DANIEL LONG'S DUBIOUS CASE FOR BAPTISMAL REGENERATION

 (9) My Response to Sean Christie of Revealing Truth on the Topic of Baptism - YouTube

Above, Daniel Long (LongforTruth) continues to defend the dubious Lutheran doctrine of baptismal regeneration. 

Long: "We do not believe that if a person has not been baptized, they are not saved."  Nevertheless, Long does link baptism and salvation. Long: "We do believe that baptism saves.. Baptism is a means of grace.. it is a way that God delivers His grace to us." There is a great deal of obfuscation involved in the Lutheran doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Essentially, the Lutheran doctrine of baptismal regeneration recognizes two ways of salvation. Most Christians adhere to the orthodox belief that salvation occurs by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8). However, Lutherans hold the illogical belief that salvation also, but not exclusively, occurs through baptism. This perplexing assertion compromises the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide) and, as such, it is a primary issue. 

Long refers to passages (plural) that link baptism and salvation. Actually, there is only ONE passage that definitively links regeneration and baptism. Lutheran teachers make the error of taking Acts 2:38 in isolation as their proof text for baptismal regeneration at the expense of the sum of God's word. (Psalm 119:160). The passage in question (below) identifies those who received Peter's word and were subsequently baptized.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for (εἰς) the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added about three thousand souls that day. (Acts:2:36-41).

The preposition εἰς (eis) has been translated for in verse 38 which gives the slightly confusing meaning that baptism facilitates the forgiveness of sins. εἰς is translated elsewhere as to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases. {1} The Amplified Bible gives a clearer interpretation: because of the forgiveness of your sins.

Peter instructed the Jews to repent and to be baptized in order to receive the Holy Spirit. At that point in time they were deeply convicted of their sin and were asking Peter "What shall we do?". The practice of the early church was that believers repented and were baptized within a very short period of time, repentance being the necessary requirement for baptism. The norm for the early church consisted of repentance and baptism in close proximity to one another. In our time, Christians are often baptized weeks, months, or even years following conversion. The assertion that unbaptized believers have not received the Holy Spirit in the intervening period prior to baptism is false. The critical question is: When do believers receive the Holy Spirit?  The Gentile converts received the Holy Spirit prior to baptism:

>Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. (Acts 10:46-48).

Long proposes that the aorist imperative passive βαπτισθήτω (baptisthētō) (be baptized) demonstrates that the person being baptized is a passive recipient of God's grace. In this instance, the passive voice indicates nothing more than the fact that baptism is administered by another person. In the very early church, baptism appears to have been administered by apostles or elders. Paul was thankful that he baptized only Crispus and Gauius and the household of Stephanas. (1 Corinthians 1:13-17). 

> That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26).

Many commentators refer to water baptism as a sign, a representation, a symbol etc. rather than a literal cleansing. I have listed a few examples below. {2} 

Benson: "Ephesians 5:26-27. That he might sanctify and cleanse it — Might remove the guilt, power, and pollution of sin; with the washing of water — In baptism, as the sign of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, which can only renew, sanctify, and cleanse the soul. See 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Titus 3:5. By the word — The ordinary channel by which justifying, regenerating, and sanctifying grace is communicated; (John 15:3; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23; John 17:17;).." 

Matthew Henry: "..baptismal water was the outward sign."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown: "..He speaks of baptism according to its high ideal and design, as if the inward grace accompanied the outward rite; hence he asserts of outward baptism whatever is involved in a believing appropriation of the divine truths it symbolizes, and says that Christ, by baptism, has purified the Church [Neander] (1Pe 3:21)."

Matthew Poole: "With the washing of water, viz. in baptism, in which the external washing represents seals, and exhibits the internal cleansing from both the guilt and defilement of sin by the blood of Christ, Hebrews 9:14 Revelation 1:5."

>In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses.. (Colossians 2:11-13).

The context of the above is passage adds baptism to "the circumcision without hands" i.e. baptism is performed subsequent to faith. Paul is contrasting circumcision and baptism in this passage. 

> Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4). 

