Why Reject Baptismal Regeneration and Oneness Doctrine

Expository Study • Water Baptism and the Oneness Doctrine

The purpose of this post is to address two doctrines that I believe seriously distort the biblical revelation of salvation and of God Himself: the teaching that water baptism washes away sin or becomes a necessary saving instrument, and the Oneness teaching that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are merely different manifestations of one divine Person.

Why I Reject Baptismal Regeneration

I strongly reject any teaching that claims water baptism cleanses a sinner from sin, grants forgiveness, applies the blood of Christ to them, or justifies them before God. Christ commands water baptism and is an important act of obedience and public identification with Him. However, we must never confuse obedience with the saving work that follows obedience.

Jesus Himself identified the basis of forgiveness when He spoke of “My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). I stress that Scripture repeatedly attributes redemption, justification, reconciliation, forgiveness, and cleansing to Jesus Christ and His shed blood. We are “justified by His blood” (Romans 5:9). In Christ, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings” (Ephesians 1:7). Christ obtained eternal redemption through His own blood (Hebrews 9:11–14). The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). The Apostle Peter states that Christ’s precious blood redeemed us (1 Peter 1:18–19).

John the Baptist therefore did not point sinners toward water as the power that removes sin. He pointed to Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). John later identifies Christ as the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2). The saving emphasis of Scripture rests upon Jesus Christ, His cross, His blood, His resurrection, and faith in Him.

Water Prepared, Blood Atoned

Even the Old Testament sacrificial system points in this direction. I am not suggesting that water had no role whatsoever in the Old Testament. No, I want to make it plain, water certainly had an important ceremonial role. In the Old Testament, the priests washed themselves, and ceremonial cleansing was part of Israel’s worship. But water was never the atoning sacrifice presented before God in the Holy of Holies. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered with sacrificial blood and sprinkled that blood on and before the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:14–15).

Let me emphasize the point that the above distinction matters. Water was involved in ceremonial preparation, but blood was associated with atonement. God said that “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” and He gave the blood “to make atonement” (Leviticus 17:11). Hebrews then explains that those sacrifices pointed beyond themselves to Jesus Christ, whose once-for-all sacrifice accomplished what the blood of animals could never finally accomplish (Hebrews 9:11–14; 10:10–14).

For that reason, I reject any doctrine that shifts the sinner’s confidence away from the finished saving work of Christ and places saving confidence in the water of baptism. Baptism is important because Christ commanded it. However, the water is not Christ’s blood; the water does not become Christ’s sacrifice, and Scripture never teaches that physical water possesses the redemptive power of the blood shed at Calvary.

The Sequence in Acts

This is also why we must interpret individual baptism passages within the complete teaching of Scripture. You cannot separate Acts 2:38 from Acts 10:43–48, where Peter declares that “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins,” and Cornelius and his household receive the Holy Spirit prior to their baptism in water.In Acts 15:7–9, Peter later explains that God gave them the Holy Spirit after hearing and believing the gospel and that He cleansed their hearts “by faith.”

The sequence matters. The people heard the gospel. They believed the gospel. They received the Holy Spirit. Faith cleansed their hearts. Then the believers were baptized in water. I am not opposing water baptism. No, I am pointing out exactly what Scripture says. Water baptism followed God’s saving work; it did not produce it.

Why I Reject the Oneness Doctrine

I am equally concerned about the false doctrine of Oneness.

Those who defend Oneness theology frequently present Old Testament passages declaring that God is one. I agree completely with every one of those passages. “The LORD is our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). There is no God besides Him (Isaiah 43:10–11; 44:6; 45:5–6). I say amen to every word.

Biblical Trinitarian doctrine does not teach three gods. Myself, bible-believing Trinitarians fully believe there is only one true God.

The problem begins when someone takes the biblical statement “God is one” and changes it into the statement “God is one Person.” Those are not identical claims. The Old Testament establishes monotheism. It does not provide the complete revelation concerning the eternal relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that becomes much clearer in the New Testament.

Progressive Revelation

This is where progressive revelation becomes essential. The Old Testament is a completely genuine revelation from God, but it does not reveal every biblical doctrine with the fullness later given in Jesus Christ. God progressively revealed His redemptive purpose throughout Scripture. Hebrews explains that God formerly spoke “in many portions and in many ways” through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son (Hebrews 1:1–3).

