Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 72

Does Grace Still Amaze You?

Years ago, I spoke at a large event where the vocalist sang one of my favorite songs, “Amazing Grace.” But I was taken aback when I heard the first line: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a soul like me.” The word soul was substituted for the word wretch. Why? Because the word wretch is considered by some to be demeaning to human beings.

I couldn’t help but think of John Newton, the writer of the song. He was an immoral slave trader and blasphemer—a man who knew he was a wretch and who had wept over the depth of his sins. Only because he understood that fact so profoundly could he then understand why God’s grace to him was so utterly amazing. And hence the immortal song he bequeathed to all of us.

Grace doesn’t minimize or ignore the awful reality of our sin. Grace emphasizes the depths of sin by virtue of the unthinkable price paid to redeem us from it. Paul said if men were good enough, “then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:21). If we don’t come to grips with the hideous reality of our own sin, God’s grace won’t ever seem amazing.

His Call to Sinners

God’s word tells us that Christ died for utterly unworthy people (Romans 5:7–8). The fact that He died for us is never given in Scripture as a proof of our value as wonderful people. Rather, it is a demonstration of His unfathomable and unearned love. So unfathomable that He would die for rotten people, wretches like you and me, to free us from our sin.

Because grace is so incomprehensible to us, we instinctively smuggle in conditions so we won’t look so bad and God’s offer won’t seem so counterintuitive. By the time we’re done qualifying the gospel, we’re no longer unworthy and powerless. We’re no longer wretches. And grace is no longer grace.

The worst thing we can teach people is that they’re good without Jesus. The truth is, God doesn’t offer grace to good people, any more than doctors offer lifesaving surgery to healthy people. Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31–32).

Our Lord also said, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (Revelation 21:6). Without cost to us, but at unimaginable cost to Himself—a cost that will be visible for eternity as we behold His nail-scarred hands and feet (John 20:24–29). Bonhoeffer was right: grace is free, but it is not cheap.

Life-Changing Grace

You and I weren’t merely sick in our sins; we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). That means I’m not just unworthy of salvation; I’m utterly incapable of earning it. Corpses can’t raise themselves from the grave. What a relief to realize that my salvation is completely the result of God’s grace. It cannot be earned by good works.

True grace recognizes and deals with sin in the most radical and painful way: Christ’s redemption. There’s only one requirement for enjoying God’s grace: being broken and knowing it. That’s why Jesus said, “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!” (Matthew 5:3, GNT)

Our justification by faith in Christ satisfies the demands of God’s holiness by exchanging our sins for Christ’s righteousness (Romans 3:21–26). When Jesus saves us, we become new creatures in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17). Now we can draw upon God’s power to overcome evil. We start seeing sin for what it really is: bondage, not freedom.

The old summary is correct: God’s children have been saved from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we will be saved from the presence of sin. Justification, sanctification, and glorification are all grounded solidly in exactly the same place: God’s grace.

God’s Grace Hunts Sin

The grace of Jesus isn’t an add-on or makeover that enhances our lives. It causes a radical transformation—from being sin-enslaved to being righteousness-liberated. Paul writes of the life-transforming and sin-overcoming power of grace: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives” (Titus 2:11–12).

Don’t ever tell yourself you may as well go ahead and sin since God will forgive you. This cheapens grace. Grace that trivializes sin is not true grace. Paul makes that clear: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1–2).

John Piper says, “Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.” So while God forgives when we sincerely confess (1 John 1:9), we prove that sincerity by taking necessary steps to avoid temptation. As Jesus said, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act” (Matthew 7:16, NLT).

No sin is small that crucified Christ. Sin matters, yet grace has power over sin, offering not only forgiveness but also transformed character (Galatians 5:22–23). Every sin pales in comparison to God’s grace to us in Christ (Romans 5:20–21).

Proclaiming God’s Offer of Grace

There is one sense in which God’s grace is unconditional—we don’t deserve it. Yet in His kindness He offers it to us. But in another sense it is conditional, in that in order to receive it we must repent, ask forgiveness, and place our faith in Him. This is a paradox—an apparent (but not actual) contradiction. If we see God as the one who does the work of convicting us and drawing us to repentance, this helps. We did not merit salvation.

But even if we fail to understand this paradox of conditional and unconditional grace, I think God calls upon us to believe it and live in it. Sinclair Ferguson says, “The spiritual life is lived between two polarities: our sin and God’s grace. The discovery of the former brings us to seek the latter; the work of the latter illuminates the depths of the former and causes us to seek yet more grace.”

When we’re acutely aware of our own sins, we’ll proclaim and exemplify God’s “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7). We’ll do so not with a spirit of superiority but with the contagious excitement of a sinner saved by grace—one person rescued from starvation sharing bountiful food and drink with others. We’ll face each day and each person we see with humility, knowing that we too still desperately need God’s grace—every bit as much as those we’re offering it to.

For more on this topic, see Randy’s book  The Grace and Truth Paradox , and his devotional Beautiful and Scandalous. 

Photo by Ivy Yung on Unsplash

The Beauty of Different Races United by Jesus, as Seen through Heaven’s Eyes

A. W. Tozer said, “Jesus Christ is the center of the human race. With Him there are no favored races. …He is the Son of Man—not a Son of the Jewish race only. He is the Son of all races no matter what the color or tongue.”

Every racial barrier is broken down in Christ. Because of His work on the cross, we’re all part of the same family. We share the same Father, and the same brother Jesus, and that means we’re family. Christ’s work on the cross put racism to death: “He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14).

