DOES BAPTISM SAVE?
                                  by
                         Oswald J. Smith, D.D.

   Has the dispensation of baptism in connection with Salvation come to an
end, or is it still in force? Are we in that dispensation today, or do we
live in another? 

   From Adam to Christ, God demanded faith and sacrifices. But He does not
demand animal sacrifices today. Therefore, we must be living in another
dispensation. 

   From Abraham to Christ, God demanded faith and circumcision. But He
does not demand circumcision now. Again, therefore, we must be in a
different dispensation. 

   From Moses to Christ, God demanded faith and law. But He no longer
does. Once more, therefore, we must be in another dispensation. 

   From John the Baptist to Paul's New Revelation, God demanded faith and
baptism "for the remission of sins." That was the message of John the
Baptist and it was the message of Peter on the Day of Pentecost (Acts
2:38). However, Paul does not once command baptism "for the remission of
sins." That belongs to the past, to a former dispensation. No evangelist
would dream of preaching it today. 

   The Twelve were commissioned to baptize, but Paul was not. He says,
"Christ sent me NOT to baptize" (1 Cor. 1:17). What a difference! The
commission of the Twelve was interrupted by the Church Age. During the
Church Age we do not baptize "for the remission of sins." 

   From Paul's New Revelation to the present, God demands faith and good
works. 

   Now, sacrifices, circumcision, law, baptism, never saved, but they were
the proofs of a genuine faith. If a man truly believed, he would show it
by obeying the requirement for his dispensation. Man has always been saved
by faith alone. 

   Hence, God's program changes with each dispensation, and unless we
understand this, we will be utterly confused. There was a dispensation
when baptism was required "for the remission of sins." But it is not
required in this dispensation. There is now but one baptism connected with
salvation. It is the baptism of the Spirit, and it takes place at the time
of conversion when those who believe are baptized by the Spirit into the
Body of Christ (Eph. 4:5; 1 Cor. 12:13). 

   You say that no one can be saved unless he has been baptized. Now I
have always believed in and practiced water baptism, but I do not believe
that baptism is necessary for salvation. 

   If such is your position, then you have forgotten that Paul said,
"Christ sent me NOT to baptize" (1 Cor. 1:17). And think you that Paul
would have gone away and left his work half done if baptism were necessary
for salvation? Suppose the convert died before someone came along to
baptize him, what then? 

   Remember, the thief on the cross was not baptized.

   Dare anyone say that none of the Friends, or Quakers, or Members of the
Salvation Army are saved, that there will be none of them in Heaven? They
do not baptize. 

   Jesus forgave without baptism - Mark 2:5; Luke 7:48. Baptism "for the
remission of sins" was Jewish and had to do with the proclamation of the
Kingdom. Again, I say, Paul never once commanded it. 

   "But," you exclaim, "the answer in the catechism to the question, 'Who
gave you this name?' is 'My sponsors in baptism; wherein I was made a
Member of Christ, a Child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of
Heaven'." True, but do you not know that you are quoting from a man-made
book and not from God's Word? 

   "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that
believeth not (whether baptized or not) shall be damned (Mark 16:16). It
does not say that those who have not been baptized will be damned; it says
that those who have NOT BELIEVED will be damned. 

   "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit" (John 3:5). Water
here, as elsewhere, when used of Spiritual birth, means the Word of God.
(Eph. 5:26; 1 Peter 1:23). 

   There is one incident in God's Word that settles forever the question
of baptism in relation to salvation, namely, the conversion of Cornelius
(Acts 10:43-48). The Holy Spirit fell on them, they believed, they were
granted repentance unto life, and yet it was after all this that they were
baptized. 

   But last of all -- and this is an unanswerable argument -- to make
baptism a condition of salvation contradicts the whole of the great
Pauline teaching regarding the Grace of God. Over and over again we are
told throughout the New Testament that faith is the one and only condition
of Salvation and this mass of unmistakable evidence cannot be brushed
aside. 

   Thousands have experienced the New Birth when pointed to such texts as
John 1:12; 3:14-18, 36; 5:24, 6:47; Acts 10:43, 13:39, 16:31; Romans 1:16,
3:19-31, 4:5; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:9. If baptism
is necessary for salvation, then every statement in John's Gospel about
salvation, even though spoken by Christ Himself, is utterly false. 

   Salvation is either of Works or of Grace, but not of both. Paul has
made that clear. He wrote to prove conclusively that Salvation is all of
grace and "not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:9). And
baptism, Christ said, is one of the works of righteousness (Matt. 3:15).
Do not rely upon it then for salvation, but "Put your trust in the Lord
Jesus, and you will be saved." Will you do it? Do it, and do it --- NOW. 

                   THE PEOPLES CHURCH, TORONTO
                    374 Sheppard Avenue East,
                   Willowdale, Ontario Canada
                             M2N 3B6