Proposition 9

That it is not faith, but an act resulting from faith, which changes our state, we shall now attempt to prove.

No relationship we have with the material world—no political relationship, or relationship to society—can be changed by believing alone, apart from the actions that belief, or faith, leads us to take. Faith never made an American citizen, though it may have been the reason many thousands migrated to this continent and eventually became citizens of the United States. Faith never made a man a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a master, or a servant, though it may have been essentially necessary to all these relationships as a cause, or principle preparatory to, or tending toward them. — Thus, when in Scripture men are said to be justified by faith, or to receive any blessing through faith, it is because faith is the principle of action and, as such, the cause of those acts by which such blessings are enjoyed. But the principle without those acts is nothing; and it is only by the acts it leads us to perform that it becomes the instrument of any blessings to man.

Many blessings are metonymically ascribed to faith in the sacred writings. We are said to be justified, sanctified, and purified by faith—to walk by faith, and to live by faith, etc., etc. But these sayings, as qualified by the Apostles, mean no more than that by believing the truth of God we have access to all these blessings. So that as Paul explains, "By faith we have access into the favor in which we stand." He uses these words on two occasions,35 when speaking of the value of this principle, contrasted with the principle of law; and in his letter to the Hebrews, when he brings up his cloud of witnesses to the excellence of this principle, he shows that by it the ancients obtained a high reputation—that is, as he explains, by their acts of faith in obedience to God's commands.

That faith by itself neither justifies, sanctifies, nor purifies is admitted by those who oppose immersion for the forgiveness of sins. They all include the idea of the blood of Christ. And yet they seem not to realize that, in objecting to immersion as necessary to forgiveness in connection with faith, their own arguments prevent them from connecting the blood of Christ with faith. If they admit that faith, apart from the blood of Christ, cannot obtain pardon, they admit all that is necessary to prove them inconsistent with themselves in opposing immersion for the remission of sins; or immersion as that act by which our state is changed.

The Apostle Peter, when first preaching the gospel to the Jews, taught them that they were not forgiven their sins by faith alone; but by an act of faith, by a believing immersion into the Lord Jesus. To make this clear to all, we will examine his Pentecost address and his Pentecost hearers.

Peter, now holding the keys of the kingdom of Jesus and speaking under the commission to convert the world and by the authority of the Lord Jesus; guided, inspired, and accompanied by the Spirit—may be expected to speak the truth, the whole truth, plainly and understandably, to his fellow Jews. He had that day declared the gospel facts and proved the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the conviction of thousands. They believed and repented—believed that Jesus was the Messiah, had died as a sin offering, was risen from the dead, and crowned Lord of all. Filled with this faith, they asked Peter and the other Apostles what they should do to obtain remission. They were told that although they now believed and repented, they were not pardoned; but must "repent and be immersed for the remission of sins." Immersion for the forgiveness of sins was the command given to these believers, to these penitents, in answer to their most earnest question; and by one of the most sincere, candid, and honest speakers ever heard. This act of faith was presented as that act by which a change in their state could be effected; or, in other words, by which alone they could be pardoned. Those who "gladly received this word were immersed that day;" or, in other words, on the same day they were converted, or regenerated, or obeyed the gospel. Those expressions, in the Apostle's style, when applied to people entering the kingdom, denote the same act, as will be seen from various passages in the writings of Luke and Paul. This testimony, when the speaker, the occasion, and the congregations are all considered, is itself sufficient to establish the point we have cited it to support.

But the second discourse, recorded by Luke from the lips of the same Peter, delivered in Solomon's Portico, is equally pointed, clear, and full in support of this position. After he had explained the miracles he had performed in the name of the Lord Jesus and stated the same gospel facts, he proclaims the same command—"Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out;" or, "Repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be blotted out; that the time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord may come, and that he may send Jesus whom the heavens must receive until the fulfillment of all the things God has foretold," etc. Peter, in substituting other terms in this proclamation for those used on Pentecost, does not preach a new gospel, but the same gospel in equally strong terms. He uses the same word in the first part of the command that he used on Pentecost. Instead of "be immersed," he here says "be converted," or "turn to God;" instead of "for the remission of your sins," here it is, "that your sins may be blotted out;" and instead of "you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," here it is, "that times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord may come."36 On Pentecost, it was, 1st. "Repent." 2nd. "Be immersed." 3rd. "For the remission of sins." And 4th. "You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." In Solomon's Portico, it was, 1st. "Repent." 2nd. "Be converted." 3rd. "That your sins may be blotted out." And 4th. "That times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord may come;" that "you may have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." So read the different clauses in those two discourses to the Jews, expressing the same acts.

