February 25, 2006
Newsletter Archives

People are often confused about the difference between rituals and redemption, ceremonies and salvation. Simply put, rituals or ceremonies are illustrations or parables of realities. They are not the realities themselves. No ceremony will ever give a person a right relationship with God.
Baptism, for example, has no power to save the soul. It simply expresses that the candidate who is being baptized has already been saved and is now publicly acknowledging this before others. This is why the Bible never speaks about infant baptism. A baby has no ability to comprehend spiritual truths.
Baptism symbolizes identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. As the apostle Paul states it: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” Romans 6:3-5.
There is a tragic and fatal error in confusing ceremony with salvation. Many people believe that because they have gone through some ritual they are in a right relationship with God and they have nothing to worry about. And that is simply not true. Sin is still the one big item to worry about. And that is something water can never wash away. Water touches only the skin, not the sin.
The apostle Peter makes this very clear. Concerning baptismal water, he tells us that it is “…..not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God….” 1 Peter 3:21.
Only the death of Christ puts away sin. The Bible clearly states, “Christ died for our sins” 1 Corinthians 15:3. Rituals are just that: rituals. Salvation is a reality and belongs only to a person who has trusted Christ as his Savior.

Russ Nesbit

On a personal note: We very much enjoyed our week in Mexico