Identifying The New Testament Church, Part 13

A. Week before last we looked at the conditions of Christ’s New Covenant of salvation. It is the
new covenant prophesied in Jer. 31:31-34, promised by Jesus in Matt. 26 :28, and fulfilled in
His coronation, Heb. 8:1. God’s promised New Covenant is a reality in the church today and the conditions of that covenant have been stated. We hear God’s call to Covenant salvation through the Gospel. We agree to the conditions of the covenant by Believing what God tells, sorrowing over our sin repent and turn away from living that life of sin . Confess Jesus as Lord of our life. In word and in deed. I am baptized, Immersed to have my sins washed away so I can receive the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus I become a child of God.
But somewhere along the way some men have decided they no longer want to abide by God’s covenant conditions and begin to substitute their own made-up conditions and tell every that it is as good as what God has proposed. Now we have all kinds of different covenant conditions and nobody wants to believe in and stand in and live God’s original conditions. What are you going to do. Who are you going to believe?
Men have believed this confusion so long they have come to believe that it’s true and God’s alright with it. If we can get away with it in one Covenant Condition maybe we can change some more things to our own liking and get away with it. Do it often enough and long enough and no body will know the difference and the first thing you know man is worshiping God any way he wants and everybody is happy with it.
(A) But, it’s not always been that way and it’s not ok and especially is that true of
God’s Covenant Condition of Baptism and we have proof of that truth. We have
proof from History, Leaders of the Catholic Church, Denominational Founders,
Original Language.
Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore and Chancellor of the Catholic University of America: "For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity, baptism was conferred by IMMERSION; but since the twelfth century the practice of baptizing byinfusion (sprinkling) has prevailed in the Catholic church, as this manner is attended with less inconvenience than baptism by immersion."
The New American Catholic Edition Bible (New Confraternity Version) in a
footnote under Rom. 6:3, states: "St. Paul alludes to the manner in which baptism
was ordinarily conferred in the primitive church, BY IMMERSION. The descent into
the water is suggestive of the descent of the body into the grave."(a) Both Cardinal Gibbons and the Catholic Bible reveal the fact that the
Catholic church departed from the original command and practice of Jesus
and His apostles. The Catholic church is the group who departed from THE
FAITH.
From the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1?2:38, until A.D. 1311, all who became a Christian were baptized by IMMERSION in water. To baptize someone by sprinkling with water instead of IMMERSING in water is a man?made tradition begun by the Catholic church in the 12th century.
Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Calvin all state that the word baptize means to immerse, Not sprinkle.

Testimony of the Original Language in the New Testament. The New Testament was written in the Koine Greek language. In that original language there are three verbs that are used to convey three totally different actions = They were Epicheo, Rhantidzo and Baptisma. Each had a different meaning and they were never interchangeable. Epicheo was never used to mean Rhantizo and Rhantdizo was never used to mean Epicheo. Neither was ever used to mean Baptisma or visa?versa. These verbs are defined as follows:
EPICHEO, "To pour upon." It is used in Lk. 10:34, to describe what the "Good Samaritan" did when he "POURED" oil upon the wounds of the man who fell among robbers.
RHANTIDZO, "To sprinkle," In Heb. 9:13, this word describes the Old Testament practice of SPRINKLING blood and ashes of a temple sacrifice.
BAPTISMA, "To immerse, submersion, to dip." In Matt. 21:25; Eph. 4:5; and 1 Pet. 3:21, this word is used of John's BAPTISM and of Christian BAPTISM, both of which were immersion in water.
(2) Now which of these three verbs did Jesus and His apostles use when they commanded taught believers to be baptized? Did they say, "Repent and be EPICHEO (poured upon)?" Did they say,"Repent and be RHANTIDZO (sprinkled)?" The answer to both questions is NO!
(1) You cannot obey Christ's command to be RHANTIDZO (sprinkled) because He never commanded sprinkling. What He did command was, "Repent and be BAPTISMA (immersed)."
(a) If you were sprinkled you received man?made baptism and not the COVENANT BAPTISM ordained by God. If you have not been IMMERSED.
Have you received the baptism Jesus commanded in the Bible? Is it possible to receive God's COVENANT SEAL without receiving it in the way God commanded it to be given?
(3) Next time we’ll look at the subject of Protestant denominations and Catholic error and we will ask, and answer, the important question, “Why do Protestant denominations and the Catholic church practice the same error instead of Biblical truth? The answer is found in the origin of the protestant reformation and the history of both.
(1) We will see the difference between translation and transliteration and discover the multitude of false doctrine that can result from not knowing the difference.
(2) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 07/21/2002 am