Tag Archives: Repentance

IS BAPTISM A NEW CONDITION FOR SALVATION?

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IS BAPTISM A NEW CONDITION FOR SALVATION? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 3:45pm QUESTION: In your book, Set Free! What the Bible Says About Grace (pages 216-217), you say that baptism is a “new condition” for salvation. Was there any custom of baptism among the Jews, or any other people, prior to its introduction by John the Baptist? I know that the Jews practiced purification rites where they immersed themselves in water. Was this a shadow of salvation baptism to come? ANSWER: Lots of water ceremonies and baptism-like ceremonies existed around the time of the … Continue reading →

ELECTION, CALVINISM, AND THE BIBLE, PART TWO

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ELECTION, CALVINISM, AND THE BIBLE, PART TWO by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 4:02pm In part one of this essay, I said that the Biblical language of election is used in several different senses or applied in several different ways. In that part, I explained the first four such ways: (1) the election of Jesus as the incarnate God the Redeemer; (2) the election of individuals to service, e.g., the patriarchs and the apostles; (3) the election of groups (especially Israel) to service; and (4) the election of groups as categories of individuals to whom God … Continue reading →

ELECTION, CALVINISM, AND THE BIBLE, PART ONE

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ELECTION, CALVINISM, AND THE BIBLE, PART ONE by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 3:58pm QUESTION: The New Testament speaks of God as “choosing” or “electing” us, and Christians are called “the chosen ones” or “the elect.” This sounds like determinism, or Calvinism. How can such language be reconciled with free will? ANSWER: The main verb for “choose” is eklegomai; the adjective (as in “chosen ones”) is eklektos; the noun (‘the chosen”) is eklogē. The words “elect,” “chosen,” and “predestined” carry similar connotations. A main point is that this language is used in different contexts with different … Continue reading →

Can a Christian Who Falls Away Ever Become Saved Again?

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Can a Christian Who Falls Away Ever Become Saved Again? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 3:49pm QUESTION: I understand that a true, saved believer can “fall from grace” and become lost; but can such a person ever return and become saved again? Does not Hebrews 6:4-6 suggest that a person who falls away can never again be saved? ANSWER: The idea that a fallen-away sinner can never again be saved has brought much anguish to many sincere people. It is also a false doctrine, one that is based mainly on a seriously-false translation of the … Continue reading →

Divorce and Church Leadership

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Divorce and Church Leadership by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Friday, October 8, 2010 at 8:58am QUESTION: What is the meaning of the expression, “one-woman man” (“mias gunaikos andra”), as it applies to elders and deacons, in 1 Timothy 3:2, 12 and Titus 1:6? This phrase is often translated, “the husband of one wife.” Does it mean that a divorced man can never hold one of these church offices? ANSWER: There are several different views of this phrase. Some have said that it simply requires than an elder be married. (I will speak only of elders, understanding that the phrase is … Continue reading →

“Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?” Questioning the Question.

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“Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?” Questioning the Question. by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Friday, August 20, 2010 at 3:50pm “Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?” QUESTION: A brother has written expressing his dismay upon discovering that his church’s preacher and many of its elders do not see baptism as related to salvation, appealing, e.g., to the thief on the cross and to the hypothetical new believer lost in the desert. One elder is quoted as saying, “You will never get me to believe you have to be baptized to get to heaven.” Another elder cited a quote from Hicks and Taylor’s … Continue reading →

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD (2)

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BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD (2) by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:01pm BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD (2) QUERY: First Corinthians 15:29 says, “Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?” What is Paul saying here? It does not seem to fit with everything else the Bible teaches about personal salvation. ANSWER: What does not seem to “fit” here is the supposed implication that an individual’s personal choices during this lifetime are not necessarily the measure of whether or … Continue reading →

Are Sinners “Begotten” to New Life Before Being “Born Again” in Baptism?

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Are Sinners “Begotten” to New Life Before Being “Born Again” in Baptism? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 1:14pm QUESTION: What do you think about the analogy that the work of the Holy Spirit before baptism is similar to that of the gestation period in the birth of a baby? This is the idea that the seed of the Word of God begins to produce spiritual life as soon as the sinner believes and repents. As that seed develops and grows, and as changes begin to occur in the attitudes and actions of the individual, he … Continue reading →

How Do Calvinists Explain 2 Peter 3:9?

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How Do Calvinists Explain 2 Peter 3:9? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 3:02pm QUESTION: Calvinists believe in the total depravity of all human beings, which means that no one is able to respond to the gospel in faith and repentance. This requires the belief in unconditional election, which means that God unilaterally chooses to save some sinners but not others. He does this by bestowing upon the chosen ones his irresistible gift of grace, in the form of regeneration, faith, repentance, and justification—all at the same time. He COULD do the same thing for every … Continue reading →

Were Old Testament Saints Truly Forgiven?

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Were Old Testament Saints Truly Forgiven? by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 12:34pm QUESTION: I have heard it said that God could not truly forgive sins until Jesus died on the cross; therefore the Old Testament saints were in a real sense “put on hold” and were not actually forgiven and allowed into Paradise until after Jesus died. Until that time, according to this view, they were in a kind of neutral “holding pen,” or state of limbo called the “limbus patrem,” the “limbo of the fathers,” where (as one writer says) “the just of the … Continue reading →