The scriptures have a lot to say about “baptism,” but many seem to think it all pertains to water baptism. Even on the subject of water baptism, there is a vast difference of opinion among religious bodies as to its significance. Some believe strongly that water baptism is necessary unto salvation, others that it is a testimony of salvation, others that it is necessary for membership and service.
There is also a great difference of how it should be administered. In other words, the mode or manner in which it is performed. Does water baptism mean sprinkling? Does it mean immersion? Does it mean pouring? Should infants be baptized? Should persons be baptized more than once? The questions that could be advanced are numerous, but none of them really are as important as some believe.
Really, when one considers the doctrine of “baptism,” it must be realized that the subject embodies a lot more than just “water.” Anyone desiring a rich study should pursue the truth concerning all the baptisms taught in the Old and New Testaments and especially as presented in the epistles of Paul. For example, the Lord mentioned three in one verse of scripture, Matthew 3:11. The Lord spoke of his death on Calvary as a baptism (Luke 12:50). He made this statement quite a while after He had been baptized in the river Jordan by John. I Corinthians 10:2 tells us that the children of Israel “were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
However, the most important question should be, what is God’s plan for today in regard to baptism? Important and key verses to study are, Romans 6:1-4, I Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:4-6, and Colossians 2:10-23. When a person “rightly divides the word of truth,” (II Tim. 2:15), it will be clear that “water” baptism was in God’s program as long as He dealt principally with the nation of Israel.
The true church today is the body of Christ in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile (Eph. 2:14-18). God’s divine method of placing a believing person into the Body of Christ is the Holy Spirit baptizing that person into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. “Water” baptism is not necessary today either for salvation or a testimony. God saves us when we are “washed” in the blood of Christ and raised into a newness of life. Our testimony should not be a ceremony or ritual but an every day life that testifies to God’s saving and keeping power through the Lord Jesus Christ.
When a person sees that he or she has been placed into the body of Christ by the baptism for this age, the baptism into His death by the Holy Spirit, then earthly ordinances become meaningless. What is important is that we are “complete in Christ” (Col. 2:10), and that we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3).
“Thorny was the crown that He wore,
And the cross that His body o’er came
Grevious were the sorrows He bore,
But He suffered thus not in vain
May I to that Fountain be led,
Made to cleanse my sins here below
Wash me in the blood that He shed
And I shall be whiter than snow.
Father, I have wandered from Thee,
Often has my heart gone astray;
Crimson do my sins seem to me
Water cannot wash them away.
Jesus to that Fountain of Thine,
Leaning on Thy promise, I go;
Cleanse me by Thy washing divine, and
I shall be whiter than snow.
Whiter than the snow;
Whiter than the snow.
Wash me In the blood of the Lamb
And I shall be whiter than snow.”
Is water baptism ordered and sanctioned of God “for entrance into the church”, as many teach? Men make it a door of membership in their churches, but the Lord Jesus who said, “I am the Door” (John 10:9), himself adds “daily” to His true church “which is His body”. This occurs the instant one is saved through faith in Him. “Having believed”, such are also instantly “sealed with the Holy Spirit”. Acts 2:47; Eph. 1:13, R.V. No physical rites required!
Christ’s true church contains all the saved people in all the world in its membership. This cannot be said of any present day sect-church. Hence, none of them can be the true church!
“For in one Spirit (not in water) are we all baptized into one body … and have all been made to drink of (or receive) one Spirit.” I Cor. 12:13, R.V.
Yes, Christ continually “baptizeth in the Holy Spirit”. John 1:33. R.V. This is the “ONE baptism” - “the operation of God” - that remaineth after the close of the Acts period. Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:12. In Col. 2:12 - “Buried with Him in baptism” is as truly without hands as is “the circumcision made without hands” of verse 11.
John’s baptism was only associated with the preaching and the offer to Israel of “the kingdom of (or from) heaven”. To Israel it was promised in the Old Testament. Water baptism had two purposes: (1) John “came baptizing with water that Christ should be made manifest to Israel” as her promised Messiah-King. John 1:31. (2) Water baptism was “the counsel of God against them” - they must repent and confess their sins submitting to this old Mosaic water-symbol of needed cleansing spiritually. Isa. 1:16; Luke 7:30. This “counsel” lasted throughout the Acts period of about thirty years, while the kingdom preaching and its offer still went out to Israel, along with the good news of the resurrection of their Messiah. Acts 3:19-26, see R.V. Remaining obdurate, Israel was set aside and the purpose of water baptism ceased. Acts 28:28; Rom. 11:15. Then it was revealed through the Apostle Paul that carnal ordinances were “abolished”. Eph. 2:13-16; Col. 2:14; Phil. 3:3. Gentile believers had been exempt all along. Acts 15:5, 19-21; 21:25.
Romans 11:23-27 explains Israel’s restoration after the rapture of the church, when she will at last experience the temporal and spiritual blessings of the new covenant yet to be made with “all Israel” (not with the church) “after those days” of her dispersion as promised in Jer. 31:27-37. Read also Hosea 3:4-5; 5:15; 9:17; Amos 9:11-15; Act 15:14-17.
THE KINGDOM POSTPONED
God’s Word contains copious proof that:
“Christ was a minister to the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers”, being born as “King of the Jews” and their Savior as well. He said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” - as to His earthly ministry. Rom. 15:8; Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:2; 15:24; Luke 2:11; John 18:37. Christ is not King of the church, but its HEAD. Col. 1:18.
A literal kingdom was promised to Israel. II Sam. 7:13; Isa. 9:6-7; Jer. 3:17-18; 23:5-8; Micah 4, etc.
The literal kingdom was at hand for Israel, or “come upon” them and was in their “midst” (R.V. margin) in the Person of Christ. Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; 12:28; Luke 17:21; Mark 9:1.
In answer to Christ’s prayer on the cross: “Father forgive them … ” the literal kingdom was still offered during the Acts period, as her Messiah had foretold: “I will send them prophets and apostles … ” Matt. 23:34-39; Luke 11:49-51; Acts 3:19-26.
The literal kingdom was “taken from” Israel and will yet be given to a future “nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”, referring to the future Jewish remnant which will become “a nation in a day” at Christ’s return. Matt. 8:12; 21:43; Micah 5:7-8; Isa. 66:8.
Some who teach eternal security - once saved, always - deny this when they make “the kingdom” refer only to salvation, for Matt. 8:12; 21:43 reads: “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you … “. That Christ referred here to a literal kingdom is proved by His salvation promise: “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37.
It is nowhere stated that the kingdom was liable to be set up before the cross. A bona fide offer of the kingdom was made to the nation of Israel, and that nation was simply exhorted to repent and receive her promised King. The readiness of His setting up a literal kingdom was also preached after the cross, as seen in Acts 3:19-26, which please read in the Revised Version. Israel’s national refusal to “repent and be converted” caused the literal kingdom to be postponed.
