DENOMINATIONAL DOCTRINES: Not Saved Until Baptism
LIBERTY AND LOVE #113
“Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
The King James Version is wrong in its translation of this passage. It says to “teach” all nations but that doesn't go far enough. The Greek expression means “disciple all the nations,” or, as we would say it in English, “make disciples.” Thus the ASV, NIV, ESV, NKJV, NASB and virtually all other translations have it right. What is the difference? There is a big difference.
Many people have been taught that a person becomes a “Christian” when he is baptized in water. They will ask, “Is so-and-so a Christian?” and they mean has that person been baptized. That is very bad theology for a number of reasons. Thinking that a person becomes a “Christian” when he is baptized, and not until then, brings up a load of problems, and worst of all it is not what the Bible teaches.
The word “Christian” itself is not a bad title, provided that you don’t mean something by it that the Bible does not teach. The name Christian was originally a name given to Christ’s disciples in derision by the opponents of Christianity. The word is found only three times in the Bible, and not once did one disciple call another disciple of Jesus a Christian.
The first time it is used is in Acts 11: “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (v. 26). This tells us when and where the disciples were first called Christians. It doesn’t tell us who specifically started calling them that, but it’s obvious that it was the people around them. Luke, the inspired writer of the text, calls them “disciples.” Disciples is what they were. “Christians” is what somebody called them.
There is a man-made doctrine that says Isaiah prophesied this name Christian as the “new name which the mouth of the Lord would name” (Isa. 62:2), but there is no truth in that. The “new name” that God would give is identified two verses later by Isaiah. God did not call his people Christians. So this is the first time the word is used (Acts 11:26).
The second time is when King Agrippa used the word in his conversation with Paul: “Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost persuade me to become a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:28-29).
Agrippa assumed Paul was trying to make him a Christian because that is what Christ-followers were known as. It seems interesting that in his response, Paul did not use the word. He did not say, “Agrippa, yes I want to make you a Christian.” He just said I want you to be like I am.
The third time it is used is by the Apostle Peter: “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Peter 4:16). This shows conclusively that the word Christian was a word used negatively by opponents. If you were called a Christian you were being called that in a “suffering/persecution” way.
The word Christian has come to be a positive word among Christ-followers and has become THE word to describe them. It is the word that is used more than any other, even by God’s people. I would much rather you call me a disciple of Jesus than a Christian. But actually it is in one sense a word game, because in the first century when someone was called an “-ian” that was indicative of whoever they were following (like “Herodians” followed Herod). “Christians” were identified as those who were followers of Christ. So technically a “Christian” and a “disciple of Jesus” are the exact same thing. Regardless of what you think of the word Christian itself, if you believe there is a difference between being a “disciple of Jesus” and a “Christian” then you could not be more wrong.
But now here is why a lot of people don’t want to admit that they are the same. You have this neat little doctrine that says a person becomes a “Christian” when he or she is baptized, even though you have absolutely no biblical support for that. But if you were to say that a person becomes a “disciple” when he is baptized, then people could see the ramifications of that. Anyone should be able to see the inconsistencies and troubles there.
Does a person become a disciple of Jesus when he or she is baptized? No. Nor does he or she become a “Christian” when they are baptized. If your definition of a “Christian” is anything other than someone who learns from Jesus and follows Jesus, you don’t need to be using the word Christian. A disciple is a learner and a follower. If that is not what a Christian is, then there is no such thing as a Christian.
Now when does a person become a disciple? A person becomes a disciple of Jesus when they decides in their heart that they are going to learn from Jesus and follow Jesus. And that happens before baptism. Now read it again in Matthew 28:19: “Go make DISCIPLES of all nations and baptize THEM.” Baptize whom? The disciples. The “Christians,” if you will. No one can be baptized unless they are already a disciple/Christian. Who told us to be baptized? Jesus. Who is the person obeying when he gets baptized? Jesus. What is one who obeys Jesus called? A disciple.
So a person becomes a disciple before he is baptized. And no disciple of Jesus will ever be lost, no matter where he is in his journey or his understanding of Christ and all that is involved in following him. Jesus called his followers “disciples” and the saved called each other “disciples,” but neither Jesus nor the disciples ever called them “Christians.”
Dewayne Dunaway
