Neither Repentance Nor Baptism Are A Part Of Salvation.

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

There are a lot of folks in the Religious world that will call me a nut for making this statement but neither repentance nor baptism will save a sinners soul and neither one of them are even part of the salvation of the lost soul. I understand that there are multitudes of “churches” or other “religious bodies” that believe one or both of these are part of salvation: well if that did not make you angry then this will be the final straw and that is works also plays no part in the salvation of the lost souls. All of these; repentance, baptism, and works are all a result of salvation not a part of salvation. Believe me I know the arguments so much that I could probably argue the other side of this issue blindfolded. The scripture (Acts 2:38) like so many other can be so misleading if taken as an alone scripture. Folks we can make any doctrine out of any thought if we take the scriptures out of context of the bible. For example let us make up a completely false doctrine by using one scripture out of context. Our false doctrine is “all liars will go to hell without exception”; now our scripture Revelation 21:8 “…all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” This scripture gives no exception to liars and God said that all mankind are liars "…let God be true, but every man a liar..." Romans 3:4 therefore our new false doctrine is sending all mankind to hell “…in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone…” Well I am thankful that, that is only a false doctrine because I have no desire to spend eternity in hell. Now back to the truth. Peter never said that if you “repent” and if you are “baptized” that you will be saved, Peter had just preached to them about Jesus Christ and Him crucified and when they "heard this" their hearts were pricked, which means - to pierce thoroughly - This was their salvation because their life was changed by the sermon about the gospel of Jesus Christ. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart..." Acts 2:37 The first thing a newborn believer does after salvation is to (a.) repent – that is to turn from their old ways and began anew, (b.) they are baptized and become a member of the Lords local congregation which is called a New Testament Church, (c.) thirdly, they began to have works to show their new faith, repentance, and works. God said in James 2:17 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." but He went on to conclude in verse 18 "...I will shew thee my faith by my works." concluding that works are simply a show of our faith and without works one has no faith in Christ.

God’s glory in salvation is His giving of it, not our earning of it. Salvation is Gods plan form before the creation of anything. God has always known that when He created man, man would fall to the temptations of Satan. Therefore God had already planed salvation to its completeness before creation. Ephesians 1:4 - 5 "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (5.) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will," here God doesn’t leave anything to chance of our repentance, baptism, or works, it seems to me that God had everything worked out before man ever sinned. Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Folks; as with our example of our false doctrine that all liars will spend eternity in hell we need to be careful and not to miss the mark on salvation because hell is for eternity and without an escape. God said "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son." 1 John 5:9