There is yet, in this discourse in the Portico, a very strong expression declaring the same gracious connection between immersion and remission. It is the last sentence in the discourse. "To you first, brothers of the Jews, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, each one of you, in the act of turning from your sins;" or, as we would say, in the act of conversion. Why the Apostle Peter should have used "converted," or "turning to God," instead of "be immersed," is, to the candid and unbiased reader of this narrative, very clear. After Pentecost, the disciples immersed that day, having turned to God through Jesus, were spoken of by their fellow believers as discipled or converted to Jesus. The unbelieving Jews, soon after Pentecost, knew the disciples called the immersed "converted;" and immersion being the act of faith that drew the line between Christians and Jews, nothing could be more natural than to call the act of immersion the converting of a Jew. The time between these discourses was long enough to introduce and familiarize this style in the city; so that when a Christian said, "Be converted," or "Turn to God," every Jew knew the act of putting on the Messiah was what was meant. After the immersion of some Gentiles into the faith, in the house and neighborhood of Cornelius, it was reported that the Gentiles were converted to God. Thus, the Apostles, traveling through the country, gave great joy to the disciples from among the Jews, "telling them of the conversion" or immersion of the Gentiles.37 Indeed, in a short time it was a summary way of representing the faith, repentance, and immersion of disciples by using one word for all. Thus, "All the inhabitants of Sharon and Lydda turned," or "were converted, to the Lord."38

While on the subject of conversion, we will present, as a fourth testimony, the words of the Lord Jesus to Paul when he called him. Paul is introduced by Luke in Acts, telling what the Lord said to him when he received his apostleship. "I send you, Paul, by the faith that respects me, to open their eyes; to turn or convert them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the saved."39 Everything to be accomplished among the Gentiles was to be effected by the faith or truth in Christ. The Savior connected that with opening their eyes; their conversion from the ignorance and tyranny of sin and Satan; their forgiveness of sins; and finally, an inheritance among the saved or sanctified. First, faith or illumination; then, conversion; then, remission of sins; then, the inheritance. All these testimonies agree in preaching the act of faith—Christian immersion, frequently called conversion, as that act inseparably connected with the remission of sins; or that change of state of which we have already spoken.

One reason we want to draw the reader's attention to the substitution of the terms convert and conversion for immerse and immersion in the apostolic discourses and in the sacred writings is not so much to prove that the forgiveness of sins, or a change of state, is necessarily connected with the act of faith called "Christian immersion," as it is to focus the minds of biblical students on a very important fact, namely, that no person is fully discipled to Christ until he is immersed. It is true that this view of the matter strongly supports the question; but it also relates to other important matters concerning the present and ancient order of things. Discovering that much depends on having correct views on this point, we have carefully examined all those passages where "conversion," either in the common version, the new version, or the original, occurs; and have found a uniformity in the use of this term, and its compounds and derivatives, which supports the conclusion that no person was said to be converted until he was immersed; and that all persons who were immersed were said to be converted. If anyone apostatized and was converted again, it was in the sense in which our Lord applied the word to Peter, "When you are converted, strengthen your brothers," or, as James used it in his letter when he said, "If anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins."

The commission for converting the world teaches that immersion was necessary for discipleship; for Jesus said, "Make disciples of the nations, immersing them into the name," etc., and "teaching them to observe," etc. The construction of the sentence clearly indicates that no person can be a disciple, according to the commission, who has not been immersed: for the active participle in connection with an imperative either declares the manner in which the imperative shall be obeyed or explains the meaning of the command. To this, I have found no exception: — for example — "Cleanse the house, sweeping it." "Cleanse the garment, washing it," shows the manner in which the command is to be obeyed or explains its meaning. Thus, "Make disciples of the nations, immersing them, and teaching them to observe," etc., expresses the manner in which the command is to be obeyed.

If the Apostles had only preached and not immersed, they would not have converted the hearers according to the commission; and if they had immersed but not taught them to observe the commands of the Savior, they would have been transgressors. A disciple, then, according to the commission, is one who has heard the gospel, believed it, and been immersed. A disciple, indeed, is one who continues to keep the commandments of Jesus.40