Baptism & Salvation
What does it mean to obey the gospel? Explore belief, repentance, confession, baptism, Romans 6, 2 Thessalonians 1, 1 Peter 4, and the New Testament idea of responding obediently to the good news of Jesus.
Can Good News Be Obeyed?
Modern readers often think of news as something simply believed or disbelieved.
But Paul and Peter speak of people who do or do not obey the gospel.
That language shows the apostolic message carries a summons as well as information.
Paul speaks of judgment on those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
The Gospel
The gospel announces Jesus' death for sins, burial, resurrection, lordship, and saving reign.
Christian obedience is not detached rule-keeping.
It is response to what God has done in Christ.
Faith
The gospel calls people to trust Jesus as Lord and Messiah.
Paul can speak of the 'obedience of faith,' showing that biblical faith itself is not passive indifference.
Faith receives God's action and submits to Christ.
Paul describes his mission in terms of bringing about the obedience of faith among the nations.
Repentance
Jesus announces the kingdom with a call to repent and believe the good news.
Peter's Pentecost audience is told to repent.
Repentance is therefore not an optional addition to faith but part of the apostolic response to the gospel.
Confession
Romans connects belief in the risen Christ with confession of Jesus as Lord.
That confession is not merely repeating words.
It expresses allegiance to the crucified and risen king.
Baptism
Acts 2 tells hearers to repent and be baptized.
Romans 6 describes baptized believers as united with Christ's death and resurrection.
Who Changed the Church? argues that baptism belongs inside gospel obedience rather than being a later optional symbol detached from conversion.
Paul says those baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death and raised to walk in new life.
Obedience From the Heart
Paul thanks God that believers who had been slaves to sin became obedient from the heart to the form of teaching delivered to them.
Their obedience does not earn grace; it marks their transfer from slavery to sin into a new life under God.
The gospel changes both status and allegiance.
Paul says the believers became obedient from the heart to the teaching delivered to them and were freed from sin.
Not Works-Righteousness
The New Testament rejects boasting in human merit.
Baptism, repentance, and allegiance do not place God in a sinner's debt.
Who Changed the Church? describes baptism as burial with Christ through faith in God's working: God saves; the believer submits.
Continued Faithfulness
Conversion begins a life of discipleship.
Jesus tells disciples to learn and obey his teaching, and the apostles call Christians to remain faithful.
The gospel therefore creates a new pattern of life rather than a one-time transaction with no continuing allegiance.
The Book's Argument
Wood argues that repentance, baptism, forgiveness, the Spirit, and continued faithfulness belonged to the original apostolic proclamation.
He rejects the idea that these elements are later legalistic additions to a simpler faith-only message.
That claim becomes another test of later theology: does it preserve the whole apostolic gospel or trim away parts of its response?
Why It Matters
To obey the gospel is to respond to the good news of Jesus with faith, repentance, confession, baptism, and continuing allegiance. The obedience does not purchase salvation; it is the submissive response of faith to God's saving work. Who Changed the Church? argues that this full response belonged to the original gospel and should not be reduced by later systems.