On the New Earth, the work of reconciliation will be complete, and we’ll celebrate our unified diversity by singing praise to Jesus that His blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe: “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, 

God is the Creator and lover of human diversity. Christ is glorified not simply by the total number who worship Him, but because this number represents every race, nation and language. This excerpt from my novel Dominion depicts the beautiful diversity of Heaven.because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’” (Revelation 5:9, NIV).

The heavenly temple stood before them, the temple for which that built on earth was a small-scale model, suggestive of the real thing as miniature cars from a cereal box are suggestive of real ones. The courtyard of this temple seemed countless millions of acres, and the numbers of the throngs far exceeded even Dani’s heightened capacity to estimate.

Here were teeming millions gathered to worship the One who has dominion over all.

Everything good on earth was seed to which this was the flower and fruit. The shadow was substance here. Dani realized in a way she never had that those on earth who did not believe in the substance could never appreciate the shadow. To them the shadow was all there was, something to be grasped and captured and fashioned into their own liking, rather than something which testified to that which was greater. Only those touched by the world of substance could truly find joy in the world of shadows.

Voices everywhere merged into a single hum of excitement. A sense of intimacy pervaded this huge group, a closeness Dani had never experienced among large numbers, though she’d caught occasional glimpses of it in church worship services.

She heard all the voices in different languages and enjoyed the distinctive tone of each. She was particularly drawn to Swahili but also loved Norwegian, Aborigine, Hmong, Assyrian, Tagalog, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. People from every nation, tribe, people, and language stood before the throne, in front of the Lamb. She’d read about it, and now she was living it. She chided herself that when she’d read the words in the dark world she’d never even tried to envision them, thinking of them as myth or metaphor.

Elyon’s diverse creation reflected his internal diversity, the paradoxical interplay of his seemingly contradictory but always complementary attributes. He had built the unity of the universe, Dani saw now, not on the unwilling conformity of identical components but on the voluntary yielding to one another of diverse components. On earth this meant not only two different genders, but many different races and cul­tures and languages. She realized that despite what happened at Babel, from the very beginning Elyon’s genetic blueprint had contained all that allowed this diversity to finally blossom.

She looked at Torel. “I once thought that in heaven every race would somehow be the same, every language the same, every outward appearance the same. Now it seems such a ridiculous notion. To strip people of their uniqueness would be like taking all the varied colorful vegetables and cramming them into a grinder, then churning them into a pasty gray puree. The beauty would be gone, the taste gone, the color gone, the vegetables themselves gone. In hell, perhaps such bland same­ness exists. But certainly not in heaven!”

“You see it clearly now,” Torel said. “There are different races, but all with one unifying center of gravity, the glory of God. In the Shadowlands the dark lord tries to commandeer for himself a perverted notion of diversity, just as he tried to ruin the beauty of sex by legitimizing sexual perversion. Of course, the beauty of diversity is in its perfect harmony with God’s created order, not in a cacophony of violations of that order. Heaven’s diversity has placed itself under Elyon’s lordship, creating a unity that transcends the diversity. The Creator gives symmetry, order, and magnificence to the diversity of his creation. This diversity, not the diversity of sin, is what should be celebrated.”

Dani watched as a short and unimposing man with dark face slowly ascended a huge platform beneath the throne on which the Carpenter sat. An angel, tall and straight, reverently handed the man a Bible. The two seemed intimately familiar with one another, as if they had fought side by side in a great war. The Bible’s pages began to turn, apparently by sheer force of the little man’s thoughts, until his eyes fixed on the passage he wanted to read, very near the end of the Book.

“Hear the eternal words of Elyon that tell us what is to come. This is what Elyon showed me on Patmos, that all men might know what awaits them.”

John. The apostle John!

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

A shudder rose from the crowd. When it subsided, John continued. “Elyon is the gracious rewarder of those who seek and obey him. We whose names are written in the book look forward to the day of rewards. Listen now to his promises. Rejoice at what awaits you.”

The pages turned again, and John spoke slowly and emphatically the words of Elyon’s Son: “I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.” Wondrous rumblings of assent filled the air.

John launched into prayer, gazing at the glowing throne and him who sat upon it. Dani and the rest of the crowd followed John’s gaze, turning in unison toward the object of his devotion. Their new eyes were able to tolerate a brightness that would have blinded mortal eyes.

“Elyon, God of Abraham, God of our fathers, we thank you that you are the judge of all men and your judgments are always just. We thank you that you keep careful track of all things, that you ignore no deed, whether righteous or evil. We tremble yet rejoice that nothing escapes your notice.”

Countless praises rose from the crowd. Dani heard many languages but readily understood them all. In the distinctive rhythms and accents of every language she felt the very textures of the different cultures from which these people came.

“We pray for those in the dark world,” John continued, “who live day after day with no sense of what is to come. We intercede for those who try in vain to fill the emptiness of their souls with violence, immorality, greed, self-importance, and every other form of rebellion and self-destruction. Show them, Elyon, that the holes in their hearts can be filled only by you; that they have no hope except in you; that apart from your redemption they cannot and will not stand on the terrible day of judgment. As the dark world races headlong toward that final judgment, may your Spirit enlighten many, teaching them to see with the eyes of eternity.”

The intensity of his voice suddenly increased. “Embolden Michael’s warriors who fight valiantly for the souls of men. Defeat your enemies who followed Morningstar in his rebellion.”

What seemed like an electric current—Dani could hear arcs of energy surging and crackling—moved like lightning between the tallest beings in the crowd. The longing of humans for Elyon’s final victory, great as it was, seemed eclipsed now by the more ancient yearning of Michael’s hosts.

“We grow impatient, all-wise Elyon, for the kingdom of our Christ to be established on earth. We long for all things wrong to be made right. Yet you are patient, enduring every indignity and accusation cast upon you by rebellious men. You wait for one and then another to come to faith in you.”

