Is it possible to believe in Jesus, pray to Him and be baptized and yet not get regenerated?
score:5
Acts 19:1-7 has an interesting story that may have bearing on this:
1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.
Of interest here is the fact that John & Jesus preached the exact same same Gospel, so this was really, really close. The question is whether there is something magical about the syllables "G" and "Sus", which, especially bearing in mind that this wasn't originally in English, is unlikely.
What is more interesting is that clearly John's baptism was one of repentance - the very sine qua non of an altar call - and yet, clearly that's not enough.
What I surmise from this text is either: (a) that inflowing of the Holy Spirit is therefore the choice of the Holy Spirit. While repentance was clearly a pre-requisite, it almost seems as though these people needed to accept the grace that the Spirit entails, even above and beyond repentance. or (b) that it is in fact Jesus himself that is the key aspect of regeneration.
Upvote:1
After believing in Jesus and being baptized, the only way to lose salvation is to blaspheme the holy spirit as it is the only unforgivable sin as read from the NASB:
Matt 12:32
"And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come,"
I read that to mean that you could blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, become a believer in Jesus and be baptized, all of your sins will be forgiven except that one. If you believe in a judgement day, you will be judged on that. If you do not then you would not be forgiven. If you don't know what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit and are concerned about it, then you haven't done it yet.
Upvote:4
Yes, it is. You forgot at least one ingredient - repentance.
More can be found here but for once I'll be brief and state that without repentance there is no true conversion. Whether God calls us to repentance (the Calvinist view) or we are capable of coming to repentance ourselves because we are only partially depraved (non Calvinist view) is irrelevant to this question, but Scripture clearly teaches that repentance is necessary. Jesus Himself preached repentance.
"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15).
It's mentioned here:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ..." (Acts 3:19).
and over a hundred times in Scripture.
A person can do all the things you mentioned without repentance, which doesn't save you, but is a prerequisite to saving faith and grace.
Mere belief is not enough. Even demons believe. Faith is much more than mere belief, and from a sola fide perspective the other things you mentioned are "works" and contribute nothing to salvation or regeneration.
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