Our Sins are Washed Away! You Know?

Ephesians 4:24

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

A believer wrote:

Christ did not die so that our sins are automatically washed away but so that they can be washed away for not only the Jews but also the Gentiles. During the law, only the jew's sins can be forgiven. Now, we gentiles have a choice as well. When Jesus died, it did not mean that we can sin all we want. He died so we can choose ourselves if we want our sins forgiven. that is why baptism is only in his name (Jesus) and not His titles (father, son, holy ghost), according to Acts 2:38 and Matt. 28:19.

Dear Believer,
God Bless you, and thank you for writing. We respect your position as one who has considered the matter with careful attention to the Scripture and agree with you that salvation is NOT a license to sin but the liberty to choose to live unto Christ. Christ did die for the sin of the world and at the moment He said "It is finished," the sin wall was demolished, and all who will may come.

We believe salvation is a Free Gift that God made sure through His Grace and kindness to us through Jesus Christ. This Free Gift cannot be lost, forsaken, or forfeited in any way because it is God's Gift and is age-abiding. Why we believe this is:

The word translated "freely" in the New Testament is Greek dorean, and like dorea, dorema and doron are derived from didomi, "to give". I cannot stress too strongly the blessed fact that justification is an act of Grace, a gift undeserved and unmerited. The word "freely" occurs in The Gospels, the Epistles, and  Revelation:

"Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).
"They hated Me without a cause" (John 15:25).
"I have preached to you the gospel of God freely" (2 Corinthians 11:7).
"If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21).
"Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought" (2 Thessalonians 3:8).
"The water of life freely" (Revelation 21:6, Rev. 22:17).

The English language will not allow John 15:25 to be translated as "They hated Me freely," but we can say: "They hated Me gratuitously." So in Galatians 2:21, "Christ died in vain" (or gratuitously). Romans chapter 5 places great emphasis on this gratuitous act of God:

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification". (Romans 5:15-16).

Here God uses not only dorea in Rom. 5:15, and dorema in Rom. 5:16, but also charisma, a gift in grace (or gracious gift), translated in both verses as "free gift". I doubt whether any definition of Grace is complete that does not include this element of a Gift, a gift that is the antithesis of "wages" (Romans 6:23), a gift that is without repentance on the part of God (Romans 11:29). The "grace-by-faith-salvation" of (Ephesians 2:8) is not of works, but is The Gift of God.

It is the very essence of love to give. Even sinful men and women manifest their mutual love through the exchange of gifts. Children, parents, and friends seize birthdays, weddings, and almost any festive season as opportunities to manifest their love through gifts. The love of God has been shown for all time in The Gift of His Son (John 3:16), and it is a repeated characteristic of The Love of Christ that it gives, and gives all, even to Life itself (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2 and Eph. 5:25) to wretched souls.

We have been "justified freely," gratuitously, without a cause, "by His Grace." Here, we need to pause again so that we may receive the double emphasis upon the "Grace" element of The Gift. Grace is of such a nature that it is entirely made imperfect by the intrusion of "works" or "wages."

"And if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Romans 11:6).

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5).

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal (aionion) life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

"For by grace are ye saved . . . it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

Let not our own crude sense of right and wrong rob us of the "freeness" of This Gift of Grace. Romans 3:24 does say we are "being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It does not say that this freely given justification is through the fact that The Lord Jesus earned legal righteousness for us by His obedience to The Law of Moses. Such an idea robs The Grace Gift of its Glory and brings God down to the level of a bargainer with His Son, whereas it is God Himself Who Loved the world, God Who sent His Son, God Who justifies us freely, God Who provided the ransom which is payment in full for all sin, past, present, and future.