Expressions of agreement rose from every corner of the great assembly. As John concluded, a loud chorus of voices, perfectly timed, cried “Amen.” Dani’s voice was among them. On the platform a man began singing with a lighter-than-air voice that became steadily stronger and more focused with every verse. The voice was as clear and audible to those in the back of the crowd, hundreds of miles away, as to those only feet from the front.

At first she thought it was a new song, so original and penetrating. Then she realized she knew the song. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” The singer—of course, he was the writer of the song. The old slave-trader, repentant of racism and oppression and injustice, eternally cleansed. “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

He continued to sing, many in the crowd joining him, others just listening to his voice, contemplating the drama of redemption embodied in the man. All heaven joined together as he sang, “When we’ve been here ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we’d first begun.”

Many of Michael’s legions seemed to appear from nowhere—some striding forward, some coming down from above, some appearing to come from beyond the far side of the throne. There were untold thousands of them, ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled Elyon’s throne and sang in a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Suddenly an explosion of sound pierced the air from behind and around Dani. Everyone sang now with an impetus that pushed her forward toward the throne. Surrounded in sound, resonating as if she were a tuning fork, she both absorbed the sound and produced it. She felt like a leaf swept along in a raging river, a river that both came from and led to Elyon Most High.

The worshippers sang many songs. Now a little girl walked across the platform and began to sing. She looked so beautiful, she reminded Dani of...Felicia! She had written her song for Elyon’s Son, and he wished all heaven to hear it. The song was so beautiful, Felicia’s voice so wondrous. Dani swelled with the right kind of pride, realizing this was her girl, yet even on earth she had never owned her. People could own things, but only Elyon could own people. Felicia was and would always be Dani’s treasure, for she had invested so much in her. But the girl was Elyon’s treasure first and last and above all. Dani looked to the throne so far away and yet so very close and met the eyes of the Carpenter. For an instant, they shared an intimate joy over this little girl.

Dani could barely hear the million singing angels up front, for the voice of the multitudes overwhelmed them. The angels had at first seemed the largest choir ever assembled but now proved to be only the small worship ensemble that led the true choir of untold millions, now lost to themselves, lost to all but Elyon, singing at full voice, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and dominion, for ever and ever!”

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Trust Jesus with What You Don’t Understand Now

Note from Randy Alcorn: Both Scripture and human experience testify to the surprising good God can bring out of evil and suffering. God calls upon us to trust Him, that He will work all evil and suffering in our lives for good. We can learn to trust God in the worst of circumstances, even for what we cannot currently see—indeed, that is the very nature of biblical faith.

Spurgeon said,

Providence is wonderfully intricate. Ah! you want always to see through Providence, do you not? You never will, I assure you. You have not eyes good enough. You want to see what good that affliction was to you; you must believe it. You want to see how it can bring good to the soul; you may be enabled in a little time; but you cannot see it now; you must believe it. Honor God by trusting him. 

God can see all the ultimate results of trials and suffering; we can see only some. When we see more, in His presence, we will forever praise Him for it. He calls upon us to trust Him and begin that praise now.

On the theme of trusting God with what we don’t presently understand, this article from Desiring God’s Jon Bloom is spot on. I love Jon, and I love what he has written here.

You Don’t Need to Understand Now

By Jon Bloom

Jesus spoke many profound and important words to his disciples the night before his crucifixion. But there’s one statement we might easily pass over, because of the context in which he made it. Yet it is loaded with personal meaning for each of us who follows him:

What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. (John 13:7)

In that one sentence, Jesus captures a profound reality that is our frequent, and to some extent continual, experience as Christians: not understanding what God is doing (or not doing) and why. It’s crucial that we grasp the wider implications of what Jesus said here, for if we do, it will help each of us immensely during the times we wonder why our Good Shepherd is leading us down such confusing and painful paths.

We often do not know what God is doing now. And the crucial truth is, we don’t need to know what God is doing now to follow him in faith.

You Do Not Understand Now

During that Last Supper, Jesus did something strange. He removed his outer garments, tied a towel around his waist, grabbed a basin of water, and proceeded to wash each disciple’s feet. I doubt this hits any of us with the force it did the disciples since the cultural mores of that region and time are so distant and foreign to us. But to the disciples, it felt more than strange; it felt disorientingly inappropriate.

It sure did to Peter. All his life, he had understood that washing someone else’s feet was about as demeaning a task as anyone could perform — a task fit only for slaves, or, if lacking those, for children. It would have been disgraceful for men of honor. So, as he watched Jesus, the most honored Person in the world, humbling himself by taking the form of a common slave, washing off with his own holy hands God only knew what uncleanness clung to those feet, he felt indignant. This was completely backward! If anything, Peter should be on his knees washing his Lord’s feet.

When Jesus got to Peter, the earnest disciple pulled his feet back and asked, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus looked at Peter and with patient kindness replied, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (John 13:7).

And there it is: a massive principle for every Christian’s life of faith, indeed a summary of a motif woven throughout Scripture from beginning to end, captured in a simple reply to a confused disciple’s question.

