If our acts of righteousness will not save us, then why be baptized?

Paul wrote,

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

What are “works of righteousness”? They are the opposite of acts of wickedness. Righteous acts in one sense are acts that are moral and spiritual. Other than righteous and wicked acts there are acts which are neutral, so to speak, that are neither moral and spiritual nor wicked. A woman may wash her hair and a man may shave his face. These are not righteous acts or wicked acts, but are neutral acts. Such are not acts engaged in to be saved.

Salvation is provided by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and not by our own righteous and good acts which we perform. This is not to say we can do nothing to receive salvation and eternal life, for God says we can (Rom. 2:6-11; Heb. 5:9), but it is to say that our own righteousness cannot save us; “For there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). Since none are righteous, no one can be saved by their own righteousness.

Paul wrote that we cannot provide our own salvation by our own good works:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Eph. 2:8-10).

Jesus has provided our salvation through His death on the cross. In a sense Jesus' submission to crucifixion was not a righteous act on His part. If crucifixion is a righteous act, then every man on earth can be crucified to forgive sins. Jesus' crucifixion was a neutral act, that was considered righteous because it was required of God. His death was righteous because He fulfilled God's requirement, a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus' submission to baptism was a neutral act, which became a righteous act because God required it. Jesus told John why He should be baptized.

 Permit it to be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

The fact that God required baptism made it a righteous act for Jesus to fulfill. Nothing in being buried and being raised from water is a righteous act. If so, the more a person is buried under the water and raised from water the more righteous he would become by preforming the act. But if it is required of God and received in obedience to God, then it becomes a righteous act. When we were children, we dunked each other under the water. This was not a righteous act because we were not dunked as an act of obedience to God.

 If Jesus had refused to be baptized, His refusal would have been an unrighteous move on His part. By doing so, He would have sinned. He received baptism to fulfill an act God sent John to perform (John 1:33), thus by receiving baptism Jesus fulfilled a righteous command of God. Baptism was not what Jesus did but what John administered. The baptism Jesus requires of us is like the baptism John administered to Jesus— a heaven required act, a requirement of God (Matt. 21:25). It is not an act of human righteousness but because God requires baptism, this neutral act becomes a righteous act. That is why Jesus considered it an act of righteousness He was required to receive of John (Matt. 3:13-16).

 Jesus did not say to John, “It if fitting for Me to fulfill all righteousness, but “for us” –  Me to submit to and for you to administer. Jesus' baptism was not accomplished by the work He did, but by the work of John. Our baptism is the same. We simply submit. Another does the work, thus it is not a work of our own righteousness.

 Our baptism requires more than what was required of Jesus' baptism by John. John's was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin (Mark. 1:4; Luke 3:3). Jesus did not need to repent of sin or have sins to be forgiven. John's baptism required both of all others (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3), and so does our baptism (Acts 2:38).

 Our baptism is not an act of our own righteousness to be saved but it is in order to receive the righteousness provided by Jesus' death on the cross. The act of baptism has no intrinsic, meritorious value; if so, we could continue to be baptized and increase our righteousness and deserve blessings from God. Forgiveness is not based on our merit in baptism but on forgiveness through the blood of Jesus that is given those whose faith and willing obedience motivates the act of baptism, and the repentance in the heart of the person who is being baptized. God rewards the faith that prompts the act, the reformation and transformation associated with baptism (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12, 13). Without the act of baptism there is no expression of faith, which lack brings condemnation. “He who does not believe shall be damned” (Mark 16:16b).

At previous times God required acts that had no intrinsic value in relationship to the expected result. Since the act had no innate value, faith in God, not in the act in itself, was required to bring about the desired result.

 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.(Heb. 11:30).

 Israel's faith was not in the marching, encircling Jericho thirteen times, shouting, or the blowing of horns by the priests (Josh 6:1-20). They realized that these, their works, would have no effect to bring down the walls, thus their faith was in none of these, for these are neutral in relationship to the demise of the walls. Their faith was in God and His power to tear down the walls. The walls did not fall because of the power of any act on their part, but rather fell because of the power of God in whom they trusted. Faith motivated the act and, therefore, was blessed by God. Jericho was a gift of God (Josh. 6:2) because of their faith which led them to action, and not because of their work to tear down the walls, which would have given them reason to boast.

 In like manner, baptism has no power in and of itself to save us. It is a neutral act which God rewards because of the faith in the person that motivates him to be baptized. This is the same as in the destruction of the walls of Jericho. The walls did not fall because of the power in anything Israel did. They fell because of God's power that rewarded their faith causing them to do His will. The same is true of baptism which is blessed because of our faith in the power of God to bless our being buried and raised with Christ in baptism.

Paul expressed it this way.

 Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the  working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, …He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. (Col. 2:12, 13).

 We do no work in being baptized, even as Jesus did no work in His baptism which He received at the hands of John. The one who administers baptism does the work of immersion and God in whom we have placed our faith acts by making us alive and forgiving our sins. Baptism is a neutral act that is a righteous act because God requires it, but is not a work of our own righteousness.

 In baptism we depend on the grace of God to forgive our sins because of Jesus' death on the cross and not on the intrinsic value in baptism, our own righteousness, or the power of our obedience which God has required before He will forgive our sins. Baptism cannot forgive our sins, but the blood of Jesus can forgive our sins when obey by being baptized.

 We are saved when we are baptized if we have acted by faith in God's working. (Col. 2:12) Our salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His grace, He saved us. (Tit. 3:5).
 
 
 

©Copyright Owen D.Olbricht 2014. All rights reserved. May be reprinted if credit is given to the author.