More Bible Contradictions?

Date: July 24, 2002-Wednesday Night Adult Class
Speaker: Dennis Gruening

A few weeks ago, we began a short study of what might be called “alleged Bible contradictions,” or what we might also call “difficult Bible questions.” We noted that there are many in the world who ask questions of us, and that some of these people are not sincere in their desire for Scriptural knowledge, but are instead seeking to “prove” that the Bible contains contradictions and “unanswerable questions.” As we noted in that previous class, if the Bible can be proven to contain contradictions or questions without answers, then it can be said that the Scriptures are fallible and, therefore, cannot be the Word of God.

It must be clearly understood that the Bible does not contradict itself, nor does it contain questions without reasonable answers. Our premise is this: since the Bible is the Word of God, then it is infallible and completely trustworthy as our guide to salvation and to how we must live our lives before God. Let’s look at a few more of these questions which are asked by those who seek to undermine the inspiration of the Scriptures.

Saved by Works?

There are two passages of Scripture, in particular, which are used by many denominational teachers to “prove” that baptism is not an essential condition for the remission of sins. The first, is Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Then, comes Titus 3:5, which says in part, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…” and since most denominational teachers stop at this point, we will do the same (in the interests of their consistency) and come back to this point later in our class.

We don’t deny the fact that the Bible teaches that man cannot be saved by acts of “human merit.” This does not mean, though, that all works, of every kind, are excluded from the process which leads to salvation. In fact, there are works which are described as “works of God,” in other words, works which God has commanded, which are very clearly included in the plan of redemption. One of these is the act of “belief” — “This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent” (John 6:29).

The expression “work of God” means “the works required and approved by God.” If we look at the teachings of the Bible carefully, we discover that baptism is not a work of human merit, but is instead, an act which has been commanded by God (Acts 10:48) “for the forgiveness of sins”(Acts 2:38) — and the “resurrection unto life” which is accomplished through baptism (Rom. 6:4) is a “working of God,” not one of human design or human ingenuity. Note in your Bibles what is written in Col. 2:12: “…having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Baptism is a “working of God,” and it is a gross perversion of the Scriptures to teach that it is a work of human design.

More On Baptism

Let’s look at another perversion of the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins. Acts 2:38 states in apparently unequivocal language that in order to receive the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, one must do two specific things in conjunction with each other: one must repent and one must be baptized. Unfortunately, there are those who feel as if they must engage in a wrestling match with the Scriptures because they refuse to be bound by any kind of work that must be done in order to obtain salvation.

Many years ago, I was amazed by the statements made by a certain preacher for the Baptist church in regard to Acts 2:38. I guess I was naïve, and lacking in Bible knowledge (being fairly new to the faith) because I had never heard this particular argument against baptism for the remission of sins until I heard it made in a debate with a faithful preacher for the church of Christ. I’m sure you are probably all familiar with this specific objection.

The argument is made on the word “for.” In the Greek language it the word e-i-s, pronounced “ace” or “ice.” In Acts 2:38 this Greek preposition is translated “for the remission of sins” in the KJV and “unto the remission of sins” in the ASV. Therefore, in the American Standard it would read, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” But, some make this argument: “Eis can mean ‘unto’ or ‘in order to obtain,’ but it can also mean ‘because of.’” So, they say, “In Acts 2:38 Peter is really saying ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission of your sins.’” In other words, they are saying that one should be baptized because his sins have already been forgiven.

There are many contradictions inherent in this belief, but two in particular are very obvious. First, we noted earlier that one who desires to receive remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit must do two things in conjunction: repent and be baptized.

So, if the objection made to baptism is valid, then the exact same objection must be made to repentance. In other words, one need only REPENT because his sins have already been forgiven. Here’s a question which must be asked: if one’s sins have already been blotted out, of what use is repentance? Repentance itself is a turning away from one’s past way of life. If that way of life no longer exists in the sight of God, then exactly what is one turning away from? On top of this, we must look at the clearly stated purpose of repentance as recorded in Acts 3:19, which is a parallel passage to Acts 2:38: “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out…” It is apparent, then, that one must repent in order to have one’s sins blotted out! If that is true (and it is), and if it’s true that repentance and baptism are BOTH to be accomplished in order to obtain remission of sins, then it must also be true that one must be baptized IN CONJUNCTION WITH repentance in order to have one’s sins blotted out.