The treacherous doctrine of faith alone strikes again. Jesus has commanded you to be baptized. Does that matter to you?
If you believe salvation is by faith alone—specifically, if you believe that Jesus provides a sinner salvation the moment he agrees in his mind that Jesus is Lord and He died for our sins—then, are you going to follow through with this logical implication?
We have a video on our YouTube channel that looks at what Jesus meant when He commanded people to be baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Recently, we have received multiple comments from people saying, “It doesn’t matter” what Jesus meant by this. Why? Because, according to these commenters, “Water baptism doesn’t save you.”
Now, I would probably agree with these commenters that Jesus saves people from their sins—not checking boxes and not our own works of righteousness. To learn more about what that means, check out our lesson that looks in detail at the doctrine of faith alone. Although I may agree with the commenters on the fact that our attempts to save ourselves won’t work, do you see the dreadful consequence of the doctrine of faith alone staring at us in these comments? Believing in the modern version of “faith alone” has led some people to look at the commandments of Jesus and say, “It doesn’t matter.” Or, more extreme, as another commenter has said, “A quick dip in water means nothing.”
It happens like this:
- A person agrees in his mind that Jesus is real. Because of what a tract or a preacher has said, the person then expects all the benefits of salvation by personal faith alone.
- Jesus provides a commandment, whether it be repentance, baptism, service, prayer, or whatever.
- Then, that person—fully (but falsely) convinced in his mind that obedience isn’t part of coming to Jesus—says, “I see what you’re commanding me, Jesus, and I could study it to see how to obey it, but it really doesn’t matter, because I believe in my heart that you’re real.”
I know that not everyone who believes in salvation by faith alone has this attitude. This is not meant to be a straw man, or painting with a broad brush. At the same time, I am also not surprised that faith alone has produced this attitude in some people, where they have gotten to the point where they say the commandments of Jesus do not matter.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matthew 7:21
He went on to say:
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.
Matthew 7:24–27
It’s good to say Jesus is Lord! He even told His disciples, “You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am” (John 13:13). But keep reading. It’s hypocritical to say He is your Lord—He is your Master—but you don’t live as His servant. Of all the sins Jesus addressed and rebuked the sharpest, religious hypocrisy was number one. When Jesus provides a commandment, will you agree with our recent commenters and say, “It doesn’t matter”? Or will you agree with the inspired author of Hebrews?
And having been perfected, He [Jesus] became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Hebrews 5:8
Jesus is the author of salvation—not us. Therefore:
- We can never say we have saved ourselves, even when we obey.
- We cannot invent new ways to be saved, such as “faith alone.”
- We must, then, hear the Author’s words and do them.
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1:22
When, in Mark 16:16, Jesus says, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (NASB), there are two groups of people.
- The first group says, “Ah, but Jesus didn’t say if I don’t get baptized I will be condemned.” This is often the faith alone doctrine’s response. And this response comes from a simple desire to not be condemned. “He who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
- Yet, the second group truly sees Jesus as Lord, and will ask Him—not primarily how to avoid condemnation—but how to be saved, how to do His will, how to be His servant. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved.”
If you’re going to look at the commandments of Jesus and say, “It doesn’t matter,” then I plead with you to either repent, or never claim to believe in Jesus again.