The Lord was confirming the kingdom offer when He said to “the multitudes” concerning John the Baptist: “And if ye will receive it (’the kingdom of heaven’) this is (or would be) Elias which was for to come”. Matt. 11:7, 11-14. Verse 12 paraphrased: “From the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven forces itself on men’s attention and the forceful ones receive it” (verbs in the present perfect tense).
It is human to say, IF Israel had accepted the king and the kingdom, where would the cross come in which alone makes salvation and the new covenant possible? No difficulty at all here when we remember that man is held accountable to his free will and that God, who knows “the end from the beginning” brings to pass through His foreknowledge His “determinate counsel”. Isa. 46:10; Acts 2:23: 15:18.
Certainly, the kingdom message and personal salvation in “the Lamb of God” was preached before and after the cross. Israel, “His own, received Him not; but as many as received Him to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name”. John 1:11-12. Daniel’s prophesy that “Messiah shall have nothing” (R.V.), i.e., no immediate literal kingdom after being “cut off” or crucified was because “His own received Him not”. However, He was given “all power” and the church which had been a hidden “mystery”. Matt. 28:19; Eph. 1:20-23; 3:1-9.
Today believers are spiritually “translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son”. Col. 1:13. Spiritual entrance into the all-inclusive spiritual “kingdom of God”, which term is used interchangeably with “kingdom of heaven”, to the confusion of those who do not “rightly divide the Word”, has ever been “at hand” from Adam’s day till now, for salvation through simple faith in the promised “Seed of the woman” - that Christ would “die for our sins according to the Scriptures”. Gen. 3:15; Psalm 2:12; 4:5; I Cor. 15:1-5; Rom. 14:17.
Those who ridicule the teaching of the literal kingdom offer and its postponement (is it for sectarian reasons?) are found speechless when asked why miracle signs do not follow today upon believing in Christ, according to Mark 16:17-18. Such are easy prey for the healing charlatans! The only explanation of healings, miracles, etc. in the four Gospels and Acts is that there was a bona- fide offer made to Israel of a literal kingdom, its message being certified with wondrous miracles - “powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5, R.V.), as foretold in Isaiah 35, for example. This explains the duration of: “these signs shall follow” of Mark 16:17-18 and their termination at the end of the Acts period. See II Tim. 4:20; I Tim. 5:23; Col. 4:15; I Cor. 13:8.
When the disciples asked Christ, “Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel” (her former theocracy, Acts 15:16), He did not reply (as those imply who “handle the Word of God deceitfully”): “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken”. See Acts 1:6-8 for the answer!
When Pilate asked Christ, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” He replied, “To this end was I born”, and that His literal kingdom was “not from hence” or “of this world” order, that is. It was not to be established by having His “servants fight” (then nor in its future setting up) as this world fights for its kingdoms.
May His present day servants in yielded ness to Him cease fighting the truth and one another, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”, “earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints”! “There is one body (church) … one Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM!” Eph. 4:1-5; Jude 3.
A Biblical Refutation of Water Baptismal Regeneration
Maurice M. Johnson
(1893-1979)
DID NOAH GET WET?
Let us look for a moment at the beautiful and very simple picture of salvation that is given us in 1 Pet. 3:18-21. In the 18th verse we are told of Christ’s having endured the judgment of God in our place. In the 20th verse we are told how the ark endured the water judgment of God in Noah’s stead. And how clear it is that the way those “eight souls in the ark were saved by water” is the “like figure” (or the picture) of the way “baptism doth now save us … by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Noah and his family did not receive a drop of the judgment water from heaven. The ark took their judgment. Likewise, we saved sinners did not get a bit of the judgment “baptism” that Christ, our Ark, “suffered for our sins, the Just for the unjust.” And remember that Christ called His death a “baptism”. Luke 12:50. Noah’s good conscience answered God’s invitation to “come thou into the ark,” by physically stepping inside that physical ark to be saved from the physical water judgment. And my good conscience answered Christ’s tender invitation, “come unto me … and I will give you rest”. by taking the step of faith into Christ, my spiritual Ark and His baptismal death satisfied the Judge of High Heaven, so far as my offenses were concerned. But Christ’s death, alone, could not save any of us. We must be raised from the dead in order to give us new life. And this entire need He perfectly met for “He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification.” Rom. 4:25. Nor is this glorious message of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ a New Testament fact, only, for all who have ever been saved from their sins were saved “by faith without works”. This is exactly what Peter meant when he said to Cornelius: “To Christ give all the prophets (the Old Testament prophets) witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.” Acts 10:43. Note, also, that as soon as Peter said “these words” God saved all of those gentiles “who heard the word.” And they were saved before Peter had said a word about their being baptized with water, too. (See also Gal. 3:6-8.)
BURIED “WITH” OR “LIKE”?
Sinners are saved today exactly like Abraham was saved. Gal. 3:6-9; Rom. 4:1-13. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:9-10. The moment a convicted sinner calls upon the name of the Lord he becomes saved “for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Of course, God is the One to determine whether or not the sinner is truly penitent and sincere in his call. When a sinner thus “believes on the Lord Jesus Christ” he is “crucified with Christ, … buried with Christ, … raised with Christ” and his new life is ” hid with Christ in God.” Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:10-12; 3:1-4; Rom. 6:1-5. Note very carefully that the Word of God says the Christian has been crucified WITH Christ, not LIKE Him. Exactly in the same miracle way in which the believing sinner has been “crucified with Christ” he has also been “buried with Christ.” No where are we told to be buried LIKE Christ was in the waters of the Jordan but all Christians have been buried WITH Christ in His baptismal death. It is, of course, a miracle. And, by the way, why do not some of our religious imitators, who are so eagerly seeking to imitate Christ in His water baptism, try to imitate Him in His crucifixion?All are only too ready to admit that “with” means just exactly “with” and not “like” when Paul says: “I am crucified with Christ,” but when he says: “buried with Christ”, then many are eager to get their sectarian followers to seek to imitate Christ’s water baptism. This they do in spite of the plain fact that the apostle is speaking of Christ’s burial in death and not His burial in the waters of Jordan. My friends, be well assured of this: Christianity is not our miserable imitation of the earthly life of Jesus of Nazareth as He lived His perfect life of law-keeping under Judaism, Christianity is the life we live after we have been created anew in Christ Jesus: the life of the indwelling Christ who move into all “broken and contrite hearts” the moment His glorious gospel of grace is humbly heard and honestly believed. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Rom. 5:19. In other words, Adam’s disobedience made all of his children like their father, sinners. Now Christ’s perfect, law-keeping obedience with His fulfillment of all the physical ordinances is passed on to all who receive Him. With His perfect heart and sinless flesh He obeyed all fleshly tests of character and then “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Now, that is good news! It is THE good news! It is simply the “gospel of Jesus Christ.” I have “obeyed the gospel.” That is I have heard with submission, of Christ’s perfect, substitutionary life, death, burial and resurrection. He not only died for me. He also lived for me. Therefore his law-keeping and ordinance-keeping obedience is put to my credit as well as His death-obedience. Thank God, as a new creature in Christ I am “complete in Him.” Col. 2:10-12.
BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST
And how did I get into this glorious place of salvation and completeness “in Christ?” “With (or by) one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and have been made to drink into one Spirit,: 1 Cor. 12:12-13. This is the same two-fold operation of the Holy Spirit as that referred to in Acts 2:38. The moment a sinner hears the gospel of Jesus Christ believing in the depths of his repentant heart, that moment he is “baptized in (or into) the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” and he personally receives “the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Christ is the One who baptizes him with the Spirit and the Father gives him the indwelling Spirit. John 14:16-17; Acts 10:38-46; John 1:33. What must we think any more of those who would say that there is no such thing any more as the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.”? Will not the honest reading of these passages surely answer them? John 1:28-33; 3:27-30; Acts 1:5; 11:15-18; 1 Cor. 12:12-13 and Eph. 4:4-6; Phil. 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:16-17.
HOW CAN WE “OBEY THE GOSPEL”?
The Lord Jesus Christ referred to his death as a ‘baptism’. Christ was baptized with water, anointed with the Holy Spirit (Lu. 3:16-22) and then, two or more years later, said “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straightened till it be accomplished.” Lu. 12:50. How does it happen that today when a preacher announces he is going to speak on “The Baptism of Christ” it is supposed by nearly all religionists that water baptism is meant?”The gospel of Jesus Christ is the ‘good news’ or glad tidings concerning what Christ did for the sinner and is not a system of fleshly commandments as to what the sinner must do for Christ. Paul said: “I delivered unto you the gospel … how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day … I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; unto the Jew first, and also unto the Greek (Gentile).” 1 Cor. 15:1-5; Rom. 1:16. Therefore, to ‘obey the gospel’ merely means to trust the perfect, finished work of Christ as you humbly and gratefully believe God’s record that “Christ hath once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened (made alive) by the Spirit.” 1 Pet. 3:18. Paul wrote the Ephesian saints reminding them of the fact that they were saved when they “trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation … For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 1:12-13; 2:8-10.
CHRIST’S BAPTISM ON THE CROSS
Surely every honest reader is convinced that the “baptism that saves us …” does not have a drop of water in it. It is the miraculous baptism that Christ endured for us and that is put to our credit when Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, thereby uniting us to Himself and everything in the way of law-keeping and ordinance-keeping righteousness, that He fulfilled for us. If you have not already, will you just here and now throw up your hands of rebellion and gratefully receive, by faith, the glorious work the Lord of Glory came to do for us sinners? Just think of the glorious privilege of being instantly accepted in the Beloved, of being miraculously clothed with the righteousness of Christ which is “unto all and upon all them that believe.” “He that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:16. “Why will ye die?”
WHEN WAS CHRIST SLAIN?
As plainly as God can say it we are told that sinners are saved today exactly like Abraham was. “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (save) the gentiles through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Gal. 3:6-9; Rom. 4:1-12. The Campbellites and other cults that deny “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” ignorantly seek to make the Bible teach two plans of salvation of the sinner. Their preachers demand the right to act as “priests” who must baptize the sinner in water and then and there place him in “The Church of Christ” or - sect. Since these modern “daughters of Rome” are willing to grant salvation to Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, David and others who lived and died before the cross they are forced to manufacture at least two plans of saving members of Adam’s fallen family. By jerking verses away from their context they are enabled to “deceive the hearts of the simple” with their “good words and fair speeches”. Rom. 16:17-18. But those who humbly read the two epistles that are written to give us the great underlying doctrines of “justification by faith” learn to their heart’s delight that God gave the covenant of salvation through faith to Abraham ‘four hundred and thirty years before the “works covenant” (law and physical ordinances) was given to Moses; and that God confirmed that “covenant of promise” to Abraham IN CHRIST nineteen hundred years before Christ actually came to this world to literally die. In these two “salvation epistles”, Romans and Galatians, water baptism is not once mentioned. (See above paragraph entitled Buried “With” or “Like”? This disgraceful “water-salvation” doctrine is but the teaching of “new gods newly come up.” Deut. 32:17. Though sin did not enter until Adam’s disobedience had made the whole future family “sinners” (Rom. 5:17-19 our Gracious God Who “knew the end from the beginning” “foreordained from before the foundation of the world” that Christ as “the Lamb of God” should appear in the fullness of time to “take away the sins of the world”. Thus it is said that Spirit taught Christians do not butcher God’s plan of salvation by a carnal study of man’s calendar as to the exact date when the body of our Blessed Lord was actually nailed to the cross for we are taught to “behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of world”, “slain from the foundation of the world”, “foreordained from before the foundation of the world.” John 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Rev. 13:8.
ONLY ONE CROSS FOR ALL DISPENSATIONS
Now it is quite true that God has different ages and dispensations and different programs with people but none of the dispensational or racial differences in any way affect the “gospel of Christ” that was foreordained for the salvation of any member of Adam’s family that would “call upon the name of the Lord”. Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; Acts 10:43; 15:10-11; 13:38-39. (Please honestly read these.) Though all penitent believers in Christ have His death baptism and His burial and resurrection put to their credit, I believe the Scriptures teach that only since Pentecost (Acts 2) have believers been baptized by the Lord “with one Spirit into one body.” 1 Cor. 12:13. The difference between salvation from the penalty of sin and the rewards held out for faithful Christians, is another difference that none of the “water-salvation” cults observe. I will give but one text here. 1 Cor 3:11-15.
