Baptism
Both the Baptists and we teach that faith in Christ and repentance of sins are essential to the salvation of the alien sinner. The difference between us regards the matter of Baptism. Hence last summer in a public discussion with Mr. J. C. Smith, representative of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Big Spring, this writer affirmed that baptism is necessary to the salvation of the penitent believer. The affirmative introduced 1 Corinthians 1:13. Here the apostle reproved the brethren at Corinth because some said, "I am of Paul," some "I am of Apollos," and others "I am of Cephas." He said, "Is Christ Divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" In other words, they had no right to call themselves after many persons, unless Christ were divided. They had no right to call themselves after anyone unless that person had been crucified for them and they had been baptized in his name. Since we must accept Paul's argument as sound, we know we have no right to call ourselves after Christ unless he was crucified for us and WE WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS NAME. How then can we be Christians unless we have been baptized into the name of Christ?
This argument did not come as a surprise to Mr. Smith, for he had heard it put to Mr. L. S. Ballard (best known Baptist debater alive) just one month before our debate. Mr. Ballard had not been able to deal with the argument. Mr. Smith had had a month to study about it, but neither could he deal with the argument. In fact he would not even try. He discussed verse 17 in this chapter, but had nothing to say about verse 13 and the argument advanced. Four months later, Mr. Smith and the writer again met in public discussion. We were not debating the subject of baptism this time, but the subject of the plan of salvation came up in Mr. Smith's first speech. Following this, the subject of baptism was discussed in all six of the propositions that were debated. First Corinthians 1:13 was introduced again by Mr. Smith's respondent. In fact, it was introduced during the discussion of each one of the six propositions except one. When we came to the last proposition, Mr. Smith had not yet attempted a reply to the argument made on 1 Corinthians 1:13. So his respondent begged him to deal with it before the debate was over. Then Mr. Smith at long last made an attempt to do so. And what do you suppose he said? The substance of what he said was, "Paul here means that baptism is a public profession of one's faith." Did Mr. Smith mean to say that a person can be a true Christian and not have the right to say, "I am of Christ"? He had contended that people were true Christians before and without baptism. It was very interesting to find out by actual test that when a person holds to the idea of "salvation before and without baptism," there is nothing sensible he can possibly say about 1 Corinthians 1:13. Study the passage yourself, and see if this be so.
Another scripture discussed many times, both last summer and during the holidays, was Galatians 3:26-27. It tells us why we are saved by faith: for we have been baptized. Hence it is not by faith only that we are saved. It is faith that works by love. (Galatians 5:6) This is the reading of Galatians 3:26-27,
"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, FOR as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
Mr. Smith wanted to turn that second "for" into the word "and." He would read the passage as if it said, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, AND as many of you (you who are saved by faith) as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." One time when he read it, he even left out the word "for" and substituted the word "and." Dear reader, can you say you are a child of God by faith because you were baptized into Christ? If not, what Bible reason could you have for saying you are a child of God by faith? Galatians 3:26-27 gives the Bible reason.
We can mention Acts 2:38 only briefly. It was discussed much. It was pointed out to Mr. Smith that the verse promised the "gift of the Holy Spirit" to those baptized. He could not, and did not deny that the verse made the gift of the Spirit follow baptism. Neither would he affirm that one can become a child of God without receiving the Spirit. (Romans 8:9) He did not know what to do with this statement of scripture. Even after studying on it from August to January, he still did not know what to do with it. No one who heard the debates can remember his giving any sort of explanation to this; for he gave none. And indeed, none can be given.