Join us as we explore the intricacies of salvation and baptism in scripture, focusing particularly on Mark 16:16. Bob Wilkin and Mike Lee navigate through historical contexts and theological debates to clarify how different biblical translations handle this controversial passage. The episode also provides listeners with resources and further readings from faithalone.org, encouraging them to delve deeper into this fascinating topic. Don’t miss their analysis on how this scripture compares to other well-known verses, such as John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9, debunking myths and affirming faith as the sole requirement for eternal life.
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SPEAKER 02 :
How should Mark 16, 16 be explained? Well, that is our question for today, and it will form our discussion coming right up here on Grace in Focus. Grace in Focus is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We’d love for you to get to know us better, and one way that you can do that is to experience our short videos on our YouTube channel. Find us at YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. That’s faithalone.org. Now, with our question and answer discussion of the day, here is Bob Wilkin and Mike Lee.
SPEAKER 03 :
What do you have there, Mike? You had a question from somebody? Yeah, this is from Nancy, who listens to our program daily in Albuquerque. Oh, very good. Yeah. Well, Nancy’s asking, If baptism isn’t part of salvation, why did Jesus say in Mark 16, 16, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, that’s a good question. First of all, it’s important to recognize that Mark 16, 9 through 20 is disputed as to whether this is part of the gospel of Mark or not. The English translations that follow the critical text have markings that indicate they don’t believe this is part of the actual Bible.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that’d be the NIV, NASB, RSV.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right, and Holman Christian Standard and others. Now, we took a few minutes and looked, and if you look in the NIV, it actually has a line, and it has above the line, it says that this is, how does it read?
SPEAKER 03 :
The two most reliable early manuscripts do not have Mark 16, 9 through 20.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. And in the New American Standard, they have brackets around it. And if you look at the beginning, the brackets indicate this is not part of the original. And the RSV has an indication, too. So a lot of them don’t think this is part of the original. Right. My view is that the majority of manuscripts do convey the correct reading. Occasionally, the majority text will split. Then you’ll have M part, M part, and you’ll have like two families on one side, three on the other. There you’ve got other issues you’ve got to look at, like which one best fits the context and which one is most easily explained. But in this case, the vast majority of manuscripts, the majority text is undivided here. And so I’d say this is the correct reading. The second issue you have is, well, why don’t you read the verse for us and we’ll talk about it. Sure. Okay, so in terms of who’s saved, it’s believed and baptized. And this has puzzled many people. The first thing we need to recognize is whatever this means, it doesn’t contradict John 3.16. It doesn’t contradict the Gospel of John and the scores of places where we’re told the sole condition is faith in Christ.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, sole condition for everlasting life is believing in Jesus. No baptism required.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right. Or Paul says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved. Same thing. Through faith and the knowledge of yourselves, it’s the gift of God, not of works, unless anyone should boast. There’s no mention of baptism in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 or in Acts 16, 31. What must you do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Nothing about baptism there. And there’s probably a great example is Acts chapter 10. Cornelius and his household believe in Jesus and are born again. And then they’re baptized. They’re not baptized first. They’re baptized after. Years ago, probably late 90s, I debated a Church of Christ minister named Larry Ray Haefeli in, where was I? Somewhere in Texas. Baytown. Baytown, that’s it. Anyway, I debated him and he was very big on this verse. And I pointed out that when it says who’s condemned, what does it say about condemnation? He who does not believe will be condemned. And I pointed out to him, I said, Larry Ray, why doesn’t it say he who does not believe and is not baptized? Why only mention belief? Because you see, the basis of condemnation, according to the Lord there, is unbelief. It has nothing to do with baptism. So my point is that the salvation here is broader than salvation from eternal condemnation. Hodges held the view, and I think he’s probably right, that the salvation here is what we might call the full-orbed salvation that we see in Acts 10. That is, at the moment of faith, a person is born again. They’re regenerated, they’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they’re baptized into the body of Christ, and they’re sealed forever. Well, in Acts chapter 2, you don’t get all of that. At the moment of faith, these people were regenerated and sealed, but they were not yet indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and they were not yet baptized into the body of Christ. You see the same thing in Acts chapter 8. Philip goes to Samaria and he evangelizes people there in Samaria and they come to faith and they’re born again. They’re regenerated and they’re sealed. He even baptizes them in water, but they haven’t yet received the Spirit. So Peter and John come from Jerusalem, lay hands on them, and they receive the Spirit. Well, that’s the full salvation that you, in this age, starting in Acts 10, after that, everyone who believed was regenerated and dwelt, baptized, and sealed. But at the very beginning, in Acts 2 and then in Acts 8, Being baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and being indwelt by the Holy Spirit were subsequent to faith, especially for Jewish people who had been guilty of crucifying Jesus and of crying out, crucify him, crucify him. Although they were born again, they had to repent and be baptized in order to receive the Spirit and the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
We’ve got some articles on this by a former Church of Christ minister named Larry Thomas Tanton. You can go to faithalone.org and read about that. But what we know is Scripture doesn’t contradict Scripture. So this verse isn’t contradicting John 3.16 or Ephesians 2.8.9 or any other verse. And it’s pretty safe to say that what the Lord is talking about here is something broader than just the new birth. This is the salvation that includes the reception of the Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. You remember in Acts 22, 16, Paul is told to rise up and be baptized, washing away your sins. Well, he was born again on the road to Damascus. Why tell him to rise and be baptized, washing away your sins? Because, like the Palestinian Jews who had been guilty of crucifying Jesus, he had been very vigorous in his opposition to Christ. And he had been arresting Christians and taking them to Jerusalem. And when he came to faith, he was actually on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians. So he knew the message about Christ, and he violently opposed it.
