Baptisms
By
Arthur J Licursi
Col.
2:12-13
Buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the
dead. 13And you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened (made
alive) together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses;
Romans
6:4
Therefore we are buried with him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Galatians
2:20
I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The supposed need for water
Baptism and the mode of water baptism is a ground upon which churches have
often been divided. This conflict and confusion occurs when we don’t
divide the Scripture (2Tim 2:15) dispensationally. There are several kinds
of baptisms seen in the Bible, yet, Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles in “the
dispensation of the grace of God (Eph 3:2), says there is only “one
baptism” (Eph 4:5) for members of “the
body of Christ”. Unlike the commission of the twelve Apostles, he was not
sent not to baptize (1Cor 1:17. There were “ceremonial washings” under
the OT law for Israel long before John the Baptist. This paper explores the
purpose of the three main baptisms seen in what is commonly called the New
Testament. We explore the meaning and purpose of each and to whom they
apply. We must also see, what is “the medium” into which one is
baptized, and who it is that is “the baptizer” in each case – these
baptisms differ?
1)
The Baptism of Jews, In Water …”Unto Repentance”
John the Baptist proclaimed that the Messianic “Kingdom of Heaven” was
now “at hand”. Matthew 3:1-2 In
those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, [2]
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
John also said in Matthew
3:11a I indeed baptize
you with water unto repentance: John’s baptism in water was
unto repentance and for Israel only; they who had killed the prophets and
rejected God. The Jews were well acquainted with ceremonial washings from
the experience of Israel in the OT. This baptism unto repentance would
indicate that Jew’s open heart to receive the long promised Messiah –
Jesus.
Jesus of Nazareth offered
baptismal salvation to the Jews spoken by Mark
16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned. If a Jew believed he certainly would be
baptized, as a token of his belief, and thereby he was saved.
What did the Jew repent of and
what did he believe? Israel had as a nation rejected God and killed the
prophets. This repentance was a returning to God. This readied them
to receive the long promised Messianic Kingdom for Abraham’s seed as an
everlasting inheritance.
Let’s now reaffirm who this
baptism unto repentance was for, and under what dispensation it occurs. This
baptism was only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and it occurs under
the dispensation of the law. Jesus clearly told the disciples to go
only to “the lost sheep of the house of
Israel”, and baptize just as John had, with water unto repentance…
so the nation of Israel could receive the Kingdom on earth.
Matthew
10:5-6
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of
the Gentiles, and into any
city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Matthew
28:19-20
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [20] Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew
5:17-18
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfil. [18] For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled.
Thus we see that the disciples
were to, baptize in water unto repentance and teach “all that Jesus commanded” – even keeping the Jewish law. This
then is not of the Pauline “grace
dispensation”, in which we live today. The grace dispensation came
only after it was revealed to Paul by revelation of Jesus Christ some (9)
nine years after the cross (Eph 3:1-5). Until that time God was still
holding the kingdom offer open to the Israel. Acts
13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the
word of God should first have been spoken to you (Israel):
but seeing ye put it from you,
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we
turn to the Gentiles. The
door was closing and the Pauline mystery gospel went to the Gentiles. The
door was finally shut tight in Acts 28:28.
With National repentance, Israel
could have received the Messianic Kingdom on earth, which was long promised
to Abraham and his seed. Of course we know, only a “little flock” of Jews received the baptism of repentance. Luke
12:32 Fear not, little flock; for
it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Rather than the nation of Israel
repenting, they crucified the Messiah – so Israel is currently set aside
during the dispensation of the grace of God “until
the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Rom 11:25). Today, Israel
still awaits the Messianic Kingdom and it will be fulfilled after the
Tribulation, in the Millennium – after the dispensation of the grace of
God is concluded with the Rapture of the body of Christ.
2)
The Baptism In the Spirit…for Proclamation of the Messianic Kingdom Gospel
Jesus was the Baptizer with the
Spirit for to empower the Apostles in the service of proclaiming the offer
of Messianic Kingdom. This occurred on the day of Pentecost (a Jewish Holy
Day), 50 days following Passover and Christ’s crucifixion. We see two
kinds of baptism here in this verse. Matthew
3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance:
but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: From
Pentecost until Paul’s commission with the grace Gospel in Acts 9, the
other 12 Apostles had miraculous “signs following”
as the substantive evidential signs to give credence to their proclamation
of the Messianic Kingdom, as they continued to baptize the Jews “unto
repentance”. These sign gifts have ceased as signs (1Cor 13:8b).
God in His mercy will still heal and deliver us as we trust Him as He sees
fit – but no longer as a sign following the Apostles of the early period
of the Acts of the Apostles; they are now long “asleep”.
3)
The Baptism Without Water… into the Body of Christ
1 Cor. 12:13 For
by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles (now without distinction Gal 3:28), whether we be bond or
free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit.
Christians, who are all of “the
body of Christ” in this day of the dispensation of the grace of God,
have no such Scriptural “rite” as water baptism. The “one
baptism” Christians have is quite different; it is waterless. Paul
writes of the one baptism to the believers at Ephesus. Ephes.
