he little Greek word âeisâ is translated in the New Testament in the following ways and number of times: âagainstâ 25, âamongâ 16, âatâ 20, âforâ 91, âinâ 131, âintoâ 571, âthatâ 30, âonâ 57, âtoâ 282, âtowardâ 32, âuntoâ 208, and âuponâ 25. The catagories of meanings are Direction, Position, Relation, Cause, and Purpose.
The restorationists crowd see EIS in Acts 2:38 to mean âin order to,â thus causing a person to be baptized âin order toâ be saved or to receive remission of sins. The context of the sentence and it's structure determine the correct reading. Matt. 12:41. âThe men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at (eis) the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.â They repented in order to preaching, is non sensical. They repented not âin orderâ to Jonahâs preaching, but âbecause ofâ the preaching of Jonah. We could repeat this test with other verses, the sentence determines the meaning.
The primary force of "eis" is seen in some expressions that include the idea of "into." It is a word that nearly always looks "forward" or places one "into" a thing. It was John the Baptist who first preached a baptism of repentance into the remission of sins (Luke 3:3) and Luke sees a continuation of this message in the wording of Peter on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38). If we understand how the Jews used water baptism in the conversion of the Gentiles, how that event mirrored the cleansing of one who is not a child of God ---------------- then we can understand just how monumental this commandment was for the Jewish community. Gentiles had to submit to baptism -- the Jews did not..... not to be declared a child of God. And along came John. In preaching a baptism of repentance for or looking forward to the remission of sins, the Baptist was telling the Jews that they were no different from the Gentile population ---------- an absolutely preposterous consideration to the thinking of many Jews, especially the leadership.
In Acts 2, Peter continues this same theme. Speaking to his onw people, the children of God, his comments make it clear that they had acted out a disgrace in the sight of God, against His appointed Christ. They were in need of the same cleansing they expected of the lost and perverted Gentile population. .
Christ, in the two accounts we call the "Great Commission," saw baptism as a saving action (Mark 16:15-16) and a part in the process of discipling (Matt. 28:18-20). He did not personally baptize anyone -- not an insignificant fact, I suppose. His own baptism was a statement, IMO, of His solidarity with John. More than that, His baptism gave us a visual or physical connect with Him -------------- an opportunity for a new convert, a babe, one who has a long long way to go in his work against the carnal nature, to actually do something that Christ did, to share in a historical event that marks the beginnings of his journey with God in Christ.
Does water baptism save? Of course it does. And for much of the same reasons visiting the fatherless and the orphans bring "justification." As long as we understand that we are saved before these actions take place, we can say that acts of faith "justify." They testify to the depth of our conviction. Are we saved before we visit the orphan? Of course we are.
JD
