God wants all believers to be united in truth according to Ephesians 4:4-6. This is one of many texts which show the unity that God demands of His believers. To be pleasing to Him, we must do all things according to His pattern found in the New Testament. Men have agreed with what churches of Christ teach.
Both Man And God Agree On:
Baptism is an immersion for the forgiveness of sins!
Romans 6:3-5, "Or do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into
His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become
united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also
in the likeness of His resurrection."
Colossians 2:12, "Having been buried with Him in baptism..."
1 Peter 3:21, "And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you - not the
removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience -
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
John Calvin (on Mark 16:16, Presbyterian, The Institutes of the Christian
Religion) - "He commanded all who believe to be baptized for the
remission of sins. Therefore, those who have imagined that baptism is
nothing more than a mark or a sign, by which we profess our religion before
men, as soldiers wear the insignia of their sovereign as a mark of thier
profession, have not considered what was the principle thing in baptism,
which is, that he ought to recieve it with the promise, 'He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved.' The word baptize means immerse, and it is
certain...immersion was observed in the early church."
John Wesley (Methodist, Notes on the New Testament on Romans 6:3 and
John 3:5) - "We are buried with Him, alluding to the ancient manner of
baptizing by immersion...by water then as a means, the water of baptism,
we are regenerated or born again; whence it is also called by the apostle,
'The washing of regeneration.'"
Martin Luther (Lutheran, Works, Volume XI - "On this accusation I
could wish that such as are baptized should be completely immersed in water
according to the meaning of the word, and the significance of the
ordinance...as also, without the doubt, it was instructed by Christ."
Timothy Dwight (Congrgationalist, the former president of Yale University
on John 3:5 - "To be born of water here means baptism, and in my view, it
is necessary to our admission into the visible church."
Adam Clarke (Methodist, commentary on Romans 6:4) - "It is probable that
the apostle here alludes to the mode of administering baptism by immersion,
the whole body being put under water."
Adam Clarke (Colossians 2:12) - "Alluding to the immersion practiced in the
case of adults wherein the person appeared to be buried under the water,
as Christ was buried in the heart of the earth. His rising again the third
day, and their emerging from the water, was an emblem of the resurrection
of the body and in them of a total change in life."
Lenski (Lutheran) - "This baptism...as appointment for all nations bestowed
the remission of sins." "a refusal of baptism would be a repudiation of
Christ and of all the gifts contained in His name." "Baptism is pure Gospel
that conveys grace and salvation from God through Christ..."
Albert Barnes (Presbyterian) - "Baptism is a willingness to be pardoned in
that way, and it is a soemn declaration of our conviction that there is no
other way of remission. He who comes to be baptized, comes with a profound
conviction that he is a sinner, that there is no other way of mercy but in
the gospel, and with a professed willingess to comply with the terms of
salvation, and to recieve it as it is offered through Jesus Christ."
Expositor's Greek New Testament (on Acts 2:38) - "As each individual was to
be baptized, so each, if truly penitent would recieve the forgiveness of sins."
Pulpit Commentary - "Peter preaches the Word with power, the hearers are
pricked in their heart, and by his direction they are baptized, and so put in possession of the promised salvation." "Paul teaches that we are baptized into the death of Christ, and are so freed from sin." "As our burial or
total immersion, in baptismal water, was followed by an entire emergence,
so our death with Christ to sin, which that immersion symbolized, is to be
followed by our resurrection with him to a new life."
Baptist Scholars on Acts 2:38:
Both Man And God Agree On:
Weekly Observance of the Lord's Supper!
Acts 2:42, "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
Acts 20:7, "And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread..."
1 Corinthians 11:23-26, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."
John Calvin (Presbyterian, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book VI, Chapter 18, section 56) - "Every week the table of the Lord should have been spread for the assemblies, and the promise declared by which, in partaking of it, we might be spiritually fed."
John Wesley (Methodist, Letters to America, 1784) - "I also advise the elders to administer the supper of the Lord every Lord's day. With respect to this, or any other command, he that, when he may obey it, if he will not, will have no place in the Kingdom of God."
August Neander (Lutheran, Church History, Volume I, Page 332) - "The Lord's supper was still a part of the divine worship every Sunday. The whole church partook after the amens of the preceeding prayers. The deacons carried the bread and wine to everyone present."
Charles Spurgeon (Baptist) - He observed the communion service weekly in the Metropoitan Baptist Tabernacle in London, England, where he preached for more than 20 years.
Justin Martyr (110-165 AD) - "But Sunday is the day on which we hold our communion assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrote a change in the darkness and matter, make the whole world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day arose from the dead."
Both Man And God Agree On:
Wearing the Name Christian!
Acts 11:26, "...and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch."
Acts 26:28, "And Agrippa replied to Paul, 'In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.'"
1 Peter 4:16, "but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God."
Acts 4:12, "And there is salvation in no one else(Christ); for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."
Martin Luther (Lutheran, Life of Luther, page 289) - "I pray you, leave my name alone; call yourselves not Lutherans, but Christians."
John Wesley wished that the very name Methodist should never be mentioned again, but be buried in eternal oblivion (Methodist, Universal Knowledge, Volume IX, page 540) - "Would to God that all party names and unscriptural phrases and forms which have divided all Christians might be forgotten."
Charles Spurgeon (Baptist, Spurgeon Memory Library, Volume I, page 168) - "I hope the name Baptist will soon perish but let Christ's name live forever."
Adam Clarke (Methodist) - "Now as these had their name from those great masters because they attended to their teaching, and credited their doctrines, so the disciples were called Christians, because they took Christ for their teacher, crediting His doctrines, and following the rule of life laid down by Him."
Clement - "We give Thee thanks that we are called by the name of the Christ, and are thus reckoned as Thine own."
Polycarp (his dying words) - "I am a Christian!"
Both Man And God Agree On:
Singing without instrumental accompaniment!
Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with