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

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)

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.