“Was the Thief on the Cross Baptized?”

      The answer to this has far-reaching implications. If he was not baptized, he was saved without baptism (inference from the promise that he would be in paradise the day he died). Those who believe baptism is not necessary for salvation invariably use the forgiven and saved thief as an example in proof of their position. But what they really prove is that they do not understand scripture truth about baptism. More than that, they do not understand the doctrine of salvation, the difference between Jew and Christian, and the separation of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Those who are misinformed on so many counts are certainly not qualified to teach others.

       Was the man baptized? He may or may not have been baptized by John the baptist. We do not know, but it is unlikely. John preached a baptism of repentance for remission of sins (Mark 1:4), and the man was a convicted thief. Perhaps he had suffered a relapse into sin. But it is irrelevant. Jesus had the power to forgive sins (see Mark 2:5-12). The apparently penitent man was apparently forgive by Jesus, and therefore was assured of a place in paradise with the Lord himself (Luke 23:43). And too, all of this transpired while the Old Testament was still in effect. The example means nothing now that the New Testament is in effect.

      We know that the man was not baptized into Christ. Although the Lord’s command to “baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” and the promise that “he who believes and is baptized will be saved” were given before Christ ascended to heaven (Mt. 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-16), the command was not carried out before the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). On that day the New Covenant became valid and the Old Covenant ceased to be valid. On that day, for the first time, people were commanded to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Nobody could have received Christian baptism, been baptized into Christ, before the day of Pentecost. Jesus himself was baptized by John, and he administered the same baptism to others during his personal ministry (John 3:22-26, 4:1-2). But after the day of Pentecost the baptism of John was no longer valid. Those who had received it were required to be baptized into Christ, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Acts 19:1-5).

      Most people seem not to realize that the thief on the cross is not an example of conversion, and teaches nothing at all about how to become a Christian. His example as a penitent Jew would have been instructive for other Jews who wanted to be saved under the covenant then in force. But he tells us no more about how to become a Christian than do Abraham, Moses, and Elijah – all “saved” but none of them baptized. Baptism was not a part of the Old Covenant, but it is a commandment, a requirement under the New. Nobody today can be saved the way the thief on the cross was, that is, without baptism. “Baptism does now save us” (1 Peter 3:21).