We have 40 questions in the inbox about Acts 2 38. There in the text a bunch of seekers have gathered and Peter says to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Indeed, 3,000 people repent and are baptized.

It's an amazing sight. The text also appears to put water baptism prior to conversion or in the moment of conversion. Likewise, Paul was told to "rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name" in Acts 22 16. Dozens of listeners have written in over the years to basically ask, "Are we saved, Pastor John, after water baptism, before water baptism, or in water baptism?" What would you say?

I would first answer by making the question more precise because the way I'd pose the question is, are we justified before, in, or after? Are we united to Christ? Do we become one with Christ and God becomes 100% for us before, in, or after baptism? Because in the New Testament, the word "saved" is used for what happens before, in, and after baptism.

Ephesians 2 8, "We have been saved." First Corinthians 1 18, "We are being saved." Romans 13 11, "Salvation is nearer to us now than when we believed." So being saved happened before, happened now, is happening now, will happen finally in the future. So the word "salvation" in the New Testament is broad and includes pieces of salvation, and what's really being asked is, when did it all start?

The first moment of union with Christ, the moment of justification, which is not a process like sanctification is, but decisive. If God is for us, who can be against us? When did that start? At what point does God count us a child, not a child of wrath, which we all are by nature, Ephesians 2 3, but a child of God, so that from that point on, He is 100% for us with no wrath?

When did that happen? What was the decisive means that brought it about, that united us to Christ, that justified us? So that's my question. I think that's really what they're asking. And it's the same, I mean, they're right to be concerned about it. There are texts that are puzzling.

So let me give my answer from texts and then show how that point relates to baptism. So Romans 3 28, "We hold that one is justified by faith, apart from works of the law." Romans 5 1, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God." Romans 4 5, "To the one who does not work but believes in Him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." John 3 16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but has eternal life." Acts 13 38, "Through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed or justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses," and on and on and on I could go.

I had a bunch of others, and I thought, for time's sake, I'll just leave them out. So here's my inference from those texts and many others like them. Justification, being put right with God by union with Christ in the divine miracle of conversion and new birth, that point is by faith and faith alone on our part.

God uses faith as the sole instrument of union with Christ and thus counts us righteous and becomes 100% for us in the instant that we have faith in Jesus. That's my answer, and now the question is, okay, how do you talk about baptism and how do you understand those texts that were quoted that seem to connect baptism to that act, that beginning?

So let me give some answers to that. First thing I would say is that the thief on the cross was told by Jesus that that very day he would be with Him in paradise. He was not baptized, and therefore, though I know he's a special case, I don't think you build a theology of baptism on the thief on the cross, but one thing it says is baptism is not an absolute necessity, because it wasn't in his case.

Here's the second thing I would say. Paul treats baptism as an expression of faith so that the decisive act that unites us to Christ is the faith, and it is expressed outwardly in baptism. Here's a very key text for me, because when I went to Germany, I was a lone Baptist in a den of Lutheran lions, and they were loving lions.

They just licked me. They didn't eat me, but they did not approve of what I believed. I remember taking a retreat with 12 little cubs and one big doctor father named Leonard Gulpult, and we were talking about baptism the whole weekend, and this was my text. This was my text that I put up.

I said, "In," this is Colossians 2, 11 and 12, "In Him," in Christ, "also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith." You were buried with Him and raised with Him in baptism through faith in the powerful working of God who raised Him from the dead.

So the burial with Christ in the water and the rising with Christ out of the water, it seems to me from that text, are not what unites you to Christ. That is the going under the water, the coming up out of the water, that's not what unites you to Christ.

It is through faith that you are decisively united to Christ. And here's an interesting analogy, since circumcision was brought into the picture there, and there's kind of an image of circumcision in Colossians 2. If you go to Romans 4, 11, Paul says, "Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was uncircumcised.

The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them all." So if you just take the analogy, and that's all it is, it's just an analogy between baptism and circumcision, then this text would say that baptism is a sign of a righteousness that we have before we are baptized, because we have it through faith and through union with Christ.

