Mormons and baptism...

[Herald]

Mormons use the "believe and be baptized" passages to advocate baptismal regeneration within the sphere of their system. How can we refute this obvious error?

 

[aleksanderpolo]

Is John 1:13 and John 3:8 relevant? That we are born not by human act or will, but by the Spirit?

 

[satz]

Which verses in particular are you thinking of?

 

[Jim Johnston]

Mormons use the "believe and be baptized" passages to advocate baptismal regeneration within the sphere of their system. How can we refute this obvious error?

Acts 8: 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Notice that these men repented and believed, but they were not regenerate yet.

I Cor. 1:14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

I Cor. 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Notice in ch. 1 Paul speaks about *his* baptizing, and that *others* besides him baptized, but in ch. 12 he speaks of only *one* baptizer. In the former baptisms he has headaches, he rejoices in the latter. There is therefore, in the mids of the apostles, a distinction between water baptism and baptism by the spirit. The one doesn;t necessary include the other, and they are even spearate in their minds.

If you've followed, this has other implications, but it suffices just as well to rebut the baptismal regenerationists.