Justification Through Redemption

Where some schools of theology teach justification through the "imputed obedience" under The Law of The Lord Jesus, Romans 3:24 declares that it is through the "redemption" that is in Christ Jesus. The same truth appears in Romans 5:8-9 where we read: "Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood", and again in Romans 4:25: "Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and raised again because of our justification." Christ's death dealt with our sin. His blood at once redeems, atones, and makes us near. Redemption sets us free, and long before the Dispensationn of Grace dawned, David realized that God would reckon righteousness where He forgave sin.

"Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Rom. 4:6-8).

It was necessary that sin should be righteously dealt with, and that has been done, but it is the glory of the gospel that the same love that prompted our redemption and our deliverance can provide gratuitously, freely, and without cause (except in the great love of God Himself) "a righteousness of God apart from the law."

Shall we reject this loving gift because "we" do not see how God could give it to us freely without some external moving cause? We undervalue far too much the initial movement of God in our salvation. Who constrained God in the first place to provide a ransom? What works of righteousness were accomplished, and by whom, before He would send His Gift of Love down to die? And all that to a world that rejected Him and was dead in trespasses and sin.

If we take God at His Word and do not add to it or remove it from its context, do we not see that in a sense more full than the understanding of men? We may take the words of Romans 8:32: "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Here is God's own argument. The "Free Gift" of righteousness to the believer in the Lord Jesus is freely covered and provided for in the One Great Gift of all, His own Son. Let none think that his righteousness is not resting upon a firm enough foundation it is! It rests upon the uninfluenced Grace of God. Its bedrock is the Love of God that changes not, and the fact of The Gift of Christ itself is a sufficient pledge that having given Him, God will freely give, not grudgingly give, or have to be persuaded to give, but freely and without a cause, give all things else that are necessary to life and glory. This does not refer only to the act of justification but covers all our needs and our eternal blessedness.

"Justification has altogether a legal signification and has respect, not to what the man is in actual character, but to what the man is held to be in juridical estimation. It is not that change in himself by which he is made a just person but that change in his relation to the law and the Lawgiver, by which he is reckoned and treated as a just person. It describes not the man's moral rightness, but his legal right: and however inseparably the two may be conjoined in fact, they ought not on that account to be confounded in the idea" (Chalmers).

It has been said that the doctrine of justification by faith is held by both Protestant and Roman schools of thought, everything depending, of course, upon exactly what is meant by "Faith." It is good, therefore, to express what we mean concerning the freeness of this gift and the fact that faith has no merit in it, by quoting, insistently, the language of Titus 3:7: "Being justified by His grace." Justification by grace is what we believe and intend when using the more common expression "justification by faith" "it is The Gift of God".

"Now if you doubt that I am Christ's
If one suspicion lurks
I'll show by deeds that I am His
I'm justified by works.

"I praise the Lord 'tis all of Him
The grace (Romans 3:24), the faith (Romans 5:1), the blood (Romans 5:9).
The resurrection power (Romans 4:25), the works (James 2:18-24),
I'm justified by God".

(With acknowledgments to the unknown author).

We hope this helps to dispel any misunderstanding on where we stand as to justification.

Most Christians today are unaware of the dividing line God placed between the Epistles written by Paul the Apostle before and after Acts 28:28. There was a major change in how God was dealing with His beloved ones at that point in time around AD 63. Once this huge change is understood, hundreds of verses in the Bible become crystal clear, whereas before, there was only confusion and apparent contradiction.

Baptism

The question of baptism has long troubled Christianity in that there are many differing opinions on what the Bible teaches on this important subject. We, as students of the Rightly Divided Word of Truth, must not be swayed by the traditions and teachings of men but always look to the Scripture as our rule book of faith and practice.

Among the words written near the time of the beginning of Christianity, the new Hebrew believers were exhorted "to leave" not "lay again," laws and ordinances including "the doctrine of baptisms" Heb. 6:2, these being among the elements that were to be left behind as the believer pressed on unto perfection.

