NTS Repent and be baptised

“Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts ch2 v38).

The message of the New Testament centres upon what God achieved in Christ, through his death on the Cross and his Resurrection..
All this was happening “on account of our sins”, for the sake of doing something about them.
And the promised result is the forgiveness of sin.
Our contribution to the outcome is our faith; that is, our willingness to rest, in trust, upon what Christ has done.
This faith needs to be expressed in repentance
The Old Testament word for “repenting” means a change of direction- “Return unto me, you backward children!”
The New Testament word is literally a “change of mind”- METANOIA.
The two metaphors are both showing us that repentance means adopting a new form of life.

The New Testament opens with an appeal from John the Baptist;
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew ch3 v3).
After John was arrested, Jesus began to preach in exactly the same words (ch4 v17).
So that is the primary message of his gospel. God is coming, and you need to prepare yourselves to meet him. You prepare yourselves by means of repentance, turning back to God.

Those who leave themselves unprepared will suffer accordingly;
“Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke ch13 v5).
That is why Jesus was so frustrated by the stubborn resistance of some of the cities;
“Woe to you , Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew ch11 v-21).
On the other hand, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke ch15 v7).
Therefore the same message was inherited by the church, to be proclaimed on his behalf; “… that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke ch24 v47).

In obedience to that command, the call to repentance becomes the starting-point of the gospel message in Acts;
“Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (ch3 v19).
The blotting out of sins, which puts them in a right relationship with God, means that repentance will be “unto life” (ch11 v18).
Hebrews refers to this call as the “foundation” of Christian teaching; “repentance from dead works and faith toward God” (Hebrews ch6 v4).

Those hearing the call are reminded how patiently God has been trying to get them to that point;
“Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans ch2 v4)
And again, “The Lord is forbearing towards you, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter ch3 v9).
But that patience must run out in the end. Revelation mourns the stubborn resistance of some portions of mankind (ch9 vv20-21).

John’s call to repentance was accompanied by the act of baptism, symbolising the start of a new life.
By allowing themselves to be baptised, his followers were making a public declaration that they had repented.
Peter’s words quoted at the beginning make it clear that the Christian community will be using baptism in the same way.
There is a difference, in that repentance-and-baptism are now associated with Christ, and therefore with forgiveness of sins.
The connection between baptism and the promised Holy Spirit is that baptism is the public declaration that a new life has begun, while the Holy Spirit is the spiritual reality of the same new life.
In the language of the Anglican catechism, the act of baptism is the “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace”.

We see the sequence in the story of Cornelius (Acts ch10). Cornelius and his friends, hearing and believing what Peter is telling them, experience the obvious manifestations of receiving the Holy Spirit.
Peter then commands them to be baptised as an acknowledgement of what has taken place.
In the same way, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and then baptised (Acts ch9 vv17-18).
As for the eunuch who asked to be baptised in the previous chapter, he must at least have been touched by the Spirit, or he could not have believed at all (“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” – 1 Corinthians ch12 v3).

When Paul and his friends reached Ephesus, they found “disciples” who were followers of John the Baptist (Acts ch19). These people knew the “baptism of repentance” which John had instituted, but they did not know the gospel of Jesus as it was being taught by the apostles.
Once Paul had taught them to believe in Jesus, they accepted Christian baptism and received the Holy Spirit.
Apollos had been a disciple of this kind. He “spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus”, but when Priscilla and Aquila got hold of him they expounded the way of God more accurately. As a result, it seems, his later teaching was presenting Jesus as “the Christ”.
He must have known Jesus, previously, only as a teacher of repentance in the style of John.
The difference between the two baptisms is that John’s baptism was for people aspiring to forgiveness, whereas Christian baptism is about forgiveness achieved in Christ.

Baptism is an appropriate ceremony to accompany repentance and new life, because it is a symbolic representation of death and resurrection.
The believer enacts his death by going down into the water, and he enacts his resurrection and newness of life by coming out again.
As Paul declares; “Do you not know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?” (Romans ch6 v3).
This was confirmed by anticipation by Jesus himself, when he referred to his own forthcoming death as his “baptism”-
“Are you able to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?” (Mark ch10 v38).
“I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how I am straitened until it is accomplished” (Luke ch12 v50).
Thus the intended meaning of baptism is that the old life has come to an end.

So man comes to God in a faith which depends upon God’s faithfulness, and this involves a change from the past.
This change is what is meant by repentance, the inauguration of what amounts to a new life.
The Holy Spirit is the reality, and the act of baptism is the symbol, of entering a new relationship with God in which we have received the forgiveness of sin.

N.T.S. stands for New Testament Salvation.
This thread is one of a series, and I wanted to mark the fact without making the title too cumbersome.
The series is a sequel to, and the consummation of, the older series on Old Testament remedies for sin.
In that series, sin is defined as a relationship problem; the human will is out of alignment with the will of God.