Long: "You died to sin in your baptism.. The old you was killed in baptism, and the new you arose.. Paul very specifically tells us how we were placed in Christ. Paul says in Romans chapter 6 it was through our baptism." (29:00 mark)

Gill: "..because baptism is an ordinance of his; it is to submit to it with a view to his glory, to testify our affection for him, and subjection to him, without laying any stress or dependence on it for salvation; such who are thus baptized, are "baptized into his death"; they not only resemble Christ in his sufferings and death, by being immersed in water, but they declare their faith in the death of Christ, and also share in the benefits of his death; such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and atonement: now this proves, that such persons are dead to sin, who are so baptized; for by the death of Christ, into which they are baptized, they are justified from sin; by the death of Christ, their old man is crucified, and the body of sin destroyed; besides, believers in baptism profess themselves to be dead to sin and the world, and their baptism is an obligation upon them to live unto righteousness." {3}

> And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children (τέκνον) and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39).  

τέκνον is the Greek word for child, descendent, inhabitant. {4} Many commentators agree that the broader sense of τέκνον i.e. descendents or posterity is indicated in this verse rather than the specific children of Peter's audience. Previously these very same men had imprecated Jesus' blood upon themselves and upon their children i.e. their posterity (τέκνα): “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25).

"..in a broader sense (like the Hebrew בָּנִים), posterity: Matthew 2:18; Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8; Acts 2:39; Acts 13:33(32). with emphasis: genuine posterity, true offspring, John 8:39; (of women) to be regarded as children, 1 Peter 3:6. β. specifically, a male child, a son: Matthew 21:28; Acts 21:21; Revelation 12:5; in the vocative, in kindly address, Matthew 21:28; Luke 2:48; Luke 15:31.

Cambridge Bible: "39. the promise is unto you, and to your children] Just as “to Abraham and his seed were the promises made” {5}

Expositors Greek Testament: "Acts 2:39. ὑμῖν γὰρ: the promise was made to the very men who had invoked upon themselves and upon their children, St. Matthew 27:25, the blood of the Crucified." {6} 

Long's alleged evidence that infants can have faith  (1:00 mark)

> ..and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15).

The exceptional events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist were unique. John's birth was in fact miraculous (not in the same sense as Jesus' birth). John was an answer to prayer; Elizabeth was past the age of childbearing and the news was delivered to Zechariah via angelic agency (Gabriel). I am very doubtful whether this passage proves that infants in general below a certain age can have faith. (Luke 1:8-25).

Further alleged evidence

> Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust (מַ֝בְטִיחִ֗י) you at my mother’s breasts. (Psalm 22:9-10)

I am not a Hebrew expert, but in this instance, the Berean Standard Bible appears to render the best interpretation. 

Berean Standard Bible: Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure (מַ֝בְטִיחִ֗י ) at my mother’s breast.

מַ֝בְטִיחִ֗י (batach) be bold confident, secure, sure, careless one, put confidence, make to hope, put,  {7}

> Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. (Psalm 71:6) .

David did not consciously rely upon God from before his birth, rather he was sustained by God.

NASB Lexicon: "By You I have been sustained נִסְמַ֬כְתִּי (nis·mach·ti) 5564: to lean, lay, rest, support a prim. root" {8}

Barnes: "By thee have I been holden up from the womb - From the beginning of my existence. The 'idea' in all this is, that, since God had sustained him from his earliest years - since he had shown his power in keeping him, and manifested his care for him, there was ground to pray that God would keep him still, and that he would guard him as old age came on. The sentiment in this verse is substantially the same as in Psalm 22:9-10." {9}

>..when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1 Peter 3:20-21). 

Barnes: "..baptism administered in connection with true repentance, and true faith in the Lord Jesus, and when it is properly a symbol of the putting away of sin, and of the renewing influences of the Holy Spirit, and an act of unreserved dedication to God - now saves us.." {10}

>So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:24-27). We symbolically put on Christ in our baptism ~ the outward act confirms the inward change.

Long's insistence that infant baptism in the Roman Catholic Church is valid is indefensible. (55:00 mark). The Roman Catholic Church is a false church and is an abomination to the Lord! Anyone who has undergone baptism in that wicked cult has undergone a false baptism and needs to be legitimately baptized. 

Chris Rosebrough's Research

Rosebrough's quotations from various Church Fathers do not match the writings of the Church Fathers that I have located. (?)

Barnabus (?): “Regarding [baptism], we have the evidence of Scripture that Israel would refuse to accept the washing which confers the remission of sins and would set up a substitution of their own instead [Ps. 1:3–6]."