The N.T. teaching concerning baptism is distributed thus:

1. John the Baptist. This baptism falls under two headings:

(a) It was a baptism unto repentance, in view of the near approach of the kingdom of heaven
Matt. 3:1-2

(b) It was the work of John as the forerunner prophesied of by Isaiah in the fortieth chapter of his prophecy.

(c) It was concerned only with Israel or with those who joined themselves to Israel, as the words "Comfort ye" of Isaiah 40 were concerned.

(d) It was a baptism in water that spoke of a future baptism with The Holy Ghost and with fire.

(e) It was specifically designed to make manifest to Israel the One Who was sent to be their Messiah John 1:30-34

2. The baptism with the Holy Ghost promised by John was fulfilled in Pentecost Acts 1:5.

3. During the Acts, water baptism and the baptism of the Spirit went together Acts 2:38, 10:47

4. During the first ministry of the Apostle Paul, baptism by water was practiced, 1 Cor. 1:16, but baptism never held the place in Paul's commission 1 Cor. 1:17 that it did in that of Peter's (Acts 2:38). Peter could never have said: "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach The Gospel" as Paul did.

Baptism during the early ministry of Paul:

(a) united the believer by burial with the death of Christ Rom. 7:6-4

(b) united Jew and Gentile, making them "all one in Christ and Abraham's seed" Gal. 4:27-29.

(c) baptizing these believers into one body, with particular reference to the exercise of spiritual gifts 1 Cor. 12:13

5. After Acts 28 and the revelation of The Mystery, we enter into a calling where shadows give place to the reality of the Fulness of Christ Col. 2:17.

Baptism in the Epistles of The Mystery is either that which unites the believer with the death and Resurrection of Christ, Col. 2:12, or by which the believer becomes a member of The Church, which is His Body - Eph. 4:5.

Owing to the failure on the part of expositors and teachers to discern the change of dispensation consequent upon the setting aside of Israel at the time of Acts 28, there has been a failure to discern the extreme difference that exists between baptism as taught in the earliest part of the N.T. or even in the earlier epistles of Paul and as it is taught in the Epistles of The Mystery.

Galatians 3:19 asks a question: "Wherefore then serveth the law?" and the answer is: "It was superadded" (prostithemi). The Galatians were turning back to the weak and beggarly elements of the ceremonial law. "Now, this law was not promulgated in the first instance to the Jewish people, but was a superaddition to the antecedent moral law is a matter of universal notoriety. It is well-known (says Whitby) that all these ancient fathers were of the opinion that God gave the Jews only the Decalogue, till they made the golden calf, and afterward He laid the yoke of ceremonies upon them." "The law was superadded in behalf of transgressions being ordained in the hand of a mediator."

The Christian Church has fixed its attention so much upon these superadded carnal ordinances and has modeled its doctrine of baptism so much upon these things which were imposed until the time of reformation that they have given little or no place to The One Great Baptism, which was not added because of transgressions but was an integral part of the Redemption of the nation, namely The Baptism of the whole nation unto Moses at the Red Sea. That is the type that remains for us today; all others are carnal ordinances that have no place in the present economy of pure grace.

The Baptism of Colossians 2 is not likened to anything that was introduced into the Aaronic priesthood or Tabernacle service. It is likened to the initiatory rite of circumcision. Now, in Colossians 2, this circumcision is the spiritual equivalent of that practiced by the Jew; it is explicitly said to be "the circumcision made without hands" and repudiates "the body of the flesh" (sin is not in question; the revised text omits the words "of the sins"), and this is accomplished "by the circumcision of Christ." Now, until it can be proved that the circumcision here emphasized is the literal carnal ordinance, the consequential burial by baptism will have to be understood of the spiritual equivalent too and find its type, not in the many baptisms of the ceremonial law, but in The One Baptism of the whole nation at the crossing of the Red Sea. This "One Baptism" forms an integral part of the Unity of The Spirit, which those blessed under the terms of The Mystery are enjoined to keep. The seven parts of this unity are so disposed as to throw into correspondence the One Baptism in The One Spirit, thus:

