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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