Acts 10
Requirements #4: Discipleship Baptism Part 2
In 'Requirements #4: Discipleship Baptism Part 2,' Pastor Albert N. Martin continues his series on church membership, focusing on the third requirement: discipleship baptism. He expounds on the consistent apostolic practice of baptism throughout the book of Acts, particularly in the household baptisms of Cornelius, Lydia, and the Philippian Jailer, as well as the re-baptism of John's disciples in Ephesus. Martin argues that these accounts consistently demonstrate that baptism is for professed disciples who have repented, believed, and received the Holy Spirit, refuting interpretations that suggest infant or non-disciple baptism. The sermon concludes by urging both unbelievers to become disciples and believers to obey Christ's command to be baptized as an act of obedience and identification with Him.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 11 sections · 72 min
- Introduction: The Importance of Biblical Church Membership Standards 0:02
- Review of Membership Requirements and Discipleship Baptism 4:30
- Pillars of Discipleship Baptism: Christ's Command and Apostolic Practice 6:26
- Apostolic Practice: Samaria and Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8) 10:32
- Apostolic Practice: Cornelius's Household (Acts 10, 11, 15) 14:38
- Apostolic Practice: Lydia's Household (Acts 16) 32:55
- Apostolic Practice: The Philippian Jailer's Household (Acts 16) 42:41
- Apostolic Practice: Crispus's Household and the Corinthians (Acts 18) 48:20
- Apostolic Practice: John's Disciples in Ephesus (Acts 18-19) 54:43
- Conclusion: The Persuasive Case for Discipleship Baptism 68:00
- Pastoral Application: Call to Discipleship and Baptism 70:18
Key Quotes
“as a general rule, maintaining the biblical purpose of the church and maintaining biblical standards for admission into the church will stand or fall together.”
“What must I be or do or know that I may have a right and a responsibility to seek admission into the church? And those within the house need to ask the question, whom do we have both a right and a responsibility to admit into the church?”
“So that the head of the church has laid out the program for his church, and that program is to be in place not just with the initial thrust of the gospel.”
“The unclear must yield to the clear.”
“Am I am I just talking to the choir? Or do do you see the responsible way to handle those passages?”
“That isn't what one can read into the text with any honest handling of the word of God.”
“Where there is not sufficient knowledge of basic gospel truth and elementary gospel experience, one's baptism is not discipleship baptism.”
“If you love me. He said, keep my commandments.”
Applications
All listeners
- Continually ask what one must be, do, or know to seek admission into the church, and whom the church has a right and responsibility to admit.
- Stay with the teaching to avoid error on the left hand and the right, even if it's not 'bell-ringing' preaching.
- When encountering shorthand biblical accounts, assume that realities like repentance and faith were present, allowing broader scripture to regulate thinking.
- In any biblical discussion, allow the clear passages to interpret the unclear ones.
- Ask whether baptism is given to any but those who are disciples, rather than seeking minor children or babies in household baptism accounts.
- When encountering approaches that contradict plain biblical statements, do not be shaken, but rely on the clear testimony of scripture.
- If not a Christian, be persuaded to become a disciple by finding forgiveness and the Holy Spirit in Christ.
- If united to Christ (repented and believed), be persuaded that you ought to be baptized because Christ commands it.
- If a child of God of responsible years, comply with the biblical directive of baptism, not thinking it imparts grace, but believing God has made you His disciple.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 155 paragraphs, roughly 72 minutes.
Introduction: The Importance of Biblical Church Membership Standards
The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, May 13, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. As I have looked out on the congregation, I don't know that we have any with us this morning who have not been with us for at least some of the recent expositions, but assuming that we might have more than an ordinary number of such, I had planned to introduce the sermon by saying, and I'm going to say, Living Together in the Father's House. This is the title of a series of sermons that I've been preaching since October of last year, and the sermons on this theme were precipitated by the requirement of our church constitution that every five years, no fewer than fifteen consecutive Lord's Day mornings be given in the adult class and in the morning worship to the exposition of some of the central truths contained in our confession of faith and in our church constitution. Having preached some twenty messages on the purpose of the church, the last few sermons have been addressing the crucial issue of the requirements for membership in the church. And I would ask you not to forget this vital principle.
I have stated it on the front end of each of these studies dealing with the requirements for membership. And I will continue to state it, and it is this, as a general rule, maintaining the biblical purpose of the church and maintaining biblical standards for admission into the church will stand or fall together. One cannot long maintain the purpose of the church unless biblical standards for membership, and that is to say, the purpose of the church, and the purpose of the church as a whole, are maintained. And often when we have found men coming to us seeking counsel as to what to do with respect to churches that are not being operated in such a way as to fulfill the divine and biblical purpose, we have come back to asking them, what is the state of your membership? Sheep will act like sheep. Goats will act like goats.
And when there are a prevailing number of goats within the flock of Christ's sheep, then the purpose of the church, which can only be realized with gospel dynamics, gospel motives, gospel perspectives, that purpose, it will be impossible to pursue it where there is laxity with regard to the membership. And then I sought to set before you the analogy that we are coming back to again. And that is to say, the purpose of the church is not to pursue it with regard to the membership. And then I sought to set before you the analogy that we are coming back to again.
I walked back, weاءn a n-py rk, wale that the church is like a house and those within the house are subject to the word of God and to Christ. And those who come knocking at the front door of the church must frame their expectations as to whether or not, they ought to be admitted by the same standard of those within the house. Right and naked. We establish from the scriptures that the membership of the church, has a stewardship of the latch on the front porch.