4:4-6 There is …, one
baptism… This one baptism for today has replaced the water
ceremonies of the former dispensation.
The Apostle Paul, who is the only
Apostle writing of the “the body of
Christ”, tells us the one baptism for Christians is to be baptized
(engulfed) by the Spirit into the
body of Christ. Paul further writes that a believer who baptized
into Christ body is to be placed into
His death, and become partaker of Christ’s resurrection life as the
believer’s new life (Gal 2:20). Thus, this is not a ritual rite in the
physical, but an actual happening that occurred the moment of regeneration,
“in spirit”.
Comparing
3 Baptisms:
- The
baptism unto repentance is upon
the believing “lost
sheep of the house of Israel” – “the
little flock” (Luk 12:32). It was in water, carried out by
John the Baptist and the Jewish disciples and Apostles.
- The
baptism with the Spirit is upon believing Jews, without water and given by
Jesus – who
said this. Luke
24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of
my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be
endued (enduo, clothed) with power from on high. Acts 1:8 But
ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. This
baptism was with power
and signs to proclaim the
Messianic Kingdom being offered to Israel.
- Our
grace dispensation baptism is
into the body of Christ, of which Paul speaks; it is dry. This
baptism is of our positioning “in
Christ”, carried out by the Spirit.
It is the core basis of our victory over sin, and of our new life as we
identify with Christ death and life as our death and new life. It is
only made effective … “by
faith in the operation of God” (Col 2:12). Christ is now our
identity as we have “put on
Christ”. Galatians
3:27 For as many of you as
have been baptized (placed) into Christ have put on (enduo, sunk
into as a garment) Christ.
An example demonstrating the
matter of a “dry baptism” is this. 1
Cor. 10:2
And were all baptized unto Moses in
the cloud and in the (Red)
sea; This
is Israel’s experience of the overwhelming influence of God’s presence
signified by the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day that covered the
Ark that was with them in their travels in the wilderness. “Baptism”
comes from the word Greek “bapto”,
meaning to be whelmed, engulfed, or
swallowed up. We know what it means to be “overwhelmed”.
We believers of the grace
dispensation have been put into and engulfed by “the body of Christ”, by the Spirit; we have been swallowed up
of His life and His death (2Cor 5:4). This is the only baptism for we who
are of “the dispensation of the
grace of God” (Eph 3:2). Any other baptism today would be an
unnecessary ritual of the organized church, not of God. It is okay to
baptize in water but at most it is symbolic that we have been placed into
Christ’s body, his death and His life, as of the moment of our
regeneration. Many Christians today neglect the real operation of baptism.
Instead, they pay attention to the kind of water used or to the method of
placing people in water.
Genuine baptism involves being
placed into the body of Christ. What did Jesus do with His physical body? He
offered it as a sacrifice for us on the cross; this was an operation in
which we, as our old man, and Christ were buried, terminated with Him. We
died with Christ. The One who carries out the operation is the Spirit. This
operation involves the exercise of faith. Read Rom 6:4 noting that we have
been buried together “with Him”
in baptism. To be buried in baptism is to put off the body of the flesh, to
disrobe or strip it off. This burial and termination is of the old man;
through being engulfed by, or swallowed up, by the body of Christ. This is
the real circumcision that has cut off our old man who had become sinful
“flesh”. In Christ we died and are made alive; by His indwelling spirit
He makes this real and effectual for us in our lives.
We must also look with emphasis
at the 2nd half of Rom 6:4, “like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life.” We may note here that in
Christ we have also been raised together to
“walk in newness of life”. In baptism there is the burial aspect,
which is the termination of our old self called “flesh”, and
the raising aspect, which is the germination we enjoy by Christ’s life in
our spirit. In the raising aspect we are made alive in Christ, having
received His resurrection life at regeneration (1John 4:13). Thus the cross
is our place of both termination and germination, as we are “in
Christ”.
Paul points out that this is through the “faith
of the operation of God”. Faith is not of our self; it is the gift of
God (Eph. 2:8). The more we turn our heart to God, who indwells our spirit,
the more faith we have. The Lord is the author and the perfecter of our
faith (Heb 12:12). The more we abide in Him, the more we are infused with
Him as our faith. It is through this living faith in the operation of the
living God that we experience the resurrection life, signified by the
raising aspect of baptism. There is the need for the exercise of faith
to realize that an operation has taken place, to terminate the old being of
the one who was regenerated and simultaneously baptized into the body of
Christ. We must have faith in the operation of God, who raised Christ from
among the dead.
We must realize that even as a new believer we have already been
placed into God’s divine operation that has terminated him and buried him
“in Christ”. It is by faith that he may have the reality of the
termination and burial of the old man, the self-loving self, the flesh, the
old natural (psuchikos, soul) life, and now also Christ is our new
indwelling life. It is the operation of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
within us that will make these matters real in our life, more and more, as
we endeavor to walk with the Lord according to the indwelling Spirit. God is
working in us (Philippians 2:13)
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