FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES CONTINUED-BAPTISM BY THE SPIRIT
Perth Fellowship
LESSON SIX
FUNDAMENTALS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES
Let us now see the third doctrine, the Baptisms ( Hb.6.1-3)
Before proceeding further let us understand the meaning of the word ‘Baptism’. It is originally not an English word but it is from Greek. The word Bapto in Greek means immersion. So anything which does not involve immersion is not a Baptism at all. It is like saying ‘let us draw a square circle’.
In Baptism three things are involved.
The one who gives Baptism
The one who receives the Baptism
The medium in which the Baptiser immerses the person to be baptised.
We can see in the fundamental doctrines, it is not ‘Baptism’ (singular) but ‘Baptisms’ (plural) (see all popular English translations)
Predominantly we must know three Baptisms
Baptism is known by the medium in which the individual is immersed
1. Baptism into the body of Christ or the Church
This is the life giving baptism and we need to study it in detail.
“For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether, slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1Cor12.13)
This shows how the body of Christ is constituted. The Spirit is the agent that brings a person into the body of Christ by the new birth. This is not a Baptism into the Spirit but into the body of Christ. The body here is the element, one is baptised into. The Spirit is the agent that do the baptising into the body of Christ. The believer is the candidate. Drinking of the Spirit is the same as partaking of His power. Without the power of the Holy Spirit no one can make Jesus the Lord of his life and become a member of the Church. (1Cor.12.3).
For the Holy Spirit to baptise one person into the body of Christ, it must be preceded by repentance and faith. (Refer previous lessons).
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rom.6.3-5). The overall emphasis of these verses is upon our profound identity with Christ. Baptism bears with it the idea of identification, especially when it is linked to a person’s name. For instance, 1 Corinthians 10:2 tells us that the Israelites were “baptized into Moses”—referring not to water baptism, but to the fact that they became united with him as never before as they recognized his leadership and their dependence on him. So it is with Christ. When we were baptized into Him (Matthew 28:19), we achieved a profound identification.
It further emphasizes this identity in Romans 6:5, which uses a botanical term in saying we have become “united with him.” The word “united” (Greek: symphytoi, “grown together”) pictures a branch bound to another—they are grafted together. That describes our union with Christ. The Scripture boldly affirms this in a number of places. Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” So close is our identification with Christ that we are, so to speak, robed with Him. Our spiritual history began at the cross. We were there in the sense that in God’s sight we were joined to Him who actually suffered on it. The time element should not disturb us, because if we sinned in Adam, it is equally possible to have died to sin with Christ.
The specific emphasis of Romans 6:3-5 is that we are so profoundly identified with Christ’s death and resurrection that we actually did die with Him and truly were raised with Him, so that we now share in His resurrection life. Again the Scriptures attest to this. Galatians 2:20 tells us: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 6:14 says: “...the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Just as we died with Him, we were also resurrected with Him. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). Before we had only a solidarity with Adam’s sin, now that has been broken and we have a solidarity with Christ, the Second Adam, in His death and resurrection. We need to know and count on this if we are to experience victory over sin.
What that means practically in life is this: as Christ did not serve sin, neither must we. Romans 6:6-7 go on: We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. The “old self” is the kind of person we were before our conversion. That self was crucified with Christ. “The body of sin”—the body as it was, a vehicle of sin—has been rendered inoperative. Paul concludes this explanation of our union and deliverance in Romans 6:8-10:
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Paul emphasizes that when Christ died he died “once for all.” This is a technical term used repeatedly in the book of Hebrews to emphasize the finality of Christ’s work. Paul made this emphasis because the believer must have full confidence that the Captain of his salvation will never again come under the power of sin and death.
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). The word translated “consider yourselves” or “reckon” (KJV) is one of the most important words in Romans. Paul uses it nineteen times in the letter, and if one does not know what it means he or she will not understand Romans. It is a commercial term that means “to impute to one’s account.” The idea is, we are to reflect on our position in Christ. Then we are to set two things to our account: 1) we are “dead to sin.” And 2) we are “alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Have you ever taken time to consider the fact that you participated in the events of the cross, that you died and you were resurrected with Christ. “Romans 6:12 commands: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” Exactly what does this mean? Paul is very precise and clear, and his answer falls into two corresponding halves. The first is negative: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness” (Romans 6:13). That is, do not keep on making the parts of your body (your tongue, hands, and feet) available as tools of unrighteousness. Be on constant guard against doing this. And while you are doing this, take positive actions: “present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Romans 6:13). The tense here demands a decisive once-and-for-all act. All of us must come to a time when we present everything to God for righteousness. This does not rule out subsequent commitments as well, but this initial time of surrender must come to all of us.
“God, here I am—alive from the dead. I have died with Christ and have been resurrected with Christ. Now here is my body (my arms, my voice, my eyes). Take them all, that they might be instruments of righteousness and not of sin”. Have you done this? What is explained here is the life giving Baptism which is given by the Holy Spirit. Water Baptism is a shadow of this actual Baptism. If this Baptism does not take place inside, the water Baptism is a mere ritual and could not do any spiritual accomplishment. Unfortunately this spiritual truth is not properly taught in the present day Christianity and many people who are baptised in water are not baptised by the Spirit and are spiritually dead.
In next lesson we will see Water Baptism which is a shadow of this real life giving Baptism.