CHRIST’S LIFE WAS “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW”
How plain this is to every unspoiled mind that the only good works that a human being can possibly do always follow his being “created anew in Christ Jesus.” Water baptism is either a righteous act or it is an unrighteous act. In Matt. 3:15 Christ calls water baptism an act of righteousness. (See Titus 3:5) Now, all Bible students who have any intelligent conception of “rightly dividing the Word of truth” know that Christ’s earthly life was “Made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.” Gal. 4:4-5; Rom. 15:8. Likewise, Bible students who have any clear conception of God’s different dispensations know that Christ lived for thirty years as a private, law keeping Jew for He said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Matt. 5:17. Oh how few people seem to recognize that no one but Christ ever did keep the law with its God-given system of physical ordinances, its “meats and drinks and divers washings (different baptisms), and carnal ordinances, imposed on them (Jews) until the time of reformation.” Heb. 9:8-10. And it was because Christ was born of a Jewish virgin under the law and the Jewish ordinances and came to “fulfill’ them that His Heavenly Father never publicly endorsed Him until He had fulfilled ALL of the DEMANDS of that system of “meats and drinks and baptisms.” You remember that it was immediately after Christ was baptized in the River Jordan that the voice came from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Matt. 3:13-17.In other words, when He had gotten John to baptize Him with water, Christ had “fulfilled” the very last righteous act demanded by the law and its physical ordinances. John the Baptist was the foreordained one to thus baptize Christ so that Israel would know their Messiah and King. And don’t forget, that is exactly why Christ was baptized in water, namely, “to fulfill all righteousness” and in order to “be made manifest to Israel.” Matt. 3:14-17; John 1:31. When we thus clearly see that Christ’s life for thirty years (Lu. 3:23) was lived in, perfect obedience to the law and its physical ordinances we can then begin to see what we have when we, by faith, receive Christ. We have nothing less than the perfect “righteousness of the law” for “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every that believeth.” Rom. 10:1-3. Thus, it is that, without our having taken one single step in our vain efforts to keep the law or fulfill its physical ordinances with our weak and sinful flesh, we have put our credit every righteous act that Christ performed during those thirty years of his righteous life lived in perfect, sinless flesh. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:2-4. There it is. The repentant sinner, by believing the gospel of Christ, has a miracle performed in his heart. All of the “righteousness of the law” that Christ lived in His perfect flesh and blood life is instantly put to the credit of the trusting sinner without his making any effort whatsoever to “walk after the flesh,” or try to keep any fleshly tests of character.
ALL JEWISH RELIGION EXTENDED BEYOND THE CROSS
The God-given commands for testing the corrupt flesh of Adam’s race were allowed to continue long after Christ had fulfilled them all, [see The Transition in Acts] however, for though Christ had nailed fleshly tests to the cross as He died for us law-breakers (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:6-17), still it pleased God to allow the Jewish temple to be left standing in Jerusalem and to allow even the Christian Jews to continue practicing all of the Jewish religion including circumcision, head-shaving and blood sacrifices along with the “divers baptisms.” Acts 16:3; 18:18; 21:18-26; 1 Cor. 9:19-22. Apparently, God allowed this system of Jewish ordinances to be practiced about thirty years after Christ fulfilled it because, in His patience, God only gradually showed the Jews how it was that His program was changing. But, as careful spiritual students have noticed, about the time Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, God was “closing the books,” as it were, on all fleshly tests (physical ordinances. How clear this is from 2 Cor. 5:16-17: “Henceforth (from now on) know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh (we knew Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, the properly circumcised Jewish law-keeper, etc.), yet now henceforth, know we him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Thus it was that after God had slowly led the Christians out of Jewish religion He and Paul finally write these glorious, liberating truths. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Col. 2:10-17.Let us who are saved remember well that water baptism is an act of righteousness that Christ fulfilled. Matt. 3:15. And that the righteousness is put to our credit when we receive Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. Rom. 10:4. “For not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit … But, let us who ARE saved be careful to maintain good works …” Titus 3:5-8. This we should do out of love and gratitude to Him Who has so wondrously saved us and made us righteous in Christ.
(Please remember that this study does not pretend to take up the entire question of water baptism.)
Let’s start in Matthew chapter 3 where we see the ministry of John the Baptizer - the Baptist.
“In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’.”
Here in the opening pages of the New Testament, we read about John the Baptist preaching the kingdom. It’s interesting to turn over and read about John’s ministry in John chapter 1, how that the leaders of Israel came out to observe and to question him about his ministry. They came and asked, “Why are you doing this out here in the wilderness? Who sent you? By what authority are you baptizing?” It is interesting that they never came out to him and asked, “What are you doing?” or “Why are you dunking (or sprinkling, or pouring water over) these people in this river?” They didn’t have to ask him what he was doing because they knew. They had seen it many times before. Baptism itself was not a new thing. It was an old thing.
It goes all the way back in the Old Testament to the book of Leviticus. In chapter 8, we see the ordination of a priest for the nation of Israel.
“And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, a bull as the sin offering, two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread, and gather all the congregation together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.’ So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And the congregation was gathered together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And Moses said to the congregation, ‘This is what the Lord commanded to be done’” (vv. 1-5).
Now begins the ordination ceremony of Aaron and his sons to become priests in the nation of Israel.
“Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water” (v. 6).
The first step in becoming a priest in the nation of Israel was that the priest was to be washed with water at the door of the tabernacle. So Moses washed them. But there’s another thing shown here as the ceremony continues in verse 10:
“Also Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the laver and its base, to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him” (vv. 10-12).
First, Aaron is washed with water. Second, Moses pours a beaker of oil on him. Then we drop down further in the passage to verse 14, and the sacrifices begin.
“And he brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering, and Moses killed it.”
Then verse 22:
“And he brought the second ram, the ram of consecration. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram and Moses killed it. Also he took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.”
So we see Aaron with his hair wet, with oil dripping down his head and neck and on his clothes, and now with blood on his ear, blood on his thumb, and blood on his toe. Not only that, but we find in verse 30 that,
“. . . Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he consecrated Aaron, his garments, his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.”
Moses takes the mixture of blood and oil and splatters these men. We see them dressed in a fine and beautiful outfit, but how do they look? They have blood on their face, blood on their hands, and their clothing is stained with blood. Then in chapter 9 the priests, having been ordained, begin their ministry.
Now flash ahead 1,500 years to the Jordan River and these types that we see become reality. Here came the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, and he was saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” What kind of a kingdom will it be? In Exodus 19:6, God says that Israel would be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. John comes and announces the imminent coming of the kingdom. The Israelites needed to assume their rightful part in that kingdom of priests. The first thing they needed to do was to be ordained. How were priests to be ordained? Back to Leviticus . . . they needed to be washed with water, anointed with oil, and sprinkled with blood.
And so these people lined up by the river, ready to be baptized with water. The ordination had begun. They had seen this many times in the temple. They had seen priest after priest being washed (baptized), anointed, and sprinkled as they were ordained for the ministry. They knew what it was about and so they came as a multitude down to the Jordan.
But wait! Someone else came.
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness’” (Matthew 3:13-15).
What righteousness did Christ need to fulfill? The righteousness of the law, as commanded by God, in Leviticus chapter 8. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be the High Priest of Israel and needs to be ordained. He comes to the river and John says, “No. I’m not going to do this.” The Lord says, “Yes you are, for we are going to fulfill all righteousness. The law says that I must be washed with water in order to become a priest.” Immediately afterwards, in verses 16 and 17:
“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And suddenly a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’.”
The Lord Jesus Christ was first washed in the water like Aaron. But unlike Aaron who had oil poured upon him to anoint him to his ministry as a priest, the Lord Jesus Christ was anointed with no one less than the Holy Spirit by God Himself. Peter understood this, for he says:
“That word you know which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. . . ” (Acts 10:37, 38).