We does not expect that the questions askier would find out what they were willing to believe. We do not expect this. I know that it would be best for quickly seeing just what we call a lax natural contradiction door as well as the back door of church discipline. And so these two questions need continually to be asked by the person coming to the door. This is the question that he or she must ask. What must I be or do or know that I may have a right and a responsibility to seek admission into the church? And those within the house need to ask the question, whom do we have both a right and a responsibility to admit into the church? And if the one knocking and those responding in one way or another to the knocking are looking at the same standard, then there will be, by the grace of God, a carrying out of the will of Christ, who is the Lord of his church. Now,
Review of Membership Requirements and Discipleship Baptism
we considered what our Constitution identifies and what I have called as the requirement of age or maturity. Any man or woman shall be eligible. Then we looked at the requirement of gospel knowledge, confession, and experience. Our Constitution says any man or woman professing repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and manifesting a life transformed by the power of Christ. There must be a modicum of knowledge of the basic facts of the gospel, a profession of having embraced those facts for oneself in the embrace of Christ, and some evidence that that is not a mere notional faith, but true and saving faith, which has resulted in a union with Christ that constitutes the one, a new creature in Christ, in whom the old is past and the new has come. Then last Lord's Day, we began to study the third requirement for church membership, and I have designated it as discipleship baptism. Our Constitution reads this way. Any man or woman
shall be eligible for membership in this church who professes repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, who manifests a life transformed by the power of Christ, who has been baptized upon profession of faith. Who has been baptized upon profession of faith. And I have used the term discipleship baptism, and I hope that will become increasingly clear as to why I have chosen that term.
Pillars of Discipleship Baptism: Christ's Command and Apostolic Practice
And then I announce to you in our studies last Lord's Day, that I would handle the subject under two major headings. The duty of discipleship baptism established, and then the significance of discipleship baptism explained. I then went on to state that the duty of discipleship baptism rests down upon three massive pillars of biblical revelation. First of all, the clear command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 28, 18 to 20.
The Lord who has full authority in heaven and in earth says, going, make disciples, baptizing them, teaching them. So that the head of the church has laid out the program for his church, and that program is to be in place not just with the initial thrust of the gospel. There are good and godly men who explain away discipleship baptism by saying, the great commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ's mission only applies for the initial thrust of the gospel into pagan settings, first generation Christians. Then we must bring other perspectives in to regulate our baptizing practice. And I rear back on my hind legs and say no. For Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the ages. And those directives of our blessed Lord are the directives of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ's mission only applies for the initial thrust of the gospel. And I rear back on my hind legs and say no. For Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the ages. And those directives of our blessed Lord are the directives of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ's mission only applies for the initial thrust of the gospel into pagan settings. And I rear back on my hind legs and say no. For Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the ages. And those directives of our blessed Lord are the directives of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ's mission only applies for the initial thrust of the gospel into pagan settings. And I rear back on my hind legs and say no. For Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the ages. And those directives of our blessed Lord are the directives of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ's mission only applies for the initial thrust of the gospel into pagan settings. And those directives of our blessed Lord are the directives of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ's mission only applies for the initial thrust of the gospel into pagan settings. And I rear back on my hind legs and say no. For Jesus said, lo, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the ages. And those directives of our blessed Lord are the directives of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Apostolic Practice: Samaria and Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8)
And then what happens? We read in verse 12, but when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women, aner, gune, both adult males and adult females. It is utterly silent about any others who were baptized. So here again, all of the baptized were baptized.
For those who heard preaching and all of those who heard preaching and believed were baptized. Verse 13, and Simon also himself believed. He made a credible profession of faith and therefore he was baptized. And being baptized, some initial signs were encouraging.
He continued with Philip, the man of God. But then the next line tells us the first hint that maybe there was something defective and spurious. In his faith, he continues with Philip, not because of the message, but because of the miracles. Beholding signs and great miracles wrought, he was amazed.
And eventually his true character surfaces. And Peter says, your heart is not right with God. You have neither part nor lot in this matter. God is teaching us that baptism does not automatically convey grace.
And it teaches us that the most discerning of God's servants will not always make an accurate decision. A judgment about the credibility of people's faith. It's right there on the surface. Philip believed, I'm sorry, Simon believed.
He was baptized. In time it was evident that he had neither part nor lot in the salvation preached by God's servant. Then at the end of Acts 8, we have the first baptism of a non-Jew. We have a half-breed Jews up in Samaria.
That's how they were considered. by the pure-blooded Jews. But now we have a proselyte, a eunuch, who had gone up to Jerusalem at one of the set feasts and on his way back to his place of dwelling, he is reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. And Philip comes up to him and from the very passage that the man is reading, there becomes the touchstone of this question.
Who is the prophet talking about? Himself or another? And it says in beautiful simplicity, verse 35, Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this Scripture preached unto him Jesus. You see, personal work is preaching.
You don't have a pulpit. You may not have even an open Bible at the time, although Philip did. And you may not be rearing back on your hind legs and thundering, but he preached Jesus to him. He gave an authoritative, Scripture-based declaration of God's salvation in Jesus.
And somewhere along the line, he said to the man, and if you embrace the message in faith, you must declare it in the God-appointed ordinance of baptism. So we read verse 36, and as they went on the way, they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, Behold, water! What doth hinder me to be baptized? And then we have the account of the baptism of the eunuch.
And then in chapter 9, we have the account of the baptism of Saul of Tarsus. He is converted by direct revelation of the risen Christ, the brightness above the noonday sun. He hears the voice of Christ. Christ himself apprehends him.
And if ever someone could be exempt from baptism based upon an unusual, striking experience of conversion, it would be Saul of Tarsus. But he is not. God says a humble disciple by the name of Ananias to go to Saul and to be the instrument through whom Saul, now Paul, will receive his sight, be filled with the Spirit, and be baptized. Now we come to chapter 10.
Apostolic Practice: Cornelius's Household (Acts 10, 11, 15)
So much for overview and review.
