AMAZING GRACE
BAPTISM IS A WORK OF GRACE THROUGH FAITH
A. GRACE AND FAITH GO TOGETHER -- ALWAYS AND FOREVER
"THEREFORE IT IS OF FAITH THAT IT
MIGHT BE ACCORDING TO GRACE, so that the promise
might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are
of the Law (Covenant), but also to those who are of the
faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all," Rom
4:16.
"Through whom also we have access by FAITH into
this GRACE in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the
glory of God," Rom 5:2.
"For by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God," Ep
2:8. See Also: Acts 4:32-33; 18:27; 20:24 (Rom 1:16-17);
Rom 1:5,7; 4:3-5; 12:3,6; 14:23; I Tim 1:14.
We cannot emphasize too much that faith and grace
ALWAYS go together: GRACE must accompany FAITH. There is
no such thing as Bible faith without God's grace. Whatever
is "by faith," is ALWAYS "by grace," for whatever is NOT
of faith is SIN, Ro 14:23. All the many great
accomplishments of Hebrews 11 were BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.
They were "by faith," therefore "by grace" -- by grace
through faith works, Acts 4:33 (23-37); 13:43; 14:26;
15:40; 18:27; 20:32; Rom 1:5; 4:16; 5:2; 6:14-17; 11:5-22;
12:3-6; 15:15; I Cor 1:1-8; 3:10-15; 10:30 (14-33); 15:10;
II Cor 1:12; 6:1-10; 8:1-7,19; 9:8-14; 12:7-10; Gal 2:9;
2:21; 5:4 (1-5); Eph 1:6-7-; 2:8-10; 3:2,7-10; 4:7-16;
Phil 2:12-13; Col 3:16; 4:6; II Thess 1:12; 2:16; II Tim
2:1; 2:11-14; Heb 4:16; 11:6; 12:15-17,28; 13:9; Jam 4:6;
I Pet 4:10; 5:5; II Pet 1:2; 3:18.
B. BAPTISM IS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
"Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were
raised with Him through THE FAITH OF THE WORKING OF GOD,
who raised Him from the dead," Col 2:;12.
This passage explicitly states that baptism is
God's own WORKING OF THE FAITH, and since it is a working
of the faith in us, it is a work of grace by faith. This
is true because faith, the faith, and God's grace always
go together, as husband and wife, parents and children,
front and back, top and bottom, inside and outside, up and
down, left and right go together. They are an inseparable
pair. We cannot have one without the other.
Baptism is a part of the New Covenant. It's a part
of the Great Commission. It's a part of the gospel of
Christ. It's a part of "the faith" once for all delivered
to the saints. All of these are the same. They are all the
works of God. And they are all designed to be by faith
which requires they be by grace -- by grace through
faith.
No part of the New Covenant, the Great Commission,
the gospel of Christ, or "the faith" can be performed
without faith, for whatever is not faith in sin (Rom
14:;23), and without faith it is impossible to please God,
Heb 11:6.
Every "WORK" in the New Covenant, in the Great
Commission, in the gospel, and in "the faith" is designed
to be "a WORK of FAITH with POWER," II Thess 1:11; I Thess
1:3.
Scriptural baptism is "a work of faith" (a work of
God, a work of the Holy Spirit) because the Scriptures say
so, Rom 1:5; 16:26; Col 2:12; Phil 2:12-13; I Co 15:10; He
4:16; 12:28.
It is by grace that "the word of faith" (Rom
10:8) is offered to sinful man. It is by grace that the
Holy Spirit generates repentance and faith in the hearts
of sinful men. The Holy Spirit continues to generate faith
in the hearts of those same people as long as they are "of
faith" and "full of faith," i.e., as long as they continue
to walk by faith as it is generated in their hearts, Acts
6:5,8; 11:24; Gal 3:6-9; Heb 11.
It is by grace that the Holy Spirit generates faith
in the heart of the saved person to obey, Rom 1:5; 16:26;
Col 2:12. It is by grace that the Holy Spirit generates
"FAITH with POWER" to OBEY in the hearts of saved people,
II Th 1:11.
"Faith with power" is the working of the
Holy Spirit in us as He uses our minds and our bodies
"to be willing and to be doing" God's good pleasure in
and through us, Ph 2:12-13.
Again, the New Covenant is a GRACE covenant, Ro
6:14; 5:2; I Pet 4:10; Eph 3:2. And the covenants with all
their promises belong first to the Father, to Christ, to
the Holy Spirit, and then to the covenant people, Ga
3:14-19,27-29; He 8:8-13; 9:15-17; 10:16-30.
The proof is overwhelming throughout both the Old
Testament and the New Testament that only the faithful
saved constitute the covenant people, Gen 12:1-3; 15; 17;
18:17-19; 22:1-18; 26:2-5; 28; Ex 19:3-6; Lev 20:22-26;
Deut 7:6-11; 14:2; 26:16-19; Mt 3:16-18; I Pet 2:5-9; Tim
2:11-14; Rom 11:11-22; II Cor 6:14-18; Gal 2:6-9,14,27-29;
Heb 3; 6:4-6,11-20; 10:16-39; 11: 12:1-17,25-29; et
al.
Beginning with Abraham and especially since the
beginning of the Law Covenant, the faithful have been
restricted to the seed of Abraham, i.e., to Israel and the
church, Ex 19:3-6; Lev 11; 20:22-26; Deut 7:6-11; 14:2;
26:16-19; I Pet 5-9; Tim 2:14; II Cor 6:14-18; Eph
2:11-22; see also the scriptures in the above paragraph.
Those in the church are the engrafted seed of Abraham, Rom
11:11-22; and all the above scriptures.
John's baptism is metaphorically the entrance or
door into the body of Christ, therefore into Christ,
because the church is also metaphorically called the body
of Christ. The Scriptures, therefore, assign this intimacy
to the church and Christ as though they were one entity,
i.e., one person, Rom 6:3-6; I Cor 12:12 (12-27); Gal
3:27; Col 2:11-17,19; Acts 9:4-5; 22:7-8; 26:14-15.
SCRIPTURAL BAPTISM IS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.
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