Legacy of Little Understanding

Peter, in not understanding why Jesus was doing what he was doing at that moment, was in very good company. Redemptive history recounts story after story of saints finding themselves in this perplexing position, being forced to trust God to make sense of it later. Think of:

Abraham, having waited so long for Isaac, only to be instructed by God to offer the boy as a sacrifice (Genesis 22);
Jacob wrestling with God, and being lamed in the hip, just before he was to meet Esau (Genesis 32);
Joseph wondering what God was doing as his young adulthood wasted away in an Egyptian prison (Genesis 37–41);
Moses not understanding why God would choose him to lead Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3–4);
Gideon being given far more than he could possibly handle (Judges 7);
Jehoshaphat being instructed to send a choir as his military vanguard against an overwhelming foe (2 Chronicles 20);
Nehemiah having to deal with so many seemingly unnecessary adversities, obstacles, and inefficiencies that slowed down the work in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 4);
Joseph trying to navigate so many unforeseen, confusing detours in the first few years of Jesus’s life (Matthew 1–2);
The man born blind, who didn’t know until midlife what purposes God could possibly have in his suffering (John 9);
And Martha’s and Mary’s grief-laced bewilderment over why Jesus didn’t come to heal Lazarus (John 11).

Of course, that’s just a small sample. Not understanding what God is doing now (and having to wait till later to understand) is the experience, to greater or lesser degrees, of every saint in every age — whether “later” means within a few minutes, as it did for Peter during the Last Supper, or in the age to come, as it did for his fellow disciple James, who wasn’t delivered from execution (Acts 12:1–2). It is a necessary, humbling part of what it means for us to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

You Must Trust Me

Being content to not understand now doesn’t come naturally to us. It surely didn’t for Peter. He found Jesus’s reply perplexing. And patience not being one of his strong suits, he didn’t wish to wait till later to understand. So, he declared, “You shall never wash my feet” (John 13:8).

It seems to me that Peter simply didn’t want to dishonor his Lord. This may have been well-intended, but it was wrongheaded. In responding this way, Peter actually became guilty of what he was trying to avoid: dishonoring Jesus. For the great dishonor wasn’t Peter allowing Jesus to wash his feet; it was Peter’s not trusting what Jesus said. And this is a crucial point for us to note: We are never on more dangerous ground than when we believe we understand better than God.

I think Jesus fully discerned Peter’s well-intended motive. But he also discerned the danger of Peter’s wrongheaded, overly self-confident tendency to trust his own understanding. Which is why Jesus’s response was so serious. It shocked Peter to his core. “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8). No share with me. Distrust in this meant exclusion. Peter got the point immediately and repented by exclaiming, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (John 13:9).

And what was Jesus’s point? Peter, you must trust me. You must live by the ancient proverb, and trust what I say with all your heart, and not lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). The only way you as a branch will abide and be fruitful in this Vine is if you believe my word (John 15:1–5, 7). If you insist that you must understand now before you will trust me, you will be like a branch broken off, and you will spiritually wither and die (John 15:6).

You Don’t Need to Understand Now

Many of the experiences that confound us as we follow Jesus feel far more painful and confusing than foot-washing. Peter would sympathize; most of his confounding experiences were far more painful and confusing than that too. Just think of what desolation was approaching for Peter in the hours following this brief mealtime interchange. Sometimes it’s lessons we learn in less extreme moments that stand in clearest relief and help steady us during more extreme ones.

The plain fact is, we often do not know what God is doing now. And the crucial truth is, we don’t need to know what God is doing now to follow him in faith. God has his reasons for concealing his purposes. Sometimes it has to do with his timing, as it did for Peter. And sometimes, because God’s ways and thoughts are so beyond ours (Isaiah 55:8–9), it’s simply God’s mercy toward us to withhold knowledge too heavy for us to bear.

We don’t need to understand God’s purposes now; what we need to do is trust God’s purposes now. For it is through our trust, not our own understanding, that God will direct us along our confusing paths (Proverbs 3:6). And we can trust him that later, when the time is right in the near or distant future, he will give us all the understanding we need.

This article originally appeared on DesiringGod.org and is used with the author’s permission.

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

The Importance of Christ’s Resurrection

As you read these quotes from God’s Word and His people about the importance of Christ’s resurrection (excerpted from my book It’s All About Jesus) may your heart overflow with gratitude to Jesus for living as He did and dying as He did and rising as He did, so we can live forever with Him and Him people in a world where He will, once and for all, make all things right.

What I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.  1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NIV

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”  John 11:25-26 ESV

“When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”  John 14:20 NLT

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  1 Corinthians 15:17 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  1 Peter 1:3 ESV

No resurrection. No Christianity.  Michael Ramsey

In the New Testament the Resurrection is that central miracle around which the Christian faith is gathered. The apostle Paul said that without believing the miracle of the Resurrection, faith was impossible (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:17).  Calvin Miller

Belief in the resurrection is not an appendage to the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith.  John S. Whale

Christianity rises or falls on the resurrection. If this event is historically true, it makes all other religions false, because Jesus claimed to be the only way to God. To prove this, he predicted he would rise three days after his death. And he did.  Randy Alcorn

Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The concept of resurrection lies at its heart. If you remove it, Christianity is destroyed.  John Stott

If Christ be not risen, the dreadful consequence is not that death ends life, but that we are still in our sins.  Geoffrey Anketell Studdert-Kennedy

Had He not emerged from the tomb all our hopes, all our salvation would be lying dead with Him unto this day. But as we see Him issue from the grave we see ourselves issue with Him in newness of life. Now we know that His shoulders were strong enough to bear the burden that was laid upon them, and that He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through Him. The resurrection of Christ is thus the indispensable evidence of His completed work, His accomplished redemption.  B.B. Warfield

If Christ has risen the Bible is true from Genesis to Revelation. The kingdom of darkness has been overthrown. Satan has fallen like lightning from heaven; and the triumph of truth over error, of good over evil, of happiness over misery, is forever secured.  Charles Hodge

