Who are the heirs to the Christian hope? Part 2 - Practical implications

In the last post, I laid out the clear, unambiguous principles upon which salvation is based. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, said Jesus in Mark 16 v 16. His apostles conveyed this same message throughout their preaching work after his ascension.   

Belief in the saving work of Jesus and his integral part in God's plan of salvation is the first condition. Once we are convinced of the truth of that gospel message, we must then be baptised, fulfilling the second condition. This baptism must be a "believer's baptism": a full immersion in water. It is certainly not the sprinkling of water on an infant.   

In the last post, I spent a little time dwelling on the implications of this for Christianity today. Let me try and make my meaning here as plain as possible because understanding this verse and its implications is literally life and death.  

• If you do not believe, you cannot be saved 
• If you are not baptised after you believe, you cannot be saved 

Dividing the world up 

Let's divide the world into groups of people  

1. Admitted (i.e. professing) non-believers in the saving work of Christ (atheists, adherents to other religions) 
2. Admitted believers in the saving work of Christ  

From this, we can at least say that all those in group 1 cannot be saved. Correct? It's fairly obvious but it must be stated.   

Dividing up the "Christian" world 

Let's now look at group 2. 

We actually probably need to divide this group up further into the following categories:  

1. Professing believers who are not true believers have not been baptised 
2. Professing believers who are not true believers who have been baptised 
3. Professing believers who are true believers who have been baptised  

As with Group 1 above, those in Category 1 of Group 2 cannot be saved. 

It's as clear and simple as this. You're not baptised into Christ? You cannot be heirs of Abraham's promises. Without being heirs to Abraham's promises you cannot be saved.   

My use of the word "professing" here is also quite deliberate. I have no doubt that there are many genuine, warm hearted, good (in human terms) people that profess themselves to be Christians. Many of these people we may consider "decent" if we were to meet them, again from a human standpoint. But from the standpoint of Christ and God, they are in no better position than those who do not believe at all if they do not believe the truth in Christ and act accordingly.   

Not every man or woman with a Bible under their arm is a Christian in God's eyes. The very fact that people in this group above do not feel the need to be baptised is evidence of the fact that they are not true believers in the saving work of Christ. In practical terms, they are in no different a position from non-believers.   This may be a bit jarring to see written down but let's look at Christ's estimation because it's the only one that matters.   

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  

Jesus here is describing a class of people who profess that they are believers in his name but who in his estimation are not. "Depart from me" is his response to such people.   

Calling yourself a Christian means nothing if this is not accompanied by a belief in the true principles of the Christian faith and baptism thereafter.   By this standard, adherents of the Roman Catholic church and many protestant churches are outside of the possibility of salvation. They teach salvation through doctrines and practices which put forward that infant christening is sufficient. As has been shown in an earlier post, this comes from the heretical view that man has a soul that is inherently immortal.   

Put even more plainly, if you believe in this doctrine and perform the practice of infant christening, you are not a disciple of Christ. If you do not believe this yourself but you hold out even the smallest possibility that these people can be saved, you are also not a disciple of Christ because you do not appreciate and follow the clear, simple, unambiguous commandments of Christ.   

So, to categories 2 and 3. Belief in Christ is the first step towards salvation. But how do we measure such belief? How do we know whether believe truth or a lie?   Well, in the case of category 1 above, it's fairly easy to answer that. If someone professes to be a Christian but has not had a believer's baptism, that person is objectively not a Christian in God's eyes. Remember, we do not judge ourselves. 

Our subjective view counts for nothing. What counts is God's estimation of us.  In the case of category 2, we must therefore allow that there are people who are, in God's eyes, still in unbelief that may have been baptised. Those in that category are in effect in the same position as those in category 1 above who have not been baptised at all. They are outside of God's covenants as they do not believe the truth. Only those in category 3 are the heirs of the promises made to Abraham.   

It's not as easy to differentiate between category 2 and 3 as it is to filter out those in category 1. To distinguish between categories 2 and 3, you need to determine what is truth. Because, it's not just belief in Jesus that counts. It's belief in the gospel message that was preached. If you do not believe the gospel, you cannot be considered baptised in God's eyes.   

This is why doctrine is important. As human beings, we are fallible creatures. Our capacity for self-delusion is almost unlimited. The only way we can be sure that what we hope in our hearts is true is to assess ourselves against the message of Scriptures on both doctrine and practice. Belief based on any other foundation is destined for failure and rejection.   

One final point on this topic. Talking about the categories of people and their position in relation to salvation does not imply that I am standing in judgement on them. It is God's word that judges at the end of the day, not the estimation of man. My intention here is to point out what God's word says on this topic so that people can draw their own conclusions and self-correct if needed.