Lutheran Chris Rosebrough's wide influence has drawn men like Steve Kozar and Daniel Long into the error of baptismal regeneration. These men have been very successful in exposing false NAR teachers within "charismania", and they have done some very useful work in that area. Baptismal regeneration debates are fraught with foundational biblical-theological difficulties and there is much at stake.
In this video, Chris Rosebrough responds to a question from Michael Grant, the pastor of Moore's Corner Church MA: "And how can it be both the blood of Christ and the water that is washing away sin? If baptism washes away sin, logically, it would seem the blood of Christ doesn't, or vice versa. Where am I going wrong?"
Rosebrough: "Your question actually presupposes something. Notice you said the word 'logically'. When it comes to exegesis, we have to do it exegetically."
Matthew Poole:
"Wash away thy sins; as washing causeth the spots to disappear, and to be as if they had not been, Isaiah 1:18; so does pardoning mercy, or remission of sins, which accompanieth baptism, as in the due receiver, Matthew 3:11 1 Peter 3:21,22. Where true faith is, together with the profession of it by baptism, there is salvation promised, Mark 16:16. In the mean while it is not the water, (for that only signifies), but it is the blood of Christ, which is thereby signified, that cleanseth us from our sins, as 1Jo 1:7. Yet sacraments are not empty and deceitful signs; but God accompanieth his own ordinances with his power from on high, and makes them effectual for those great things for which he instituted and appointed them."1
Rosebrough:
The scriptures nowhere teach the popular American Evangelical belief that baptism is a 'sign to the world that you’ve made a decision to follow Jesus.'" I have not heard anyone describe baptism in these simplistic terms. Baptism is a public declaration of faith, but it is much more than that. The general consensus within mainstream Christianity is that water baptism is a significant act of obedience and public declaration of faith. Water baptism is a foundational practice within Christianity, representing the believer’s identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (
Romans 6:3-4). When we are baptized, we publicly declare our faith in Christ and our commitment to follow Him. Baptism is something we do before God and in the presence of other believers. If unbelievers are present (as they were at my baptism), then the witness to the world outside of Christianity is undeniable.
Rosebrough's objection to using one's "logic" when wrestling with difficult questions is a red flag. The scriptures instruct believers to test the spirits and to compare scripture with scripture exegetically. (1 John 4:1). While some things are beyond the scope of human reason, the scriptures encourage believers to engage their minds. (Matthew 22:37; Acts 17:11; 1 Peter 3:15). The Holy Spirit is indispensable in aiding believers to discern truth from error. (John 16:13). Our reasoning, when employed in partnership with the Holy Spirit enables believers to align their views with God's will and purposes. Don't false NAR prophets tell us to evacuate reason? Paul often reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue Acts 17:2-3,17;18:4,19). He reasoned with the Ephesians for three months, contending for the gospel. (Acts 19:8-9).
Strongs:
"dialegomai: To discuss, to reason, to argue, to speak..1256 dialégomai (from 1223 /diá, 'through, from one side across to the other,' which intensifies 3004 /légō, 'speaking to a conclusion') – properly, 'getting a conclusion across' by exchanging thoughts (logic) – 'mingling thought with thought, to ponder (revolve in the mind)' (J. Thayer).2
Rosebrough's hermeneutic of referring selectively to passages that explicitly refer to
baptism and regeneration while failing to include other passages that refer to
faith and regeneration is another red flag. Rosebrough is highly regarded by some as a competent bible expositor, but given some of his previous blunders, I wonder if this is actually the case?
3 A favorite tactic of false teachers is to quote the scriptures selectively. To arrive at an accurate understanding when dealing with tough questions, it is necessary to include
all the relevant passages, not just those that
seem to prove our point superficially. (Proverbs 18:17).
The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. (Psalm 119:160). -- the sum of your word, not just some – is truth.
Rosebrough's PDF examples4
Acts 2:38–39: “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 and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Bible Hub:
"Repent - Repentance is a call to turn away from sin and change one's mind and heart towards God. It is a consistent theme throughout Scripture, seen in the messages of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2) and Jesus (Mark 1:15). Repentance is foundational for entering the Kingdom of God and is a prerequisite for receiving forgiveness and salvation."5
Romans 6:3–5: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Ellicott: "Why has baptism this special connection with the death of Christ? In the first place, the death of Christ is the central and cardinal fact of the Christian scheme. It is specially related to justification, and justification proceeds from faith, which is ratified in baptism."6
Colossians 2:11–12: “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Cambridge: "—Baptism is the Sacrament of Faith, and never, in principle and idea, to be dissociated from its Thing (Res), as if its work was done where the Thing is not truly present."7
Acts 22:16: “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling (ἐπικαλεσάμενος) on his name.”
There is some manipulation of the text here by Rosebrough. He quotes only the last part of Acts 22:16! This verse is preceded by Paul's Damascus Road experience and his conversion (Acts 22:6-16) culminating in Ananias' question. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’ (Acts 22:16).