If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.  Jaroslav Pelikan

Christianity is realistic because it says that if there is no truth, there is also no hope; and there can be no truth if there is no adequate base. It is prepared to face the consequences of being proved false and say with Paul: If you find the body of Christ, the discussion is finished, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. It leaves absolutely no room for a romantic answer.  Francis Schaeffer

If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.  Timothy Keller

The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder,

for it is empty and thou art risen;

the four-fold gospel attests it,

the living witnesses prove it,

my heart’s experience knows it.  The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Without the resurrection, at the name of Jesus every knee would not bow; more likely, people would say, “Jesus who?”  John Young

In ancient times before the divine sojourn of the Savior took place, even to the saints death was terrible; all wept for the dead as though they perished. But now that the Savior has raised his body, death is no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ trample on it as it were nothing and choose rather to die than deny their faith in Christ.  Athanasius of Alexandria

Christ has turned all our sunsets into dawns.  Clement of Alexandria

The power of Christ’s resurrection is enough not only to remake us but also to remake every square inch of the universe.  Randy Alcorn

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

The Evidence for Christ’s Resurrection

This Easter weekend, may we celebrate the magnificent, cosmos-shaking victory of Christ’s physical resurrection, a real event that changed everything! Hope you enjoy these quotes on the evidence for the resurrection, excerpted from my book It’s All About Jesus.

“He has fixed a day in which he will judge the whole world with justice by means of a man he has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!”  Acts 17:31 GNT

There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three.  Billy Graham

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the best attested facts on record. There were so many witnesses to behold it, that if we do in the least degree receive the credibility of men’s testimonies, we cannot and we dare not doubt that Jesus rose from the dead.  Charles Spurgeon

As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the events of the first Easter Day. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I have secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. Inference follows on evidence, and a truthful witness is always artless and disdains effect. The Gospel evidence for the Resurrection is of this class, and as a lawyer I accept it unreservedly as the testimony of truthful men to facts they were able to substantiate.  Edward Clarke

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.
Flavius Josephus

He appeared to every one of His friends, and to His best friends, but not a single one of His enemies got to see Him. I know that this story of the resurrection is true, because none but God would have had things happen in the order that they did, and in the way in which they occurred. Had the story been false the record would have made Jesus go to Pilate and the high priest, and to the others who had put Him to death, to prove that He was risen.  Elijah P. Brown

I went to a psychologist friend and said if 500 people claimed to see Jesus after he died, it was just a hallucination. He said hallucinations are an individual event. If 500 people have the same hallucination, that’s a bigger miracle than the resurrection.  Lee Strobel

The least plausible of all explanations of the resurrection was that it was generated out of the despairing imagination of the disciples. For that does not explain why they were willing to risk their lives for it. Nor does it account for one of the most characteristic literary features of the Easter narratives: the report that the beholders were utterly surprised by the appearance of the risen Lord. The “surprise” element of the Easter narratives is too recurrent to be considered an anomaly.  Thomas Oden

Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection. It was the resurrection which transformed Peter’s fear into courage and James’ doubt into faith… It was the resurrection which changed Saul the Pharisee into Paul the apostle and turned his persecuting into preaching. John Stott

I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world—and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.  Charles Colson

Ghosts, apparitions, and various psychological hallucinations may do a lot of things, but they don’t fire up the charcoal grill and cook fish for breakfast.  Pheme Perkins

The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.  Clarence Jordan

From the empty grave of Jesus the enemies of the cross turn away in unconcealable dismay. Those whom the force of no logic can convince, and whose hearts are steeled against the appeal of almighty love from the cross itself, quail before the irresistible power of this simple fact. Christ has risen from the dead! After two thousand years of the most determined assault upon the evidence which demonstrates it, that fact stands. And so long as it stands Christianity, too, must stand as the one supernatural religion.  B.B. Warfield

The Saviour is working mightily among men, every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, both within and beyond the Greek-speaking world, to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching. Can anyone, in face of this, still doubt that He has risen and lives, or rather that He is Himself the Life? Does a dead man prick the consciences of men?  Athanasius of Alexandria

The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.  Wolfhart Pannenberg

If Jesus rose from the dead, then there is no room for doubt that death is not the end of our journey. If Jesus truly rose, then there is for every person a heaven to embrace and a hell to shun.  Bruce Milne

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Christ’s Words from the Cross

As you contemplate these words of Jesus He spoke while on the cross, and also the reflections from Christ-followers on His words (excepted from my book It’s All About Jesus), thank God for His willingness, in those three hours of unfathomable darkness, to make the ultimate sacrifice to purchase our place with Him forever.

Father, forgive them

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.  Luke 23:34 ESV

Even the excruciating pain could not silence his repeated entreaties: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”… The rulers sneered at him, shouting: “He saved others, but he can’t save himself    !” Their words, spoken as an insult, were the literal truth. He could not save himself and others simultaneously. He chose to sacrifice himself in order to save the world.  John Stott

Whenever I see myself before God and realize something of what my blessed Lord has done for me at Calvary, I am ready to forgive anybody anything. I cannot withhold it. I do not even want to withhold it.  Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The victim was stripped of his clothing, beaten and in many instances nailed to the cross (   John 19:1, 18, 23). It was dirty business, and the Romans were experts at it—known for lining the roads that led into a conquered city with people dying on crosses. The steady crack of their hammers could be heard above the screams of the victims. Each blow not only resulted in nearly intolerable agony but also reminded the victim that there was no hope left. But even in the middle of so horrific an ordeal, Jesus demonstrated his character. Unlike many others, he was no writhing, screaming, pleading victim, nor was he an angry, cursing man. Instead, as the hammers rang out, one voice could be heard to call out above the clamor, “Father, forgive them!” (Luke 23:34).  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

Today you’ll be with me in paradise

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” And Jesus said to him, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Luke 23:42-43 NLT

To die is to be with the Lord. It is not just an idea; it is a reality. But at the same time, Christ, the same Christ, gives the promise just as definitely that when I have accepted Christ as my Savior, he lives in me.  Francis Schaeffer

Woman, behold your son

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.  John 19:26-27 ESV

Jesus’ mother, who almost certainly was widowed and probably in her early fifties with little or no personal income, was dependent on Jesus, her oldest son. In keeping with the biblical injunction to honor one’s parents (Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16), Jesus makes here provision for his mother. It may be surprising that Jesus entrusts his mother to the “disciple Jesus loved” rather than to one of his brothers, but this may be explained by his brothers’ unbelief.  Andreas J. Köstenberger

My God, my God

Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  Mark 15:34 NLT

God allowed his own Son, as our substitute, to be forsaken, in order that we might never be forsaken.  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

The unrighteous damned have no right to ask God why He has forsaken them (the reasons are self-evident to all who understand His holiness and our sin), but God’s Son, the Beloved One, was the only righteous one ever damned, and He had the right to ask… even knowing the answer.  Randy Alcorn

Jesus’ cries went unanswered so that my cries can always be heard. His loss is my gain. His sorrow is my rejoicing.  Melissa Kruger

The amazing beautiful wonderful truth is that because Jesus was forsaken, I never will be.  Vaneetha Rendall Risner

I thirst

Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.”  John 19:28 NLT

Our Lord came down from life to suffer death;

the Bread came down, to hunger;

the Way came down, on the way to weariness;

the Fount came down, to thirst.  Augustine

It is finished

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  John 19:30 ESV

After creation God said, “It is finished”—and he rested. After redemption Jesus said, “It is finished”—and we can rest.  Timothy Keller

The concept of finished… can signal the realization of a goal or successful completion of an assignment… It can also mean fulfillment of a religious, legal or social obligation or accountability… One can also complete something in the same sense in which we finished a race… To finish might also signal the full repayment of a debt… When Jesus mouthed the three short words, “It is finished,” from the cross, he was in effect declaring that he had fulfilled all meanings: He had completed his assigned task, kept God’s law, finished the race and fully paid the debt for our sin.  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

When Jesus said “it is finished,” he used the Greek word teleo, which was commonly written over certificates of debt once they were fully paid. It’s not that Christ paid for 99% of your sin and guilt and you must somehow pay the other 1%. He paid it all.  Randy Alcorn

You can’t imagine a more victimized person than Jesus. Yet when he died, he didn’t say, “I am finished” but “It is finished.” He did not play the victim, and thus he emerged the victor.  Joni Eareckson Tada

The task Jesus had come to accomplish was indeed finished, but Jesus himself was not. The devastated disciples concluded that the mission into which they had poured their life energy had ended with Jesus’ final breath (Matthew 26:56). The soldiers who had pierced Jesus’ side with a spear assumed that the social upheaval caused by the activities of this rabble-rouser were “finished” and that they wouldn’t have to deal any longer with this thorn in their side (   John 19:33-34). The edgy religious leaders hoped that the influence of our Lord was “finished” but asked Pilate to seal Jesus’ tomb to ensure that the disciples wouldn’t steal his body (Matthew 27:62-66). Satan gleefully presumed that the threat from this sworn enemy had come to an end, and he gloated in the realization that Jesus was dead and buried (Colossians 2:15). But all of them were wrong. Three days later the Redeemer rose triumphant from the dead!  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

All of salvation is from and about Jesus. No one can boast. He starts and finishes it.  Trillia Newbell

Jesus’ last word is our first word. It is finished. When he died, our life began.  Louie Giglio

Father, I commit my spirit

Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.  Luke 23:46 CEV

Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.  Matthew 27:50-52 NRSV

As a true human being Jesus endured every kind of temptation and every kind of suffering a person can experience (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15), especially in those final, dying moments, and he could do nothing other than commit his life to the Father… His suffering, pain and death were all very real. He recognized, just as we must, that his “times” were secure in the hands of his loving and faithful Father (Psalm 31:15).  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

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Reflections on Christ’s Crucifixion

At the beginning of this Passion Week, it’s fitting that we turn our eyes to the cross. No tragedy could be greater than God’s blameless Son being slaughtered without mercy in horrid crucifixion. Yet as a result of His suffering, countless people will spend eternity with God in joyful celebration and endless pleasure. Jesus Himself will be forever exalted, and all will recognize Him as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Eternal benefits are ours, all because He suffered.

May these verses and quotes (excerpted from my book It’s All About Jesus) fill your heart with gratitude and worship as you consider Christ’s sacrifice for us.

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  Isaiah 53:5-7 NIV

When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.  Luke 23:33 GNT

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  1 Peter 2:24-25 NIV

There is no doctrine more excellent in itself or more necessary to be preached and studied, than the doctrine of Christ, and him crucified.  John Flavel

My entire theology can be condensed into four words, “JESUS DIED FOR ME.”  Charles Spurgeon

To know Jesus and Him crucified is my philosophy, and there is none higher.  Bernard of Clairvaux

The gentle, compassionate Jesus is also the Jesus who drove the merchant-thieves from the Temple and spoke condemnation against self-righteous religious leaders. Were Jesus as meek and mild and utterly tolerant as many think, He never would have been crucified. But His less popular qualities so outraged people that they nailed Him to a cross.  Randy Alcorn

Jesus was crucified not in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves.  George F. MacLeod

The crucifixion was the shocking answer to the prayer that God’s kingdom would come on earth as in heaven.  N.T. Wright

