First, this is simply a rhetorical question because I believe without holiness and without all of the principles of serving the Lord in place, one will not make it to Heaven...the old ways, the old paths and the old truths are still necessary for salvation.
Secondly, this is in response to a question that was posed to me about someone arguing away even the things that are so basic such as baptism, etc.
What the apostles taught, we must still have....born again of water and Spirit, living a holy separated life from this world and growing in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost....otherwise we're backing up and killing off what Jesus and the Apostles originally intended....We must contend for the old ways!
Following is my response;
Under the New Covenant, one of the first things one that is trying to eliminate all works and just go the faith only route will suggest, is that salvation is a work of grace and all we must do is make a profession of faith with words.....Salvation does start with grace and faith but it moves far beyond these basic things...... the Bible says clearly that faith WITHOUT works is DEAD.
Every salvation plan God has had in every dispensation required action.
Under the New Covenant, Jesus Himself said in John 3:5 "EXCEPT a man be born again of WATER and SPIRIT, he CANNOT enter into the Kingdom of God."
Then when Peter preached the very first New Testament message and gave them the New Covenant plan of salvation they were asking for in Acts 2:37, he preached in verse 38 that one MUST:
1. Repent truly of their sins,
2. then be baptized in Jesus name for the remission of those sins (without baptism their sin from the past will still be written in the Lamb's Book of Life and be against them), and then
3. they should receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost (the English word gift used in this context does not denote a gift that can be accepted or denied and turned away from at our own choosing.... [the Greek transliteration of Gift is dórea meaning without need of repayment, the giver desiring that the recipient receives something from the giver].....
So the true meaning of the word Gift in Acts 2:38 is that God desires to infill us with His Spirit and He will do so without charging us anything because He already paid the price with His shed Blood with an agonizing cost at Calvary BUT He expects us to receive the Gift.
This not only is contextually correct with Jesus' command to be born again or filled with the Holy Ghost, His Spirit, in John 3:5 BUT to discount it and mark it as something unnecessary or just as an object that we, as humans have the right to decide if we need It or not, is for humans to mock in the face of God that His commands and even the torment He went thru at Calvary and shed His Blood to give us the Gift of eternal life, was just a joke that we can take or leave at our leisure....
Sadly, many will make this soul damning decision based upon erroneous teachings of tradition and rudiments of men and lies in their ears from satan, but will sadly see one day, when they don't have the true Resurrection Power inside to go up in the Rapture (Second Coming of Jesus), when the trumpet blows.
It's only after a person obeys Acts 2:38 under the New Covenant that their sins are actually remitted (taken away) so they can be clean & then they can have the Power of God's Spirit to lift off in the Rapture, which only comes after one receives the power of the Holy Ghost like they did in the first example Upper Room Experience....(see Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1-4)
Hebrews 6:1-2
1. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2. of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
In light of Jesus' clear expectations for us to do something, besides just saying a profession of faith, by being baptized and receiving His Spirit in a certain way, let's now address your main question and the false teaching that you have been confronted with;
Even though Jesus commanded baptism to be a part of His New Covenant plan of salvation, and even commanded it in John 3:5, we must look at context and what the apostle was addressing in Hebrews; First, God would never contradict His own Word, command one thing and then let it be optional or even become unnecessary in another place.
The Foundation Of The Church
The Church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ (God in flesh, Emmanuael) himself being the chief corner stone."
The "doctrine of Christ" is the basis of everything the Church is.
"The foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment," are all part of that foundation. However, there is a superstructure beyond the foundation..... Up with the walls!
Hebrews 6:1 - "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection."
Not Laying Again The Foundation Of Repentance
At some point, the foundational doctrines should become so deeply ingrained in us that we have no more need of being reminded of them and that their principles have become such a part of us and our salvation experience, that we can now leave and move beyond these basics and build walls upon the foundation of these core principles. There are many more things in the Word to teach. For instance, repentance is one of the core principles and is continually necessary to living an overcoming life.....HOWEVER, "Leaving the principles..." to "go on unto perfection," does NOT imply ABANDONING repentance. It presumes that repentance is fully operational in your daily life and that you are praying, repenting and dying daily as Paul instructed us to.
Hebrews 6:1 - "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works..."
It Is Impossible To Renew Them Again Unto Repentance
There should be no question about what Paul intended when he mentioned "leaving the doctrines" to "go on unto perfection." Of those doctrines, he said, "This we will do, if God permit." Paul fully intended to live by every doctrine, and elaborated that people who fall away from the doctrines cannot be renewed unto repentance. You cannot genuinely repent until you embrace or reaffirm the core doctrines, neither can you grow if you abandon your roots.
Hebrews 6:4,6 - "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, ...If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance."
The bottom line is that Paul was NOT saying leave the base, core elements completely, that Jesus said must be in place, but Paul WAS saying it's time to leave or move beyond the basics and learn more..... [the original Greek word for our English word leave is aphiémi (af-ee'-ay-mee) meaning to "move beyond" ]
It is very clear that Paul was not saying lay down something that Jesus commanded before but Paul WAS saying don't stay stuck at a baby, novice level in the things of God but get the foundational things down strong then move beyond those on to deeper spiritual matters.
Paul was speaking with the idea that they knew to repentant, be baptized, be filled with God's Spirit and handle some of the basic principles BUT He was trying to help them move on to growing into deeper things of God.
Paul also taught the Corinthian church that they were to move beyond the MILK (baby, novice, beginning food of babies) on into the MEAT (the Greek word means the deeper things) of God.
Even here, Paul was not suggesting they forget everything they had learned about serving God from the start, and they just throw all of that away and all of a sudden learn a whole new set of doctrines. He was describing a growth process of going from a baby drinking spiritual milk on into a mature Christian that is eating the heavier meats of the Scripture.
That's one reason I will soon be starting that "Lion's Meat" class because I will be teaching much heavier Biblical principles than I can not teach over the pulpit because the babies in the crowd can only handle so much until they could become spiritually offended and chocked.
Paul was not saying just throw away repentance, baptism, receiving the Spirit and some of the other basics and now go with a whole new doctrine....he was simply saying I expect you to have the basic training down pat, now I want to take you from basic training on into advanced training like the army transitions from boot camp into training at a higher level. Those guys don't lay aside and walk away from all they learned in boot camp, they build on it but like what Paul meant, they don't stay at the basic training level and never advance....BUT when they do advance, they don't stop advancing and all of a sudden go back to performing just at a boot camp level but they progress from the basics of boot camp and learn to keep building upon those basics and perform at even higher levels.
Paul was simply calling the church to grow and move beyond the basic doctrines and seek the deeper, heavier, meatier, holier things of God.
