Q.
What is involved in humbling oneself to receive salvation? Would Christ save one who is not willing to publicly confess Christ and be baptized?
A______
A.
Hello A______ ,
Thank you for your question. It points up what is germane as to the condition for salvation.
Salvation is by grace through faith, and not of works (Eph. 2:8-9). Therefore, public confession through baptism is not a part of the condition for salvation. A spouse ought to be willing to wear their wedding ring and be identified publicly as a married person, but wearing the ring is not a condition for becoming married. Similarly, a saved person ought to be willing to get baptized and identify publicly with Christ, but baptism is not a condition for becoming a Christian.
Since the natural man cannot understand the things of God, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (the problem), righteousness (the need for divine righteousness to be accepted by a holy God), and judgment (the consequence for sin). The “humbling” you speak of must be in relation to these three truths. Anything beyond these truths the natural man is not able to spiritually understand. Since sin is the problem and judgment is the consequence, people must depend on Christ for the salvation they need. That choice of faith (revealing a change of mind) is the simple condition for salvation.
Once saved, a new believer ought to be willing to identify publicly with Christ by means of baptism. But it is possible for a new believer to be so secretly. For example, Joseph of Arimathea was “a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38). The un-surrender of not be willing to be baptized does hinder someone’s walk of obedience with the Lord. But it does not constitute whether or not one is saved.
Suppose someone came to me and said, “I know I’m a sinner and need to get saved. I want to trust Jesus. But there is no way I could get baptized.” I would encourage him to just come to Jesus and depend on Him to do all the saving. I would tell him that when he trusts in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will move into his spirit and will bring him along in the matter of baptism. But first things must be kept first. He needs to believe in Jesus. Then the indwelling Spirit can bring him along.
It is vital to keep the focus on Jesus as the one who does all the saving, and therefore, faith as the only condition for salvation. Once Jesus moves into a new believer, then other matters can be addressed in the light of the new believer’s new provision of the indwelling Christ.
John
Good answer! My mind immediately jumped to places where persecution is extremely high. Baptism might happen as quietly as possible. Or “secret” might mean some know, but others don’t. From what I have read, it is common for all Christians in some countries to try and remain as secret as possible because of government reactions, using secret means to communicate and gain fellowship.
Good thoughts.
Could you explain Romans 10:9-10 in light of your explanation on Secret Believers? Specifically, the part about confessing “with thy mouth the Lord Jesus” and “confession is made unto salvation.” Thanks! Always enjoy reading your blog each week.
Fair question and a bit tough to answer. We obviously know the condition for salvation cannot be more than faith. Also, the emphasis of most passages is simply to believe in Jesus (John 3:15, 16, 36; 5:24; 6:47; Acts 10:43; 16:31). And as I mentioned we see the possibility of secret believers in the New Testament. It seems the principle in the flow of Romans 10 is actually getting to the declaration of faith or “the word of faith” (v 8). In other words it is a matter of getting to real faith. Beyond that, it does seem that the… Read more »
I completely agree with your analogy, John. The wedding ring is simply a symbol of the real relationship that exists with or without the wedding ring. However, in light of Jesus statement in Matt. 10:32: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven,” how do these statements by Jesus make the confession optional?
Great comment and question! I’ve pondered much over Matthew 10:32. If you go back to verse 16, the context is persecution. This continues through verse 32 and beyond, and then emphasizes discipleship in verses 38-39 dealing with taking up your cross and losing and finding your life. So the “confession” in this context is being publicly unashamed of Jesus, especially in the face of persecution. The denial of Christ before men followed by the denial by the Father (33) is therefore related to rewards, which is the emphasis of the final verses of the chapter (40-42). The issue then is… Read more »
Great answers John. You are a man after my own heart. The more I read your writings the more I love your work. I have been influenced greatly by Dr. Curtis Hudson and no one has come close to him in my life until I started reading your writings. I thank the Lord for you and pray He keeps using you mightily.
Thanks for your encouragement. Praise the Lord!