The Devotional

Papa “J” says

I think that time goes by so fast, don't you? If you allow yourself to think about it, compared to the backdrop of eternity, all of us live about thirty-six seconds of one day of eternity. 2 Peter 3:8

Some people send me very encouraging messages from all over the globe and this little note is to say thanks to them. I have tried to correspond with you by the email addresses in the emails to me, or to the “blog”, but without success. So again; Thank You to those who have tried to correspond with me and have had no response in return.

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:29 Scripture was God breathed into the forty souls of the writers of the Old and New Testament alike. This makes the Bible unique, it is like no other book you or I have read and there will never be another book to replace it. Over the years many have tried to rewrite the Bible, but simply thinking. If it took God fifteen hundred years to use men and women to write what He wanted to say, why would he change in the sixth or any other century of time and use “one” person to rewrite His infallible Truth?

There is no other reference to the baptism of the dead in the bible, so to build a theology from this one verse is like walking on water. There have only been two that have. One still walks on water today and the other has gone home, to the LORD. The point – why did we not build a theology of “water walkers”? Well because it is a ridiculous thought, just as ridiculous as “water baptism for the dead” So just what was the apostle really saying?

He was not speaking of baptizing living believers in the place of either believers or unbelievers who had previously died. “There is no assignment in SCRIPTURE that clearly states that baptism is efficient to save the souls of the living or the dead” In other words, baptism alone saves no one. Faith alone in Christ alone equals salvation. Baptism is the ordnance that identifies us to serve in the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus. So the apostle is simply saying this. “If there is no resurrection for believers (dead or alive), why be baptized at all? Why place life in jeopardy and forfeit the benefits of a worldly life, if there is no life after death?

Baptism then is a prerequisite to service. As believers die, others become save, then when baptized, they step into service for Christ, that is; to serve in the place of the deceased. So the apostle is simply continuing his exhortation of one doctrine. The resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of those who are His. Baptism then is a public identification with those who have gone before us. When we die, if the LORD tarries, some saved soul will be baptized and take our place in service, and that is the simple, but profound thought of the Paul's commentary.