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Edward Fudge

BAPTISM, OBEDIENCE AND WORK (1)
A sister on the U.S. Gulf Coast agrees that we are not saved by our works but insists that we are saved by being baptized in water. Baptism is not a "work," she says, since it is "obedience," and obedience is necessary for salvation.

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Other than the Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Salvation Army who spiritualize baptism, and certain dispensationalists who limit it to a previous "age," I do not know any Christian group which denies that Jesus commands baptism in water, or that baptism is obedience, or that we ought to obey Christ by being baptized. But the approach described in the question above leads to major problems.

Was circumcision a work, or was it obedience (Gen. 17:9-14)? Was Sabbath-keeping a work, or was it obedience (Ex. 20:8-11)? Was keeping the Torah work or was it obedience (Deut. 6:6-9)? When Paul stressed throughout Romans and Galatians that we are justified by TRUSTING God in Christ and not by WORKING, he was opposing certain Jews who would say they were simply obeying God and that surely obedience was necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1).

There is no point in our saying that the first-century Jews were keeping the Law of Moses but that we must keep the Law of Christ. If sinners could find life through their own obedience, the Law of Moses could have made people righteous (Gal. 3:21). Throughout Romans and Galatians, "the law" is usually simply "law" in Greek, without any definite article. Paul is dealing with a general principle and attitude, not any specific set of rules.


gracEmail
Edward Fudge

BAPTISM, OBEDIENCE AND WORK (2)
A sister on the U.S. Gulf Coast agrees that we are not saved by our works but insists that we are saved by being baptized in water. Baptism is not a "work," she says, since it is "obedience," and obedience is necessary for salvation.

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It is a perversion of the gospel to say that we are saved on the basis of our OWN obedience (Rom. 9:30--10:4). We are not saved because WE obey God well enough, but because JESUS obeyed God well enough in our place. We can only trust in what HE has done for us. Yet the person who trusts God will surely want to obey -- probably with greater success than people who trust in their own obedience to set themselves right with God (1 Cor. 15:10).

If someone obeys ANY command of God thinking that God loves us and forgives our sins because of our obedience, that person is turning obedience into the kind of "works-righteousness" which Paul opposes (Titus 3:4-7). If, on the other hand, a person is trusting God's love as shown in Christ, and obeys any command of God out of love and gratitude for God's kindness and favor, that person is NOT falling into "works-righteousness" which Paul opposes. That could also be said of first-century Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah and continued to keep the Torah, observe the Sabbath and circumcise their baby boys -- all with the right motives (Gal. 6:15; Rom. 14:5-6).

Not all "Judaizers" practice Judaism. Some of the most proficient ones of all times claim to base their doctrine on the New Testament. Merely quoting from the Christian Scriptures does not guarantee Christian teaching. The ultimate evidence of legalism is not what it claims, or which laws it adopts, but on whose obedience it depends for right standing with God.

For more on water baptism and salvation, click here.