Acts 837 is a pretty important scripture in the Bible because it gives us the prerequisite
for being baptized.
There are a lot of denominations out there, most notably the Roman Catholic Church that
actually will baptize babies.
But look what the Bible says in Acts 835.
Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.
And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, See,
here is water.
What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them.
So in that scripture, it's pretty clear that before a person can be baptized, they have
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart.
Salvation comes before baptism.
And that verse is pretty important, and it really just demolishes the doctrines of the
Roman Catholic Church and other denominations like, what, Lutherans that baptize babies
and so forth.
Listen to that same passage in the NIV, and this will be the same in all your modern versions
pretty much, ESV, New Living.
We're all going to remove verse 37.
And so here's how it's going to read when you remove verse 37.
In the NIV, as they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said,
Look, here's water.
Why shouldn't I be baptized?
Verse 38.
And he gave orders to stop the chariot, then both Philip and the eunuch went down into
the water, and Philip baptized them.
So there you go.
Verse 37 is completely gone.
The part that says, If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest, and he answered
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
All of that's gone.
So now it's just, hey, what stopped me from being baptized?
Nothing.
Go ahead and get baptized.
Basically just removing any prerequisite for baptism.
Well, I'm sure the Roman Catholics love that.
I guess that's why this verse is not found in Codex Vaticanus, the major manuscript that
these new versions are based upon, because of the fact that it flies in the face of Catholic
doctrine.
So it's been removed in the modern versions.