SPEAKER 03 :
So are you saying that the salvation spoken of here is somewhat different from the salvation spoken of in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. In Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, what they’re getting is all four parts of ribs—regeneration and dwelling, baptizing, sealing— What they got in Mark 16, 16 is all of that. So I’m saying, no, it is the same, but the condemnation is less than that. In other words, what I think is anticipated when he says, he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe is condemned. It’s saying, well, there’s something that the person who believes gets saved. even if they’re not yet baptized. And what they’re getting, the Lord’s not calling salvation here. But the new birth in John’s Gospel rarely is the new birth called salvation. It is in John 3.17, but it’s exceedingly rare. All through John’s Gospel, the references, he who believes in me has everlasting life.
SPEAKER 03 :
So in Mark 16, you’re saying that salvation here includes the new birth, but includes other benefits as well, which are conditioned on baptism in this case.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, yes, which were conditioned on baptism only during a short time in the history of the church. Okay. Only at the very beginning. And of course, keep in mind the 11 apostles plus Matthias who took Judas’s place. When did they receive the Spirit?
SPEAKER 03 :
I guess after Jesus ascended into heaven, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, 10 days after, right? In Pentecost? And the Spirit fell on them, right? Right, right. But when were they born again? Very first moment they believed in him for everlasting life. Right. So they were not yet, quote unquote, saved in the Mark 16, 16 sense. However, the other funny thing is… There is no indication. Did you know this, Mike? There’s no indication in Scripture that the 11 plus Matthias ever underwent Christian baptism. They may have.
SPEAKER 03 :
We don’t have a record of that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right. In Acts chapter 2, they’re baptizing these 3,000 people. Do they baptize each other?
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 01 :
I don’t think so. I don’t think the apostles ever underwent Christian baptism. And the reason why that wasn’t a requirement for them in order to receive the forgiveness of sins in the spirit was because they weren’t one of those people that were saying crucify him, crucify him.
SPEAKER 03 :
So how do we know that the situation you’re speaking of in Mark doesn’t apply to us today? And, you know, it was a special situation for just that time.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I think because, for example, the Gospel of John, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, in Acts 16, 31, Revelation 22, 17, all of these verses say it’s simply by faith. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
And so our pattern is Cornelius, not the Jews that were in Acts 2.
SPEAKER 01 :
Exactly. Or Paul himself. Right. But the thing to keep in mind is regeneration has always been by grace through faith apart from works. Never was anything more required. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
But I guess even for Paul, we don’t have this three-day delay to receive the Holy Spirit, right? We get it at the moment of belief. Right.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right. But Paul at least received the forgiveness of sins three days later, and he received the Spirit three days later. So evidently, at the moment of his new birth, he was not part of the church yet. He had not been Spirit baptized. All right. Anyway, I hope that’s clear. Go to our website. We have faithalone.org. I believe we have an article on Mark 16, 16. We have the two journal articles by Lanny Thomas Tanton. Check all that out. But great question. And we also have the new commentary by Ken Yates. Oh, absolutely. So there you go. You got that one. That’s like 600 pages long. I highly recommend it. It’s really good commentary.
SPEAKER 03 :
Very good. And let’s all keep grace in focus.
SPEAKER 02 :
Be sure to check out our daily blogs at faithalone.org. They are short and full of great teaching, just like what you’ve heard today. Find them at faithalone.org resources blog. We would like to thank all of our financial partners who help us keep this show going. All gifts are tax deductible and very much appreciated. If you’d like to find out how you can be a financial partner, visit us at faithalone.org. On our next episode, is there a need to believe unselfishly to be saved? Let’s talk about it next time. And until then, let’s keep grace in focus.
SPEAKER 03 :
The preceding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.
