Funny, you deny something in theory but immediately admit it in practice. You say it is not “either/or”, but immediately thereafter say it is either/or: the blood of Jesus to the exclusion of baptism.
I detected a small but significant contradiction in what you said. You are saying for the blood of Jesus to be effective it needs something else and you limit that “something” to ‘repentance”. The question is, is repentance without baptism enough? Not according to the Bible. “Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).
That is exactly the Catholic position and that is exactly what the Bible says:
“Baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21); “Be baptized and wash away your sins” (Acts 22:16).
No problem if Paul was not sent to baptize. He was not the only apostle. Other apostles were sent to baptize (Matthew 28:19-20).
You know what, the USA Secretary of State was not given the responsibility to deal with health matters, but that does not mean health matters are not important because someone else was given that responsibility.
Now you have a choice to make: either Paul agrees with Jesus on baptism (but you misunderstand him), or Paul is opposed to Jesus’ teaching on baptism.
Brother,
- the Gospel is useless if it does not lead to the kingdom of God, but
- only the baptized will enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
Do you see the point now?
It amazes me how some folks emphasize Paul’s teachings to the exclusion of Jesus. Apparently, Paul did not teach the importance of baptism, and the fact that Jesus did (John 3:5; Matthew 28:19) doesn’t matter to them. We have so far moved from “sola fide” to “sola scriptura” and now to “sola Paulus”.
What do you mean here – I honestly I can’t decode it.
placido