The Old Testament gives promises, prophecies, types, shadows, and glimpses of the coming Messiah. The New Testament does not contradict those truths. It unveils their fulfillment. No collection of Old Testament passages declaring that there is one God gives anyone the right to erase what the New Testament later reveals about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

At Jesus’ baptism, the Son is standing in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, and the Father speaks from heaven (Matthew 3:16–17). That is not one Person merely appearing in three different ways. Please note this. The text presents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit distinctly and simultaneously.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit Distinguished

Jesus tells His disciples, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,” referring to the Holy Spirit (John 14:16–17). Jesus is speaking. He is speaking about the Father. Jesus promised another Helper, the Holy Spirit. The words Jesus speaks directly establish the personal distinctions.

Jesus also prays to His Father and speaks of the glory He had with the Father “before the world existed” (John 17:1–5). Jesus, the Son of God, did not first exist in Bethlehem, and He was not talking to Himself. The Father and Son shared glory before creation.

Jesus commands His disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). One divine name is associated with three distinguished subjects: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Paul likewise writes of “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Scripture consistently maintains both truths: there is one God, and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished.

That is why I reject arguments that use Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 43:10–11, Isaiah 44:6, or Isaiah 45:5–6 as though they disprove the Trinity. Those passages prove that there is one God. Trinitarians already believe that. They do not prove that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one Person.

Proving Christ Is God Does Not Prove Christ Is the Father

The same mistake occurs when people treat passages proving the deity of Christ as if they prove Jesus is the Father. Read John 8:58. It establishes Christ’s eternal divine identity. John 1:1 says that the Word was God. John 20:28 records Thomas addressing Jesus as “My Lord and my God!” We can rightly understand 1 John 5:20 as revealing that Jesus Christ is “the true God and eternal life.”

But proving that Jesus is God does not prove that Jesus is the Father.

The New Testament simultaneously teaches Christ’s full deity and His personal distinction from the Father. Jesus says, “It is My Father who glorifies Me” (John 8:54). The Father sends the Son (1 John 4:14). Jesus speaks of returning to the Father (John 16:28). After His resurrection Jesus says, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17).

Do Not Take My Word for It

We must allow all of Scripture to speak.

And I want to make something very clear. I am not asking anyone to believe these things merely because I said them, because I wrote them forcefully, or because my argument sounds convincing. Do not take my word for it. Examine everything I say against the Word of God.

Jesus said, “The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said” (John 7:38). I must shape my faith based in Christ on what Scripture says, not just on what someone else tells me Scripture says. The Bereans understood this principle. Eagerly, they received Paul’s teaching, but they were also “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They did not accept something simply because an apostle said it. Praise God, the Bereans searched out what the Scriptures said!

That is exactly what I ask everyone who reads my material to do with everything I teach. Please, I urge you, search the scriptures. Yes, test my statements. Check the context. Compare Scripture with Scripture. If what I teach cannot withstand the complete testimony of the Word of God, reject it.

There is an even greater reason for doing this. Jesus said concerning the Scriptures, “it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39). Scripture does not ultimately point people to me, to a denomination, to a theological system, or to a religious ceremony. Scripture points us to Jesus Christ.

That is why Paul instructed Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). This is my appeal. Study the Word. Accurately handle the Word. Test every doctrine by the Word. Follow where the Word leads, because the Word leads us to Jesus Christ.

I am not asking anyone to trust my conclusions because they are mine. I am asking everyone to examine the biblical evidence for themselves. If Scripture proves me wrong, I must change. If Scripture proves a tradition wrong, the tradition must change. If Scripture proves a doctrine we inherited wrong, that doctrine must be abandoned. Our ultimate authority cannot be a preacher, church organization, denomination, theological tradition, or personal experience. Our authority must be the written Word of God rightly understood.

Where My Confidence Rests

That principle connects both issues I am addressing.

I will not allow a disputed interpretation of one baptism passage to overthrow the repeated biblical testimony that redemption, forgiveness, justification, and cleansing are grounded in Jesus Christ and His blood and received through faith in Him.

And I will not allow Old Testament declarations that God is one to be turned into the unsupported conclusion that God must therefore be one Person when the New Testament repeatedly distinguishes the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One must interpret Scripture by Scripture. We must understand earlier revelations considering the fuller revelation God provided later. The Old Testament anticipates. The New Testament unveils. The Old Testament promises. The New Testament reveals fulfillment. The shadows are pointing forward. Christ is the substance of all the Old and New Testaments.

No one should build any doctrine on an isolated verse if it contradicts the clear, repeated testimony of the entire Word of God.

My confidence for salvation therefore rests where Scripture places it: in Jesus Christ and His finished work. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). We are justified by faith apart from works (Romans 3:28), saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9), and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7).

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Salvation is only through a personal relationship with God the Father by grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. At the moment of saving faith, the believer is instantly and permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who regenerates, seals, leads, guides, empowers, and sanctifies in their walk with God.