Rosebrough: "Observe there how he describes both the water and the cross in the same figure. His meaning is,‘Blessed are those who go down into the water with their hopes set on the cross.' Here he is saying that after we have stepped down into the water, burdened with sin and defilement, we come up out of it bearing fruit, with reverence in our hearts and the hope of Jesus in our souls” {11} 

Barnabus: "Let us further inquire whether the Lord took any care to foreshadow the water [of baptism] and the cross. Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites, that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but should procure another for themselves.. Mark how He has described at once both the water and the cross. For these words imply, Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross have gone down into the water;" {12} 

Notice that Barnabus prioritizes those who place their trust in the cross and their subsequent act of baptism. Nowhere does Barnabus imply that baptism removes sins

Hermas (?): "I have heard, sir,’ said I [to the Shepherd], ‘from some teacher, that there is no other repentance except that which took place when we went down into the water and obtained the remission of our former sins.’ He said to me, ‘You have heard rightly, for so it is."

The only comparable passage I could find in Hermas is as follows:

Hermas: "Explain to me a little further, sir, I said. What is it that you desire? he asked. Why, sir, I said, did these stones ascend out of the pit, and be applied to the building of the tower, after having borne these spirits? They were obliged, he answered, to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For, he continued, before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God." {13} 

I find this passage so obscure that I cannot count it as being doctrinally sound or evidential to the cause of baptismal regeneration. 

Wikipedia: "For Hermas baptism is necessary to be saved and warns those who undergo baptism by the danger of postbaptismal sins. Shepherd of Hermas possibly supports delaying baptism for practical reasons which is because of the fear of post-baptismal sins. According to Hermas, those who fall into sin after baptism, have only one chance of penance" {14}

I have not researched Rosebrough's further examples of the Church Fathers, though I may do so at a later date. Anything written by the later Church Fathers such as Augustine, would, in my view, be invalid.  

Long ends his video with a fairly long quote from the Large Catechism of Martin Luther which is one the most blasphemous documents I have ever read. {15}

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

..whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:25 cf. Ephesians 1:7; Revelation 1:5).

Luther followed the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions by removing the prohibition against graven images from the ten commandments. {16} He also rejected various books of the bible; he perpetuated replacement theology and his writings had a huge influence on Hitler. It is incomprehensible that the writings of Luther should be venerated and viewed as compatible with the scriptures.

1. Acts 2:38 Lexicon: Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (biblehub.com)
2. Ephesians 5:26 Commentaries: so that He might sanctify herchaving cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (biblehub.com)
3. Romans 6 Gill's Exposition (biblehub.com)
4. Strong's Greek: 5043. τέκνον (teknon) -- a child (of either sex) (biblehub.com)
5. (Galatians 3:16),
6. Acts 2:39 Commentaries: "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." (biblehub.com)
7. Strong's Hebrew: 982. בָּטַח (batach) -- to trust (biblehub.com)
8. Psalm 71:6 Lexicon: By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; My praise is continually of You. (biblehub.com)
9. Psalm 71:6 Commentaries: By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb; My praise is continually of You. (biblehub.com)
10. 1 Peter 3:21 Commentaries: Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (biblehub.com)
11. Baptism Texts the Earliest Christians.pdf (dropbox.com)
12. CHURCH FATHERS: Epistle of Barnabas (newadvent.org)
13. CHURCH FATHERS: The Shepherd of Hermas, Book III (newadvent.org)
14. The Shepherd of Hermas - Wikipedia
15. The Large Catechism (Infant Baptism) - Martin Luther (projectwittenberg.org)
16. Luther’s Small Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther (cph.org)

FURTHER LINKS

44) FALSE TEACHER CHRIS ROSEBROUGH-LUTHERANISM-FIGHTING FOR THE FAITH
(48) A Biblical Analysis of Infant Baptism - YouTube
(48) Controversies and Biblical Clarity on Baptism - YouTube
(48) Debate: "Is Water Baptism Required for Salvation?” Dean Meadows and Mike Winger - YouTube
(58) Water Baptism DOES NOT Save - Explaining 1 Peter 3:20-21 - YouTube
Martin Luther On Baptism-Heresy Exposed! SermonAudio - Media Player
Sola Fide Compromised? Martin Luther and the Doctrine of Baptism - The Gospel Coalition