Unbelievers Shall Be Damned

Posted: November 1st, 2008 | Author: stauffer | Filed under: Articles

He that believeth not shall be damned is as forthright and clear as the first part of the gospel message in Mark 16:16 which says: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Yet, oddly enough, some have argued that baptism is not essential to salvation because Jesus did not say “he that is not baptized shall be damned.”

That faith in Jesus as the Christ and as the Son of God is the foundation of salvation is too plain in Scripture to need proof (see John 8:24; John 20:30-31; Romans 1:16; Romans 5:1; etc). So the gospel unmistakably announces condemnation to those who believe not. Damned (katrino, Thayer 332) means to pass “judgment against” or “condemn” and states that unbelievers stand before God in judgment as guilty.

The meaning of “justification,” which is by faith (Romans 5:1), is essentially “not guilty,” so that those who refuse to believe on Christ and, as a result, fail to come to the blood of Christ by baptism through faith will be judged guilty and suffer eternal damnation or condemnation (see Romans 3:24-25; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; Romans 6:3-4).

This raise the issue: but what of one who “believes” and is not baptized? Bible students must but remember that even the “demons” believe and recognize Jesus as the “Holy One of God” and as the “Son of God” (Mark 1:24; Mark 3:11; see James 2:19).

Faith that refuses to “obey” is as dead and lifeless as the body apart from the spirit (James 2:26). “Faith alone” is reformation theology, not biblical teaching. “Faith alone” would have left Abraham in Chaldea, Noah in the flood waters of destruction, and Moses in the king’s palace of Egypt––meaning there would have been no human race today, no nation of Israel through whom the Messiah would come, and no covenant people from which redemption would have been typified to bring men to faith (see Hebrews 11:7, 8, 24-25)

C. E. W. Dorris illustrates simply how little there is to misunderstand about this last phrase of the gospel in Mark 16:16. “He that pledges himself to be honest and will restore what he has stolen shall be pardoned, but he that will not make this pledge shall serve out his time in prison.” Dorris then comments: “None but a crazy thief could think that because restitution is not mentioned in the latter instance he would be pardoned without making restitution” (A Commentary on the Gospel by Mark, p. 388). So it is with baptism.

Please re-read and re-think the last phrase of Mark 16:16: He that believeth not shall be damned (The above taken and adapted from Truth Commentaries Mark, L. A. Stauffer)

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