And the reason I'm coming back to this passage is because it has such detail with respect to a very crucial issue in the minds of those involved in the early church. This is the first situation in which we have a group of Gentiles who are not what we, we call full-blown proselytes, who have not been circumcised and basically become Jews by their identification with the nation, its worship, and all of its rubrics. And here God gives us not only in Acts chapter 10 great details about this whole incident of the gospel going into a purely Gentile situation, but we have in Acts chapter 11 further reflection on what happened and then again in Acts chapter 15. And one cannot fully appreciate what is laid out in Acts 10 without doing so in the additional light that is brought to bear upon it in Acts chapter 11 when Peter and his companions are telling all of their friends back in Jerusalem what happened there in the house of Cornelius and then in what is commonly called the council at Jerusalem in the whole matter of do people need to be circumcised and become Jews in order to have the full blessing of salvation in Christ.
And this incident, it becomes crucial in the whole discussion and in the ultimate decision, no, Gentiles need only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they should be saved by grace as all others are saved by grace. And in the midst of that, we have again some of the most helpful material to understand and to underscore the fact that a requirement for membership in Christ's church is disciple baptism and that there is no other kind of baptism practiced by the apostles. So follow with me as we make a quick survey through Acts chapter 10. The first thing we note is that the household of Cornelius was a God-fearing household. Verse 1. There was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of the band, and that isn't a band with brass instruments, that's a cohort, a group of soldiers called the Italian band. Now notice, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house.
And then some of the manifestations of his God-fearing inward disposition, he gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. This terminology, he was a God-fearer, identifies him as what was called a proselyte of the gate. Someone who had heard by one means or another of Israel's God and had recognized that in the sea of paganism and idolatry there was but one true and living God, the God who revealed himself to his special people, Israel, who had instituted his special ways of approach to him, and these people were not circumcised and made Jews as the full proselyte is made a Jew, in quotation marks, but they are called proselytes of the gate, and they could not go in to the ordinary area of the temple where a Jew or a full-blown proselyte could go. And so Cornelius and his household become very significant. You remember later on, some of the Jews back there in Jerusalem, hear that Peter went in and ate with people who were uncircumcised. They wouldn't have been upset if he had gone in and eaten with those who were full-blown proselytes, for they would be circumcised, they would become part of the identifiable
assembly of God's people or of God's people, Israel. So, the first thing we know about Cornelius and his entire household, this is critical, look at the language, he was a devout, one that feared God with all his house. So, here is a God-fearing man and a God-fearing household. All right?
Second thing we notice is that the household of Cornelius became a gospel-hearing household. Look at verse 24. God gives a vision to Peter, God is giving revelatory data to Cornelius to get them together, and now we read in verse 24, and on the morrow, they, that is, Peter and his companions, entered into Caesarea, and Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his kinsmen and his near friends. Having called together his kinsmen and his near friends.
Now, look at verses 33 and 34. Forthwith, therefore, I sent for you, Cornelius talking to Peter, and you have well done that you are come. Now, therefore, we are all, all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you of the Lord. Peter opened his mouth and said, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, etc.
And then Peter begins to preach with his focus upon Jesus of Nazareth, how he was approved of God by his mighty signs and wonders, and how the apostles are witnesses of what he did, and the fact that he died and he was raised from the dead. So, we've got two things in place. The household of Cornelius was a God-fearing household. Secondly, the household of Cornelius became a gospel-hearing household.
Thirdly, the household of Cornelius became a spirit-receiving household. Verse 44, While Peter spoke these things, the Holy Spirit fell, now notice, on whom? On all them that heard the word, the Spirit falls upon those that hear the word. The God-fearing household has become a gospel-hearing household.
The gospel-hearing household has now become a spirit-receiving household. Now, the question is, did God just place His Spirit within them and come upon them in this unusual way that would have visible, discernible, audible manifestations, irrespective of the state of their life, their hearts? No. We know from the analogy of Scripture that God does not place His Spirit within someone in a saving way and then upon them to demonstrate that salvation without, first of all, bringing them to repentance and faith.
But we don't need to trust the analogy of Scripture. We just trust the Holy Spirit tells us that explicitly in Acts chapter 15. And I want you to turn there with me, if you will.
Now, this is not the kind of preaching that's going to make you ring the bells, but I hope it will keep you from error on the left hand and the right. So stay with me. Chapter 15. Certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, saying, Except you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.
And so there's this debate about this and finally they say, Hey, let's go up to where the apostles are at Jerusalem and let's sort this thing out. So then we read verse 6, And the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider them, the matter. And when there had been much questioning, Peter rose up and said to them, Brethren, you know that a good while ago God made choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God who knows the heart bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit as He did unto us, and made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
Now, let's look at a few references now to the fact that the Spirit came in the context of a believing response to the gospel. Do you see that in the passage? Now, turn back to chapter 11 and we get another strand woven in. Chapter 11, here, when Peter comes back to Jerusalem and the brethren hear that the Gentiles have received the word, they're upset again because there is this hobnobbing with these uncircumcised.
You went in, verse 3, to men uncircumcised and ate with them. Peter says, all right, that's right, I did. But let me tell you what lay behind that. So Peter recounts how God gave him a vision and how he goes to the household of Cornelius and what happens.
He describes the very thing we read in Acts 10, 46 and following, verse 15, and as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning. And I remember the word of the Lord, how He said, John indeed baptized with water, but you should be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If then God gave unto them the light gift as He did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? And when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, then to the Gentiles has God granted what?
Repentance unto life. Peter said God gave them the light gift when they believed on the Lord Jesus. And when they hear his report, his fellow Jews say, then it's evident God has given repentance unto life. So with the two other passages, we see that the household was sitting there listening to preaching.