Then we go to the relevant text in Acts that the questioner raised, like Acts 22, 16. "Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins." Now if you stopped right there, you'd say, "Well, there it is, you know? The water is the forgiving agent." But that's not where you stop.

It says, "Rise, being baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name." So the sense, I think, is the same. Baptism is the outward expression of calling on the name of the Lord in faith. It's not the water that effects our justification or union with Christ. The water is a picture of the cleansing, but the faith in the heart, the call on the Lord from faith is what unites us and forgives us.

Now that's the meaning that 1 Peter 3:21 actually picks up on when it says, in relationship to the flood and Noah's rescue through the ark, through the water, it says, "Baptism, which corresponds to this," that is the salvation of Noah's family in the ark and the flood, "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you." That's probably the most clear text for those who want to say that baptism is salvific, actually does the saving.

It says, "Baptism saves you," and then immediately, as though he knows he said something almost heretical because it would so compromise justification by faith, he says, "Not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal." So now we're back to this call issue. Wash away your sins by calling on his name, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In other words, the call of faith from the heart, not the water. And he explicitly says, "Not the removal of dirt from the body." In other words, it's not the actual functioning of the water that does the saving, even though I just said baptism saves you. What I mean is that this outward act signifies an appeal to God that's coming from the heart, and it's that faith that saves.

So when John the Baptist calls his baptism, or Mark calls his baptism, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, it probably means a baptism signifying repentance which brings forgiveness, because repentance is simply the way of describing the change of mind that gives rise to faith. Now here's one last important text that they're raising.

In fact, this is where you begin, Acts 2:38. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So it looks like repent, condition number one, be baptized, condition number two, and forgiveness will be given to you.

And I've been arguing, because I think so many texts teach it, that no, repentance and faith as one piece are what obtains forgiveness, not the baptism. So what, you disagree with this text, Piper? Who do you think you are? And I think that text should be read something like this.

And I remember seeing this years ago and then finding it other places. Suppose I say to you, Tony, you want to go from Phoenix to LA on the train and it's about to leave, and I say, "Grab your hat and run or you'll miss the train." Now I just gave you two commands, like Peter gave two commands, repent and be baptized.

But only one of them is a cause of getting to the train on time, namely running. Run! That said, grab your hat. Grabbing your hat is an accompanying act, not a causative one. It may be very important. Now there may be all kinds of reasons why you should have a hat.

Like why did you tell him to grab a hat? Well, I've got my reasons, you know, for all kinds of reasons. But grabbing the hat does not help you in the least get on the train on time. Now that's the way I think we should hear Peter when he says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and make the train of forgiveness." You get on the train of forgiveness if you repent and are baptized.

And the repentance, the change of mind that includes faith, gets you to the train. And baptism is important for all kinds of reasons, but it's not causative in the same way that repentance is. So here's my bottom line answer to the question. Faith precedes baptism. That's why I'm a Baptist.

Faith precedes baptism and is operative in baptism. So we are justified at the very first act of genuine, saving faith in Christ, and then baptism follows, and preferably would follow soon, as an outward expression of that inward reality. That's good. Yeah, you don't want to forget your hat in Phoenix.

You'll sunburn your head. Good. Well, I'm glad there's a good reason for it. Indeed. And we recorded this episode in the studio in advance of Pastor John leaving for his second stint in Europe in 2019. He is currently ministering in Holland, France, and Germany until early October. A huge international year for him.

Remember, he was in South America earlier in the year and in Europe once before already this year. Would you pray for his safety and for Noel and for the fruitfulness of their ministry? I would appreciate it. Again, they're in Holland, France, and Germany this time around. Well, how does John Piper want you to use this podcast in your life?

By God's grace, we have a large listenership now. There's a lot of you who listen in every time. But each of us also have friends and spouses and pastors and parents in our lives who we should also be seeking out for advice. So how does this podcast, Ask Pastor John, fit within the constellation of voices that God has put in your life?

It's a really important question. We've never addressed it head on, and we need to. It's up next on Wednesday. I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you then. We'll see you then.