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A New Testament


For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Hebrews 9:16-17

The thief on the cross is one of the references the advocates of faith-only salvation will cite when they attempt to deny the necessity of immersion for the forgiveness of sins. In Luke 23:42-43 it is written, “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” We do agree that this man was assured by Jesus that this man would be in paradise with Jesus at his death. However, this does not mean that any man who does this will be saved in like manner.

Jesus had proven that while He was on this earth, He had the power to speak a man’s sins forgiven (cf. Mk 2:1-12; Lk 7:48). We all well-know that this was the same case as Jesus was still alive on the cross when He spoke these words to this man. This thief lived and died under the Old Covenant. Jesus had not died and risen from the dead yet, and thus, the great commission was not given yet. Moreover, one could not be baptized into the likeness of Jesus' death because He had not died yet (cf. Rom. 6:3-4).

The Hebrew writer illustrates this for us well as he describes it in the above passage as a will. You know that when you are alive you can do whatever you want with your money. If you want to give it to your son, neighbor, or friend, you can give it to whomever you see fit. However, when you die, you can't give it away as you wish because you’re dead.  Now, the only way for your beneficiaries  to access your money is through your will or testament.

When Christ died, the only way to access forgiveness of sins was through obedience to the Gospel. God sent His Holy Spirit to guide His Apostles into all truth (cf. Jn 16:13), and we have that full, complete Word of God that was handed down to the saints in the first century (cf. Jude 3) to show us what men might do. No man can be saved like the thief on the cross, for that covenant was nailed to the cross of Christ (cf. Col 2:14). A new covenant was bought in His blood (Lk 22:20) so that all who will hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized, and live faithfully will be in paradise with the Lord.

Grace and Peace.
Ryan

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