And then it is not as though the Spirit of God comes to indwell them and comes upon them in this unusual way, irrespective of whether the Spirit had taken out the heart of stone and given the heart of flesh and granted the gifts of repentance and faith. They repent and they believe. But remember, these reports are often summaries, distilled shorthand accounts. And when God is pleased to fill in the lines, it is our responsibility when we find similar shorthand accounts where God doesn't fill in the lines to assume, assume that those realities were also present in this faith repentance response to the gospel. So that if Luke should say, Paul goes into such a city and after three weeks many are baptized, are we to assume that there was no preaching preceding the baptism? Of course not. Are we to read in that there was no repentance in faith?
He just went in and beat people on the head with a bat, knocked them out, and plunged them under the water. That's nonsense. We must not take a distilled, succinct, summarizing statement and then put into it what we please in order to support an opinion. We must let the broader testimony of scripture regulate our thinking.
And here in Acts 10, God does that for us with the further light of Acts 15 and Acts 11. So you're following me now. What do we have in Acts 10? We have a household, a household that hears God.
We have a household that hears the word of God. We have a household that receives the spirit of God. Parenthesis, because God had brought them to repentance and faith. Then we have in verses 47 and 48 a household of baptized disciples.
Then answered Peter, when God gives this unusual manifestation of the spirit, to prove to Peter they are getting the same gift of the spirit that the apostles and the 120 received on the day of Pentecost, Peter says, can any forbid the water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? If God has responded to spirit-created faith by granting the gift of the spirit and this unusual manifestation of the spirit, who in the world am I to say we've got to take them down to rabbi first and get them circumcised? Who am I to say we've got to get a vow that they'll become kosher Jews? God, by giving them the spirit, has given them the crowning blessing of new covenant privilege. Peter's the one that on the day of Pentecost, he said in response to the question, what should we do? Repent, be baptized every one in you in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins.
You should receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is to you, to your children, to all that are far off. And Peter says, aha, this is what's happening. The gospel is moving up into this household of raw Gentiles.
Oh yes, they have been sympathetic to the revelation as it has impinged upon them. They are God-fearers, but they have never been to the rabbi. They have never committed themselves to being kosher Jews. And Peter says, I'm preaching after God gives me a vision, gets me, as it were, by the back of the neck to see the bridges and said, Peter, get up there and preach to them.
And I'm preaching. The Holy Ghost comes down. And he said, I've had it. I'm done in.
What can I say? God gave them the spirit, the crowning blessing of the new covenant. That means they have forgiveness of sin. That means they've been brought to repentance and faith.
And his Jewish friends got that message. They held their peace and glorified God saying, then God's stepped into the field. And God's telling us, you don't need the rabbi. You don't need the rabbi to be fully saved.
All you need is Jesus and believing in Jesus. All the blessings of the new covenant are given. How could I withhold the water from whom? Those who had received all the new covenant blessing and their children who are not conscious of their sin and their ability to exercise faith.
Do you see how incongruous? It is to read into this household baptism that somehow this is an indication that the apostles are broadening the commission of their Lord. Make disciples, baptize them, teach them. They had no warrant to broaden it, to make it more narrow.
And God himself takes the field in order to broaden the perspective of Peter and the apostles back in Jerusalem. So that by the time they come to discuss this in Acts 15, the issue is settled that there is discipleship baptism when there is household discipleship manifested in repentance and faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now do you see that in your Bible? So if someone comes to you and says, ah, but look at what it says in Acts chapter 10.
It says that the whole, yes, the whole household what? Received the Spirit, was brought to repentance and faith. And then they became, look at verse 48b. They became eager to be taught disciples.
Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. And why do you think they wanted him to tarry? To go out fishing together? No.
That they might learn more about this Christ through whom the great blessing of salvation, by grace, through faith, has been brought to them as unclean Gentiles. So we see a clear and wonderful fulfillment of Acts 2.39. Whatever that call is in Acts 2.39, as many as the Lord our God shall call to him, whether it's the general call that is crowned with the promise or whether it is the special efficacious call in which the promise is fulfilled, one thing is clear. This detailed account of a household baptism must regulate our understanding of all household baptisms unless there is clear contextual evidence to the contrary. Now you got hold of that principle. The unclear must yield to the clear.
In any matter of discussion that has to do with something revealed in the Bible, the unclear must yield to the clear. The clear. The clear. The clear.
In that particular area. And when we have more shortened accounts of household baptisms, very, very distilled accounts, we are not to import everything we would like to import, but allow the more full, the more expansive description of a household baptism, by the way, the first one, the first household baptism, to regulate our thinking about household baptism. All right? So we come then to example number six of baptism.
Apostolic Practice: Lydia's Household (Acts 16)
We're looking now at the consistent apostolic practice with respect to baptism. Acts chapter 16. And Paul's second missionary journey. We have the account of his vision in verse 10.
He sees a man of Macedonia standing saying, Come over and help us. Paul says, From that vision we concluded that God had called us, now notice, to preach the gospel to them. Didn't say we concluded from that God wanted us to go and sort out all the social and economic problems in Macedonia. God wanted us to go and establish some kind of a chapter of those against soldiers abusing their authority.
No. We concluded when we saw a man standing saying, Come over and help us. The best help we could provide is preach the gospel. Verse 11.
So setting sail from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony, and we were in the city tarrying certain days. And on the Sabbath day, we went forth without the gate by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer. And we sat down and spoke unto the women that came together. There was no synagogue there at Philippi.
And apparently a group of devout women, who were again, proselytes, of one degree or another, they are gathered for a prayer meeting. What is the situation? We don't know. One reads the commentators and all of the speculation, two possibilities as to what particular river it was, what the place might be like where they gathered for prayer.
But it's all speculation. Some of it a little more substance than others. But it's pure speculation. God's giving us, you see, a very, very trimmed down, distilled report here.
What is important is, the vision, of seeing a man, becomes for Paul and his companions, a handful of women by a riverside having a prayer meeting. And Paul doesn't take his tail between his legs and say, you know, God didn't keep his word. I saw a man. It's got to be a man.
