The Nugget:
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
My Comment:
This passage (Matthew 19:17) was brought up in a discussion about baptism regarding the assertion that good works are required for salvation. Jesus spoke in a manner to indicate that “if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”
To make this important answer more accessible for all readers here, I am making use of my answer in that discussion in this separate main post:
Dear Dave,
You brought up a most interesting passage, Matthew 19:17, in a comment above.
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
I placed the following note on this passage in my newest Bible study tool, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
but if. FS184A, +1Co 15:2, Note,—The Lord answers this inquirer according to the terms of the Legal Dispensation, which had not yet expired, and under which, as a Jew, he was: with a view to vindicating the requirements of the law, preparatory to the announcement of the grace of the gospel; to the faith and privileges of which, however, he afterwards invites him in the words Come and follow me, Mat 19:21 :—whence also the difference between this answer and that given by the apostles to the same question, in the case of the Philippian Jailer, Act 16:31,—he being a Gentile, and the New Testament dispensation having been opened. So in the other instance recorded, Luk 10:25, the Lord answers according to the Law, but yet (as in this instance) in such a way as to convince of sin by it, and so lead from it. See the references (De Burgh, p. 91). +Lev 18:5, Neh 9:29, Eze 20:11, 12, 13; Eze 20:21, Luk 10:25, 26, 27, 28, Rom 2:13; Rom 10:5, Gal 3:10, 11, 12, 13; Gal 3:19, 20, 21, 22, 23 24, 25.
Notice the reference to Leviticus 18:5,
Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
This must be contrasted with Genesis 15:6,
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Both of these passages (Leviticus 18:5 and Genesis 15:6) are cited in the New Testament a number of times.
[Genesis 15:6 is cited at Romans 4:3, 6, 9, 22, 23, 24. Galatians 3:6. James 2:23.
Leviticus 18:5 is cited at Romans 10:5. Galatians 3:12.]
Paul tells us that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ:
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
It is plain that if “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith,” then, as Paul teaches, “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Thus, we conclude with Paul, being justified by faith, we are no longer under the law.
Therefore, any properly informed Jew or properly taught Gentile would know from Scripture itself that salvation is by faith alone, apart from the works of the law. Remember how often Jesus asked his hearers (Matthew 12:3. 21:16. Mark 2:25), “have ye not read?”
That does not mean that because we placed our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation that we are free to become lawless. Rather, as Paul clearly and carefully teaches,
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Notice that Paul explicitly declares that if we are led of the Spirit, we are not under the law.
Paul further teaches that those who are genuinely saved by faith also produce the fruit of the Spirit, “against such there is no law,”
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So if we are not under the law, we surely are not saved by obedience to the law. This would be “another Gospel,” contrary to what Paul (and the Bible as a whole) taught, and is anathema!
Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 18:5 teaches one of the two ways we can be saved: if we keep the law perfectly, we can be saved. But no one except our Lord Jesus Christ has perfectly kept the law. So, according to the central emphatic point of the book of James (as seen in its literary structure—the whole book of James is one great chiasmus, and the central member of the chiasm is James 2:10), anyone who claims to have kept the law, and yet offends in one point, is guilty of all:
Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
[The chiastic literary structure of the book of James is displayed on page 1847 of the Companion Bible.]
No one, therefore, will ever be saved on the basis of obedience to the law.
The second means of salvation declared in Scripture is justification by faith:
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
This promise given to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant has been extended to us all as the only means of our salvation as explained in detail by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4. Notice the obvious: this promise was given before the institution of the Mosaic law and therefore has precedence over it.
Now when James declares that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26), he is not contradicting himself and neither is he contradicting the Apostle Paul. If you see a contradiction, you are obviously misreading the text of Scripture.
James had just told us earlier in his letter (James 1:18) that we have been begotten by the word of truth:
Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
He also speaks of the “engrafted word, which is able to save your souls,”
Jas 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Therefore, James is speaking of the fact that genuine faith in our Lord Jesus Christ transforms our nature and produces the fruit of the Spirit–the good works that are seen by men as the outcome of our genuine faith.
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.