God Himself came into the ordination and anointed His Son - not with oil, but the real thing which oil only symbolized as a type. There were many people in the history of Israel who had been anointed - the priests, the kings, and the prophets - but this man was the anointed One. Peter says about Him, “God has made Him to be both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). (”Christ” is from the Greek word Christos, meaning “the anointed Messiah”)
How do you become a priest? First, you are washed - baptized - in the water. Then, you are anointed with the oil. Finally, daubed in blood from your ear to your foot. Christ had been washed with water in the Jordan. Then he was anointed with the Holy Spirit Himself. But there was one more baptism.
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished” (Luke 12:49, 50).
When we see in the Old Testament Moses daubing the blood on the ear, the hand, and the foot of Aaron, then sprinkling him, splattering that blood on the priests, we know now that it was pointing ahead to Jesus Christ, the High Priest. The Anointed High Priest of Israel, after being baptized with water in the Jordan, and being anointed with the Holy Spirit by God, was then baptized with blood - splattered from head to foot - as the whip broke open His skin, as the thorns pierced His brow, and as the nails tore his hands and feet. He was baptized in His own blood that He might complete His ordination and offer Himself as a sacrifice.
We looked at Aaron’s ordination and at the Lord’s ordination, but now we return to the people of Israel. They were to become a kingdom of priests, and they needed to be ordained to enter into Messiah’s priesthood. John the Baptist began this ceremony to prepare the people, but he said,
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
John was, in effect, saying, “I can only take you this far, through one part of the ordination. But the One who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” We turn to the book of Acts and we see the realization of this on the Day of Pentecost.
“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).
What was happening? Peter explains it in verses 16:
“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh’.”
God is baptizing here with the pouring out of His Spirit, the pouring out of the anointing oil on these who desire to enter the kingdom of priests. As we continue in verses 32 and 33, Peter says,
“This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”
There is one last part to the ordination. In his first epistle, Peter reveals the final stage of the priestly initiation.
“You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).
Peter calls these people “a holy priesthood.” How did they get ordained? They were washed in the water, they were anointed with the Spirit by the Messiah, then, looking in the beginning of the book, we see that they were,
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1:2).
They had been fully ordained - washed in the water, anointed with the Spirit, and sprinkled not with the blood of a goat or ram, but with the blood of Jesus Christ.
All of these baptisms that we have seen so far, as beautiful as they are, were all part of a prophesied program of God. They were all part of a message which promised entrance into a kingdom here on the earth. This was God’s plan for the nation of Israel. These were Jewish baptisms. We know from reading on in the Bible, through the book of Acts, there came a time when God set aside the nation of Israel and postponed their kingdom.
He had sent them John the Baptist. The Lord Jesus Christ had come to the nation. The Holy Spirit had come and filled the disciples. Israel’s response: murder, murder, murder. They stood by as John the Baptist was beheaded. They handed over the Lord Jesus Christ to crucifixion. They themselves picked up the stones and stoned Stephen, a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 7 and 8, the nation of Israel was cast away and that earthly kingdom was put “on hold.”
Then a wonderful thing happened. From heaven’s glory, the Lord Jesus Christ reached down in unfathomable grace and mercy to a man traveling down a road with vengeance and bitterness in his heart - a man named Saul - who was on his way to persecute the saints of God. He was a man who was called “the chief of sinners,” and the leader of Israel’s rebellion against the Lord. The Lord reached down and stopped that man in his tracks, saving him by His grace. This man’s name was changed from “Saul” to “Paul” and God made him an apostle.
He was called as an apostle not to the nation of Israel, but rather to the Gentiles. An apostle not of an earthly kingdom, but of the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ. An apostle not of a prophesied program, but of a secret - a mystery - hidden in God from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 3:9).
Part of that revelation called “the mystery,” which the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Paul, was a baptism. It was not a baptism of water, not a baptism of oil, nor a baptism of blood. It was a baptism that was unknown before the apostle Paul. You can search the Scriptures from Genesis up to Paul’s writings and you will not find even a hint of it.
The first mention of this new baptism is in the book of Romans and chapter 6.
“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (v. 3)
In 1 Corinthians 12:12 and 13, Paul writes,
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free - and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”
He writes about a baptism that is only part of “the mystery” which is found only in his letters - a unique baptism for us who are living in the dispensation of the grace of God. Here is a baptism that is not at all related with entering into an earthly kingdom, but a baptism that brings you into the Body of Christ. It is not a baptism of the priesthood - not a washing in water, not an anointing with oil, not a sprinkling of blood. It is not even a baptism of Messiah pouring out His Spirit on His people. It is a baptism that is an operation of the Holy Spirit Himself, taking a believer, the moment he puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, fusing him into the body and person of the Lord Jesus Christ so that he becomes one with Him (1 Corinthians 12:12). Paul was able to look at the church in Corinth and see Christ, not many individual members. They were one with Him. They were Christ!
I don’t think there can be any doubt that the “one baptism” of which Paul writes in Ephesians 4:5 is the same baptism which he wrote about in Romans 6 and 1 Corinthians 12. It is the fact that one Spirit baptized us into one body. This is the one baptism for this dispensation of the grace of God in which we are living.
Someone will inevitably say, “Hey, wait a minute! Didn’t Paul baptize some people with water? And if he baptized some with water and the Holy Spirit baptized them, that’s two baptisms, right?” Let’s check it out.
We need to realize that in the early ministry of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, he not only baptized people, but he circumcised them too (Acts 16:3). After all that Paul had written in Galatians about not practicing circumcision, he takes one of the Galatians, Timothy, and circumcises him. Continue reading in the same book and you see how Paul cut his hair to keep a Jewish vow. You observe Paul going into the temple to offer a Jewish sacrifice. You hear Paul speaking in tongues. You watch Paul baptizing people with a Jewish baptism. The question is, “Should we follow him?” or “Is that an example for us?”
Take a look at what he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
“I thank God that I baptized none of you . . .” (v. 14a)
A good Baptist, isn’t he? But then he remembers a few:
“. . . except Crispus and Gaius. . . . I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect” (vv. 14, 16-17).
Among the many things that could be said, I want to make one point: When Paul preached his gospel (the gospel of the grace of God), from the beginning of his ministry to the end of his ministry, he did not have to preach water baptism along with it. When Peter preached his gospel (the gospel of the kingdom), he had to preach water baptism. Everywhere Peter preached he preached water baptism. Christ had sent him to preach water baptism and the kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15018). Paul says, “I was not sent to baptize.” It was never an intrinsic part of his gospel. In fact, as we read the letters of Paul, we find nowhere that he beseeches, or commands, or exhorts, or recommends, or says anything to the effect that members of the body of Christ ought to be baptized in water.
Why then did he baptize? He writes:
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
The Greek word for “dimly” (KJV: “darkly”) is enigma, which means “a puzzle.” At this point in his ministry, during the book of Acts, as Paul looked at his own ministry he could say, “I don’t know it all yet.” We could ask, “Paul, why did you cut your hair, why did you keep that vow, why did you offer that sacrifice, why did you speak in tongues, why did you baptize those people with that Jewish baptism?” There are several reasons, but I believe there are times when Paul would say, “It is kind of an enigma, isn’t it? Even I, at that time, didn’t know the whole thing yet.”