He understood that the vision was a generic revelation of God's purpose, that he should go to Macedonia. And here he sees these women. And what happens? They begin to speak.
Verse 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira. She was a businesswoman, 300 miles away from her home town. And she is described as one that worshiped God.
She was a proselyte of some degree. She heard us whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things, which were spoken by Paul. Paul's normal pattern was to go into a synagogue. There, he knew there would be Jews of the dispersion.
There might be proselytes who had come over to Judaism and that he could, assume, He would assume a belief in the Scriptures, and so he would begin by reasoning out of the Scriptures, demonstrating that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the long-promised Messiah. Well, he was doing a similar thing here. He assumes that this woman, and most likely those with her, though it's not explicit, and he begins to speak to her, preaching the gospel to her. Remember, he said, God called us to preach the gospel. But all the text says is that he was speaking to her. Well, what do you think he was speaking? Six o'clock news? What would he be speaking to her? He had a vision. Go to Macedonia and preach the gospel. So he's preaching to God. But God doesn't need to say, and he was speaking the gospel to her.
It's understood that that's what he was doing. And while he is speaking, what does God do? The Scripture tells us that this woman, Lydia. Lydia. She heard. She was listening. And her heart was opened to give heed to the things that were spoken by the Apostle Paul. He speaks. Her heart is opened. She embraces the message.
Now, the words repentance and faith and regeneration and the gift of the Spirit, none of those is mentioned. Do you see it in your Bible? I don't see it in mine. The next thing we read is this.
And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us saying, if you judge me to be faithful in the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Now, let me ask you, because there's no record that she believed that she repented, that she received the gift of the Spirit. Do you believe she did repent and did believe and did receive the gift of the Spirit? Yes? No? It's obvious.
The Apostle Paul would not baptize, that is, give the sign and seal of union with Christ, the blessing of cleansing, forgiveness, newness of life in Christ. He would not give the sign and the seal of the blessings of God's grace in the new covenant to someone who did not profess faith in the Lord Jesus and manifest something that would be indicative of the grace of God. That that faith was based upon sufficient gospel knowledge, profession of gospel truth, and experience of gospel power. So Lydia is baptized not on the basis of her previous...
Please turn this cassette over to continue the message. ...profession of gospel truth and experience of gospel power.
So Lydia is baptized not on the basis of her previous gospel... ...who was baptized.
Responding to the message of the gospel in repentance and faith, receiving the gift of the Spirit, God passes over it all and says, in summary, she was baptized. Now, look at the text. And when it says...
when she was baptized and her household,
do we suddenly have the right to say, in the case of Lydia, there had to be some evidence and profession of repentance and faith in a changed life, but on the basis of her repentance and her faith in changed life and receiving the blessings of the new covenant in Christ, first, therefore, her servants or her children or her relatives, her employees, they are baptized on the basis of her repentance and her faith.
Say, no, you can only find that there if you put it there. Exactly. Exactly. You can only find it there if you put it there.
If God had told us and her children,
we would say they were children, children of sufficient age to have understood the gospel, repented and believed the gospel, and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And we would not be forcing a, quote, a Baptist interpretation on the text. We would be allowing the text to absorb the light of parallel passages in which the clear elucidate the un.
This is a household baptism. Why? You had a household conversion.
And it's not, is it likely or unlikely that she had minor children with her 300 miles from home. She's obviously the lord of the manor. She says, if you judge me faithful, come into my house. And that's why some of the most ardent pedobaptists who want to find babies and children in here say it's most likely that she was a widow or a single woman who had broken through some of the cultural mores and was a sharpening.
She was a sharp business woman in this period of Roman life, etc. But that's all secondary. We don't ask the question, can we find any minor children there or any babies there? The question is, can we find baptism given to any but those who are disciples?
That's the question. And if we do not find in any other passage where anything other than professed disciples are baptized, baptized, baptized, we are not reading in some nasty Baptist convictions. When we come to a passage like this and we read and when she was baptized and we read into it, well, that indicates that she came to repentance and faith and received the gift of the spirit, according to God's promise and her household, how many ever were in her household because they heard and they repented and they believed and they received the spirit. I don't know.
Am I am I just talking to the choir? Or do do you see the responsible way to handle those passages? All right. Well, then look at the latter part of Act 16.
Apostolic Practice: The Philippian Jailer's Household (Acts 16)
Got another household baptism.
There are four of them in the New Testament, one in first Corinthians. Do you know the story? Paul and Silas are thrown into prison at midnight. They're singing praise to God.
God sends an earthquake. Prisoners are all loose. The jailer is about to kill himself, knowing if he doesn't do it, Rome will do it for him and he'll be disgraced. Before all of his relatives, who is about to kill himself and spare his honor and Paul cries out verse 28.
Do yourself no harm. We're all here. And this man calls for lights, brings in trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be right with the God who so works in men that you guys who are in here innocent of the charges laid upon you, you can be praising and.
Having a hallelujah fit at midnight with your backs laid bare from the stripes I put upon you to God, who can do that in human hearts to God, who can shake a jail and cause all of the bands to fall off and then work in all the prisoners as they don't split and run out. He sees the power of God, not only in the physical shaking of the jailhouse with an earthquake, but the moral power of God in Paul and Silas and in the other prisoners, he said, I don't want to go another minute of being right with a God like that. I don't want to deal with a God like that in the nakedness of my sin in my unclean state. What must I do to be saved?
Paul gives him a nice little mini snippet of an answer. They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. You and your house in response to his question. What must I do to be saved?
Paul says you have one thing to do, sir, and that is to believe. I'm the Lord Jesus or your Bible may say the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a textual matter and furthermore, Mr. Jailer, man, you will not have exhausted the saving power of God in Jesus Christ.
