Why People Today Cannot Be Saved Like The Thief On The Cross

I once had an individual ask the question that if baptism is essential for the forgiveness of sins, Acts 2:38, then why did Jesus not tell the rich young ruler that, the one who came to him inquiring, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18 NKJV) My inquirer asked the wrong question. Why? Because when Jesus was talking to the rich young ruler, he was not talking to you and me. He was speaking directly to a specific individual at a specific time in history.

The only lessons in the account of the rich young ruler that could be made applicable to us today are (1) a man may be very religious but lost and (2) the danger of having a hidden idol in one's heart and putting that ahead of God.

Your salvation and mine do not depend on what Jesus did or did not tell a man living under the law of Moses sometime before Jesus' death on the cross. Our salvation depends on what Jesus says directly to you and me today under his law, the law of Christ, which began to be preached among men beginning on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. We live under God's new covenant, not his old.

Jesus, in speaking to his disciples after the resurrection, said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:46-49 ESV)

Luke tells us they were ordered to not depart from Jerusalem, "He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" (Acts 1:4-5 ESV)

In Acts 2 we see the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) clothing the apostles with power from on high. Peter's sermon that day and in that chapter fulfilled Jesus' earlier proclamation found in Luke 24 "that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47 ESV)

This gives us a beginning point of both the time and place of the gospel message God has for us today. Those desiring to be saved the way the thief on the cross was saved (by faith without baptism) go back too far, past Jerusalem, past the beginning, back to the law of Moses, and in doing so end up with another gospel if their goal is to be saved that way today. The only way to have the Jerusalem gospel is to preach what Peter did that day beginning in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. Since hardly anyone is willing to do that today, their gospel is another gospel.

A person who seeks to be saved in a way some individual may have been saved while Christ lived and walked upon the earth is rejecting the Jerusalem gospel--"repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." That individual's gospel does not originate in Jerusalem and is thus not the gospel of Christ.

A big part of the problem that causes people to misunderstand God's plan of salvation for man is a failure to discern what we call the dispensations. There are 3 as follows: (1) the Patriarchal, (2) the Mosaical, and (3) the Christian. I will deal with the last two as they are relevant to this discussion.

Jesus lived and died under the Mosaical law. Jesus was in the fullness of time "born of a woman, born under the Law." (Gal. 4:4 NAS) When we say Jesus lived a sinless life, what law did he keep perfectly? The law of Moses. In what was the second-to-last utterance Jesus made on the cross, he said, "It is finished!" (John 19:30 NAS) What was finished? What was finished was the fulfillment of the law and the Prophets (which included, of course, his sacrifice on the cross as prophesied, his mission on earth to make himself a sacrifice for the sins of man).

Hear Jesus in Matt. 5:17-18, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (ESV) When Jesus drew his last breath on the cross, the Law and the Prophets were fulfilled, either that or Jesus failed in his mission "to fulfill them."

The law of Christ became binding on men as the old law was fulfilled and passed away. The old law of Moses was nailed to the cross. (Col. 2:14) The Christian dispensation of time when men came to live under the law of Christ began when Jesus died. "For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives." (Heb 9:16-17 NKJV)

Jesus "has become a surety of a better covenant." (Heb. 7:22 NKJV) "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one (the law of Moses--DS) obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Heb 8:13 NKJV) "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." (Heb 7:12 NKJV)

Many take the thief on the cross as an example for all men regarding salvation (Luke 23:39-43) and say look at him. All he needed was faith. Was Jesus talking to you (or me) or was he talking to the thief on the cross beside him that day approximately 2,000 years ago? Did the thief live under the Christian dispensation or the Mosaical? Had the gospel that was to be preached beginning at Jerusalem yet been preached? Will you disregard the Jerusalem gospel? You will have to if you attempt to be saved as the thief on the cross was.

If Jesus forgave sins in the gospel accounts before his death in a way different from that which sins are forgiven today, what has that to do with me? I live under the New Covenant. So do you.

Speaking to the apostles, Jesus said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26 NAS) Did Jesus lie? Did the Holy Spirit fail to do this with Peter on the day of Pentecost? If you ever wanted to know when Jesus taught baptism for the remission of sins, then Acts 2:38 is one of your answers. Peter spoke by the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit spoke the words of Jesus.

