Abraham's trust as righteousness. Like Abraham,
we also believe God's seemingly impossible promise -- that he
forgives our sins and brings us near to himself for Jesus Christ's
sake -- and our faith is also put down on the divine record as
righteousness.
God pronounces Abraham
righteous or justified each time Abraham hears, believes and obeys or
trusts God's commandments.
Click
Here for some articles on Baptism which a Baptist called "bullet
proof."
Paul never said that
circumcision was not important. Rather, he said that it had nothing
to do with the Law of Moses because it was given too early.
Jesus said that He existed
before Abraham. Therefore, He was there as Spirit or angel or Rock to
pour out supernatural knowledge to the prophets:
I tell you the
truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" John 8:58
Abraham replied, 'They have
Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' Luke 16:29
Peter showed that it was the
Spirit of
Christ who made the promises through the prophets:
Searching what, or
what manner of time the Spirit of
Christ which was in
them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter1:11
The promise of the Spirit was
not the promise of the gift of the personal, literal Holy Spirit in
the literal body. Rather, Paul shows that God supplied His spirit as
a result of hearing and believing Paul's preaching:
Does God
give (supply) you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the
law, or because you
believe what you heard?
Galatians 3:5
Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Galatians 3:6
Know ye therefore that they
which are of
faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. Galatians 3:7
And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached
before the gospel unto
Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. Galatians
3:8
Jesus said that "My Words are
SPIRIT and LIFE" John 6:63. Paul always agrees by insisting that it
is through PREACHING that SPIRIT is administered
Again, the
Lord appeared to Isaac He said that the
blessings would come (not because of the Law of Moses) but-
Because
that Abraham obeyed
my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Genesis 26:5
Scripture, like Spirit or
Wisdom, is personified. When "Scripture" preached to those living
under the Old Testament, it was Christ the Spirit preaching to
them:
For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:18 (Jesus laid down and took up His life)
The Law was given as a curse
when Israel rejected the Abrahamic covenant restated as The Book of
the Covenant at Mount Sinai.
Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for
it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: Galatians
3:13
That the
blessing of
Abraham might come on
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the
Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:14
Now the blessing of Abraham is
not Abraham as a
blessing. Rather, the
blessing of Abraham is the promise made by the Spirit of Christ that
Abraham's descendants and the whole world would be blessed as a
result of faithful obedience to the promise made by the Spirit. That
is, the promise was not that we would personally have a literal
person living in us. Rather, the promise was the promise which the
Spirit of Christ made.
The rest of Galatians shows
that the promise of the Spirit was the promise which the Spirit of
Christ made:
Now to Abraham and
his seed were the
promises made. He saith
not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which
is Christ. Galatians.3:16
And this I say,
that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law,
which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of
none effect. Galatians 3:17
For if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Galatians
3:18
Is the law then against the
promises of
God? God forbid: for if
there had been a law given which could
have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Galatians 3:21
And if ye be
Christs, then are ye Abrahams seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29
Christ, who was in the very
form of God because He was God, laid aside His Majesty, glory and
privileges as God. He was made manifest or apparent in the body of
flesh "prepared for him." After He was crucified He was resurrected
by that glorious power He laid aside. He ascended back and sat down
beside the Majesty He laid aside to become a human. As a human He was
God's right hand or shoulder.
Peter said that Baptism is for
(in order to) the remission of sins. If one is saved before baptism
then he is saved before his sins are remitted in accordance with the
promise and command made by Jesus. Click
Here for Bible 101
Baptism is the place where
We Put on Christ as Clothing
Jesus Christ is "God manifest
in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16). He is the "door" or the "gate" into the
Spirit God Himself. To become children of the invisible,
incomprehensible Father image of God we have to go through the door or get in connection with the human
side of God. God has decreed that the way to exercise personal faith
in a system of faith is to do
faith in baptism. Faith is a noun which must become an
active
verb.
But after that
faith (system of religion) is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Galatians 3:25
For ye
are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26
For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. Galatians 3:27
We put on
Christ "in the sense of sinking into a garment; to invest with clothing."
Verses 26 and 27 are in the
form of a parallelism: One becomes a child of God by believing that
Christ is God and that He is the door or
access to Himself. One exercises the faith as "the power to become children of God"
by walking through the "door" or by "putting on Christ" in baptism
which is not a work of the Law of Moses or a work of
self-righteousness but that which Christ clearly commanded with
salvation on the wet side of the grave:
- The
WHAT
|
- The
HOW
|
For ye are all the
children of
God by
faith in Christ Jesus (Who died). Galatians
3:26
|
For as many of you as have been
baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27
|
My father always said: "I have
faith in the Boeing 747 but I don't have faith
upon the 747." He said that he would fly
anywhere in the world he could "keep one foot on the ground." This
defines faith. If we do not "put on"
the 747 we are not going to get off the ground. The "faith-only" people want to keep one
foot on dry ground.
The Faith of
Abraham
Abraham is the great example of
faith only.
However, Abraham was
counted righteous by his faith each
time he did what God commanded. This was not a one step plan of
salvation. Paul
wrote:
Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted (credited) to him for righteousness. Galatians
3:6
Knowing that the masses would
misread this fact, God restated the covenant to Isaac:
And I will make thy
seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed
all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed; Gen 26:4
Because
that Abraham obeyed
my voice, and kept my
charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my
laws. Genesis 26:5
Abraham's faith included doing
what God asked each and every time He asked it. Abraham was never
personally righteous. However, God "filled in the account book" that
Abraham was righteous because his belief led him to faith which adds
up to obedience.
This was what Paul meant by
faith. Faith is believing God and doing whatever He asks without
question.
He wrote about
Abraham's salvation without circumcision or the Law of Moses:
Circumcision is
nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what
counts. 1 Corinthians
7:19
Paul was totally disgusted with
people who wanted to be justified by the Law of Moses or the
commandments of man. However, the total New Testament idea is that
obeying the commands of Christ is the only way to show love and
permit both Father and Son to abide in our hearts.
However, he rejects
the idea that man works
his own will to put God under obligation in order to earn a wage of which he can boast. (Ephesians 2:9)
Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands; Ephesians 2:11
It is clear that Edward Fudge
treats even faith as a work performed by God upon those He has
elected. Those whom He has elected He calls through faith.
Kenneth L. Sublett
Baptism Index
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