This sevenfold unity is composed of seven units - and to tamper with the repeated word "one" is to deny inspiration and to destroy the Apostle's insistence. We can no longer believe that "One" Baptism means two, i.e., "water and spirit," then we can import plurality into faith, hope, or the Lordship of Christ. It is the custom of those companies of Christians who stress baptism in water to call themselves "baptized believers." It is also, unfortunately, the habit of many who see the spiritual nature of Baptism in Colossians and Ephesians to allow this claim, but such are wrong. Members of The One Body are "baptized believers," for without this One Baptism, membership of The One Body is impossible. To speak otherwise is to magnify the carnal ordinance that pertains to the ceremonial act above the spiritual reality. The truth is that no company in the N.T. has ever known what True Baptism really is, except The Church, where baptism in water is absent and unknown.

Note the beautiful typology in 1 Peter 3:18-22:

1. The Ark It is clearly implied that the Ark represents a relationship with Christ. Noah and seven other persons were "in" the Ark, high and dry, so to speak, throughout the catastrophe. They were saved through the flood waters of judgment in the baptism of the Ark These verses do not teach baptismal regeneration, but rather ceremonial water baptism. Ceremonial baptism was the shadow; real baptism, the substance, is a relationship "in" Christ. In 1 Peter 3:21, the putting away of the filth of the flesh refers to ceremonial water baptism, which Peter contrasts with real baptism, the answer of a good conscience toward God. See also Romans 6.

2. The Flood Waters. As touched upon above, these represent judgment. The flood was necessary to destroy humanity corrupted by intermarriage with fallen angelic beings, the spirits in prison mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19-20. So, as some teach, it can not refer to human souls in some place of conscious torment like purgatory or hell. For further study, see Appendices 23 through 25 of the Companion Bible.

The Flood Waters can be applied typically to The Judgment, which took place at Calvary. Christ at Calvary was baptized into the wrath of God. All the waves and billows of that wrath passed over Him. Psalms 42:7 and Jonah 2:3. The believer does not fear the wrath of God which is to come. He is "in" Christ, the Ark.

The death, baptism, and Resurrection of Christ save him.

3. The Eight Souls. This was the number of persons in the Ark, and it is significant. Such numbers as 6, the number of man, and 7, the number of perfection, are examples known to most Bible students. The number 8 is the number of resurrection, The Resurrection of Christ in which all believers will share. It is The Hope of the believer, and it will make fully known and manifest The Truth of God as it is in Christ.

The unbelieving naturally cling to the ceremonial baptism. It ministers to the flesh. But no one shall experience resurrection and see God without the experience of the real baptism in this life.

Which baptism is for you?

The One Baptism we, as believers in this Dispensation of the Mystery, have is our spiritual identification with our Lord Christ Jesus. We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). The word complete in Greek means fulfill or filled to the full. We have Christ's death, burial, and Resurrection as ours and being raised with Him and seated with Him in the Far above heavens (Ephesians 2:6), where no sin or sinner has ever been or will be. We also found that our citizenship papers are from this same place (Philippians 3:20). Furthermore, since we have been raised with Him by the operation of God (Colossians 2:12), death and sin need no longer have dominion over us. We are to walk worthy of our calling, putting on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24). We have obtained all of this by faith and not of ourselves.

Paul writes and warns the Colossians in Col. 2:2 that it is only through the "...acknowledgment of The Mystery of God and of The Father, and of Christ, in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge", that they could find the wherewithal to walk in this world--not through the traditions, philosophies or the vain deceits of man. Behind all these entrapments is religion, the mother of which is Babylon. No matter what form religion may take, idolatry is the foundation of its worship. The flesh is easily deceived into believing that the observation of rituals, holy days, doctrines, abstinences, and commandments of men will gain for the flesh, and hence the person a closer walk with God. This was the point of the attack experienced by the believers at Colossae from the Gnostics and Judaizers.

