Your Bible question was:
> There are many liberal brethren that maintain that if a person is taught
that
> sprinkling is an acceptable baptism, and has a pure heart in truly seeking
to
> please God that Gods' grace *may* cover that error. They often use Romans
> 2:12-15 as their proof-text. Please comment.

Romans 2:12-15 makes a comparison between the condition of the Gentile world
(cf. Rom. 1:18-32) who did not a written law with the Jewish world who did
(Rom. 2:1-11).  Remember, "where there is no law there is no transgression"
(Rom. 4:15).  So, whether Gentile or Jew, "all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23) -
nobody is beyond the reach of divine law and its requirements (Rom.
5:12-13).  (I am attaching a file which contains comments on Romans 1:1-16.
It is in MS Word 6.0 format.  If you cannot open it please let me know and I
will send it to you in another format.  Hopefully it will be of help as you
study this passage of scripture.)

Once we understand that all men are now under the authority of Jesus Christ,
your question is answered easily enough (cf. Matt. 28:18; Col. 3:17; Gal.
1:6-9).  Sprinkling, by definition as well as by practice, is not Bible
baptism (baptizo = "immerse, to dip, to plunge").

All the sincerity in the world will not change the fact that sprinkling is
not the baptism of the great commission.  (Cornelius was an extremely
sincere man, but lost in sin, Acts 10:22; 11:14).

We can only expect God's grace to be applied when man has proper faith (Eph.
2:8-9).  Since faith is produced by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17), we
cannot alter that word and expect grace to be extended to us in spite of our
mishandling of God's word (carefully read Gal. 1:6-9:  by accepting and
following a different gospel we turn away from the grace of Christ, v. 6!).

God has not given us the prerogative to extend His grace - only He has the
power to do so.  And we can be sure that He will do so, but only in harmony
with His divinely revealed will, the "word of His grace" (Acts 20:24, 32).

Brethren who give people comfort in their sin are not teaching them the
gospel of Christ!  Remember, the gospel does not condemn people, sin does
that (Rom. 6:23).  The gospel is the lifeline to salvation to everyone who
will live by faith (Rom. 1:16-17).

I hope this has been of some help as you address this important topic.

Feel free to respond if you have any follow-up questions.

Sincerely,
Joe Price


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Joe R Price
joe@bibleanswer.com

Bible Answers
http://www.bibleanswer.com

Mt. Baker church of Christ
http://www.bibleanswer.com/mtbaker
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