Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
From the following passage we can understand that submitting to the rite of water baptism plays no part in a person's salvation:
"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Ro.9:15-16).
When anyone submits to the rite of water baptism his "will" is involved and Paul says that "it is not of him who willeth." So submitting to the rite of water baptism plays no part in anyone's salvation. When the first century believers submitted to the rite of water baptism their being "born of God" had nothing to do with any of their "wills":
"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn.1:11-13).
It is impossible for anyone to submit to the rite of water baptism apart from his will.
"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Ro.9:15-16).
When anyone submits to the rite of water baptism his "will" is involved and Paul says that "it is not of him who willeth." So submitting to the rite of water baptism plays no part in anyone's salvation. When the first century believers submitted to the rite of water baptism their being "born of God" had nothing to do with any of their "wills":
"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn.1:11-13).
It is impossible for anyone to submit to the rite of water baptism apart from his will.