The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Baptism,Salvation & the Negative Inference Fallacy

Mark 16:9-20 (NASB)

9Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. 14Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17"These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

Dr. Hendriksen goes on to say:

Verse 15 of the ending is roughly parallel to Matt. 28:19, "The Great Commision". The emphasis in verse 16 of the ending is not on baptism but on the exercise of faith, exactly as in Matthew; cf. also John 3:16, 18, 36. On the other hand, the person who by God's sovereign grace has surrenderd himself to Christ will also gratefully accept the sacrament of baptism as a sign and seal of salvation. Thus baptism follows faith, as also in Acts 2:41; 16:31-34, and everywhere.

Verses 17 and 18 of the ending have given rise to much misunderstanding and grief. Jesus is here represented as having promised five signs that would accompany those who believed:
a. power to expel demons
b. ability to speak in new tongues
c. abiligy to pick up serpents, that is (implied), to pick up venomous snakes without being physically harmed
d. the gift of being able to drink deadly poison without being hurt
e. the power to place hands on the sick, who will then recover.

Now a. and e. present no special difficulty. Jesus did indeed impart such gifts to his disciples. They made use of them with good effect. Something similiar is true with the respect of the gift of tongues.
In connection with such special gifts (a,b,and e) B.B. Warfield states, "These gifts were part of the credentials of the apostles as the authoritative agents of God in founding the Church... They necessarily passed away with it." That with the passing away of teh apostolic age these gifts ceased is also the testimony of Chrysostom and Augustine. It is also the view of Jonathan Edwards: "These extra gifts were given in order to the founding and establishing of the church in the world. But since the canon of Scripture has been completed, and the church fully founded and established, these extraordinary gifts have ceased." Among others who expressed similar views are Matthew Henry, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon and Abraham Kuyper.

As for c. and d. Ever so often newspapers report incidents of religious fanatics picking up venomous snakes and or drinking deadly poisons, frequently with sad results. At times those who do this try to justify their strange behavior by appealing to Mark 16:18. It is high time that everybody be told that the ending is binding for faith and practice only to the extent in which its teachings are defintely supported by Scripture in general. In fact, they should be told that the items about picking up serpents and drinking poisons must not be considered Scripure at all!

16:15,16
Similiar to Matthew's account of the Great Commision, with the added contrast of those who have been baptized (believers) with those who refuse to believe and are codemened. Even if v.16 is a genuine part of Mark's gospel, it does not teach that baptism saves, since the lost are condemned for unbelief, not for not being baptized.

16:17,18
These signs were promised to the apostolic community, not all believers in all ages. All (with the exception of drinking poison) were experienced by some in the apostolic church and reported in Scripture, but not afterward.

16:15-16 see WCF 7.3; 28.5; HC 72; 73.

WCF 7.3
Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe.

WCF 28.5
Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably anexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated, or saved, without it; or, that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated.

HC 72.
Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins?
No, only Jesus Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins.

HC 73.
Whey then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins?
God has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ wash away our sins just as water washes away dirt from our bodies. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that the washing away of our sins spiritually is as real as physical washing with water.

16:15 Go into all the world. Compare. Matthew 28:19.
16:17 signs. All of the events predicted here (except drinking of deadly poison) are recorded in the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts.

Expository Thoughts on the Mark by J.C. Ryle

We are taught here the importance of baptism. It is an ordinance generally necessary to salvation, where it can be had. Not "he that believes" simply, but "he that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Thousands no doubt receive not the slightest benefit from their baptism. Thousands are washed in sacramental water, who are never washed in the blood of Christ. But it does not follow therefore that baptism is to be despised and neglected. It is an ordinance appointed by Christ Himself, and when used reverently, intelligently, and prayerfully, is doubtless accompanied by a special blessing. The baptismal water itself conveys no grace. We must look far beyond the mere outward element to Him who commanded it to be used. But the public confession of Christ, which is implied in the use of that water, is a sacramental act, which our Master Himself has commanded; and when the ordinance is rightly used, we may confidently believe that He seals it by His blessing.

We are taught here, furthermore, the absolute necessity of faith in Christ to salvation. This is the one thing needful. "He that believes not" is the man that shall be lost for evermore. He may have been baptized, and made a member of the visible church. He may be a regular communicant at the Lord's Table. He may even believe intellectually all the leading articles of the creed. But all shall profit him nothing if he lacks saving faith in Christ. Have we this faith? This is the great question that concerns us all. Except we feel our sins, and feeling them flee to Christ by faith, and lay hold on Him, we shall find at length we had better never have been born.

From Calvin's First Catechism:

28.Baptism
Baptism was given to us by God: first, to serve our faith before him; secondly, to serve our confession before men. Faith looks to the promise by which our merciful Father offers the communication of his Christ, that clothed with him we may share in all his benefits. Baptism especially represents two things: the cleansing which we get in Christ's blood; and the mortification of our flesh which we attain from his death. For the Lord commanded his own to be baptized for forgiveness of sins. And Paul teaches that the church has been sanctified by Christ her bridegroom and cleansed in the bath of water, in the Word of life. Again, he states that we have been baptized into Christ's death, buried together with him in his death, that we may walk in newness of life. These words do not signify that the cause or effective working of cleansing or regeneration inheres in the water, but only that the knowledge of such gifts is received in this sacrament when we are said to receive, obtain, get what we believe to have been given us by the Lord, whether at the time we first acknowledge it, or are more surely persuaded of it as previously acknowledged.
Thus it serves our confession among men. Indeed, it is a mark whereby we openly profess that we wish to be numbered among God's people in order to worship one God in the same religion along with all godly men. Since therefore the covenant of the Lord with us is principally ratified by baptism, we rightly baptize our infants, as sharers in the eternal covenant, by which the Lord promises he will be God not only to us but also of our descendants.

From The Westminster larger Catechism, a commentary by Johannes G. Vos.

6. What is the connection between baptism and the forgiveness of sins? Baptism is a sign and seal to the believer of the remission of his sins by the blood of Christ. Just as in ordinary life water is used to cleanse away dirt, so in the plan of salvation the blood of Christ cleanses away the sins of his people. Thsi is of course a figure of speech; the "blood" of Christ means his death, at which his blood was shed; when the Bible says that the blood of Christ cleanses away our sins, the meaning is that God forgives our sins, and sanctifies our hearts, on the basis of Christ's atonement. These are transactions that take place in the spiritual realm; baptism is the outward sign and seal of them. There may be forgiveness of sins without baptism; there also may be (outward) baptism without the forgiveness of sins; but where baptism is rightly used it seals, and thus involves, the forgiveness of sins.