Baptism

            
             I have read this book, and gained insight from it.
             In the book Baptism: A Biblical Study Jack Cottrell tries to show the reader his out look on the scriptures concerning baptism. He states that the scriptures in the New Testament speak for themselves. While there are quite a few scriptures with the word "baptism" in them, he chose twelve different texts that he felt showed the truth of what baptism was. Cottrell made the reader aware that these text showed and all agreed that baptism is a necessary step in a salvation, and was the main point of all the selected text.
             He thought that if one was to examine the scriptures carefully and unbiasedly you would not be able to say baptism is unimportant. .
             He views baptism as being apart of a "double cure", which consisted of forgiveness of sin, and receiving the Holy Spirit. He also expressed that without baptism faith is useless. Faith is the cornerstone for the steps of Salvation. Baptism is not a physical replacement for circumcision, while spiritually you can find a lot of similarities. .
             Baptism all in all turns out to be our own personal burial and resurrection with Jesus Christ. Our immersion into the water also represents the washing away of our sins. We are all baptized into one body which is the church.
             The opinions of Cottrell, which are portrayed in this book, are very well researched. I felt, however, that there was a certain biased point of view. He would point out an opposing view, but would not really show an in-depth basis of where that belief comes from. I was able to learn more about the text he had chosen and why they were important. I, however, thought I was more being preached at about his view and why it is right. I am not trying to say that I am a scholar that is on a level with Cottrell, actually I am far from it, but I am sure there are some scholars out there that have different opinions on baptism. It would've been nice to know what some of those people had to say.