You believing will be saved and I've got news for your house. Believing will also be said, you see what the text says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. But in the case of your household, they don't need to believe. They just need to.
Be related to you by blood and they will be baptized in the hope and pledge that they shall one day be saved. That isn't what one can read into the text with any honest handling of the word of God. Here is a promise of salvation to the jailer man upon believing and to his household upon believing. Well, if they're going to believe, they got to hear.
So verse 32 and they, Paul and Silas spake the word of the Lord unto him with all. That we're in his house, you will be saved and your house believing. How shall they believe on him? They have not heard.
How shall they hear preacher? So Paul and Silas become the preachers and they speak the word of the Lord unto him with all that are in his house. And obviously this man, it doesn't say he repented. He believed, but it shows the fruit of his repentance in faith.
He took them the same hour of the night and wash their stripes. And the verb Luau, you do a little word study. This is the word used when Jesus said he who is bathed all over needs not say to wash his feet. These men were bleeding over the major part of their torso.
There was enough water to bathe them entirely. And so Luke says, Oh yes. And by the way, since we're talking about water and he was baptized and all his immediately. So what do you have?
You have, household gospel. Here's you then have household gospel believers implied. It's not explicitly stated leading to a household baptism culminating verse 34 and household rejoicing. And he brought them up into his house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly with all his house, having believed in God.
So here we have another wonderful example of the power, of God laying hold of a whole household who was in his household, almost likely a wife where there's some servants don't know where there are some children who were young men, young women. I don't know. All I know is it was a household that heard the word and obviously a household that received the word, a household that now confesses that reception in the ordinance of baptism, a household, that rejoices in the God whose salvation they have come to appropriate by grace through faith. Now that's a team coming down to the last two apostolic instances of baptism. It's very interesting that the end of chapter 17 and remember the original text did not have these divisions. We have an account of what happened when Paul was preaching at Athens and some people say he was a total flop there because he tried philosophy instead of the gospel. Well, the only thing I can say about that is that's nonsense.
Apostolic Practice: Crispus's Household and the Corinthians (Acts 18)
And when we read verse 32, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, others said, we'll hear you again concerning this. Paul went out from among them, but certain men clave unto him and believed among whom was Dionysius, the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with him. After these things, he departed from Athens. Now there's no mention of baptism at the end of chapter 17.
But knowing the patterns where here in act 16 faith is not even mentioned, it says that same hour of the night he washed them and was baptized and say he believed and was baptized. But it is clearly assumed Paul didn't baptize nonbelievers. And in the same way, when it says certain men clave to him and believed, we have every reason to assume that Paul baptized them. Doesn't say it, but we have every reason to assume.
It because that was the apostolic pattern. Make disciples baptize them. Now he comes to Athens and he finds Aquila and they begin their gospel endeavors in the synagogue. Verse four.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded it's an imperfect. He was seeking to persuade Jews and Greeks. He was in the posture of seeking to bring their judgment over to gospel truth from the scriptures. And he was seeking to bring their judgment over to gospel truth from the scriptures.
But verse five, when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the word testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. And apparently the subtle shift is this from seeking to persuade to solemnly testify. Apparently, Paul had been doing some very tactful pre evangelism seeking, as it were, to to open up the gospel noose as wide as he could and just nudging a little bit. But when Silas and Timothy come, down for some reason, it says he was constrained by the word testifying solemnly affirming to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
When he moved from more dialogue and pre evangelism to cold turkey head on confrontational assertion about who Jesus was. Look at the response when they opposed themselves and blasphemed. He shook out his Raymond and said to them, your blood be upon your own heads. I'm clean from henceforth.
I'll go to the Gentiles. He departed fence. That is, he went out of the synagogue. And where did he go?
He went into the house of a certain man named Titus Justice, a Roman, one whose house joined hard to the synagogue. Here's a man sympathetic to his ministry may have been a proselyte heard Paul in the synagogue. Here's this wealthy Roman who's bought a house right next door to the synagogue like a duplex. His was the other side of it.
So he said they got no use for you in there. Come on into my house. Come on to my house and preach the gospel. So he does.
And look what happened. And Chris, this, the ruler of the synagogue, one of the chief leading men in the synagogue, he must've come over into the next door house. Maybe he did it in off hours. So people wouldn't know what he was doing.
Maybe put on a disguise. I don't know. He was one of the rulers. Well, what happens to him?
He believed in the Lord. Now notice with all his house, his whole household came to faith. He believed in the Lord. Now notice with all his house, his whole household came to faith.
Now notice with all his house, his whole household came to faith. He believes in the Lord and his whole household believes in the Lord. Paul is preaching. He is asserting that Jesus is Messiah and he is the crucified, buried, risen Messiah who gives the spirit to his believing people.
He preaches the full Lord gospel in its new covenant blessing and reality. And Christus believes and his whole household comes to faith. And furthermore, many of the Corinthians hearing were believing and were being baptized. Present tenses hearing they were believing and they were being baptized.
Could it be more simple? Having just given the account of a household faith and obviously baptism because he goes on to say, Oh yes. And then to Christmas in his household, they heard, believed and were baptized. Luke says many others were hearing, believing and were baptized.
Brethren, you may be scratching your head saying, Pastor, you're beating this thing thin at the edges. My wife will vouch for me. The books that I've read piled through in preparation for these ministries. I would not weary you with the attempts that are made to somehow, rob off the plain unadorned statements of passages such as this.
Oh yes. Many of the adult Corinthians heard, believed and were baptized, but Luke says nothing about the children. Therefore, if he doesn't forbid baptism or he does not say children were not baptized, we have every reason to believe they were. Well, my friends, if we can do that with our Bibles here, what we will do with them in a minute.
I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. It has nothing to do with them in any other places.