Speaking to the apostles before his death, Jesus said, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you." (John 16:12-14 NAS)

Today we have the completed revelation that Jesus has made to man. The law Jesus has for you and me has now been fully revealed to us. For us today to go back and say it was not always done this way is foolishness. What is that supposed to prove even if it is true, which, by the way, I do not deny? What if the thief on the cross did not have to do what you or I do for salvation? What does that have to do with either you or me?

If we expect to be saved like the thief on the cross, that is about the equivalent of giving Jesus a slap across the face. It is saying, I don't care about your new covenant. You save me like you saved him. Instead of you obeying Jesus, you would have him taking orders from you and obeying you. It does not work that way.

We are bound to live under and obey whatever law is in effect while we live, not when someone else lived. Our job is not to question God but to do as he has told us. No matter what someone else has done or not done in years gone by for salvation, you have the gospel of Christ now, the new covenant, the law of Christ. You are bound to it, to believe and obey it, as am I.

I add a footnote here in closing for clarification. The thief on the cross was not saved because he lived under the law of Moses or kept it in any fashion. He was saved because the Lord extended him grace. In our day, the Lord's grace is extended to us in the gospel. To reject the gospel is to reject God's grace.

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Was Cornelius Saved Before Baptism

I have written a series of articles on the subject of obeying the gospel in the first century based on the history given in the book of Acts. This is another dealing with the same subject. Why do so? Because there is absolutely no possibility that Holy Spirit inspired men, some of whom were apostles, could have gotten the gospel message wrong.

The case of Cornelius is somewhat unique in the respect that he appears to have been a very godly man even prior to his conversion. In Acts 10:2, the Bible says of him that he was "a devout man, and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually." (NAS) Of course, there were others like him in that regard – Saul of Tarsus and the Ethiopian eunuch come to mind. A man may be devout and yet ill-informed and in religious error.

As for Cornelius, if there was ever a man so good as to be saved on his own merits, we suppose Cornelius would have been that man. And yet God's angel instructs him to send for Peter. Why? Might it not be that even a good man like Cornelius needed the gospel? If a man can be saved without the gospel, why bother to preach it to him, why did Jesus die on the cross, why the great commission? You can read 2 Thess. 1:8-9 to see what will happen to those who do not obey the gospel. It is a serious matter to not obey the gospel. Cornelius needed the gospel. He was a man in need of salvation from his sins for no man is so perfect as to have never sinned.

Peter, in reporting what had happened at Cornelius' house, when he arrives back in Jerusalem, throws more light on why Cornelius, by the angel's direction, had been instructed to send for him. The angel had told Cornelius that "he (a reference to Peter--DS) shall speak words to you by which you will be saved." (Acts 11:14 NAS) So, there were words Cornelius needed to hear to be saved? What were those words?

Were they not the same words Peter had preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2? Were they not the same words spoken by Philip in Samaria and before the Ethiopian eunuch? Were they not the same words spoken to Saul by Ananias? Is there more than one gospel that will save? Is it this gospel in one place, another gospel in another place? The gospel is the gospel. It does not differ day by day, from city to city, or from one person to another person.

It has already been shown in previous articles that baptism was a part of the gospel message. Is it any different this time with Cornelius? No!

Hear Peter, "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized" (Acts 10:47 NAS) then "he ordered them to be baptized." (Acts 10:48 NAS) What is another word for "ordered"? If you check other translations, you will see the word "commanded" rather than "ordered." But why command baptism?

The answer is because you cannot obey the gospel and thus cannot be saved, not in the first century and not now, without being baptized "for the remission of sins." (Acts 2:38 NAS) What Peter preached in one locality, he preached everywhere. Was Peter an apostle? Did he know what he was talking about? How about Philip? How about Ananias? Remember that Cornelius was to be saved by the words Peter would speak to him (Acts 11:14) and those words ended with the command to be baptized.

Cornelius and his companions had the Holy Spirit descend upon them prior to their baptism leading many to think they were saved at that point. Not so. Why not?

