thankyou Webmaster,
That made interesting and very good reading and was along the lines I had planned to answer preacherintraining.
One problem we have in our English translations, is that the translations often only are written using one word translated in one way, which in fact could have extra meanings, and to correctly understand any commands in the Scriptures, we do need to ask our selves, what in the Greek is the imperative.. the part of the verse that contains the command.
I was thinking of the Great Commission in this respect. Most people have read Matthew 28:19-20 and assume the verse commands us to GO. In fact the true imperative and assumption is in the way the original Greek speaks of it.. "As you GO'".
For Christians, there are no command to go.. it's an assumption you will already "be going", so that verse should actually be read as
"As you go into all the world"
and the imperative.. the command, is as I understand it, the command to "Make Disciples of all nations".
And the way we are to do that is
1. To preach the Gospel (faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ). Jesus said to teach them everything He commanded (please read Romans 10:1-17)
2. Baptise them in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Ethiopian Eunuch, the moment he believed and heard about baptism, wanted to be baptised immediately.. it wasn't the reason he was saved,(Philip told him the good news about Jesus in verse 34-35) it was his immediate response to his salvation. Just like Jesus words to His disciples, assumed that they would not be able to resist going and telling others of what they themselves had experienced.
Preacherintraining, Baptism is something all believers want to do following their conversion, it almost becomes something you feel compelled to do, you want to do, and you do in response to your faith, not to ensure you have been born again and are a child of God. If this were true, it would mean that the cross has been made nothing and Jesus's own baptism would have been something more significant than it was... John said that he only baptised with water, but that the baptism from God, of the Holy Spirit, was the significant baptism. At Jesus's baptism, His earthly ministry and his relationship to God was confirmed. Baptism is significant, very significant in the life of a believer and it is something we all are commanded to do, but it does not save us.