The Order of Baptism, Regeneration, and Faith in Acts

In this clip I address the ordering of Baptism, faith, and regeneration as it is displayed in the book of Acts.

[Tyler-xfkf]

Could you do a series on the Holy Spirit? Talk about the conviction, indwelling and empowering of the Spirit and how/when each happens

[andrewl]

I think it's also fair to say that Acts is primarily a historical account and represents the spreading forth of the gospel, so you have this period where the full practice and understanding in the Church is actively being promulgated. And information takes time to get places, hence why you have a group of believers who were baptized into John's baptism of repentance, but not full Christian baptism.
Not saying we don't and can't draw theological conclusions and principles from Acts, but as you say, it's a tricky text to apply to the normative practice of the church.

[UglyOldGoat]

Very helpful. Baptism looks at death in the rearview mirror. Faith ends death in the present. Communion is the promise of Heaven in the future. In each case, regeneration happens at the cross.

[LucasCLarson]

I was always taught by my confessional/orthodox Lutheran pastors that the Spirit is connected to/works thru the Word.

[bigD]

St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Rom. 6:4)

[wayned]

Hi Dr Cooper, I'm a Roman Catholic, but lately I've been binge-watching your theology videos with a particular interest in trying to understand how your (Lutheran) soteriology differs from mine. One thing that especially struck me was your concern that Catholics *might* trust in their own works for salvation (as opposed to trusting in the completed work of Christ alone). I've heard this criticism before, many times, but I've never understood what is meant. Like, it seems to me that you're saying something like there's a bunch of various "baskets", including faith and acts of hope and charity and sacraments, etc, AND the cross of Jesus, and whether or not a person ends up saved is determined by whether he put ALL his "eggs of hope for salvation" (regardless of how many total he happens to have) in the cross of Jesus basket.. But I'm assuming I've misunderstood you, because I'm not understanding how one's"hope/trust eggs" could be neatly "split" among those baskets, even in principle. For one thing, I think these baskets "overlap". That is, I think the cross of Jesus is kind of like the "umbrella basket" that holds, eg, the baptism and Eucharist basket. And, moreover, that those baskets actually contain hope-egg-laying Easter bunnies that give you even more eggs to put into baskets like Acts of Charity that are ALSO within the cross basket. And under this paradigm, whether or not you are saved depends more on the total number of eggs. Or, to word this slightly differently, we could look at this like the parable of the master, servants, and talents. If all we have is the faith talent and go bury it, then the master might not say Well Done upon return. So, any clarification you could give me on this, or any kind of simple test you could give me to see if I'm "improperly slicing up my hope pie" (sorry for throwing in yet another metaphor!), would be very much appreciated!

[TheRoark]

This is a good response, but I wonder how this works when Dr. Cooper has referred to the reformed view of baptism as an empty sign and then describes the reformed view of baptismal efficacy for the one who is regenerated prior to baptism. It can’t be an empty sign when reformed say it and then be something really happening when Lutherans say it.

The person is already regenerated by hearing the word, then also receives forgiveness and the spirit at his baptism.

[raykidder]

If I were Dr. Cooper, I would have mentioned these verses from Romans 1 in this video. Here they are (NKJV):

5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

The term “from faith to faith” comes to my attention. I think a good example is the vague religious faith that water baptism gets a person connected to God for enlightenment, and it is this faith in the supernatural effects of baptism that creates additional faith that leads to obedience to the faith in the form of walking in newness of life and holy living. This evolution of faith was also evident in the example of Abraham in chapter 4, where Abraham only later believed in Sarah having a baby when she was an old lady.

[Tyler-xfkf]

You mentioned that faith is a supernatural gift given from God. How does this coincide with us having freewill?

[thegracecast]

So then in Lutheran theology could we just say that faith alone saves and that the only two senses in which baptism can be said to "save" is that it 1. creates faith which then alone saves or 2. (in the event someone already has faith and is thus already saved) saves in some way other than getting someone to Heaven because they would already be on their way to Heaven by virtue of having faith?

[nealstafford]

The gift of the HS may come immediately before baptism (Cornelius, Acts 10) immediately after baptism (Acts 8 & 19) or during (Acts 2, 9:17). Furher

[huntsman]

You quoted a passage speaking about exercising spiritual gifts. When filled with a spirit, one cannot say Jesus is Lord when that spirit is false. Likewise, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit you cannot "Jesus is accursed".

Ignore the context of the passage (i.e. "Now concerning spiritual gifts") is terrible hermeneutics and becomes eisegesis. I expect more from my favorite Lutheran theologian....

[Catholic-Perennialist]

Oh dear word . . . Acts is probably the worst place to build one's soteriology.

[kjhg]

Podcast idea: walk through Cur Deus Homo?

[solafidedeum]

🕆 Romans 12:1-2 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect, .."🕆
Trust in the Lord don't be self-righteous learn to humble yourself and surrender to the word and will of God. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Let God’s Peace and Grace be with you (To The Reader). Praise God always. Amen. 🕆🙏🙌