Saturday, December 10, 2016

The Grammar of Mark 16:16 and Baptismal Regeneration


ὁ πιστεύσας καὶ βαπτισθεὶς σωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ἀπιστήσας κατακριθήσεται. (Mark 16:16)

The one who believes and is baptised will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. (my translation)

In this article, I discussed Mark 16:16, showing that it does affirm baptismal regeneration. In this post, I wish to make a comment about the grammar of this verse.

Had the author of this verse (I think a good case can be made that it was Mark himself—see Nicholas P. Lunn, The Original Ending of Mark: A New Case for the Authenticity of Mark 16:9-20 [Pickwick Publications, 2014] on this issue) wished to teach that baptism was not salvific, the grammar chosen was atrocious (so much for the perspicuity of the Bible). Instead, it should have read, "The one who believes will be saved and then will be baptised; but the one who does not believe will be condemned" (mirroring the NRSV translation here).

So, a Protestant who rejects the claim that baptismal regeneration is taught in this verse must either:

Charge Mark with atrocious grammar, calling into question the perspicuity of the Bible (an essential “building block” of sola scriptura) or

Accept the explicit of the New Testament (e.g., Acts 2:38; Rom 6:1-4) about baptismal regeneration.

I, for one, hope and pray that our Evangelical Protestant friends will reject the theological lies they hold to about the Gospel and into the fullness of the (true) gospel one finds within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the only true and living Church on the earth (D&C 1:30).

Further Reading

John Greer vs. the biblical doctrine of baptismal regeneration Answers many common objections to baptismal regeneration raised by the current moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster