The Nugget:
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
My Comment:
In answer to the question someone asked me regarding whether God has punished the misdeeds of several Old Testament individuals who did some rather terrible things, I shared the following verses of Scripture. Now that I think about it, I probably should have commented that sin sometimes brings its own punishment. This should be quite evident in the following verses:
The Bible is quite clear that God does punish evil, often in the “here and now,” and certainly in the “hereafter.”
Genesis 6:13
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (King James Version)
Note especially God declared “I will destroy them with the earth.”
Romans 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (KJV)
Romans 1:27 Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds. (CEV)
Job 36:14 They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes. (ESV)
Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces will be held against them. They boast about their sins, which are like those of the people of Sodom. They don’t even bother to hide them. How horrible it will be for these people, because they have brought disaster on themselves. (GW)
Ephesians 4:19 Since they no longer have any sense of shame, they have become promiscuous. They practice every kind of sexual perversion with a constant desire for more. (GW)
Jude 1:7. We should also be warned by what happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby towns. Their people became immoral and did all sorts of sexual sins. Then God made an example of them and punished them with eternal fire. (CEV)
Numbers 32:23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. (KJV)
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (KJV)
In the light of current events, it ought to be clear that God is not pleased with the indoctrination of children and youth with the perverse values so much in the news today. The answer to this perversion is to fight it with prayer and the sharing of God’s Word. It is clear from the Bible that people can be rescued from these mistaken and evil lifestyle choices by the Gospel (1 Corinthians 6:11, “and such were some of you”). This may explain why those who promote mistaken lifestyles often hate the Bible.
For further study of this subject using cross references, see these cross references for Genesis 6:13 from The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
destroy. T566 (Future punishment presaged by temporal judgments). The following cross references form a major study demonstrating God sometimes punishes evil here and now in this life, as well as hereafter. Gen 7:4; Gen 7:21; Gen 18:20, 21; Gen 19:24, 25; Gen 37:35 note. Gen 42:21, +*Exo 22:23; +*Exo 22:24; Exo 23:22, +**Num 32:23 (T733). Deut 15:9, Jdg 9:24 note. *2Sa 3:39; 2Sa 4:11, +*1Ki 8:32 (T1751). +Est 7:9, +*Job 4:8; +*Job 31:2; +*Job 31:3, *Psa 31:23; Psa 34:16; +Psa 37:9 (T87). Psa 54:5; Psa 58:10; +Psa 58:11 (T630). Psa 91:8; +*Psa 109:17, Pro 3:33; *Pro 13:15; **Pro 22:22; **Pro 22:23; Pro 24:17; *Pro 24:18; Pro 28:13, +**Isa 66:24, +Eze 39:23 (T486). +*Dan 4:31, Hos 2:6, Joe 3:7, Hab 1:6; Hab 2:8, +*Zec 5:3, +*Mal 3:5, Mat 18:6; Mat 18:10, +*Luk 18:7; +*Luk 18:8; +*Luk 18:30, +*Rom 1:27; **Rom 12:19, Col 3:25, 2Th 1:6, 1Pe 3:12, 2Pe 2:4, 5, 6, 7, +*Rev 11:18.
Is water baptism required for salvation Part 5
I have been discussing a number of Bible passages which are used by some individuals, churches, and denominations to support the mistaken doctrine of baptismal regeneration or baptismal remission of sin.
Acts 22:16 is another such passage:
Act 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
I dealt with this passage in my Bible study resource, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, with special reference to the mode of Christian water baptism. Many Christians, churches, and denominations assume that whenever the word “baptize” appears in the New Testament, it always has reference to immersion. A careful study of how the word is actually used in the Greek text of the New Testament actually would show that the word “baptizo” which underlies our English word “baptism” and “baptize” is a non-modal word. That is, it tells what was done but does not tell how it was done. Context determines how it was done. That is a linguistic fact.
So, when I placed the following note in my book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, I wrote the note with the subject of the mode of Christian baptism in mind:
arise. or, standing, he was baptized (2 aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine). Paul was water baptized in a standing position in a Jewish home. Nothing in this record or the parallel accounts suggests Paul went to a place where there was sufficient water for immersion. Jewish households had no provision for immersions, and even the six waterpots at the wedding of Cana would be insufficient for such a purpose (Joh 2:6 note). +*Act 2:38; +Act 8:12; +Act 8:26; +Act 9:6; +#Act 9:18, 1Ch 22:19, **Rom 6:3; **Rom 6:4, *1Co 6:11; **1Co 12:13, **Gal 3:27, *Tit 3:5, **Heb 10:22, 1Pe 3:21.