Because Cornelius was to be saved by the message he received from Peter (Acts 11:14) and not by a miraculous manifestation from heaven. Peter had not gotten a good start on delivering that message when the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius for he says in Acts 11:15 "as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them." (NAS) It was necessary for Peter to complete that message which included baptism.

But let us look at it from another point of view. What if Cornelius had told Peter, "No thanks, I have been saved by faith and grace. I believe in Jesus. I think I will just pass on baptism." Would he have been saved? Many preach today that he would have been for the gospel they preach has no water in it unlike Peter's gospel.

He would not have been saved by grace and faith for the simple reason that he would have lacked faith in the message Peter preached. He would not have believed the Holy Spirit by which Peter spoke for Peter, by the Holy Spirit, commanded baptism. It would have been as if he said, "I know you were to speak words by which I might be saved but I do not believe this word about baptism."

I would also remind the reader of what he already knows if he will think about it. The fact the Holy Spirit is upon one does not mean he is God-approved, not necessarily. If so, Caiaphas, the high priest and one of the ringleaders in bringing about the crucifixion of Jesus, was a saved man. Read about his prophesying in John 11:49-51. Add to that the fact that even inspired men could and did sin, even Peter. (Gal. 2:11-12)

If it was the Holy Spirit falling on Cornelius and his household that saved them, then the following things are true. (1) The angel was mistaken when he spoke to Cornelius to send for Peter for Peter was not needed. The Holy Spirit could fall on Cornelius and his household whether Peter was present or not. (2) The angel was mistaken again when he said "he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved." (Acts 11:14 NAS) No words were needed for Cornelius and his household to be saved if the Holy Spirit falling on them did the job.

The sincere inquirer to what saved Cornelius and his own must decide, based on the scripture, what the saving agent was in Cornelius and in his family's salvation. Was it the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them or was it, as the angel said, Peter's speaking "words to you by which you will be saved"? (Acts 11:14 NAS)

For more on this subject, see another article I have written discussing it further titled "Cornelius' Conversion and Holy Spirit Baptism."

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Is It Too Late

I am writing this article primarily for those wayward Christians who went back into the world and who would like to return to God but feel that it is too late for them. They feel like their life has been too sinful, and for too long, for God to have them back. They believe they are eternally condemned with no hope of being saved.

The Bible has never taught a doctrine of "too late" to a person who is truly penitent and who is willing to turn from sin and turn back to God. The doctrine that is taught is that God is "longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) "'Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?' says the Lord God, 'and not that he should turn from his ways and live?'" (Ezek. 18:23 NKJV) Bear with me as we read a few more passages before commenting.

"Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die." (Ezek. 18:27-28 NKJV)

Jesus said, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matt. 9:13 NKJV) Paul, writing by means of the Holy Spirit to the Christians in Corinth, said, "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death." (2 Cor. 7:9-10 NKJV) There was sin in the church at Corinth as revealed in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, sin among the Christians there. Were they lost because of their sin? They would have been, but they repented, bringing rejoicing into Paul's life. God forgave them when they repented. It was "repentance leading to salvation."

Repentance is not just for the individual who is not a child of God, not just for the alien sinner, not just for the one who has never come to God or known God, but for all sinners. John says, in addressing Christians, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8 NKJV) The only person for whom it is too late, who is too far gone to be saved, is the person who is unwilling to repent and turn to God, whether that repentance and turning is a first-time event or an unlimited number of times.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 NKJV) We only confess once we have repented. One does not make a sincere confession without repentance. But note the promise God gives, forgiveness and cleansing. It is a promise of God, therefore certain.

When Peter asked the Lord how many times he ought to forgive a brother who sinned against him, the Lord's response was "up to seventy times seven." (Matt. 18:22 NKJV) No one believes Jesus meant for us to keep a record so that when we have forgiven a person 490 times, we cease forgiving that one. He clearly meant there is no end to forgiveness for one who repents. God's desire is for us to forgive as freely and willingly as he does.

The children of Israel, the fleshly descendants of Jacob, were God's chosen people under the Law of Moses. They were to God then what Christians are to him now. All who have read the Old Testament realize how the majority of them went into idolatry and departed from God as the years rolled by. Eventually, God allowed them to be overrun by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians because of their great sin. However, God was always calling for their repentance to spare them until it came to the point where it was no longer possible for them to repent due to their hardness and stubbornness of heart.