Paul emphasizes to the believers that their completeness in Christ alone is sufficient. Religion would entrap the believer into holding onto something other than The Headship of Christ, which in this Dispensation of The Mystery provides our total life source.

Today, the members of The Church of The One Body are also subject to these attacks by spiritual wickedness, as were the Colossians. Our only source for wisdom, knowledge, and power comes from Christ, Who is our Life (Colossians 3:4), not from anything (including religion) of or in the world. We can know Him by His Word. We can receive further wisdom and revelation about Him in His Word and discover how completely we are identified with Him and how, by The One Baptism, His finished perfect work was graciously implanted in us. Search The Scriptures and see this identification for yourself.

The history books reveal that the question of baptism has been the cause of much bitterness, strife, and division. The basis for these disputes has risen out of the failure to discern the dispensational differences that distinguish the ministries of the N.T. These can be divided into three periods. Beginning with John the Baptist, it was water only with the promise of Spirit baptism. Secondly, during the Acts period, it was both water and Spirit. The third period, the period that we live in today, followed Acts 28:28. The Pentecostal dispensation, which began at the time of Acts chapter 2, ended because of Israel's unbelief. The only baptism that God honors for today is Spirit baptism.

Not long ago, we heard a preacher give a commentary on Ephesians 4:4-6 where we find the seven unities to be kept by The Church. He had no problem giving spiritual content to six of them, but the "One Baptism" proved a problem, needless to say. One Baptism means one, not two. What is it, water or spirit? It can't be both! The preacher saw the problem. He "solved" it by consulting at least 15 commentaries. All of them said it was water baptism! Consequently, each of us is faced with the responsibility of this decision: what will we believe, the Word of God or the commentaries?

The Unities of Ephesians 4:4-6 are not to be made, but to be kept! They contain the only formula available to prevent divisions. If the churches kept these Unities, they would not be so powerless and would not be the object of scorn and derision.

In 1 Corinthians 1:17, the Apostle Paul seems to have made a positive statement, For Christ sent me not to baptize, But to preach The Gospel." Yet Paul had listed the names of three individuals he had already baptized. He also included the household of one of the people he had baptized, so we don't know exactly how many Paul had baptized.

In the account of Paul, Silas, and Timothy preaching in the house of Justus in Corinth (Acts 18:7-8), we are told that many of the Corinthians heard, believed, and were baptized. At that time, Paul had undoubtedly baptized those he named in the first Corinthian letter.

However, we are left with the question, "If Christ had sent Paul not to baptize, why had he baptized any of them?" In order to answer this question and resolve the problem created, we must get a better understanding of the place of baptism. When John the Baptist began his ministry to Israel, he preached baptism for the repentance of sins.

Peter at Pentecost followed the same preaching as had John the Baptist, when Peter answered those who asked him,  "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) Peter's reply was, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38). Notice that Peter said that remission of sins was through Jesus Christ and the result of their baptism unto Him. Peter did not tell them, "Christ died for our sins," as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 15:3.

If we look at the context of The Scripture quoted first, 1 Corinthians 1:17, we see that Paul contrasts baptism with the preaching of the cross. This is the answer to Paul's statement, "Christ sent me not to baptize...lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." (made void). 

Paul was sent to preach the cross, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, not the baptism as John the Baptist and Peter had preached. Paul states, "Christ sent me not to baptize for the remission of sins, but to preach the cross for the remission of sins." Paul had been given a further understanding of the place of baptism in the purpose of God.

Baptism was to be for the identification of the believer with the death, burial, and Resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Therefore, Paul was not hypocritical in saying one thing and seemingly doing another. By baptism, he was identifying those believers with the death, burial, and Resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ.

While much more could be said, we are necessarily limited, but we believe every essential feature has been considered so that you can pursue the matter in detail with every hope of attaining unto fuller light.

All God's Blessings,
The Believers