For me, the testament of the realities of humankind from it's inception is more evidence of whether there is or is not. Humanity has been killing since it's inception with little pause through the ages.

observer.com...
The Earliest Evidence of Violent Human Conflict Has Been Discovered
About 10,000 years ago in eastern Africa, a resource-rich, fertile lagoon known as Nataruk was the setting for humanity’s earliest known violent conflict which resulted in the brutal killing of over two dozen prehistoric men, women and children.

And man has been killing ever since.

Plagues, pestilence, famine, natural disasters and wars throughout history.

Believe history, or words written by man to explain away or excuses for what history actuality reveals while at the same stroke a means to control the masses.

A multitude of religions have come and gone through the ages and a multitude still exists today, but actual human history is written in stone and can not be denied.

Believe your religion but I'll pass thank you.


The deaths of so many innocents throughout history hardens my heart.

a reply to: CharlesT
So what you are saying is that there is something fundamentally wrong with the human contribution to the world.
That is actually one of the basic premises of the Bible. That is the meaning of the story of Adam and Eve.
Your point about the dominance of murder in human life is stated in legendary form in the story of Cain.
That is precisely WHY there is a need for repentance, a change of life-style (which is the actual topic of this thread).

What's your take on "the gifts?" And I'm mainly thinking about "speaking in tongues."

I think it's people making up syllables...some believe it's the Holy Spirit, and others consciously know they are faking it.

There is a street evangelist that I love to listen to, but he believes that "speaking in tongues" is the evidence of the Holy Spirit. So after he baptizes someone, he prays over them until they "speak in tongues."

I had a Final Fantasy 11 character named Repent and I was baptized... Does that count?

a reply to: DISRAELI

What I linked predates Cain by 6000 years or more.
It is said that earth is the devil's domain but god's reign is in heaven. The first part of that statement is certainly true.
I said my peace. I'm sorry I contest your beliefs but I just stated mine.
For me, I don't see the need for further discussion other than to up your post count to make this thread more visible to potential viewers.
I'm sorry I feel the way I do because my kind of attitude eliminates hope for the future both now and after this existence but that's the way it is for me.

Peace to you..
Charles

S&F'd your post

a reply to: KansasGirl
I became a Christian at the height of the "charismatic revival" and was quickly introduced to speaking in tongues, but it hasn't happened in many years. So in sheer self-defence I must believe both that it may be genuine, but also that it is not obligatory (Paul deliberately plays down its importance).

I may say that it was not coming under conscious control, but started and stopped in its own time. The first time it wanted to start happening, I was so taken by surprise that a glass of squash I had just poured out remained forgotten on the table until the following morning.
It did appear to have the rhythms of a natural language- the session frequently ended by fading away into three or four repetitions of the word "mana".
So I'm not going to take a hard line for or against.
Your street evangelist is only half right. Speaking in tongues has been one form of evidence, but other forms of evidence are available. Being able to say, and mean, "Jesus is Lord" is another one (1 Corinthians ch12 v3).

a reply to: KansasGirl
My interpretation of speaking in tongues refers to foreigners traveling through an area during biblical days and speaking in their own foreign languages that no local person could understand.

Speaking in tongues...

originally posted by: CharlesT
What I linked predates Cain by 6000 years or more.

I did describe Cain as "legendary". It is a symbolic way of saying exactly what you are saying. That is why it struck me that your argument was a non-sequitur- "I agree with something the Bible says, therefore religion is wrong".

I'm sorry I feel the way I do because my kind of attitude eliminates hope for the future both now and after this existence but that's the way it is for me.

I've been an atheist in my time. I did not think then (and I don't think now) that it would be right to pretend a belief just for the sake of having a more optimistic outlook.
But you need to understand what religious beliefs are before you start contesting them. Nothing in my religious outlook is contradicted by the fact that humans keep killing each other.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Nothing in my religious outlook is contradicted by the fact that humans keep killing each other.

I know it doesn't.
But actual human history is hard to refute. Especially when it's rebuttal is written words in a book man, supposedly derived of god, but written by man and depends on blind faith to believe it.
Maybe my problem is I'm just the kind to believe what he sees rather than what he is told or reads.
I have had what could be considered divine revelations through dreams but I write it off as a once vivid imagination cut loose from restraints during deep sleep. Nothing more because I have also experienced so many weird unexplained dreams that meant absolutely nothing when remembered after waking. Crazy stuff.

I don't spite you for your beliefs. I'm actually quite glad for you because it gives you hope. For me, well, I have experienced reality and believe in what I have personally experienced first hand.

Peace to you. Keep your faith.
Charles

originally posted by: CharlesT
But actual human history is hard to refute. Especially when it's rebuttal is written words in a book man, supposedly derived of god, but written by man and depends on blind faith to believe it.

You are still missing the point, then, because the book isn't even trying to rebut what you find in history.
The conclusion you draw from history is "human life is evil, as illustrated by the fact that they keep killing each other".
The Bible says "human life is evil, as illustrated by the fact that they keep killing each other".
Where is the conflict between those two statements? How exactly is the second attempting to rebut the first?
On this issue, history is emphatically NOT contradicting the Bible, because they are saying the same thing.
I hope you've got other reasons to reject religion, because that particular argument does not work.

Dear heart, I don't want to be accused of trying to undermine your faith. Don't pressure me too far for I do appreciate and respect your beliefs. Actually I envy you in that you do posses faith and hope, but it's just not in me... Yes a sad thought but it is my reality.
My grandfather was a Methodist minister and the most honorable man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. My mother, sisters and brother all believe as you do but for me, I'm just the black sheep in the family that strayed down his own path. For that sin alone I am rejected by them and that my dear, is a reality I recognize and accept. Do I have to come out and actually say, hypocrisy? I have seen too much of that. It's demoralizing.

Dear heart, don't press me further.

Charles

a reply to: CharlesT
I'm not pressing you into anything.
I have just been pointing out that;
"History says one thing about the human race-
The Bible says the same thing about the human race-
Therefore history contradicts the Bible"
is not a valid argument.
For the sake of your own intellectual integrity, I would encourage you to shift the ground of your unbelief to an argument which makes more sense.
I would also repeat my previous advice not to contest religious beliefs without a better understanding of what they say.

a reply to: DISRAELI
I have tried on occasion to read and understand the written word but I have always fallen back on my core basic psychological instincts. Faith has just never worked for me. I'm a physical person and the natural world is me.

I will say this. Regardless of what I believe now, if your god is truly a compassionate, loving and caring god, he/she or it will judge me by my personality and conduct in this life rather than my uncertain beliefs of whether he/she/it exists or not. If his judgement is that I have been a good compassionate person worthy of redemption, he/she/it will lovingly and compassionately accept me. Time and my death will tell. Until then, well, I just have to stick to my core and hope for the best if there actually is an afterlife. I will say this. I don't believe in another physical or spiritual hell because we are living it as we speak.

Truthfully, I'm an agnostic. I don't know one way or the other but I hope that if he/she/it exists, that entity finds me worthy of acceptance and redemption. When the time comes and I actually do face a creator, I will willingly bow down and worship him/her/it with all my heart.

I guess I'm trying to say there are good people in this hell hole that don't know or unsure.


Edit: Is conversion possible here? No! You are addressing a lost cause here.

a reply to: CharlesT

Reading your posts in this thread is like looking back, for me.

Keep searching your heart and trying to do right. Keep hoping to get into Heaven. It may turn into prayer.

Actually, “agnostically” praying for others, ended up as a catalyst me.

The Kingdom, the power, and the glory is His, now and forever. Amen.

a reply to: japhrimu
Here is one gigantic conundrum for me. Every religion believes theirs is the only path to salvation. There is and has been a multitude of good and righteous people from every religion throughout history but each to their own believes theirs is the only path.
What happens to all of the good from all other religions? Are they doomed to eternal damnation simply because of their origin, culture or ethnicity? I cant believe that. I refuse to believe that. A caring, loving god would ever allow that. I refuse to believe Christianity is the only path. I believe the character of a person determines their destiny....... Not a particular brand of religion..... If there is a god, he, she, it judges the individual, not according to the religion they were culturally indoctrinated into but by their character and deeds....

a reply to: CharlesT

I hear ya because I was pretty much in the same place, even pretty recently.

Do you like thought exercises or experiments? Testing hypotheticals?

originally posted by: CharlesT
Is conversion possible here? No! You are addressing a lost cause here.

Where in this thread have I been trying to convert you?
You came here of your own volition to criticise religion on the grounds that the Bible was contradicted by a particular issue in human history.
I have simply been defending the Bible by pointing out that you and the Bible are in full agreement on that issue.
(I only entered the debate at all because it could be related to the topic of the thread)

I don't know how old you are- you might be a grandfather, for all I know- but on my twentieth birthday I thought I was a lost cause as far as religion was concerned. That experience taught me the limits of what other people can do to convert you. Be careful, though- you may end up talking yourself round.

a reply to: DISRAELI

This is a pretty good introduction to baptism and repentance. Each one could be expanded into long threads. They are so central to the practice of the faith.

Your exchange with CharlesT shows that although many claim they don't believe in the concept of original sin, not only do they believe it but use it to base their conviction that there is no salvation. Is human nature so evil, so immutable that there is no hope? I think if that were true we would have all killed each other already. Of course it could still happen. Hence the need for Christ.