And I've pleaded with God that this ministry would not be edgy with polemics. And I believe God has helped me that in my heart, I have no desire to beat anyone on the head. But I do want to preach the word of God into your conscience and into your understanding by the help of the Spirit, that when you encounter these approaches, you will not be shaken. But you'll say, wait a minute.
My Bible says many of the Corinthians hearing, believe and were baptized. Well, I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story.
If you were baptized, do you mean to tell me that the household of Crispus were baptized on some other framework other than hearing and believing? Show me from the Bible where there is any other road to the baptismal waters but hearing and believing. Then we come to the last passage. Here's the last one.
Apostolic Practice: John's Disciples in Ephesus (Acts 18-19)
Then we've gone through every passage in the book of Acts where the Apostles are described as having baptized anyone. anyone. And when I read these verses, you're going to have four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten questions all flood into your mind. But remember, we're reading it with one end in view. We want to see what it tells us about baptism. Many other things, a very difficult passage. So resist the temptation, let your mind run off, and hang in there with me as we come to try to isolate what it teaches about Christian baptism. At the end of chapter 18, we have the account of this man Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, excuse me, an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures, and he is preaching, and they find out that his preaching had some deficiencies in it, that he had not been well instructed in everything that had happened after the death and resurrection of Christ, the coming of the Spirit. It says that he taught accurately the
things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John, which probably means that the baptism of means he is preaching about the perfect life of Jesus, and Jesus being the one through whom men come to God. In other words, he is preaching gospel truth. But his knowledge seems to stop with the things revealed through John the Baptist. John pointed to Jesus and said, Behold the Lamb of God. He could preach Christ as the Lamb of God. John says he is the Son of God.
He could preach those realities, but there was something deficient in what we would call a full orbed grasp upon all of the realities subsequent to the death, resurrection, and the outpouring of the Spirit. So he is preaching boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila hear him, they took him to them and expounded unto him the way of God more accurately. They increased his understanding of the way of God. He knew the way of God, verse 25, the man had been instructed in the way of the Lord. But there was some deficiency. And that's the only thing that we need to grasp from that passage, because again, the chapter divisions weren't there, and it's vital to keep that in mind as we move to chapter 19. It came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found certain disciples. And he said unto them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said unto him, No, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was, or as you have it in your New King James Version, we did not so much as hear that there was a Holy Spirit, I believe, the way it is rendered. So what happens? Paul then asks another question, Into what then were
you baptized? And they said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people, They should believe on him that should come after him that is on Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them, they spoke with tongues and prophesied, and they were in all about twelve men. Now grasp the basic flow of thought, and here I will stick closely to my notes where I've tried to distill it. You forgive me for losing eye contact with you for a few moments. Paul comes to Ephesus, and he finds people designated as disciples. And in the book of Acts, disciples refers to professed followers of the Lord Jesus.
And unless there is some compelling, contextual reason to put a different significance, we have to believe that these were, quote, professing Christians. That's the way Luke uses the term disciples in the book of Acts. That's its literary and linguistic sphere. So he says, He comes and he finds a group of men that are called disciples. And as he begins to interact with them for some reason, and here again the commentators all conjecture the Holy Spirit has not given us any clear light, something caused Paul to ask this question. So here's the first question he asks. Did you receive the Holy Spirit upon believing? Now remember what we've learned from Acts chapter 2, from Acts chapter 10. The crowning blessing of the new
covenant is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 3, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of sins. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Because you are sons, he has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Paul is asking them, did you receive the crowning blessing of new covenant salvation? Did you receive the Spirit upon believing? He is asking them, do you presently enjoy the reality of new covenant salvation? The crowning blessing
being the gift of the Spirit and all other blessings ranged under it. They answer, did we receive the Spirit? We do not so much, we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. They were utterly ignorant of the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
They said, we have not so much as heard that there is a Holy Spirit, let alone that he is given, and given in connection with what? We don't know what you are talking about. So Paul then asked the next question. And he said, into what then were you baptized? You see, they were professed disciples of Christ. They had been baptized. Because he found disciples, he assumes they had been baptized. Because why? Apostles and those who labored under them, when they made disciples, they baptized them. Well, they asked then, Paul asked, into what then were you baptized? In connection with whom or what? If you have not so much as heard that the Holy Spirit is or has been given. Well, then, what is the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit? What is the Holy Spirit?
What is the significance of your baptism? Into what were you baptized? If it was into the name of Christ, that is, unto Christ with reference to the revelation of God's salvation in him, then surely you have heard of the Spirit, the Spirit that came upon him, by whose power he performed miracles, the Spirit whom he sent from heaven after he died and rose from the dead and ascended. Well, if you don't even know that the Holy Spirit is or the Spirit has been given, into what were you baptized? And they answer, into or unto John's baptism. Now, notice Paul's response to their answer. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus. Paul says, wait a minute. If you believe on
him, then you should come after him, that is, on Jesus. Paul says, wait a minute. If you believe on him, then you should come after him, that is, on Jesus. Paul says, wait a minute.
If you were baptized into John's baptism, in the way John's baptism functioned, when it was functioning as it ought, those who came to Jordan and were baptized, confessing their sins, John constantly said, I baptize with water. There is one among you who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I tell you, repent and be baptized, but I point you to him who is the Lamb of God, who comes in the name of Jesus Christ, and who is in the name of the Holy Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, that is, the Who is in the name of the Holy Spirit, and who is in the name of the Holy Spirit. And Paul, in the name of the Holy Spirit, tells takes away the sin of the world. He said, if you were baptized into John's baptism with the content of the message being what it ought to have been, then you would surely know of the Holy Spirit. That's the crowning work of Jesus. John pointed to him and said, he's the Lamb who takes away sin. He's the one who baptizes with the Spirit. John's message did not terminate on John.
