(Adapted from a sermon by Rick Duggin)
Despite the overwhelming evidence of Biblical teaching supporting the necessity of baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:39; Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3; etc.), many people still point to isolated incidents to support their particular view. A favorite of the Catholics to support infant baptism is the conversion accounts of both Lydia and the Philippian Jailor’s households, implying that since there were most likely children in those households, they had to have been baptized as well (Acts 16). Likewise, the one that many denominational people will run to in today’s world is the example of the thief on the cross.
Despite both at one point hurling abuses at him (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32), the common thought is that the “penitent thief” (named Demas in the Catholic Tradition) repented and turned to Jesus in his last few hours of life. Crying out for Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Jesus responded with “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” And just like that, salvation had found its way to a condemned criminal not a second too late.
The argument then goes that since this man had no opportunity to be baptized for the forgiveness of his sins, that baptism is henceforth unnecessary despite the aforementioned myriad Scripture proving otherwise. One would argue then, in that same line of logic, what about the other ones that Jesus spoke similar words to; would they be so quick to accept their terms of salvation as quickly as the thieves? Consider:
Luke 5:20 – Beginning in verse 17 of this same chapter, we come across a man who was paralyzed and being carried by his friends on a bed. Finding the lines to see Jesus exceptionally long, they resorted to breaking apart the tiles on the roof and lowering him into the room in front of Him. Upon looking at the man, Jesus stated: “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” Without any action of the paralytic (which sounds physically impossible anyways), his sins are forgiven and ends up walking out of there. Can I then create a theology that says it is possible to be saved by breaking and entering into a house and being lowered through the roof? Makes sense to me.
Luke 7:47 – As Jesus is eating dinner at a Pharisee’s house, a known “sinner” approaches Him and begins to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them down with her hair, prompting the Pharisee to issue a quick judgment on both her and Jesus, and Jesus to forgive her on the spot. Stating that her “[her] sins have been forgiven, we have to ask the question: can we be saved by washing Jesus’ feet with our hair?
Luke 19:9 – The “wee little man” of Scripture climbs a tree in order to see Jesus, who remarks upon His extraordinary faith and intends to stay at his house. This infuriates the crowd who mock Jesus for staying with a sinner, and in response, Zaccheus offers to “give half [his] possessions to feed the poor,” and Jesus responds by saying “Salvation has come to this house.” If someone were to say, “I want to be saved like the thief on the cross!” they could just as easily say, “I want to be saved like Zaccheus!” who apparently hastened salvation with his sacrificial offering of all he owned. The same could be said of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-22.
In explaining the power of the new covenant over the old, Hebrews 9:11-15 describes how the new is superior to the old. But in verses 16-17, he writes, “For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.” In other words, before someone has died, their will can be changed or altered in any way they want to since their testament does not go into effect until after they pass away. Besides the fact that Jesus is God, that’s the point of Luke 5:24 that explains Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. He can forgive sins when they’re lowered through a roof or they wash His feet with their tears, but once He dies and that will goes into effect, we all become subject to it. The thief was saved before Jesus died, and I challenge anyone to find anything else he could have done differently while his hands were nailed to a cross.
By cherry picking examples and harping on isolated incidents, we miss the context, background and other information needed to assess what was happening. Was the thief baptized beforehand? We don’t know. Was he a faithful Jew (with the exception of what put him on the cross in the first place)? We don’t know. But what we do know is what God has revealed to us: “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38).
