Mr. Hiscox in the Standard Manual for_____Churches, in setting out Bible proof that baptism is a "dipping or burial," quotes: "'Therefore we are buried with him, by baptism into death" (Rom. 6:4). Romans 6:4 does teach that baptism is a burial. Sprinkling and pouring, as modes of baptism, do not comply with the biblical design, symbol, requirements and definition of baptism. Not everyone who is immersed, however, is being truly baptized. Paul in Col. 2:11-12 teaches that there is a "putting off the body of the sins of the flesh" before being "Buried with him in baptism...." If our baptism is not preceded by repentance whereby the works of the flesh are put to death, it does us no more good than jumping into a swimming pool! Christ died before he was buried. One must die to sin before he is to be baptized just as Christ died the physical death before he was buried. Peter told those Jews in Acts two to "repent" before they were baptized. He also stated that the baptism was "for the remission of sins." In baptism we are to bury what is put away, which is what Paul called "the body of sin." Then we are raised from that watery grave to a new, changed life as explained in II Cor. 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; all things are become new."
The Standard Manual teaches that salvation is "solely through faith," and before baptism. It also teaches that baptism is "a burial...It represents the burial and resurrection of Christ." Having been made alive "solely by faith," one is then buried in baptism. If this is the case, then at baptism, a live man is buried. When we see a burial in a cemetery, we immediately know someone has died. "Therefore we are buried with him into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this that we have been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:4-6). According to these verses baptism stands between the sinner and the benefits of the Lord's death. Baptism stands between the sinner and the benefits of the Lord's resurrection, and Paul declared in Rom. 4:25 that Christ was "raised for our justification." Baptism stands between the sinner and his walking in "newness of life." The Standard Manual teaches one is saved (a child of God), before he is baptized. Therefore it teaches: A child of God is "buried into death," he is then "raised" to walk "in newness of life." Thus he is changed from a child of God back to a sinner!!! Who can believe?
Baptism stands between the sinner and his entrance into Christ. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death "(Rom. 6:3). Christ shed his blood in his death. Baptism is where the cleansing blood is contacted. It is not possible to enter into Christ without being baptized into Christ.
To argue that one can be saved without baptism is to argue that one can be saved outside of Christ, without the Lord's death, without the resurrection of Christ, and without walking in newness of life. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection" (v.6). "...ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine [death, burial, and resurrection] which was delivered you. Being THEN made free from sin..."(Rom. 6:17-18). When is then? When they obeyed that form! What is the form? The baptism into the death, burial, and the resurrection of Christ. Where were they before they obeyed that form? IN SIN!! The Standard Manual says they were saved before they obeyed “that form of doctrine.” It is not possible that salvation precedes baptism, as the creeds and doctrines of men teach.
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (I Pet. 4:11).
Don H. Noblin
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