Is Baptism Required to Enter the New Covenant?

"At the risk, then, of being considered superficial and shallow, we shall hold fast to the plain teaching of the words of Scripture, turning a deaf ear to all fanciful and conjectural speculations of merely human origin, no matter how learned or dignified the quarter from which they come."

James Stuart Russell

Every covenant between God and Man has been sealed with blood. Abraham made a covenant with God Genesis 15:8-18 8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" 9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." 10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates -- (NIV)

The sign that Abraham and the Jews were under the Covenant was circumcision. On the eighth day male would be circumcised. Genesis 17:10-14 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner -- those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." (NIV)

The Covenant between Israel and God was also sanctified by blood. Circumcision still places the Jew in a Covenant relationship with God. Hebrews 9:18-22 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (NIV)

The New Covenant was also in acted with blood. Matthew 26:28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (NIV) This remembrance of the blood of the Covenant and Christ sacrifice we remember weekly as Communion. Circumcision is still a sign of the New Covenant. The Circumcision to day is of the Heart. Romans 2:29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. (NIV) Circumcision of the heart does not take surgery in a physical sense but it does in a spiritual since.

Entry in to the New Covenant takes four logical steps. Each step prepares the sinner (no offense, we're all sinners, some are just saved sinners) for salvation as they enter into a Covenant relationship with God through Christ. Faith, repentance, confession, and Baptism by themselves do nothing. It takes all of them to get INTO CHRIST (Galatians 3:27, Romans 6:3 {into}). I hope we agree that salvation is in Christ and Christ alone. That if we do not have a COVENANT relationship with God though Christ we are lost. Faith, repentance, confession, and Baptism prepare one for salvation. Faith prepares the heart for repentance by causing them to be obedient to Gods will. Romans 1:5 Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. (NIV) Faith and repentance prepares the sinner for the confession of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." (NIV) Faith, Repentance, Confession prepare the sinner's heart to enter into the Covenant relationship with Jesus Christ through Baptism. Colossians 2:10-14 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (NIV) In baptism we receive the circumcision of the heart and come into contact with the blood of the covenant in a symbolic reenactment of his death, burial, and resurrection. Just as Circumcision placed the Jewish Male in a Covenant relation ship with God on the eighth day of their birth. So in Baptism we receive the circumcision of the heart.

If you don't have a covenant relationship with God then I invite to reconsider. Faith in Jesus Christ starts the process of entering in to that covenant relationship and begins by hearing the gospel. Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (NIV) The follow the steps out lined above. I invite you to PM me if you have any questions or desires to know more about how to have a covenant relationship with Christ.

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