Of course they don’t reject to any order of service. They (meaning the people I was referring to earlier, not necessarily Pentecostals) don’t see anything wrong with it because they don’t see it as ritual, but it is. That’s the irony.
But you are assuming that to be faithful to their views they
must see all ritual as wrong. This assumption is unwarranted.
They can and are perfectly consistent in their arguments to differentiate between people who abuse ritual–those who use ritual as “a form of godliness” lacking any power–and those who use ritual, liturgy, program, etc. rightly–who worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
Thanks. I’d be interested in your response to what I wrote about Rom. 6:4, namely:
" In Rom. 6:4, Paul specifically says that we are buried with Christ through baptism, and in the Greek, the grammatical construction unmistakably indicates instrumentality, thus teaching that baptism is the means by which we are buried with Christ. "
Romans 6:4 in context states:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him
by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
I don’t deny that baptism is a burial of the old man or that in baptism, like Noah and his family in the ark or the Hebrews at the Red Sea, we pass safely through the waters of death to rise in newness of life.
I think it is important, however, to refer to the whole counsel of God, which does not ascribe instrumentality to baptism (or more specifically the waters of baptism) but clarifies that faith is the instrument by which we are united with Christ.
The whole thrust of the Epistle to the Romans is justification by faith alone, not faith and baptism: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Elsewhere, Paul speaks of baptism and faith together in such a way that shows that faith is the means with which we are regenerated and justified, while baptism is an outward expression or proof of that faith.
Galatians 3:26-27, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God,
through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
In Colossians 2:12, Paul makes explicit what he implies in Romans 6:4.
Colossians 2:11-12, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
In 1 Peter 3:21 we are taught the following: “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
How does baptism save? It saves by being an appeal to God for a good conscience. This is what faith does. It appeals. We see the appeal to or calling out to God in faith clearly in Romans 10:6-13:
But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
crazy things going on on facebook. I don’t have facebook account, though.