When people came to him and said, John, your disciples are following after Jesus. Aren't you jealous? He said, no. He said, nothing makes the friend of the bridegroom happier than when people all get taken up with the bridegroom. He must increase. I must decrease. John's message was a Christ-focused message. John was reconstituting the covenant community of Messiah. He was reconstituting within Israel the true Israel. And he said, don't think to say, we've got Abraham to our father. If God's new Israel is going to be made up of bloodlines, God can raise them up out of stones. Bring forth fruits answering to repentance. Find in Jesus Messiah, whose fan is in his hand, who will be the judge at the last day. But on the way to being judged, he's the Lamb. On the way to being judged, he baptizes with the Spirit. So in very condensed
language, Luke gives us Paul's response.
I'm sorry, verse 5. And when they heard this, they heard what? And we have to read into those words. When they heard this, that is Paul's affirmation that the very heart of the gospel was not in whatever baptism they had, whatever message they had. Whoever baptized them in connection with John, there was a gospel deficient content in their message. And therefore, baptism was not Christian baptism. So when they have heard the gospel and embraced the gospel, they are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. That is, they are baptized into the Lord Jesus with reference to him and his work on behalf of sinners, the crowning work of which is giving the Holy Spirit. And upon that baptism, Paul then, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
says that we might have the record for all time. The gospel is now gone out to the uttermost part of the earth, from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, up to Antioch, over a bit further north, and now all the way out, yeah, that direction, all the way out into that area of Asia Minor. And God says, I want to demonstrate for my people at all times, when you believe the message about my Son, you receive the gift of the Spirit. So Paul lays his hands.
And God comes upon them. And God comes upon them in this special manifestation of his presence and power. They speak with tongues and prophesy. They do exactly what they did there in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. What apparently happened in Acts chapter 8 in Samaria, what distinctly is recorded in Acts chapter 10 as the gospel goes into a Gentile household. And now God is saying for all time, when you believe the message about my Son, you are prepared to give yourself up to him in repentance and faith and open identification with him. You receive the crowning gift of the new covenant, the Holy Spirit. And so God gives them this unusual manifestation so that all of us would know that we do not need to find an apostle and resurrect him and have him lay his hands on up to be sure we've gotten the Spirit. God has made
it abundantly clear. And the point for us is that we have to believe the gospel. And we have to our baptismal theology, it seems to me, is this. One obvious principle. Where there is not sufficient knowledge of basic gospel truth and elementary gospel experience, one's baptism is not discipleship baptism. Do you see that principle in the passage? There's no other rational explanation for why they are, quote, re-baptized. They're not re-baptized. They're re-baptized. They got some kind of a washing with water at someone's hands, in some way connected with John the Baptist. But it wasn't the message of God through John, which was a gospel message. Paul says it. He says, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying
they should believe on him that should come. That's pointing to Christ. And these people did not have faith in the one that was to come. Whatever.
Conclusion: The Persuasive Case for Discipleship Baptism
Whatever their baptism was, it was so insufficient in fundamental gospel knowledge that Paul judges it to be a nullity, and he, without any embarrassment, baptizes them upon their profession of faith in the message of God's grace in the Lord Jesus. Well, we've gone through every instance of baptism in the book of Acts. Now, do you agree with me when I say that the second massive pillar on which our understanding of discipleship, baptism, and rest is not only the clear command of the Lord Jesus,
but the consistent pattern of the apostolic practice? I hope you're persuaded. If you're not, please come to me. You'll not find me pugnacious. You'll find me persuaded. And you'll find me doing my best to try to persuade you. Why? The water doesn't save. We've affirmed that. Acts chapter 8. Simon believed, was baptized.
He had neither part nor lot in the matter. If baptism doesn't save, salvation is all in Christ, Christ alone, received by faith alone, why not take the posture of someone and say, hey, look, this has been such a cauldron of misunderstanding and ill will and bitter infected, and the rest, the water doesn't convey any grace. Let's just forget it. All authority has been given unto me in heaven and earth, going therefore make disciples and baptize them.
If you love me. If you love me. If you love me. He said, keep my commandments.
Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? On the scale of issues, surely there are issues of greater moment than baptism. Yes, true. The dying thief is made fit for heaven with no water.
Simply a glance at the one in the central cross saying, Lord, remember me. Today you should be with me in paradise. But you're not a dying thief. And if you have looked to Christ, the Christ to whom you are looking for life and salvation, is the one who's made his will known.
Pastoral Application: Call to Discipleship and Baptism
I close with this simple application.
If you're not a Christian, what I'm trying to do is to persuade you to be a disciple. Not to get baptized, but to be a disciple. To find in Christ the forgiveness promised to all who call upon him. To find in Christ that God has committed himself to give his Holy Spirit as an indwelling life and power.
So uniting you to Christ, as we shall see tonight when we come to the significance of baptism, that you will experience the power of his death and resurrection in your own realm of moral existence.
And if you are united to Christ, you are a man or a woman who has repented and believed, I want to persuade you that you ought to be baptized. You say, why? Well, because Christ commands it. And the apostles...
The apostles were there here, would do what Peter did in Acts chapter 10. Then commanded he them to be baptized.
And I hope tonight to show you from the scriptures the significance of baptism, so that if you are a child of God and of responsible years, you'll say, why in the world would I tarry? I want to comply with the biblical directive. Not thinking in any way it will impart grace, but believing God has in grace made me his disciple. Well, let's pray.
Our Father, we do thank you for your holy word. And while we have had to put on our thinking caps this morning, we thank you that your word...
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
The detailed account of Cornelius's household conversion and baptism, serving as a paradigm for understanding household baptisms.
The accounts of Lydia's household and the Philippian Jailer's household conversions and baptisms, reinforcing the pattern of belief preceding baptism.
The re-baptism of John's disciples in Ephesus, demonstrating that baptism requires sufficient gospel knowledge and faith in Christ.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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