Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
Paul's shows baptism was unnecessary by only baptizing 2 people & also the household of Stephanas
You still ignore the fact that Paul was saved prior to the time when he received the gospel of grace, the same gospel which he preached to the Gentiles.
He was saved on the road to Damascus when he believed that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That is the heart and soul of the gospel of the kingdom. And under that program a person must first believe and then after that that same person was baptized with water (Acts 8:36-37).
Again, Paul didn't receive the gospel of grace on the road to Damascus. Not long after Paul was converted on the Damascus road he preached the following message to the Jews:
"And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.....proving that this is the very Christ" (Acts 9:20,22).
At that time Paul had not yet received the gospel which he was to preach among the Gentiles. He wrote the following:
"But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus" (Gal.1:15-17).
When Paul believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, on the Damascus road he immediately went to Damascus (Acts 9:6-8). But when he received the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles he went immediately into Arabia.
That can only mean that Paul didn't preach the new program of God at the beginning of his ministry but instead at the beginning of his ministry he was preaching the gospel of the kingdom and a part of that program was submitting to the rite of water baptism.
That explains why Paul was baptized with water and why he baptized believers with water.