But there came a day when the Lord Jesus Christ completed that revelation of the mystery to the apostle Paul in prison at Rome. At that time he moved into the full light of that revelation that Christ gave to him. We read about it in the prison epistles - Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon - and in the pastoral epistles. Paul says, now having the full knowledge of the mystery, “There is one baptism” - one Spirit baptizing us into one body (Ephesians 4:5). And in Colossians 2:15, he tells us that, when we are in that one body, baptized into Christ, we are “Complete in Him.”
The Effects of the “One Baptism”
I would like to conclude by reflecting upon the effects this has in our lives - being baptised by one baptism into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Being baptised into His Body, we are made close to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 6:17, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” When we were baptised into Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:13), we became one body with the Lord. Now we see in this verse that we became one spirit with the Lord.
“For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ. . . “(Galatians 3:27).
We are Christ’s. We are members of Him. I may forget something that belongs to me, but I will not put down my hand anywhere and forget it. I may misplace a book that is in my library, but I won’t lose track of my foot. My hand and my foot are my members - they are me. Paul says that we have put on Christ. We are baptised into His body and have become one with Him.
“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. . . . This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:30, 32).
Twenty-five years ago I was graduating from 8th grade at St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea School on the south side of Chicago. At the end of that year, the Sister said, “I want you each to take a piece of paper and write down what you want to do with your life.” Some kids said, “I want to be a teacher,” or “I want to be a mechanic,” or “I want to play for the Chicago White Sox.” But I wrote down on that piece of paper, “I want to live on a mountain and really get close to God.”
By His grace, I made it! Bone of His bones, flesh of His flesh, one body and one spirit with the Lord. What more could God say? You cannot be any closer than that. You can’t feel it, see it, or touch it, but you know it because Christ said it: He is in me and I am in Him.
Being baptised into His Body, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13, 14).
Note the order: First, you heard the gospel. Second, you believed - you trusted the Lord as your Saviour. And Paul says that at that moment, God’s Holy Spirit moved in with that baptism. It was not only the baptism, but also a sealing in Him. We are not part of the vine and the branches, where the branches can be cut off if they’re not fruitful and be thrown into the fire. We are members of His body and sealed in Him, safe and secure.
Being baptised into His Body, we are seated with Christ in heaven - now!
“Even when we were dead in trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5, 6).
We may be walking about on this earth, but we are members of Christ’s body, and our head is in heaven. Because I am one with Him, I am already seated with Him in heavenly places. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse three tells me that, because I am seated with Christ in heavenly places, God, my Father, has blessed me “with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.”
Being baptised into His Body, we are joined to each other with a spiritual bond.
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).
The same Holy Spirit that came to live in me is the same Holy Spirit that came to live in you. I don’t understand how the same person can be in me, in you, and in each member of Christ’s body, but this tells me that this one baptism by one Spirit into one body has pulled us all together - not only individually into the Lord Jesus Christ, but also with one another. When you see that unity, you begin to look at fellow Christians in a different light. You begin to treasure each one. God the Spirit is dwelling in each one to make us one body by this one spiritual baptism.
By this one baptism, I am placed into Christ and Christ into me. I become one with Him as a member of His body.
By this one baptism, I’m not only in Christ, but I’m sealed in Him forever.
By this one baptism, I have been seated in the heavenlies and have been blessed with all spiritual blessings.
By this one baptism, I’ve become one with Him and one with each member of Christ’s Body forever.
I believe in baptism - this greatest baptism in all the Bible, baptised into the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
A Final Word . . .
Maybe you’ve been baptised with water or had some kind of “religious” experience, but you can receive this real baptism. The Lord Jesus died on the cross to bear my sins and your sins, to pay for them once for all time. Whoever you are, no matter where you’ve come from, no matter what you’ve ever done, if you have never trusted in Him, He’s waiting for you and He’s inviting you now to trust in Him as your Savior. Stop trying to save yourself. Stop depending on a church, a sacrament, some ritual prayers, or a religion. God will save you tonight if you will simply put your faith in, and rely on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. At that very moment, God the Holy Spirit will baptize you and will place you into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You could never be closer to God than that. If you want to be saved right now, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and God will save you.
Sermon Delivered November 15, 1959 By PASTOR CLARENCE E. KRAMER At Berean Church, Holland Michigan . . And over WJBL, 1260 K.C.
, Whenever someone teaches a doctrine that Is contrary to popular opinion, most people automatically reject It without thinking It through. This Is especially true In the matter of water baptism. Christendom has always practiced water baptism, though In many differing modes and for many different reasons. Some teach that water baptism actually contributes to one’s salvation while others teach that baptism Is •only- a witness of some Inward transformation. But though most baptizers differ among themselves as to the significance of the ceremony, yet they all band together to reject the sufficiency of the one divine baptism by which the Holy Spirit places the believing sinner Into Jesus Christ
A remark often heard Is: “How can you say that the whole Church has been wrong all these centuries and now only you have the truth about baptism.” Let us first remember that we do not know If all believers practiced water baptism even though the Church as a whole did; and don’t forget there is a difference between all believers, and the religious hierarchy of Christendom. But further, is It so strange that most have been misled regarding this truth? It will not be so strange to the one who knows the tragic history of Israel And Martin Luther must have been faced with the same problem when he, a mere monk, challenged the entire Church of Rome on the question of justification by faith. Truth has never been popular, and spirituality Is not usually found with the majority. Rather than look around us to see what others believe, lest we be found different, we should stand for God’s truth In spite of Its unpopularity and the Church’s indifference to It.
Now, we believe that the one basis of fellowship among all believers Is the blood of Jesus Christ which saved us from our sins. Our relationship with the blessed Son of God is what relates us to each other. I love every Christian not because they all agree with me doctrlnally but because they all love my Lord, and we are brethren in Him. Water baptism should never be made a basis of Christian fellowship, unless, of course, water baptism makes us children of God, which no true evangelical, Bible believing Christian teaches or believes.
As for me, I cannot practise water baptism because:
1 WATER BAPTISM IS AN OLD TESTAMENT ORDINANCE (Heb. 9:10).
In Heb. 9:10 we read, regarding Israel’s worship under the law:
“Which stood only in meats and drinks, and diver* washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”
The Greek Word for “washings” In this verse Is baptismois or baptisms. This Incldently shows that water baptism In the Bible Is a ceremonial purification and not a symbol of death and burial. There were no Immersions under the old covenant or law. John the Baptist’s disciples had a dispute with the Jews m John 3:5 about purifying, not burying.