It ought to be clear that even if Acts 22:16 is a reference to ritual water baptism (which it absolutely is not) that the mode of baptism referred to could not be immersion.
When I created my latest and much expanded Bible study resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury, I included the following new note to stress that carefully considered, Acts 22:16 is actually a reference to “real baptism,” not “ritual water baptism”:
and be baptized. or, you baptize yourself. The verb is in the middle voice, implying that he had his part to do in connexion with baptism, ’get baptized’ (Walker). You baptize yourself is a middle voice imperative, not passive; you wash away is a middle voice imperative; having called on the name of the Lord shows how the imperatives were carried out—by prayer! Thus the middle voice shows Paul as acting on himself by means of prayer, having nothing to do with water (see LNT, fn u). This baptism cannot possibly be with water, by man. There is not a drop of water here. Here is a baptism that had the power to wash away sins, was effected by prayer and by the subject acting upon himself, and not being passively acted upon by a baptizer with water (see Malcolm Lavender, The Fallacy of the ’Sinning Christian,’ p. 112). On the middle voice, see Act 2:41 note; Rom 9:22 note; Rom 10:13 note. +Act 2:38 note, Act 2:41 note. Act 6:3-4 note. +Act 8:12, *1Co 1:17, Col 2:12 note, Col 2:13 note. 1Pe 3:20, 21, 22.
Does water baptism wash away our sins? Not according to a proper understanding of Scripture. I placed the following note at Acts 22:16 in the New Treasury and retained it in The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
away thy sins. It was not the ritual water of literal baptism that washed away Paul’s sins, but the blood of Christ. This is certain from Scripture, for **Rev 1:5 asserts that the blood of Christ has washed us from our sins. Now if we ask the question, “Which washing is the real, and which the symbolic, washing of our sins?” the only answer possible is that the blood cleansing is real, the water symbolic. Ritual baptism symbolizes the washing away of sins by the blood of Christ. This is the basis for asserting that ritual baptism symbolizes what is accomplished by the Holy Spirit in real baptism (Act 1:5 note). See related notes (Act 1:5 note. **Act 2:38 note, Act 2:41 note. Act 8:36 note, Act 8:38 note, Act 8:39 note. Act 10:47 note, **Act 10:48 note. Act 11:17 note. Act 16:14 note, Act 16:15 note, *Act 16:33 note. **Mar 16:16 note. %**Rom 6:4 note. Col 2:11 note, Col 2:12 note). +Act 2:38, Psa 51:2, Mat 3:6, Mar 1:4, Luk 3:3, Joh 19:34, *Rom 4:11, 1Co 6:11, +**Heb 10:22, 1Pe 3:21, **1Jn 1:7, *Rev 1:5.
A scholarly discussion of Acts 22:16 may be found in James W. Dale, Christic and Patristic Baptism, on the following indicated pages (these references are not given in the index on page 646):
Alexander Campbell, President of Bethany College Page 105
Ἀναστὰς βάπτισαι καὶ ἀπόλουσαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου, ἐπικαλεσάμενος τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου.—ACTS 22:16.
Alexander Campbell, President of Bethany College Page 105
Acts 22:12–16 differs from that passage now examined as being more full in statement, and with material variety in phraseology.
Speaking with Tongues and Prophesying Page 114
It is not stated that he prayed, but doubtless he did as is stated in Acts 8:15, and Acts 22:16, in the case of his own baptism.
Λουτρόν Page 379
Acts 22:16: “Wash away (ἀπόλουσαι) thy sins calling upon the name of the Lord.” Prayer will wash away sin; water will not.
Brief Examination of These Views Pages 427–428
And Acts 22:16, “Baptize thyself, and wash away thy sins (ἐπικαλεσάμενος) calling upon the name of the Lord,” is a crushing, ad hominem, argument against the doctrine.
Dale, J. W. (1874). An Inquiry Into the Usage of ΒΑΠΤΙΖΩ and the Nature of Christic and Patristic Baptism (pp. 105–428). Wm. Rutter & Co.