Hello, Dave!

I suggest that you take a different approach with your friend. His claiming that something/anything--moral life, baptism--is sufficient to qualify him for heaven shows that he has no concept of the depth of his moral guilt and depravity before God's holy law, and is thus in no position to be bargaining with God about the terms of salvation.

I would avoid speaking with him at all about the mechanics of salvation, grace, baptism, even faith in Christ, until he acknowledges that there is nothing good in himself, that he stands condemned by the justice of God. By his words he has placed himself among the blind Pharisees of John 9:41, whose guilt remains.

I strongly recommend your taking him through Questions 3-11 of the Heidelberg Catechism, and their references, which insists that guilt be acknowledged before grace can be revealed:
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Question 3. Where do you learn of your sin and its wretched consequences?

From the Law of God. (a)

(a) Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his [God's] sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Titus 3:3-8)
• What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."...For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good...But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:7-13)

Question 4. What does the Law of God require of us?

Jesus Christ teaches this in a summary in Matthew 22:37-40:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' (a)
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (b)
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (c)

(a) Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6)
(b) Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18)
(c) "What is written in the Law?" he [Jesus] replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:26-28)

Question 5. Can you keep all this perfectly?

No (a), for by nature I am prone to hate God and my neighbor.(b)

(a) As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no who understands, no one who seeks God." (Romans 3:10-11)
• ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
• If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

(b) ...the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)
• As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
• At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. (Titus 3:3)

Question 6. Did God create man evil and perverse like this?

No.(a) On the contrary, God created man good and in his image,(b) that is, in true righteousness and holiness,(c) so that he might rightly know God his Creator, love him with his whole heart, and live with him in eternal blessedness, praising and glorifying him.(d)


(a) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good... (Genesis 1:31)
(b) God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
• ...the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
(c) ...put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
• ...put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:10)
(d) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be their God." (Revelation 21:3)

Question 7. Where, then, does this corruption of human nature come from?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden;(a) whereby our human life is so poisoned(b) that we are all conceived and born in the state of sin.(c) The disobedience of Adam affects us because he was the father of us all,(d) and our covenant representative.(e) When he sinned Adam broke the Covenant of Works, in which the condition was obedience, the promise was life, and the penalty was death. The guilt of Adam as our covenant head is imputed to all men, and our nature is now totally corrupt.(f)

(a) And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
• Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Genesis 3:1-6)
(b) ...sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...Death reigned from the time of Adam...the many died by the trespass of the one man...The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation...Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners... (Romans 5:12)
(c) Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)
(d) From one man he [God] made every nation of men... (Acts 17:26)
(e) Like Adam, they have broken the covenant--they were unfaithful to me there. (Hosea 6:7)
(f) ...Death reigned from the time of Adam...the many died by the trespass of the one man...The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation...Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners... (Romans 5:13-19)

Question 8. But are we so perverted that we are altogether unable to do good and prone to do evil?

Yes(a), unless we are born again through the Spirit of God.(b)

(a) The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5)
• We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way... (Isaiah 53:6)
• The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
• All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
• Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! (Job 14:4)
(b) ...Jesus declared,"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again...I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." (John 3:5-6)

Question 9. Is not God unjust in requiring of man in his Law what he cannot do?

No, for God so created man that he could do it. (a) But man, upon the instigation of the devil,(b) by deliberate disobedience, has cheated himself and all his descendants out of these gifts.(c)

(a) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)
(b) Jesus said to them,..."You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)
(c) ...sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)
• ...the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men...through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners (Romans 5:18-19)

Question 10. Will God let man get by with such disobedience and defection?

Certainly not, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, both against our inborn sinfulness and our actual sins,(a) and he will punish them according to his righteous judgment in time and in eternity, as he has declared:
"Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."(b)

(a) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18)
(b) All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written:
"Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." (Galatians 3:10)
• Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out... (Deuteronomy 27:26)
• ...if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
(Deuteronomy 28:15-19)

Question 11.But is not God also merciful?

God is indeed merciful and gracious,(a) but he is also righteous.(b) It is his righteousness which requires that sin committed against the supreme majesty of God be punished with extreme, that is, with eternal punishment of body and soul.(c)

(a) And he [the Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin... (Exodus 34:6-7)
(b) ...I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me" (Exodus 20:5)
(c) You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors. (Psalm 5:4-6)
• He [the King] will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:45-46)

In Christ,
Paul S