Episode 12: Can Immersion Retroactively Count?
Summary
Question: Let’s say someone was immersed as a child, or maybe immersed as an adult, and they were just trying to do the right thing. But they believed they were already saved, this is just something they should do as an outward sign or declaration of what had already happened. But now they see that they clearly were not an accountable adult, or they see in the Scriptures that immersion is for forgiveness of sins and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, but they did not understand that’s what it should be for at the time. With this new understanding can their previous immersion retroactively count?
Everyone has to be absolutely honest with God. How old you have to be to process depends on the individual. In Acts they were being immersed, men and women, not boys and girls. Has to be capable of making own life’s decisions.
How about someone who was sincere but they were immersed as an outward sign of an inward grace or something like that?
1 Peter 1:22-23 Erroneous preaching and teaching not going to result in a person having the right obedience. You cannot be saved in obedience to falsehood. So when a person is looking at themselves they have to be honest about if they were misdirected and as realize as a result they were in obedience to false doctrine rather than obedience to the truth. Therefore, I could not have been born again and brought forth from the word of truth.
What if a person didn’t understand everything when they got immersed? Well, that would include everybody. Different people have different backgrounds and different knowledge of the Scripture.
Romans 3:1-2 Somebody who grows up with Biblical background, even if it’s erroneous, has a lot more understanding in some respects than someone who has no Biblical knowledge whatsoever. A person who has an idea that the Bible is probably true and would be a good thing for him and his family, but doesn’t know much more than that, are sometimes good prospects because you don’t have a lot to undo. If someone comes in with a background that’s erroneous, it takes a lot to undo that, like the Jews with the law. When Peter was talking to the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15, he mentioned that the Gentiles’ salvation was clearer than the Jews’ salvation because it wasn’t cluttered with the baggage of the law. There are a lot of different factors that go into understanding.
When some people first come in contact with the gospel, their big concern is forgiveness of sins. They are being driven by a very guilty conscience, which is actually a good thing. That’s what God put it there for. The purpose of the conscience is to convict a person of their sin and make them recognize their need for God. Under those conditions the individual is really driven to get a clean conscience and sins forgiven. He may not understand much about the Holy Spirit, but that comes. There’s not a line of demarcation, “you didn’t understand that, you’re out.” What matters, of course, is the intent of the individual and their willingness to follow the Scripture as it is written. When a person comes across Acts 2:38, he may not process much about the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean his immersion is invalid. However, if the doctrine was wrong, then it’s a different issue. A person can misunderstand a few things and still be okay, but if they were taught wrong and were misdirected, that’s a different category.
Was I too young? Was my denominational immersion valid? Was I taught right?
2 Corinthians 13:5 You can look back and say, I had the right attitude, I was immersed according to the right reasons. I didn’t understand all of it, but I know that’s a process of growth. So when I go through the checklist of believe, repent, confess Jesus as Lord, and be immersed by His authority in accordance with Acts 2:38, then I’m okay. If you can honestly, in the sight of God, go through that checklist, then you’re fine. If you can’t go through the checklist, then you need to do something about it, and right away!