Though many recent writers have spoken of God’s vulnerability and weakness demonstrated on the cross, we must see this truth in the context of God’s sovereignty. Christ chose this “weakness.” His obedient death on the cross demonstrates it. “The reason my Father loves me,” Jesus said, “is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (   John 10:17-18). He willingly chose to suffer as a victim. Scripture portrays a God so strong He can take on weakness to overpower all opposition and accomplish His eternal purposes.  Randy Alcorn

It was not the people or the Roman soldiers who put Jesus on the cross—it was your sins and my sins that made it necessary for Him to volunteer His death.  Billy Graham

The true Son left his home with the Father and went to the cross so that we who had run from the Father could be welcomed as sons.  Trevor Laurence

When God sent His only Son, Jesus, to this earth to bear your sin and mine on the cross, He put a price tag on us—He declared the value of our soul to be greater than the value of the whole world.  Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

When Jesus went to the cross He didn’t fall into Satan’s trap—Satan fell into His.  Randy Alcorn

Satan’s motive in Jesus’ crucifixion was rebellion; God’s motive was love and mercy. Satan was a secondary cause behind the Crucifixion, but it was God who ultimately wanted it, willed it, and allowed Satan to carry it out.  Joni Eareckson Tada

What looks like (and indeed was) the defeat of Goodness by evil is also, and more certainly, the defeat of evil by Goodness. Overcome there, he was himself overcoming. Crushed by the ruthless power of Rome, he was himself crushing the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). The victim was the victor, and the cross is still the throne from which he rules the world.  John Stott

God on a cross. Humanity at its worst. Divinity at its best.  Max Lucado

Jesus knew He was being betrayed by one of His best friends at that very moment. He knew He was facing imminent arrest, trials, torture, crucifixion, and death. He bore the eternal weight of responsibility for fully completing His Father’s will and redeeming mankind from sin. If ever there were multiple reasons for praise being interrupted, Jesus had them on that Thursday night. Yet Matthew 26:30 says that He sang!  Anne Graham Lotz

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Christ’s Sacrifice for Us

I recently beefed up my blog "Does Scripture Say Baptism Is Necessary to Be Saved?" with much more Scripture in response to the many negative comments on social media. While some readers may be permanently entrenched in their view that baptism is necessary to salvation, those who are open to the biblical teaching to the contrary will benefit from this revision. But at the same time I developed more clearly my belief in how central and important baptism really is, and how every Christian should obey the command to be baptized.

On to today's blog: As you read these quotes on Christ’s sacrifice (excerpted from my book It’s All About Jesus), remember that the Cross was no afterthought. God planned it from before the world’s beginning and foretold it centuries in advance. While we have no choice but to suffer in this life, Jesus did have a choice and elected to suffer for our sins so we don’t have to in eternity. Words cannot capture the shocking nature of Christ’s redemptive work.

Telling Him thank you is not nearly enough. But it is at least a place to begin.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”  John 10:14-15 ESV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  John 15:13 NIV

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.  Romans 3:25 NIV

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  Romans 8:32 ESV

Let love be your guide. Christ loved us and offered his life for us as a sacrifice that pleases God.  Ephesians 5:2 CEV

In all human history, who has paid the highest price for evil and suffering? Poll a hundred people on this question, and only a few would come up with the right answer: “Jesus.”  Randy Alcorn

In Abraham’s case, God provided a substitute for Isaac, a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. But there could be no substitute when Jesus offered his life as the sacrifice for the sin of all humanity. On the cross, God’s own Son took upon himself the Father’s wrath against all sin for all time.  The Knowing Jesus Study Bible

For Christ to be the propitiation for our sins means that He became the sacrifice upon which God’s wrath against sin was brought. Some object to this because they claim if the Father brought our punishment on Jesus it sounds like divine child abuse. But it isn’t, because Jesus, God’s Son, is not a helpless child but eternally God, and He fully consented to this plan.  Randy Alcorn

Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy—but the Father, for love!  Octavius Winslow

The fact that Jesus had to die for me humbled me out of my pride. The fact that Jesus was glad to die for me assured me out of my fear.  Timothy Keller

Think as little of yourself as you want to, but always remember that our Lord Jesus Christ thought very highly of you—enough to give Himself for you in death and sacrifice. A.W. Tozer

He loves us in our sin. Only such a view of love correctly appreciates the sacrifice of Christ and respects the infinite chasm between what is deserved and mercy.  Jim Elliff

Do not refuse the Lord Jesus who knocks at your door; for He knocks with a hand which was nailed to the tree for such as you are.  Charles Spurgeon

Christ was utterly innocent, yet because He took our sins on Himself, He became temporarily damned on our behalf. Not damned forever, but damned on the cross so He experienced Hell on our behalf. Unthinkable. Inconceivable. And yet it happened… for us.  Randy Alcorn

If we again ask the question: “Why does God allow evil and suffering to continue?” and we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we know what the answer isn’t. It can’t be that he doesn’t love us. It can’t be that he is indifferent or detached from our condition. God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it on himself.  Timothy Keller

Christ’s scars will remain forever. The only one who will appear less than perfect in eternity will be the eternally Perfect One.  Randy Alcorn

Photo by Wim van 't Einde on Unsplash

Are You Living Like a Functional Gospel Amnesiac?

From Randy: I’ve mentioned before how much Nanci and I have loved reading Paul David Tripp’s book New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional. It is just terrific, and we highly recommend it. Here’s another entry I especially appreciated.

As Paul so skillfully communicates, we need to daily retell ourselves the gospel, to stave off dementia of the spirit and to understand how it applies to the here and now. May we follow the advice of Jerry Bridges: “Preach the gospel to yourself every day.” 

