Food for thought:

Paul was told to "be baptized and wash away [his] sins." These are Middle voice verbs (meaning Paul had to participate in the action that was going to be done to him). They are also Aorist Imperatives which means they were commanded actions (imperatives) that had not taken place yet.

Peter also tells us that we as Christians (those who believe in God by Christ) "have purified (Active - We were the ones who did the action) [our] souls in obeying the truth..." Not that we did it ourselves, but "through the Spirit." There you have "born of water (obeying the truth, that same truth Paul obeyed in Acts 9:18, the same truth the 3,000 obeyed in Acts 2:41, the same truth the Ethiopian Eunuch obeyed in Acts 8:38, etc.) and spirit.

Questions:
In light of predestination (God chose him and there was nothing Paul had to do with it), how was Paul going to (as you paraphrased) "get [him]self saved and get [him]self cleansed of all [his] sins" or even (as the Aorist Middle Imperatives suggest) participate in the actions that would lead to his salvation and cleansing?

What if he hadn't been baptized and washed away his sins? Would he be saved?

Greg

I'm sorry to say I do not understand these middle voice and Aorist. What I do understand is how can paul was his sins away? He cannot, this is all the action of God. [Ezek. 36:25, Ps. 51:2, 9-10]


As far as the texts that you cited Acts. 9:18, 2:41, 8:38. How do you which baptism is in view here?

Do you believe in the baptism of the H.S. ? Let me just add this that just because one is baptized in the H.S. as many believe, that it is a sign that you speak in tongues is not all together correct.

God forgives sin when men obeys the command which is said to wash away sins. Paul did not wash his own sins away himself. But when he obeyed the command to be baptized, his sins were washed away.


Paul expressley says in Eph 4:5 that there is one baptism. Since salvation is given to the obedient, then the one baptism is the one which we can obey. Baptism in water for the remission of sins. The baptism of the great commission.

Yes. It had its place in the first century in the infancy of the church and it served a specific purpose. No one today is baptized by the Holy Spirit. Scripture is quite plain that the Holy Spirit is active at one's baptism but the Holy Spirit Himself is not physically doing the baptizing nor is He the element in which one is buried and then resurrected from.

It is water

1 Peter 3:20-21
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
KJV

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The church of Christ at Granby

Good answer Brother Hersey!!!

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Don

Paul was not baptized in water in Acts 22:16, this can be better looked at from Acts 9:17-18. Is this water baptism here? no, because it is clearly talking about the H.S. Same goes with that of Acts 2:38, the words repent, wash [baptize] are associated with the work that Christ did. [Rom. 2:4, Ezk. 36:25]

As far as Acts 8:36 is concerned this is talking about water baptism, but here again water baptism is a sign pointing to the fact that we need our sins washed away and that has to point to Christ.

If water baptism is the only thing that is in view here in the N.T. and is one of the steps that saves us, then what do we do with that of Rom.8:9 and how do you explain the signs that follow those who are baptized and believeth.

Do you believe in the baptism of the H.S.?

Would it not be wise also to go to the O.T. and see how the word "washed" is used and see how that it correlates with that of the N.T.

What else would be in view here? Into what was The Ethiopian baptized in Acts 8:38? Did you not read Acts 8:36? What did they come upon in this verse? Was it not water? The Greek word is hydōr. In verse 36 they come upon water, in verse 38 they go into the water in verse 39 they come up out of the water. You assertion that the text is not clear as to what "water" this is wrong.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred twice and only twice in the NT. In Acts 2:1-4 and Acts 10:44; 11:15. You are not yet at a point in your knowledge of the scriptures and how to rightly divide them to understand this. You still need milk and are not ready for meat.

Kindly,
Don

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