This first covenant (now the old covenant) “had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanetuary” (Heb. 9:1). The religious worship of Israel under the law consisted In “meats and drinks and divers baptisms.” So water baptism was a part of the law worship and not a “New Testament” ordinance as so many try to make it. One need only read Exodus and Leviticus to find there the numerous ablutions and purification ceremonies. In Leviticus alone there are some 20 references to washings or baptisms. The lavcr, an important piece in the Tabernacle furniture, was used to wash or baptize the hands and feet of the officiating priest.
Then we read, in Heb. 9:10, that the various regulations of the law, including baptisms, were “carnal ordinances’1 (the “and” after “washings” is not in the original). Water baptism as a ceremonial cleansing was a physical ceremony, a shadow of good things to come (Heb. 10:1) which never could “make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience” (Heb. 9:9). It would be interesting to contrast this passage with I Peter 3:21 where the baptism which “doth also now save us” is a baptism that does meet the demand of “a good conscience toward God,” something which a water ceremony could never do. This baptism is the antitype of Noah’s baptism and must surely refer to the death baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ who experienced God’s wrath for us on Calvary. We are safe from God’s wrath being in Christ the same way that Noah was safe from God’s wrath while in the ark.
We also read in Heb. 9:10 that water baptism was “imposed on them until . . . .”Here was law. It was not left up to the believer’s conscience; nothing was ever said about it not being absolutely necessary. It was “imposed,” but only temporarily. Like the law covenant Itself which was “added because of transgresslon,(iH the seed should come” (Gal. 3:19) water bap-flam was a temporary institution.
Many fine Bible believing Christiana who are sure that believers today are not under the law, itill Insist that believers ought to be under the water. But the water Is part of the law. Whatever we do with the law we must do with the water, and since the believer is not undethe law he should not be under the water!
Further, I cannot practise water baptism because:
WATER BAPTISM IS NOT A PART OF THE PAULINE REVELATION (I Cor. 1:14.17)
The Important question regarding water baptism Is not whether or not It Is taught In Scripture. It very plainly Is, and for that reason I believe In water baptism. But Is water baptism to be practised today? This Is the vital Issue. Though God’s Word does teach water baptism, It also teaches the need for blood sacrifices, circumcision and speaking in tongues. I believe In these things too. But are they to be practised today?
How can we know what Is to be practised today and what Is not? By what principle of Bible study can we rule out some things that do not seem to fit, and hold on to others? The key to this Important problem is in the Word itself. God has dealt with men in various ways under differing programs. God is now dealing with men in grace, and this dispensation of grace under which we live was first revealed to the Apostle Paul who made it known to us In his epistles (see Eph. 3:1-9; Col. 1:24-27; Rom. 16:25). This Is why we must be “Pauline.” Some things once commanded by God are now strictly forbidden (compare Gen. 17:9-14 and Gal. 5:2, 3). The Word of God which is specifically addressed to us today is that revelation committed by the glorified Lord to the Apostle Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13). Pauline truth Is our guide, and all truth must be taught In the light of this revelation.
Now, what does Paul command In regard to water baptism? Absolutely nothing! There Is not one command In the Pauline epistles to the effect that members of the Body of Christ should practise water baptism. Paul himself says he was not sent to baptize (Read I Cor. 1:17 again). True, he did baptize some, as he also spoke In tongues, but water baptism was not a part of that particular revelation he received from the Lord for us. He was not sent to baptize and neither are we.
Now If Paul was working under the same commission as Peter (and the one most believers today are trying to obey) he could never have said: “Christ sent me not to baptize.” Peter was sent out under the commission of Matt. 28:19,20 and Mark 16:15-17. Under that commission, Peter and the circumcision apostles were told to baptize all nations and he that believed and was baptized would be saved. Furthermore, miraculous signs would follow those who believed. Read the commission In Matthew and Mark again and see all It commands. This “great” commission definitely required water baptism.
But Paul was not sent to baptize and hence could not have been working under that commission. What was his commission? It was a new commission for the new dispensation of grace which he received from the Lord in glory (Gal. 1:11,12: Eph. 3:1-3). Water baptism Is not Included in this commission or in the program for this dispensation. (See 11 Cor. 5:18-20)
Finally, I cannot practise water baptism because:
THE “ONE BAPTISM” IS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT MAKES US ONE WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. (Eph. 4;5; I Co12:13).
Paul does say a great deal about baptism but It Is not water baptism. In Eph. 4:5 he mentions as part of the unity of the Spirit the one baptism. The following verses will show what this one baptism Is:
Rom. 6:3,4: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were BAPTIZED INTO JESUS CHRIST were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? Therefore we ire buried with Him by BAPTISM INTO DEATH; that likeas Christ was raised up from the dead by the (lory of the Father, even so we also should walk In newness of life.”
I Cor. 12:13: “For by one Spirit are we all BAPTIZED INTO ONE BODY. whether we be Jews or Gentiles. …”
Gal. 3:27: “For as many of you as have been BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST have put on Christ.”
Col. 2:11,12: “In whom also ye are circumcised with the cir-cumciiion made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of Ihe ftesh by the circumcision of Christ. BURIED WITH HIM IN BAPTISM, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of Cod, Who hath raised Him from the dead.”
It Is quite obvious from a simple reading of these Important passages that the one baptism that Is common to every believer, Irrespective of denomination, is the baptism into Christ and His Body. This baptism occurs the very moment one believes the gospel. If this baptism Is by water then water baptism saves, for It Is a baptism into Christ.
But it is only God who can save and only the Holy Spirit who can put anyone into Christ. In Rom. 6:3,4 we are told that those who have been baptized Into Christ (by the Holy Spirit) have been baptized into His death. It is In His death that we died to sin (verse 2). Since we died with Him we were also buried with Him by means of that baptism Into His death; burled, not In water but In His tomb. And when He arose we arose with Him to new life.
This is not symbolic language for water could never symbolize crucifixion, burial in a rock tomb or resurrection to new life. This is all a spiritual reality which we are to reckon true by faith. This baptism into Christ transforms the life and breaks the power of the sin nature. Could water ever do this? Only God can, and God did, by making us one with Christ through this divine baptism.
This divine baptism, then, presents a spiritual obligation. Because we have been baptized into Christ and thus have died to sin and are now alive unto God, we are commanded to “reckon” ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11). Our baptism into Christ is the only true basis for Christian living. We died to sin only in Him and are alive spiritually only in Him. Put water here and we miss the whole lesson God would teach us. Yea, we miss the power to live pleasing to Him!
Is water baptism ordered and sanctioned of God “for entrance into the church”, as many teach? Men make it a door of membership in their churches, but the Lord Jesus who said, “I am the Door” (John 10:9), himself adds “daily” to His true church “which is His body”. This occurs the instant one is saved through faith in Him. “Having believed”, such are also instantly “sealed with the Holy Spirit”. Acts 2:47; Eph. 1:13, R.V. No physical rites required!