If you’re God’s child, the gospel isn’t an aspect of your life,

it is your life; that is, it is the window through which

you look at everything.

It has been a theme of my ministry, a sad recognition that has motivated me to speak the things I speak and to write the things I write. Thousands and thousands of sincere believers have a huge hole right smack dab in the middle of their gospel. They tend to see the gospel as a thing of the past and a thing of the future; an entrance thing and an exit thing. Sure, they celebrate the forgiveness they have been given and their welcome into God’s family, and they look with hope to the future, when they will be with the Lord forever, but they don’t understand the radical, mind-changing, and life-altering nowism of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They don’t grasp that when they came to Christ, it wasn’t just their past and future that changed; no, everything in their lives right here, right now changed.

For a believer, nothing in his or her life is unchanged by the gospel. If you look at life from the vantage point of the present benefits of the person, work, presence, and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing in your life looks the same. The apostle Peter encourages people to live in a radical new way because they have been given “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). So you and I aren’t left to our own maturity, character, ingenuity, righteousness, wisdom, or power. Not only that, but the gospel redefines how we understand our whole story, how we think about the meaning of life, how we understand the human struggle, where we get our identity, where we look for peace and security, what we consider in life to be dangerous, what we see as successful living, and so on. It is true that when Jesus takes up residence in us, everything in life changes. Nothing remains the same.

Now, if you don’t know this, you celebrate your salvation, but for help with your marriage, parenting, sex, money, friendship, fear, addictions, decisions and such, you don’t look to the gospel. You log on to Amazon.com and scan for the latest self-help book that addresses your topic of concern. You do this because you’re a functional gospel amnesiac. You’ve forgotten who you are as a child of God. You’ve forgotten the glorious warehouse of spiritual wisdom that you have been given. You think you are poor when really you are rich. You think you need wisdom when you have been united by grace to the One who is wisdom. You think that there is something you need that you haven’t yet found, when in fact you have already been given every single thing you need to be what you’re supposed to be and to do what you’re supposed to do in the place where the Savior has positioned you. The gospel gives you everything and changes everything in your life. Are you living as if you actually believe that? 

For further study and encouragement: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5  

Taken from New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp, © 2014, March 31 entry. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.

Photo by Sandra Seitamaa on Unsplash

Does Scripture Say Baptism Is Necessary to Be Saved?

Someone asked me if I could address the relationship between salvation and baptism in Scripture, because they have a friend who believes that you cannot be saved unless you are baptized. In this person’s view (and they are part of a denomination that believes this), the physical act of baptism washes you from your sin. They cite Acts 2:38: “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.”

For years I taught biblical interpretation at a Bible college. One of the things we discussed is that Scripture must always be compared with other Scripture. God doesn’t contradict Himself. The Bible is its own best interpreter. If a particular text, in this case Acts 2:38, seems to violate what many other texts teach, we need to question our interpretation of that text.

The many biblical texts insisting that we are not saved by works, but by faith, should lead us to seriously question an interpretation that says being baptized—or any other work we can do—is part of what saves us. Acts 10:44-48 is a key text because it’s so clear that these people were saved first, had already received the Holy Spirit, and only THEN were baptized.

First Corinthians 1:14-17 ends with “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel...” This clearly demonstrates that baptism is not necessary to salvation, because if it were, Paul would not separate it from the gospel message.

Acts 2:38 makes it clear that baptism is important, and it certainly is. But other passages show repentance involves placing saving faith in Christ. Granted, if Acts 2:38 stood alone, without taking other verses into consideration, you could conclude baptism is necessary for salvation. But there are many texts that call on people to repent and believe in Christ that make no mention at all of baptism.

Baptism is something we do, or choose to have done to us, and is therefore a work. Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:4-7, and Romans 5:1 are just a few of the verses that demonstrate salvation is by faith alone, not by works. Think of the thief on the cross who placed his faith in Christ and was promised by Jesus he’d go to Heaven. Obviously baptism wasn’t necessary, or even possible, for him.

As circumcision was a sign of the Old Covenant, baptism is a sign of the New Covenant. God makes clear that circumcision doesn’t save. Circumcised people can be lost; uncircumcised people can be saved. God says there is an inner circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit (Colossians 2:11-12; Romans 2:29). Likewise there is an invisible baptism of the heart into Christ that happens at conversion. Water baptism is an outward symbol of the inward reality that preceded it. The relevant point related to baptism and circumcision is that salvation is always a matter of the heart, not an external action.

If I had a friend who believed baptism is necessary for salvation, and is deeply ingrained in a denomination that believes this, I would gently challenge them to look at what Scripture actually says—ALL of Scripture, not just a few isolated verses.

While there are many things out there on this subject, here are the best three online resources I could find in terms of clarity and helpfulness:

First, if you share only one resource with a friend, I would go with this first one. It has a clear and accurate handling of the Greek language used in Acts 2:38: Does Acts 2:38 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation?

One of the main points, which I know from studying New Testament Greek, is that the Greek preposition EIS does not always mean “for/resulting in/to get” but often means “because of/as a result of.” Hence Acts 2:38 can be translated, as the Amplified Bible renders it, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ BECAUSE OF the forgiveness of your sins…”

Second, this next article is good, but I would skip his handling of the Greek text at the beginning because he gets technical and confusing. But after that, it gets very good: Baptism and Acts 2:38

Third, this 10-minute video is helpful, though it would be better without using the King James Version which most people don’t use these days. Still, he makes some excellent points: Acts 2:38: Baptism for salvation? No!

Finally, here’s a blog I wrote on the meaning and importance of baptism. It was part a devotional series and includes a video of NFL linebacker Demario Davis talking about baptism. 

Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash