      "WHAT ABOUT THE THIEF ON THE CROSS?  HE WASN'T BAPTIZED,
        AND YET JESUS SAID HE WOULD BE WITH HIM IN PARADISE!"

The case of the thief on the cross has to be the most often offered
objection to the necessity of penitent believers being baptized in
our time.  People argue, "The thief on the cross wasn't baptized, and
yet Jesus said he would be with Him in paradise."  This argument
deserves an honest and forthright reply.

First, how do you know the thief on the cross wasn't baptized?  What
makes you think he wasn't?  Remember how John the Baptist preached
and baptized in this region, and the gospels tell how he met with
stupendous success (Mt 3:1-6; Lk 3:7,12):

                            MATTHEW 3

                  1  In those days came John the
                  Baptist, preaching in the wilderness
                  of Judaea,
                  2  And saying, Repent ye: for the
                  kingdom of heaven is at hand.
                  3  For this is he that was spoken of
                  by the prophet Esaias, saying, The
                  voice of one crying in the
                  wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
                  Lord, make his paths straight.
                  4  And the same John had his raiment
                  of camel's hair, and a leathern
                  girdle about his loins; and his meat
                  was locusts and wild honey.
                  5  Then went out to him Jerusalem,
                  and all Judaea, and all the region
                  round about Jordan,
                  6  And were baptized of him in
                  Jordan, confessing their sins.

                                LUKE 3

                  7  Then said he to the multitude
                  that came forth to be baptized of
                  him, O generation of vipers, who hath
                  warned you to flee from the wrath to
                  come?

                  12  Then came also publicans to be
                  baptized, and said unto him, Master,
                  what shall we do?

Suppose someone could make statements like this about the community
where you live, i.e., all the city had gone out to be baptized,
that all the region around your city had, that multitudes had,
and even the federal employees had!  Would you be dogmatic that a
certain individual in your community had not been baptized?

Of course, no one knows for sure whether the thief on the cross was
baptized by John's baptism.  However, the success of John's preaching
shows that those who assume the thief was not baptized have no basis
to make this assumption.

[ANOTHER POINT COULD BE MADE:  The thief evidently had a remarkable
understanding of the nature of Jesus and His Kingdom, for notice that
despite the imminent death of Jesus Himself, we read in Lk 23:42...


                  42  And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
                  remember me when thou comest into thy
                  kingdom.

Somehow the thief knew that death itself could not prevent Jesus from
coming into His kingdom!  Many of Jesus' closest disciples did not
understand that, thinking that the death of Jesus ended all their
hopes (cf. Lk 24:13-27).

Is it not conceivable that the thief may have been a backsliding
disciple himself, having been baptized of John, then going back into
his old ways, only to be caught and sentenced to be crucified, but then
repenting as he sees Jesus being crucified with him? -- MAC]

Whether the thief on the cross was baptized in John's baptism, he was
not baptized in the name of Jesus Christ!  Christ hadn't commanded
anyone in the world to be baptized in His name at the time Jesus was
crucified.  The thief on the cross was never commanded to be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ!

Not until fifty days later, when the gospel was first preached in
fact on the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ,
were believers told: "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." (Ac 2:38)
So the thief on the cross couldn't have been baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ - he wasn't commanded to!  Have you been commanded to?

Suppose that someone refuses to pay his income tax, and when
confronted by a federal judge, argues he doesn't have to pay income
tax because Abraham Lincoln didn't pay income tax.  That judge will
inform him the laws have changed somewhat since the times of Lincoln
and now demand it.

Similarly, one might argue that he doesn't have to put money in
parking meters because his great grandfather didn't.  He, too, will
be informed the laws have changed since great-granddad's day.  We are
to obey the laws we live under, not the laws someone else lived
under.

Likewise, the thief on the cross lived under the law of Moses.  He
was not under the covenant you and I are subject to, for Christ's
covenant didn't go into effect until He died (He 9:16-17).  The
thief never heard the words Christ directs to believers today:

                 Repent, and be baptized every one of
                 you in the name of Jesus Christ for
                 the remission of sins, and ye shall
                 receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
This document (last modified September 13, 1997) from the Christian Classics Electronic Library server, at @Wheaton College