Acts 19:1-7 · Acts 2 · Acts 10 · Romans 6
Is It Possible to Be Just a Christian?
This sermon argues that becoming a Christian requires a specific point of commitment involving belief, repentance, and baptism—not faith alone. Acts 19 and Acts 2 demonstrate that sincere belief without baptism does not make one a Christian.
Introduction
I appreciate the response from our lesson last Sunday. I will remind you that there will be a time for comments and questions following this lesson. I want to encourage us all to be in our Bibles studying. The text we are going to start with tonight is a challenging text on a couple of fronts. However, we are going to use it to help us answer the question, “Is it possible to be just a Christian?” There are several assumptions in the call for nondenominational Christianity.
First, there is the belief that the Bible is the only document needed to understand what it means to follow Jesus. The Bible contains God’s revelation for us.
Second, it is assumed that the Bible can be understood by those who want to know God’s truth. In other words, there is objective truth in scripture which God has not hidden from us. Instead, he very much wants humans to understand his intent and plan for them.
Third, while there are challenging texts and ideas about God and his plan that may be difficult to understand, the gospel is not difficult to understand and one’s response to that gospel is the same for all. In other words, to be a follower of Jesus is not based upon questionable texts but on easily understood directs from God’s word.
You may or may not agree with these assumptions; however, it is vital that they be stated so that you can know the orientation for this lesson.
Belief, Baptism, and the Holy Spirit
In Acts 19, Paul meets some disciples. The word disciples probably means that they are those who have some knowledge of God and his plan for this world. They have heard of John and even submitted to John’s baptism, but they probably haven’t heard of Jesus or if they have they haven’t submitted to him. Paul’s question to them is of great interest: “Did you receive the Spirit when you believed?” These disciples have not even heard of the Spirit which probably tells us that they didn’t know the connection between Jesus and the Spirit. Then Paul follows with the question “Then what baptism did you receive?” And the answer is John’s baptism.
Two things to notice. First, the connection between belief and baptism. Paul’s initial question could suffice to mean that acceptance of Jesus as Savior is enough to bring the Spirit into one’s life. However, following the question about belief with a question about baptism connects the two ideas. Paul’s second question is not “what do you believe?” But “What baptism did you receive?” The connection between baptism and belief can only be missed if one wants to miss it.
Second, the connection between the Spirit and belief. The Spirit doesn’t come upon one without belief. The connection between belief and Spirit is unmistakable. Without belief which is connected to baptism there is no Spirit. And without baptism the Spirit doesn’t come. Now the exception to that is Acts 10 in which Cornelius and his household receive the Spirit before baptism, but Peter’s response to that event demonstrates that the Spirit’s presence was necessary in order to convince him to welcome the Gentiles into God’s family. Thus, there is an intertwining between belief, baptism, and the Holy Spirit. And from Acts 19 the connection is so strong that one does not exist with the other two. And until these disciples were baptized into the name of Jesus, they were not true believers. We might say they were not Christians.
There is no question about their sincerity. Paul regarded them as learners or disciples. There is no question about their faith. They believed in something so that Paul knows them to be people who are concerned about God. But they were not Christians. They did not know Jesus. Their sincerity and incomplete belief was not sufficient to result in being declared Christians.
Faith and Baptism
One other text which is probably obvious to most of you is Acts 2. Jesus has ascended back to God. The apostles are waiting in Jerusalem for God’s plan to be revealed. With great power, the Holy Spirit descends upon them and they begin to preach to the thousands upon thousands who are in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. As Peter preaches to the crowd, many in the crowd are convicted of their sin. There is an acceptance of the message according to verse 37. The people are cut to the heart. In other words, they believe what Peter is saying. Are they Christians at that point? Obviously not. They acknowledge and feel the guilt of their sin, but they are not yet Christians. They know they are not yet Christians, because they want to know what can be done about their sin. They are looking for the way to correct their past actions.
Peter’s answer has been hotly debated. Even one author rewrites verse 38 to agree with his view that repentance and baptism are not linked. But read the verse in English or read it in Greek and one has to be trying not to understand the intent of the words. Literally, the text says “Repent and be baptized every one in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.” The NIV understands the intent of the verse and leaves no misunderstanding about the text. Without repentance and baptism there is no forgiveness of sins. The promise also includes the gift of the Spirit—not the gifts from the Spirit, but the Spirit himself as the gift.
There was no misunderstanding. Each of the 3000 that day who confessed the name of Jesus understood that they were making a commitment to Jesus. Each one understood that they had sinned. Each one understood that without a change in attitude and lifestyle that God would not be pleased. And each one understood that with their baptism their sins were forgiven.
Why go through these two texts? To demonstrate that there is a point in time in which every person can look back and say “it was at this point that I became a Christian.” Can a person be a Christian without baptism? According to these two texts, no. That isn’t harsh. Paul will say in Romans 6 that it was with our baptism that God moved us from the sphere of sin into the sphere of righteousness. Did these folks in Acts 2 who were listening to Peter’s sermon love God? I assume so. Did these people believe that Jesus was the Messiah? They did after Peter’s sermon. Did these people believe that the claims Jesus made about himself were true? Yes, they did. Did they believe in the resurrection? Most assuredly. Did these beliefs make them Christians? No. Until they demonstrated their faith in repentance and baptism, they were without forgiveness and the Spirit.
From this point on, the people celebrated their new found family. They spent time together. They ate together. They listened to the instruction from the apostles. What instruction did they receive? I assume they received instructions about what it meant to live for Jesus and what his ways were like—Sermon on the Mount kind of stuff. All who came by faith expressing their faith in a changed life and baptism were simply Christians. They committed themselves to Jesus. Did they have much to learn? Absolutely. But they were Christians or followers of Jesus and their allegiance to anything else waned. Is it possible to be just a Christian? What else is there.
Throughout scripture the call is for loyalty to Christ. Whenever someone else or some other teaching is placed in the position of superceding Jesus, that false prophet or false teaching is denounced. Followers of Christ—those who come to Christ in the way that scripture announces—those people are Christians. The only affiliation they have is with Christ and those who are considered brothers and sisters. Let’s just be Christians.
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