by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
I think the parable of the Prodigal son makes it clear that the children of God can get quite lost when they go off on their own. Many of us have done this with the best of motives, and still ended up in a pigstye.
Masters_Servant:
Notice that the HS that gives the testimony neglects that “so called” association with water;
This is not true. One must take all the scripture together in order to see a full picture, and understand what is written in the light of what the Apostles believed and taught. For example:
1Jn 5:8 For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one.
An attempt to create doctrine by isolating verses from other verses that refer to the same subject is a grave exegetical error.
Code:
t He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; ***He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.***
the true baptism is the receiving of the HS;
At least we are in agreement on this point. What you don’t seem to realize is that the Apostles did not separate the sealing of the HS from the water.
water has NOTHING to do with salvation unless of course God saves the OT saints differently than the NT saints,
Everyone is saved by grace, through faith. But at times, God works that saving grace through water.
1Pe 3:20 which aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight **souls, were saved through water: **1Pe 3:21 which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
1Co 10:1 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, how that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Sounds to me like God has been using water to baptize people for a long time!
which would in effect mean that Christ died for the NT saints, but not for the OT saints or God added some water to the NT saints, which would mean He changes, which means He is unreliable since He claimed He does not change.
God can save whoever He wants, however He likes. He commanded us to be baptized for the remission of sins.
Again, nothing wrong with Baptizing an infant with water; they get wet , then they dry, but since they are unaware of the true purpose of water baptism. it means they are wet.
It is likely that most of those who passed through the sea, and the family of Noah who were saved through the water were unaware of the true purpose as well. I am sure that every infant circumcised in Israel did not know the true purpose of it.
Fortunately, salvation is a free gift from God, and we are not required to bring anything of ourselves, including our understanding.The fact that we are now saved through baptism is a mystery, and will be forever beyond the capacity of the human mind.