Time_Frame_for

In Acts 2:36-41 the apostle Peter told the crowd at Pentecost that they had crucified Jesus whom God had made �both Lord and Christ.�   Having been cut to the heart by this, they wanted to know what to do next.   Peter told them to �Repent and be baptized��
Verse 41 says, �Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.�

In Acts 8:36-38 the Ethiopian eunuch, after hearing the Gospel said, �Look, here is water. Why shouldn�t I be baptized?� Philip told him, �If you believe with all your heart, you may.� Upon his declaring that �I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God� Philip took the eunuch right down into the water where he baptized him.

In Acts 16:30-33 the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, �Sirs, what must I do to be saved?�   They responded, �Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved �you and your household�. Never men to miss out on an opportunity, they preached the Gospel even before having their wounds cleaned! As for the jailer, having met the missionaries� physical needs, �then immediately he and all his family were baptized.�

In Acts 22, as Paul relates his own conversion to the unruly crowd there in Jerusalem, he tells us in verses 7 �10 how, after having seen and spoken with Jesus personally (a sign of apostleship - see 1Co 9:1), God chose him to witness to all mankind. However, just because he had been chosen for this privileged role, and had this confirmed by Ananias in verses 14�15, he himself, was still in a state of sin. This is why in v.16 Ananias asked, �And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.�

In each situation, there was a sense of urgency. The eunuch was ready to be baptized into Christ in the very first body of water that he came across. The time of night did not matter to the Philippian jailer for Acts 16:33 says, �At that hour of the night�he and all his family were baptized.�   And Ananias had every right to know why Paul was taking so long to be cleansed of his sin.    After all, he had a job to do! As we can see, where examples of baptism are given, the whole conversion process (hearing, believing, repentance, verbal confession and baptism) is completed in the same day. There isn�t a waiting period of a month, a week, or even one day.   No special Sundays were set aside.

                                  IMMEDIANCY IS OUR ONLY STANDARD!

I hope we can see now that, what has become man�s tradition, has no basis in Scripture.
The fact that a certain teaching comes from our own minister doesn�t make it more truthful than what is taught by someone else, for the Bible is our sole standard.
As the apostle Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 4:6 �'Do not go beyond what is written.�Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.�

Can Baptism Alone Save Us?