Steps to heaven
Steps to heaven
We continue to examine the steps on that path of conversion that leads from from being "dead in sin" to being "dead to sin". None of these steps may be omitted, and each involves something that we should have done, and would have done, had we walked the perfect path.
Nobody can reject these steps. They are good works which God prepared for us. "By grace you are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any one should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:8-10).
What is the point of having faith in one's heart and refusing to confess it with one's mouth? Confession of faith, letting everybody know you believe, is just as necessary as faith itself (Rom 10:9-10). Jesus promised to confess those before God who confess him before men (Mtt 10:32-33). Timothy made "the good confession" (1Tm 6:12-13) and so should everyone.
What Jesus said above applies of course to all believers, including those who have never sinned, because refusal to confess Christ is a sin in itself.
Baptism is different to the other steps, in that baptism is not something done constantly, but only once. In baptism a person dies to sin and is buried and raised with Christ to be spiritually reborn and blameless (Rom 6:1-11).
Peter told people to "Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins..." (Acts 2:38). A person who has sinned cannot gain forgiveness by neglecting or refusing to be baptized; that only adds another sin to forgive. God, by his wonderful grace, has provided baptism to bring us by faith into the death and resurrection of Christ, that we may be dead to sin and alive to God. To reject baptism is to reject grace.
In good Christian homes, young children are taught the gospel (2Tm 1:5, 3:14-15). It often happens that such a young child expresses a strong desire to obey Christ in baptism. The parents can see that the child is not just imitating the older members of the family in a copy-cat manner, but has an intelligent, genuine, and personal desire to obey God. But they don't consider the child is old enough to be deemed a sinner.
The issue illustrated in that case, is whether baptism is a step in the perfect path, or whether it is only for the corrective path of conversion. If a person is walking the perfect path, and therefore has not yet sinned, does there ever come a day when that person should request baptism? To answer that question, let us look at the great example of Jesus who did walk the perfect path and never needed to take the corrective path.
Jesus sought to be baptized by John who proclaimed "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mrk 1:4). John perceived a problem and "he tried to prevent Jesus, saying, 'I have need to be baptized of you, and do you come to me?'" Jesus replied, "Permit it at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Mtt 3:13-17).
We see, therefore, that the person on the perfect path is not exempt or excluded from baptism by having never sinned. Baptism is appropriate to fulfill all righteousness and thus to remain righteous. A person is not made a candidate for baptism by rebelling against God and becoming a sinner. A person is made a proper candidate for baptism by believing in God and desiring to obey him.
After baptism what? The answer to that is faithfulness. The path of the faithful is not toward spiritual death, but toward a mature righteousness. After baptism sin no longer has dominion. "I urge you brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:1-2).
Faithfulness makes no room for sin. Certainly, God’s grace provides a way of dealing with sin, so that if sin occurs it can be forgiven and corrected (1Jn 2:1-2). However, God’s grace provides a way of preventing sin in the first place, as John implies: "I am writing these things to you that you may not sin" (1Jn 2:1-2). God’s will is that we don't sin, and he makes his will possible for us to fulfill. Don't regard sin as a normal and expected part of being born again in Christ. Paul asks, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" He answers, "Certainly not!" (Rom 6:1).
The perfect path follows "that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:1-2) and that is what the conversion path restores us to.
First steps