I hear it often, we don’t need to be baptized because the thief on the cross wasn’t baptized and Jesus saved him. Here are a few things to consider as you process through this issue:
Jesus is God & Has Authority to Save
Jesus forgave sins even when people didn’t do the things required to have their sins forgiven. In Mark 2 Jesus forgives a man of his sins. The man didn’t do anything stated in the Torah to receive forgiveness (because God told them how to go about that). Jesus forgave because Jesus is God.
Because Jesus is God, Jesus can save whoever He wants to save however He wants to save them. He has the authority to do that as God. So it isn’t strange that Jesus decides to save this “thief” on the cross because Jesus makes that call as God.
That doesn’t mean the scriptures are unimportant or that we shouldn’t follow them.
Second, on the authority of Jesus…Jesus said this at the end of Matthew,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus taught this after the thief, after his death and after his resurrection. The way you make disciples is through baptizing and teaching. If we accept Jesus’ authority to save we need to also accept what He taught here. This actually makes baptism an obedience issue for those who say you don’t need to do it because Jesus did teach this and has/had the authority to teach this and we need to obey what He taught. If someone teaches you it is just an option, they are teaching you to be disobedient to Christ.
Grace faith and works:
A lot of people get hung up on baptism because it is an action. And that sounds like a “work” and we know we aren’t saved by works. Paul said we are said by faith not by works (Eph 2:8-9). The assumption is that doing something and works are the same thing. But they aren’t. Let me demonstrate first with a question:
Is there anything we have to do to be saved?
Asked another way – is there anything that if you don’t/won’t do you can’t/won’t be saved? For example, if you refuse to ever repent, can you be saved? I would say no. You can’t. So there is something we do but that something isn’t a work that earns anything.
The Bible teaches there are things we must do: Peters says very clearly in Acts 2:38 in response to the question of what should we “do” (2:37) that there is an answer that question… Something that we must do. Repent be baptized (2:38). He could have easily made it clear, “There is nothing you can do to be saved. God does 100% of all the actions.” There is a difference between doing an action and earning salvation.
It is really important at this point to define our terms. What does the word “works” mean (Eph 2:8-9)?
The most popular/common interpretation is “anything we can do to earn God’s favor”. This could be moral behavior, good deeds, keeping the commandments, religious things like baptism, prayer, fasting, etc. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. Agreed. We cannot do all sorts of things and conclude, “Now God must save me because I did all the things he said to do.” However there are still things that God has told us to do, while not expecting that we earn salvation by doing these things.
In just a moment, I am going to demonstrate how baptism falls outside of “Works” anyway…hang on!
Covenant, timing and revelation:
God’s people live under a covenant. The thief on the cross lived under the mosaic covenant. There was no new covenant yet. Jesus had not yet given the great commission. Peter not yet given the response to repent and be baptized acts two. There were more things to be revealed, things we now understand and are informed on that they were not. I don’t think it is the correct approach to point to somebody who is not in our position (under a different covenant with different expectations) and say that his response is our response. So we have to live into what we now know that he did not. And we were under a new covenant.
God has revealed more to us today than what was revealed when Jesus was crucified. God has done more post resurrection than had been done when the thief was made that promise. We don’t live in the position in time of the thief. We live in the position in time with a complete New Testament, the teachings of Jesus, Acts of the apostles, the letters, etc. And we live post-coming of the Holy Spirit, establishment of the church, etc. that the thief didn’t live with.
The Greek:
Now, this last point is one of the most important. In Greek there are three “voices” and a voice helps us know how the subject relates to the verb:
Active voice – the subject does the action
Middle voice – the subject acts with reference to himself (we don’t have this in English) – for example someone does something to themselves.
Passive voice – the subjection has the action done to them
A “work” would be something we do (active voice). Baptism, in the New Testament is almost always in the passive voice – something that is done to us and that is why we get the translation “be baptized” (Passive) instead of “Go baptize yourself” (active). My contention is that something cannot be your work when someone else does it to you. So the whole argument about baptism being unnecessary because you can’t earn you salvation by works falls apart anyway because baptism isn’t even something you do – it is something done to you. Go back and read Romans 6 – dead people don’ bury or raise themselves from the grave.
In Conclusion
I hope this helps you see the necessity of baptism in obedience to Christ and if you are teaching people baptism is an optional add on, then you are leading people to be disobedient to Christ to not submit to baptism. Baptism is part of what makes a disciple/follower of Jesus. Baptism clothes us with Christ. Baptism is our union with Christ’s Death, Burial and Resurrection. Baptism is Peter’s answer (along with repentance) to the question “What shall we do?” in response to the good news of the resurrected Jesus.
Please reconsider if you believe baptism is an optional add on.
The thief was saved in His time and Jesus can still save anyone he wants however he wants and he also told us what to do – and we should obey him.
PS – when the Bible says “baptism” it means “immerse” the early English translators were too political in this and didn’t want to upset the apple cart because translating this word would mean showing their practices needed to change. Watch this next on that topic:
More on the criminal on the cross
2 Responses
If only this could be posted in every YouTube thread, on every comment that says “What about the thief on the cross?”. Thanks.
Very helpful. Can you expand a bit on works? I want to know how much, from the first century ears, they were possibly thinking of sacrificial or ceremonial works they were thinking about when they heard the word. Thank you