What Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that one must be baptized in order to obtain salvation (see, e.g. Young People Ask, page 9). Since Jehovah’s Witnesses do not recognize baptism anywhere other than Jehovah’s Witnesses, this means a requirement that one must be a baptized member of Jehovah’s Witness in order to gain everlasting life.
To be a baptized Jehovah’s Witness, one must follow the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. If you do not follow the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, you risk being disfellowshipped and thus cut off from salvation.
What the Bible Teaches
The Bible does not teach that the baptism ritual is a prerequisite for everlasting life. The baptismal ritual is an expression of faith. Salvation is a consequence of pardon from Jesus and not of baptism itself. As we will consider, in the past, adherence to certain rules and rituals was important for everlasting life, but this condition was later abolished by Jesus.
The topic of how to get eternal life has been up in Jesus’ discussions with the Jews. For example, Mark 10:19-21 where Jesus answered a Jew that he had to follow the commandments of the Mosaic Law in order to gain eternal life, and Matthew 22:37-40 where Jesus summarized the commandments of the Mosaic Law.
It is important to be aware that the law of Moses was in effect at this time, but the law of Moses was abolished with Jesus’ death (Colossians 2:14). The law of Moses became “obsolete,” meaning annulled (Hebrews 8:13). Therefore, we cannot use Jesus’ statement at Mark 10:19-21 as a basis for establishing what we must do today in order to gain everlasting life.
In John 13:34,35, Jesus says, ” I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves. » 1. John 3:23 puts it this way: “that we have faith in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us a commandment.” The Bible calls “love one another” the “law of the Christ” which replaces the law of Moses (Galatians 6:2).
The fact that Jesus replaces the rules of the Mosaic Law with “love one another” is very interesting, because all the commandments in the Mosaic Law spring from the principle of loving one another (Mark 7:20-23). For example, someone who loves the other will neither steal from him, kill him or be unfaithful. If you love your neighbor, this will prevent you from doing evil things to him (Romans 13:10). Jesus’ point was that he wanted people to stop following the commandments out of obedience, but rather do it out of love.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have introduced many detailed rules that they believe must be followed in order to gain everlasting life. In Mark 7:6,7 “This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshipping me, for they teach commands of men as doctrines.’ You let go of the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men.” When Jehovah’s Witnesses command their members to follow rules of obedience to human commandments, they are preventing their members from expressing their actions out of love for Jehovah. If someone believes that baptism is necessary to manifest that they are Christians, then there is no evidence in the Bible to claim that such a baptism must be associated with a particular religion. People from any religious community can be baptized as an expression of their faith.
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