How are you? I just want to ask you a quick question concerning baptism. I first want to say that I realize that baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). My question comes from the fact that I’ve heard 2 things that, though it might be inconsequential, sounds somewhat different. 1. Some I’ve heard said that baptism washes away one’s sins up till the point of baptism, not those after baptism. 2. Others said that baptism washes away one’s past, present, and future sins. Would you please comment concerning this?
Baptism washes away sins that occurred before baptism. Take, for instance, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (later and better known as the apostle Paul). “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). This physical activity of baptism to which a believer voluntarily and obediently surrenders parallels the spiritual application of the blood of Christ to the soul of a non-Christian. The believer who is baptized is baptized into the death of Jesus Christ (Romans 6:3-4), and, of course, it was in the death of Jesus Christ that He shed His blood (John 19:34). Notice Revelation 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” Two things equal to the same thing are equal to each other; washing away sins by baptism and washing away sins by the blood of Christ refer to the same event. Therefore, baptism is the means of a non-Christian coming into contact with the blood of Christ and having his sins washed away.
However, baptism does not provide unconditional, cannot lose it salvation or correspond to the denominational thought of “perseverance of the saints”—commonly summarized as “once saved, always saved.” A Christian can sin so as to be lost after baptism (Acts 8:20; 2 Peter 2:20-22).
Yet, the sins of Christians can be forgiven (Acts 8:22), and that forgiveness involves acknowledgement of sin and the subsequent application of the blood of Jesus Christ—without baptism again. “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7-9). The only relationship of baptism to the forgiveness of sins that occur after baptism is that one must formerly have been baptized before he has an opportunity to repent and pray (Acts 8:22) or acknowledge his sins and once more walk in Christ (1 John 1:7-9). Baptism itself does not forgive sins that occur after baptism, but baptism is a prerequisite to repenting and praying for forgiveness for sins that occur after baptism.