Christ’s true church contains all the saved people in all the world in its membership. This cannot be said of any present day sect-church. Hence, none of them can be the true church!
“For in one Spirit (not in water) are we all baptized into one body … and have all been made to drink of (or receive) one Spirit.” I Cor. 12:13, R.V.
Yes, Christ continually “baptizeth in the Holy Spirit”. John 1:33. R.V. This is the “ONE baptism” - “the operation of God” - that remaineth after the close of the Acts period. Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:12. In Col. 2:12 - “Buried with Him in baptism” is as truly without hands as is “the circumcision made without hands” of verse 11.
John’s baptism was only associated with the preaching and the offer to Israel of “the kingdom of (or from) heaven”. To Israel it was promised in the Old Testament. Water baptism had two purposes: (1) John “came baptizing with water that Christ should be made manifest to Israel” as her promised Messiah-King. John 1:31. (2) Water baptism was “the counsel of God against them” - they must repent and confess their sins submitting to this old Mosaic water-symbol of needed cleansing spiritually. Isa. 1:16; Luke 7:30. This “counsel” lasted throughout the Acts period of about thirty years, while the kingdom preaching and its offer still went out to Israel, along with the good news of the resurrection of their Messiah. Acts 3:19-26, see R.V. Remaining obdurate, Israel was set aside and the purpose of water baptism ceased. Acts 28:28; Rom. 11:15. Then it was revealed through the Apostle Paul that carnal ordinances were “abolished”. Eph. 2:13-16; Col. 2:14; Phil. 3:3. Gentile believers had been exempt all along. Acts 15:5, 19-21; 21:25.
Romans 11:23-27 explains Israel’s restoration after the rapture of the church, when she will at last experience the temporal and spiritual blessings of the new covenant yet to be made with “all Israel” (not with the church) “after those days” of her dispersion as promised in Jer. 31:27-37. Read also Hosea 3:4-5; 5:15; 9:17; Amos 9:11-15; Acts 15:14-17.
THE KINGDOM POSTPONED
God’s Word contains copious proof that:
1. “Christ was a minister to the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers”, being born as “King of the Jews” and their Savior as well. He said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” - as to His earthly ministry. Rom. 15:8; Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:2; 15:24; Luke 2:11; John 18:37. Christ is not King of the church, but its HEAD. Col. 1:18.
2. A literal kingdom was promised to Israel. II Sam. 7:13; Isa. 9:6-7; Jer. 3:17-18; 23:5-8; Micah 4, etc.
3. The literal kingdom was at hand for Israel, or “come upon” them and was in their “midst” (R.V. margin) in the Person of Christ. Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; 12:28; Luke 17:21; Mark 9:1.
4. In answer to Christ’s prayer on the cross: “Father forgive them … ” the literal kingdom was still offered during the Acts period, as her Messiah had foretold: “I will send them prophets and apostles … ” Matt. 23:34-39; Luke 11:49-51; Acts 3:19-26.
5. The literal kingdom was “taken from” Israel and will yet be given to a future “nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”, referring to the future Jewish remnant which will become “a nation in a day” at Christ’s return. Matt. 8:12; 21:43; Micah 5:7-8; Isa. 66:8.
Some who teach eternal security - once saved, always - deny this when they make “the kingdom” refer only to salvation, for Matt. 8:12; 21:43 reads: “But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you … “. That Christ referred here to a literal kingdom is proved by His salvation promise: “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37.
It is nowhere stated that the kingdom was liable to be set up before the cross. A bona fide offer of the kingdom was made to the nation of Israel, and that nation was simply exhorted to repent and receive her promised King. The readiness of His setting up a literal kingdom was also preached after the cross, as seen in Acts 3:19-26, which please read in the Revised Version. Israel’s national refusal to “repent and be converted” caused the literal kingdom to be postponed.
The Lord was confirming the kingdom offer when He said to “the multitudes” concerning John the Baptist: “And if ye will receive it (’the kingdom of heaven’) this is (or would be) Elias which was for to come”. Matt. 11:7, 11-14. Verse 12 paraphrased: “From the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven forces itself on men’s attention and the forceful ones receive it” (verbs in the present perfect tense).
It is human to say, IF Israel had accepted the king and the kingdom, where would the cross come in which alone makes salvation and the new covenant possible? No difficulty at all here when we remember that man is held accountable to his free will and that God, who knows “the end from the beginning” brings to pass through His foreknowledge His “determinate counsel”. Isa. 46:10; Acts 2:23: 15:18.
Certainly, the kingdom message and personal salvation in “the Lamb of God” was preached before and after the cross. Israel, “His own, received Him not; but as many as received Him to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name”. John 1:11-12. Daniel’s prophesy that “Messiah shall have nothing” (R.V.), i.e., no immediate literal kingdom after being “cut off” or crucified was because “His own received Him not”. However, He was given “all power” and the church which had been a hidden “mystery”. Matt. 28:19; Eph. 1:20-23; 3:1-9.
Today believers are spiritually “translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son”. Col. 1:13. Spiritual entrance into the all-inclusive spiritual “kingdom of God”, which term is used interchangeably with “kingdom of heaven”, to the confusion of those who do not “rightly divide the Word”, has ever been “at hand” from Adam’s day till now, for salvation through simple faith in the promised “Seed of the woman” - that Christ would “die for our sins according to the Scriptures”. Gen. 3:15; Psalm 2:12; 4:5; I Cor. 15:1-5; Rom. 14:17.
Those who ridicule the teaching of the literal kingdom offer and its postponement (is it for sectarian reasons?) are found speechless when asked why miracle signs do not follow today upon believing in Christ, according to Mark 16:17-18. Such are easy prey for the healing charlatans! The only explanation of healings, miracles, etc. in the four Gospels and Acts is that there was a bona- fide offer made to Israel of a literal kingdom, its message being certified with wondrous miracles - “powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5, R.V.), as foretold in Isaiah 35, for example. This explains the duration of: “these signs shall follow” of Mark 16:17-18 and their termination at the end of the Acts period. See II Tim. 4:20; I Tim. 5:23; Col. 4:15; I Cor. 13:8.
When the disciples asked Christ, “Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel” (her former theocracy, Acts 15:16), He did not reply (as those imply who “handle the Word of God deceitfully”): “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken”. See Acts 1:6-8 for the answer!
When Pilate asked Christ, “Art thou the King of the Jews?” He replied, “To this end was I born”, and that His literal kingdom was “not from hence” or “of this world” order, that is. It was not to be established by having His “servants fight” (then nor in its future setting up) as this world fights for its kingdoms.
May His present day servants in yielded ness to Him cease fighting the truth and one another, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”, “earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints”! “There is one body (church) … one Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM!” Eph. 4:1-5; Jude 3.
By this one baptism, I am placed into Christ and Christ into me. I become one with Him as a member of His body.