Expositor's Greek New Testament:
"—ἐπικαλ., cf. p. 81, on the significance of the phrase. This calling upon the name of Christ, thus closely connected with Baptism and preceding it, necessarily involved belief in Him, Romans 10:14."8
Titus 3:4–7: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing (λουτροῦ) of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Bible Hub: "This phrase likely refers to the concept of spiritual rebirth, which is central to Christian theology. It connects to Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:3-5, where He speaks of being 'born of water and the Spirit.' The imagery of washing may also allude to baptism, a rite symbolizing purification and initiation into the Christian community. In the cultural context, washing was a common metaphor for spiritual cleansing."
1 Peter 3:21–22: “Baptism, which corresponds (ἀντίτυπον) 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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
The meaning of the Greek adjective antitupos in 1 Peter 3:21 is "Antitype, counterpart, corresponding figure.. Meaning: typical of, representing by type (or pattern), corresponding to, an image."9
Berean Standard Bible: And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.. (1 Peter 3:21).
John 3:5: “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Pulpit Commentary: "The references to the baptism of the early Church are not numerous in the New Testament, but they are given as if for the very purpose of showing that the water baptism was not a necessary or indispensable condition to the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius and his friends received the sacred bestowment before baptism. The language of the Ethiopian ennuch shows that he had received the holy and best gift of Divine illumination and faith before baptism. Simon Magus was baptized with water by Philip, but was in the gall of bitterness and un-spirituality. There is no proof at all that the apostles of Christ (with the exception of Paul) were ever baptized with water, unless it were at the hands of John. Consequently, we cannot believe, with this entire group of facts before us, that our Lord was making any ceremonial rite whatsoever indispensable to entrance into the kingdom. His own reception and forgiveness of the woman that was a sinner, of the paralytic, and of the dying brigand, his breathing over his disciples as symbolic of the great spiritual gift they were afterwards to receive, is the startling and impressive repudiation of the idea that Christian baptism in his own name, or, still less, that that ordinance treated as a supernaturally endowed and divinely enriched sacrament, was even so much as referred to in this great utterance. But the entire system of Jewish, proselyte, and Johannine baptisms was in the mind of both Nicodemus and Christ.." 10 Rosebrough is correct in identifying λουτρόν as baptism in Titus 3:5.11. However, I am very concerned by his assertion: "..baptism becomes one of the means by which God regenerates.." Rosebrough effectively introduces two ways of regeneration. The claim that baptism can stand alone without faith as a means of salvation is foreign to the scriptures and butchers the word of God. (2 Timothy 2:15). This view necessitates the introduction of a supernatural element into baptism where faith is absent. However, those who believe in salvation through faith believe the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit occurs by faith.
Faith is essential for salvation
In the early church, water baptism was inextricably bound with conversion and the forgiveness of sins. (Acts 2:38). The normative practice in the New Testament was that believers were baptized immediately upon conversion. There is no such thing as an unbaptized Christian in the New Testament. (Acts 2:41; 8:12-13, 36-39; 9:17-18; 10:47-48; 16:14-15, 31-33; 18:8; 19:5).
..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).
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.. (Ephesians 2:8).
know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15).
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— / children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God. (John 1:12-13).
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. / For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. / Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one
The above verses and many others state that faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. It is neither biblical nor logical that baptism alone without faith is "one of the means to regeneration".
Rosebrough also appeals to the Church Fathers' belief in baptismal regeneration. Problematically, some Church Fathers believed in the practice of infant baptism, and yet there is no record of an infant being baptized in the New Testament. While the Church Fathers are interesting, they are not authoritative. Most bible believers take the view that the Bible is the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice (sola scriptura).
In the video Rosebrough goes on to claim that baptism is a spiritual weapon against temptation based on Ephesians 5:26. Water baptism is not mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-18 where Paul specifically addresses spiritual warfare. Rosebrough: "The the word of God is attached to the waters of baptism." Water is a symbol of life and cleansing in the New Testament. It represents the cleansing of the sinner by the washing of the water of the Word of God. Water is also the source of the living water that springs up into eternal life.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-16).
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14).
Jesus referred to “living water” as the Holy Spirit. (John 7:38-39 cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11). God is the source of this living water in both the Old and the New Testament; those who drink of it will never thirst again. (John 4:14).
Rosebrough's view appears almost identical to the Roman Catholic view that the act of baptism regenerates the person being baptized from spiritual death to life (infants and adults), apart from faith in Christ
(ex opere operato,“by the work performed”).In my view, Rosebrough's arguments for baptismal regeneration are deficient and fall far short of the acceptable standard for reliable biblical exegesis. Furthermore, this view is extremely dangerous and is likely to destabilize the faith of believers. (2 Corinthians 6:3). Baptism is an imperative, and to deliberately refuse to be baptised is an act of rebellion for which no doubt there are consequences. Nevertheless, I can find no scriptural evidence that baptism alone is salvific.
Further Reading
1. Acts 22:16 Commentaries: 'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'
2. Strong's Greek: 1256. διαλέγομαι (dialegomai) -- To discuss, to reason, to argue, to speak
3. WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: Chris Rosebrough
4. Baptism Texts & the Church Fathers.
5. Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "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.
6. Romans 6:3 Commentaries: Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
7. Colossians 2:11 Commentaries: and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
8. Acts 22 Expositor's Greek Testament
9. Strong's Greek: 499. ἀντίτυπον (antitupos) -- Antitype, counterpart, corresponding figure
10. John 3 Pulpit Commentary
11. Strong's Greek: 3067. λουτρόν (loutron) -- Washing, Bath
