Bible Discussion Thread

Paul's statement here in verse 8 " For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:", does not negate, cancel out, or make null and void our need to be baptized in the name of Jesus in order to receive forgiveness of sins, as he shared with the disciples of John the Baptist he met in Acts 19:1-6. In its proper context here, Paul is pointing all glory back to the one who made salvation a possibility for us who were dead in our trespasses and sins. Simply put, Christ didn't have to become the sacrifice and if he did not, there would be nothing that we could ever do to change our eternal destination. However, because he did die and paid the price for our sins, in the book of Acts, when the disciples, on order from Jesus were confronted by people needing salvation they always spell out quite clearly and simplistically what one must do. 1. REPENT 2. BE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF JESUS 3. RECEIVE THE IN-FILLING OF GOD'S SPIRIT EVIDENCED BY SPEAKING IN OTHER TONGUES AS HIS SPIRIT PROVIDES THE WORDS. These instruction that were given by Peter with the eleven Apostles in agreement , Phillip, Ananias, Paul, ect. in the the book of Acts.