Are You A Baptismal Regenerationist?

I am trying to go back to the basics and help people understand that water baptism without the name Jesus  invoked gets you nothing but wet.

And when people call us  Baptismal regeneration-ist or we try and say we are" baptismal regeneration-ist." It is really about us being either ignorant on that subject or not being careful enough in our language.

There is no way for a Oneness person to be a baptismal regeneration-ist since we believe we must be born again of the water and of the spirit and being born of one is not being born of the other. You cannot be born again without both.In other words we do not believe you get that Spirit of God at belief automatically(Acts 19:2) Paul asked have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Letting us know that no you do not automatically receive upon belief!

 or at repentance (Acts 2:38) or upon Water Baptism in Jesus name(Acts 10:45) They that received the spirit were COMMANDED TO BE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS.

Since we are here let's talk about why One is not the other. There are basically 3 views of being born of the water in scripture. They go something like this: the first would be that being born again of the water is the word somehow instead of being born of the water according to the word.

 Ephesians 5:25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.of the water

^{1 Peter 1: 23} Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

These short arguments are not in any way exhaustive but are to help us think about the subject and I would be glad to converse with anyone who seems to think being born of the water is anything short of  water baptism in Jesus name.

One cannot be born again according to God's word and then reject God's word. In other words hear it and not act upon by obedience.(Romans 10: 13-17)  Example: God told Abraham to get out of his country and go to a place that he would show him. If Abraham would have said I believe you God but did not act upon God's word then Abraham did not show any belief in God's word and we would have never heard of Abraham.

 Acts 2:38 is God's word and to understand it incorrectly is just as bad as not doing it willfully.
Jesus himself said the following. 

John 20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Think about Acts 2:38 in your interpretation of John 20:23? How do interpret the above passage in your tradition?How could the disciples forgive another sins? The Oneness Pentecostal view sees Jesus introducing the disciples to the teaching of remission of sins through and in Jesus name in water baptism.

Luke 24:47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

The fulfillment of the above passage is found in Acts 2:38 and proclaims Acts 2:38 as the gospel salvation message for all times. later we see that all of the elements of Acts 2:38 is the salvation message to the Corinthian church. The name Jesus In water baptism washed them and the Spirit sanctified them.

1 Cor. 6:11 But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Another view says being born of the water is amniotic fluid. Can you imagine the contradictory redundancy? You must be born to born again? In contrast to what alternative? Being still born?

  The biblical view is that the name called or invoked is the element in water baptism that remits sin not water Baptism alone.  I would like to make the disclaimer that no passage of scripture is going to be exhaustive in having every element we need to understand the subject in a single short passage.  All the scriptures in the New Testament concerning baptism should be considered. Likewise if you wanted to know about God you would not isolate a single passage in a vacuum but consider all of the subject of God in the word to find out who He is. Likewise the same should be done for all doctrines and especially where baptism is concerned.

So if that were the case and we also believe you must receive the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues then there is absolutely no way we can be water baptismal regeneration-ist. That would prop up the idea we are saved at water baptism no matter how it is performed. The name Jesus invoked over a repentant believer is the factor we must agree upon and reject everything else as non- scriptural.

God Bless!