HE THAT BELIEVES AND IS BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me and asked the following question and I have extracted the question directly from the person’s letter to me:
“I refer to Mark 16 verse 16. If we are baptised as babies in the church and later in our lives have become converted, must we be (physically) baptized again with water? To what is this verse referring?”
Mark 16:16 reads as follows. I begin quoting from verse 15.
MAR 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
MAR 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
I, who hear the Gospel, according to the section we have read need to do two things:
I must believe and I must be baptized.
MAR 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, …
Besides that I must believe, it is me and only me that must decide that I must be baptized. According to my opinion it certainly only mean baptism in water.
Jesus also says the following on occasion:
JOHN 3:3-5
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
The disciples received approximately three years of intensive training by Jesus, so I cannot go wrong by doing what they have instructed the newly converted to do.
Look at what they told the people in their first conversion service:
ACTS 2:38 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.
ACTS 2:39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
I definitely believe that you must be baptized when you have repented and although I was baptized (sprinkled) when I was small and also catechized; many years later I converted/repented and was then baptized.
I really want to suggest the following when you decide to be baptized:
Let it be by a congregation that recognizes Jesus as the leader of the church and in other words is the beginning and end of everything.
COL 1:16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
COL 1:17-19
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Together with that the congregation must believe that the whole Word, is the Word from our Lord to us.
2 TIM 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
2 TIM 3:17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Greetings,
Sakkie