Where In The Bible Will I Find:

The Thief Being Saved Without Baptism?

The Scripture states that while both were on the cross the thief asked the Lord, "…remember me when thou cometh into thy kingdom," and the Lord "said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:42-43).

But, alas, so many people will read this or hear it read, and then in their own opinion, say, "Now here is a person whom the Lord said is going to be saved and he was not baptized, so if one person can be saved and he was not baptized, so can I."

Jesus, while coming to the earth, was born, lived, taught and kept the Old Law which knew nothing about water baptism except the baptism of John which was not in the name of Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 1:4). Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead and could save anyone He chose for He had not as yet commanded the act of baptism before His death on the cross.

It was after His resurrection and during the forty days before His ascension back to heaven that He commanded, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16).

The thief on the cross died before this command was given. Before the death of Jesus, he established, set up, ordained, created, signed into law a New Covenant. His commandments became Law and were binding on everyone, no one could be saved without water baptism. In that great gospel sermon preached on the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Lord's church, when asked by the people who heard it "what shall we do?" they were told to "repent and be baptized."

For the Law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) was now in effect. "For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth" (Heb. 9:17). After Christ's death His will (The New Testament) became effective and could not be changed. In the book of Acts there are over a dozen cases of people being saved and in every case before the convert(s) were added to the Lord's church (Acts 2:47), they were immersed in water. This is proof that the apostles understood this commandment of Christ, they preached Jesus to the people and these people had no trouble in understanding, believing and requesting water baptism (Acts 8:35-40).

We must remember that as good as the Old Law was it could not offer salvation. The blood of Jesus flowed backward as well as forward from the cross, and every saved person will be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. The thief, and everyone before the death of Christ was not subject to the Law of Christ (The New Testament), but, my friend, you and I, and everyone after the death of Christ is subject to His Law which commands everyone to HEAR, BELIEVE, REPENT, CONFESS, be IMMERSED in water and then live a faithful Christian life.