The Church’s teaching is based on numerous principles and implications, as revealed in Scripture.
The Old Testament demands that no one who is uncircumcised is to participate at the Passover (Exodus 12:48). Even though physical circumcision is no longer a requirement for New Testament Christians, they are to be circumcised spiritually (Colossians 2:11-12; Romans 2:26-29). This can only occur through the indwelling Holy Spirit, which God gives us after proper baptism. And so, we read that Christ’s disciples had been baptized (even though, in the extraordinary case of the eleven apostles, they had not yet received the Holy Spirit–they would receive it, however, on the Day of Pentecost).
We explain this often-overlooked fact that the Twelve Apostles HAD been baptized prior to the Passover, on pages 4 and 5 of our booklet, “Baptism–A Requirement for Salvation“, under the section, “Were the Twelve Apostles Baptized?”: “… it does appear that some, if not most, of the apostles had been disciples of John the Baptist and had already been baptized by John—a baptism of repentance (compare Mark 1:4). As we discussed earlier, repentance is one of the necessary requirements for receiving God’s Holy Spirit, but it is not the only one. As such, the baptism of John—a baptism of repentance—was not sufficient to receive the Holy Spirit. Later, however, Jesus also baptized—through His disciples—as we read in John 3:22: ‘After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.’ John 4:1–3 adds: ‘Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.'”
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