Lesson 1136

(Lesson 1136)(11-02-14) Acts 8:25-40

Today's lesson is from the same text and is a continuation of yesterday's lesson.

As has been stated earlier, the contents of the text of Acts 8:26-40, in many ways appears to conflict with the core of the gospel Jesus taught during his ministry.

Firstly, Jesus never taught water baptism as a necessary part of Christian doctrine during His ministry here on earth.

The water baptism Jesus underwent, as well as all the water baptisms John the Baptist performed during his ministry, were done as a requirement under the prevalent Hebrew law and tradition of that day.

Those baptisms were NOT performed because they were to have anything to do with Christianity then or today. Nor, does water baptism have anything to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind.

Of the approximate ten times Jesus is said to have spoken some grammatic form of the term "baptize", only once did he use it in reference to being immersed in water.(The ten times discounts repetitions of the same accounts that appear in the four different gospels, Matt., Mark, Luke, and John.)

That one reference to water baptism is found in Acts 1:5, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Herein, Jesus spoke of John's water baptism to differentiate it from the baptism that envelopes the saved with the Holy Ghost. Immediately after Jesus used the term "baptized" in reference to John's water baptism, He used the same term "baptized" to define the enveloping of His Apostles within the sanctity and power of the Holy Ghost.

Therefore, the implications set out in Acts 8:25-40 as they seem to demand water baptism as a connection to Christian doctrine, are simply out of place in the doctrine that Jesus, Himself, taught.

As history provides, because of the rapidly growing numbers of those who were followers of Christ, the high level Jews who pretended to follow Him because of His immense popularity among their people, along with Roman Pagans et al, were forced together by Emperor Constantine to form what would become Roman Catholicism and it's many variations.

From the many religious leaders of the day, and from the many different "Christian" accounts of Jesus, Constantine gathered a council that would determine which of those would and would not be allowed into what we today refer to as the bible, God's holy word.

God's word and amazing message of salvation by grace through faith is, as Jesus promised, still indeed embedded in our bible, but it is up to each individual Christian to dig it out, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

Seeing that there are so many circumstances that appear to be out of line with the true intent and context of the New Testament, and that the wording seems only to have been placed there to endorse water baptism as necessary as a part of Christianity, I ask that this class prayerfully and carefully "divide" the words that are said in Acts 8:25-40 to determine whether it is an intended part of the message Jesus died for, or have those words been added to substantiate a false doctrine forced on the people by Emperor Constantine and his Roman Catholic Church.~