God's desire for their repentance, in their time, is his desire for the Christian's repentance today, when the Christian has gone back into the world, departing from faithfulness. Listen to God's pleading.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isa. 55:7 NKJV)

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? … My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred." (Hosea 11:8 NKJV)

"'Now, therefore,' says the LORD, 'turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.' So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm." (Joel 2:12-13 NKJV)

"'Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the LORD GOD. 'Therefore turn and live!'" (Ezek. 18:31-32 NKJV)

"But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it." (Ezek. 33:19 NKJV)

Yes, all the passages just quoted are from the Old Testament and have direct reference to the children of Israel, God's chosen people at that time, but God's character has not changed. Jesus came into the world to save sinners (Luke 5:32), not just alien sinners but all sinners. In fact, Jesus, when he came into the world, first went to the lost sinners of the house of Israel, the lost sinners among God's chosen people, to first seek their repentance and teach them the truth. God desires his children's repentance.

James says, "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." (James 5:19-20 NKJV) It is a Christian who has wandered away here, and the sins, even if a multitude, are covered when the sinner is turned by repentance. No, a wayward Christian who will repent is not too far gone due to the number of, or severity of his sins, or the time he has been away from God, not too far gone to be saved.

God forgave Manasseh. Manasseh was a king in Judah who was as nearly as evil as one can get. You can read about him in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33. His reign began when he was only 12 years old, and he reigned for 55 years. Just to name a few of his many sins, he sacrificed his son in the fire (idol worship), practiced witchcraft and divination, consulted mediums and spiritists, set up a carved image of the idol Asherah in the temple, made altars for the Baals, worshiped nearly anything and everything but God. He also shed much innocent blood to the extent he filled Jerusalem with it (2 Kings 21:16). He led Judah into sin worse than the heathen nations before them. Yet, God forgave him when he repented (2 Chron. 33:10-20). God will forgive if we genuinely repent. I doubt your sins will be any greater than those of Manasseh. It is not too late to repent and return to God. He will have you back, and you can still receive salvation.

God is love. He loves the sinner even if he cannot accept the sinner without repentance. Hear Hosea, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.'" (Hosea 3:1 CSB) God loved his people even when they were idolaters and had abandoned him. Do we doubt today that he loves the Christians who have wandered away from him? Do we not think he desires their repentance and return to him?

In the book of Revelation, we have Jesus' message to the seven churches of Asia. We must remember the church is Christians, not an abstraction. The message there, to more than one body of Christians, is to repent. God's desire is not to destroy people. Repentance was not just an Old Testament thing exclusive to Israel and Judah. Repentance is for every person who needs to repent of the sins they are living with. "God … now commands all men everywhere to repent." (Acts 17:30 NKJV)

It is easy to give up and go on living a sinful and hopeless life, but that is exactly the kind of life it is – hopeless and ultimately disastrous. And, it is not a happy life. When a person knows within themselves they are not what they ought to be, there is no joy. It is no way to live, even if it seems everyone else is living that way. The joyful life is the hopeful life, a life lived with peace with God. Why not repent and turn and live, for that is God's invitation to each of us when we get caught up in the world and find ourselves away from God.

Jesus, in his own words, says to each of us, "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7 NKJV) "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV)

Repent and return is God's message to all his wayward children. If you need to repent, why not now? Salvation is knocking at your door. What holds you back? Why wait? Open the door, for you know, according to the old hymn, "who at the door is standing."

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He Rejoiced Greatly Having Believed In God

In Acts 16, verses 23 through 34, we have the account of the conversion of the Philippian jailer at the hands of Paul and Silas who preached the gospel to him and his household. As you recall Paul and Silas had been imprisoned in Philippi when an earthquake struck at midnight, their chains were loosed, and all the prison doors were opened. The jailer, being responsible for all the prisoners and assuming all had escaped, was ready to take his own life when Paul called out to him. The opportunity was given to preach the gospel to him and his household.

