In this clip, Cy Kellett welcomes Tim Staples to discuss the necessity of baptism for salvation. Trent continues with details on how Jesus and the apostles emphasized baptism as essential, backed by scripture. Tune in to explore this critical aspect of Christian faith!
Transcript:
Caller: If Jesus death on the cross was not sufficient for the sins of the whole world, it was, brother. So why are you trying to add baptism, Jesus, except you’re born again, I cannot see the kingdom of God now. In Acts chapter 8, Philip was preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch. And the Ethiopian saw water and said, see, here is water. What does hinder be baptized? And Philip said, do you believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God? He said, yes, I believe it was only after his profession that he was allowed to be baptized. You cannot add baptism to salvation.
Tim Staples: Okay, let me jump in right here, because you’re going to start going off on a lot of different things. Let’s answer what you’ve said so far, okay? Number one, the reason why baptism is necessary for salvation is because Jesus says so. For example, in Mark 16:16, Jesus says, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. We’re not saying faith isn’t necessary. Absolutely it is. But so is baptism. This is why first Peter 3:21, St. Peter would say, baptism does now save us. And he had just said in verse 20, just as the water saved eight souls at the time of Noah, so baptism does now save you. And we also have verses like Romans 6:3, we are buried together with him through baptism, so that as Christ was raised to newness of life, we may walk in newness of life. We have in Acts 2:37,38, when the people after Peter preached masterfully on Pentecost, Jesus Christ, they said, what must we do? He said, repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I could multiply examples here, but I want to get to your second question, and that is, why infants? Well, in verse 39, and you have to understand, my brother, that we’re not adding anything to what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus is, according to 1 John 2:1:2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world. Jesus is our salvation. However, Jesus can choose to communicate the graces of his salvific death to us in any way he so chooses. And he chose to use faith as an instrument, obedience as an instrument, as well as baptism and other sacraments. But right now we’re talking about baptism. And when it comes to infant baptism, it’s interesting, isn’t it, how St. Paul uses circumcision as sort of the image of what baptism is in Colossians 2, verses 11 and 12. He says, Baptism is the circumcision of Christ. Now we know that a Jew became a Jew and part of the covenant family of God through circumcision on the eighth day. Now, they didn’t have to accept Moses as their personal Lord or their personal prophet, I should say, because he wasn’t Lord, their personal prophet before they were circumcised. No, they understood a family covenant that a head of the household had authority to have his children circumcised on the eighth day. It’s interesting. Paul says baptism is the circumcision of Christ. Well, if circumcision was done to infants, how much more would baptism? Because circumcision didn’t take away sins. It was only a symbol that symbolized the coming of a sacrament that in fact would take away our sins and save us faith and baptism. Mark 16:16, as we said. So it’s the circumcision of Christ, says St. Paul. And this is why it’s so significant that Peter would say to a group of thousands of Jews who were listening to him when he proclaimed the truth of Jesus Christ. And they said, what must we do? As I said before, he said, repent. Be baptized, each one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And you sh. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. But then he says in verse 39, and this promise is for you and for your children. Every Jew listening would have understood what that meant, that it is for our children, just as circumcision was. And this is why St. Paul would again and again use the image of circumcision when he’s talking about baptism. For example, in Romans 3:27, he says, we are baptized into Jesus Christ, where there is no longer Jew nor Greek bond, nor free male nor female. Notice he uses the image of circumcision. Why? Because you had to be a free male Jew to be circumcised. Paul is saying, now we have baptism, which is the fulfillment of circumcision, and it’s open to everyone. So baptism of infants. Absolutely. But please understand, when we say baptism is necessary for salvation, we understand that we have examples like of the thief on the cross who could not be baptized. He’s hanging on the cross. We believe that if you do not have access to and cannot be baptized by your desire for truth for Jesus Christ, you will receive the grace of that sacrament. Because God is not bound by the sacraments. You and I are. We have to follow God. He tells us we have to be baptized for salvation, we have to do that. But God himself can save people in extraordinary ways, as he did the thief on the cross, as he did with Cornelius, for example, in Acts, chapter 10. But at any rate, that’s just a scratch on the scratch of the surface, but I hope that helps.
Host: Richard, any follow up, quick comment on that? We’re getting really short on time, but we wanted to, you know, be fair to you. And what Tim just said the whole time,
Caller: it’s a lie, folks. Don’t listen to this bozo!
Host: Oh, okay. Well, all right. Richard, Richard, hold on. If we’re listening to a bozo, the bozo’s names are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, and those who wrote the Scriptures. Richard, brother, you’re just. Your ears are not open, my friend, and that’s unfortunate. You have been lied to, and I don’t say that with any animosity or anything. We’re going to pray for you, Richard. Tim is a convert to the Catholic faith. And that conversion came through, I’m sure, great study and sacrifice and probably be a lot of heartache and sorrow. And I don’t know that he could throw any more scripture verses at you that support what he was just saying.
Tim Staples: Well, you know what, Jerry? If I could, I would say I can really relate to Richard because I was raised a Southern Baptist. I used to preach what he’s saying from the pulpit, and I really understand where he’s coming from. I would only ask Richard, check out our website@catholic.com in fact, I’ll give you an invitation to check out my website@timstaples.com and you can talk to me. Personally, I’d love to hear from you and talk a whole lot more scripture, but we do have to move on to some other callers. Thanks so much, though, for calling in, Richard, and God bless you.