The first recorded words of the jailer after bringing Paul and Silas out of their confinement were "what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30 NAS) There is a lot of information that can be gleaned from those few words. First, it can be fairly inferred that the jailer was convinced that Paul and Silas were men of God who knew God's will. Perhaps their reputation had preceded them here in Philippi as not long before this they had converted Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and also had cast out a spirit of divination from a slave girl, a spirit that was telling all that "these men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." (Acts 16:17 NAS) All of this had occurred in the city before the jailing of Paul and Silas.

Secondly, it is clear the jailer felt confident that there were things that he would have to do to be saved. It was just not clear what those things were, not clear to him.

In response to the jailer's question, Paul and Silas tell him to "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:31 NAS) This was a statement that needed clarification calling for preaching. What does it mean to "believe in the Lord Jesus"? The jailer needed to know. What was to be believed? He was receptive if he could only learn what it was he was to believe.

Verse 32 indicates that Paul and Silas did speak "the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house." (Acts 16:32 NAS) But, that is all that is said about the preaching. We have to look elsewhere to find what the gospel is, for we are all certain he preached the gospel to the jailer. The gospel is, after all, "the power of God for salvation to every one who believes." (Rom. 1:16 NAS)

We find what the gospel is in 1 Cor. 15:1-4 where Paul says, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you." (NAS) He then goes on to explain it to us--that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised the third day.

So, yes, we have a good idea of some of the things Paul and Silas preached to the Philippian jailer. But, was believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the remission of our sins all there was to it? Those who believe that put themselves in a bind. How?

Because the demons also believe and shudder (James 2:19), are they saved? Because "many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him," (John 12:42 NAS) were they saved? Can one be saved who is unwilling to confess Jesus? Can one believe in Jesus but refuse to confess him and yet be saved? Paul says, "With the mouth confession is made to salvation." (Rom. 10:10 NKJV) In the verse just before that (Rom. 10:9) he says, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus." Yes, "if" you do. The word "if" has meaning.

Another bind that those find themselves in who say all one has to do is believe in order to be saved is that they leave out repentance altogether. If you can leave out repentance that ought to save the demons, shouldn’t it?

Yes, I am sure Paul taught faith in the Lord Jesus and when understood properly that will save a man. However, faith in the Lord Jesus means you believe what Jesus taught and believe it so strongly you obey him. Faith in the Lord Jesus is not just mental assent. Faith in the Lord Jesus is not disregarding his word as of no account.

Jesus said, "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16:16 NAS) Too many in so-called Christendom say, “Yes, I believe in Jesus. I just cannot believe what he says in regards to some of his statements.” Well, that is an impressive statement of faith, is it not?

We know with certainty Paul preached baptism to the Philippian jailer, for the text says of the jailer, "immediately he was baptized, he and all his household." (Acts 16:33 NAS) I say Paul preached baptism again, for earlier in the same city and in this very same chapter, he preached it to Lydia as well (Acts 16:15). Unless he preached another gospel in other places than what he did in Philippi, he always preached baptism in preaching the gospel whether it is mentioned specifically or not. Baptism is the water part when Jesus said, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5 NAS)

Every sincere seeker after God ought to pay close attention to verse 34. Do you want to know what it means to believe in God? The text says of the jailer that he "rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household." We know of a certainty that whatever else that phrase means, it means at least this much--baptism is a part of the gospel to be believed. Paul and Silas taught it to the jailer and his household, they believed what they were taught, they obeyed it, and they were baptized immediately in the very late night hours (after midnight). When this was done, it is said then that the jailer "rejoiced greatly, having believed in God."

Let me ask a question. Would the jailer have rejoiced had he heard Paul and Silas preach baptism but then said, “I don't believe it and I refuse to do it?” Could it have been said, in that scenario, that he believed the word of the Lord? Even the skeptic must admit that if Paul and Silas preached baptism, then it must have been part of "the word of the Lord." (Acts 16:32 NAS) It was a part, I might add, which they believed--believed and obeyed.

But, all of this raises other questions. Why preach baptism to the jailer or anyone else? Might it not be that Paul and Silas spoke by inspiration? Might it not be that baptism is a part of the gospel to be believed and obeyed? Might it not be that Peter, speaking by inspiration in Acts 2:38, knew what he was talking about and that baptism is actually and literally for the remission of sins? Yes, I say, it might be. I say even more, it is. It is not to say it comes alone without faith and repentance, but it comes with them.

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