The One Baptism
- (Eph. 4:4-6 KJV) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
- 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
- 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
There are those who insist there are two baptisms—a Water baptism and a Spirit baptism, and in these verses Paul got it wrong.
For the sake of this discussion a Spirit Baptism is the Baptism which the Holy Spirit administers. Which is the Holy Spirit baptizing men and women and children into the church upon the point of their salvation. Many even go so far as to assert that if a person is not baptized by the Holy Spirit he is not saved. Hence, the Spirit Baptism is the one baptism of the New Testament.
Now, certainly we know of water baptism. Without argument all baptisms recorded in the Gospels were water baptisms. However, John the Baptist did prophesy that Jesus would baptize (immerse) His Disciples in the Holy Spirit the same as John had baptized (immersed) believers in water.
But yet some will still insist on two perpetual baptisms! Was Paul mistaken by saying there is only one baptism when there are really two baptisms? Or perhaps may it be that Spirit baptism is the only baptism?
We resort to scripture to learn of baptisms.
- Matt. 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:
- Mk. 1:8, I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
- Luke. 3:16, John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
In Matthew, Mark , and Luke, John the Baptist says he baptizes with water. Actually the word “with” in the Greek is “in.” So that John Baptizes in the medium of water. Now would it make any sense to say that the water was doing the baptizing? Certainly not. So when John says that Jesus will baptize with (in) the Holy Spirit, is it contextually correct to say that the Holy Spirit will be doing the baptizing? Is it not rather that Jesus will Baptize people into the medium of the person, the Holy Spirit? The church was plunged into the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It is absurdity to think otherwise.
The language puts to rest the theory that the Holy Spirit baptizes people.
Now as to the unsupported connection between Salvation and the allege Holy Spirit baptism—The “Full Gospel” and Charismatic doctrine is that all Believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if any person is not baptized by the Holy Spirit, then he is not saved. The logic is based on a false premise which asserts that the Holy Spirit baptizes people. If the premise is wrong then the assertion, or conclusion, is wrong. It would be amusing if it was not so tragic how the Universalists and Charismatics speak of a baptism of the Spirit as being factual. By the words of John the Baptist it is Jesus who baptizes and not the Spirit. In the Pentecostal event the church was baptized, immersed into the Spirit by Christ.
But now we come to the lynch-pin scriptural proof of Spirit baptism.
1 Cor. 12:13, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
The one spirit in this verse is not the Holy Spirit. It is in one spirit, with one purpose, having one mind, being in the unity of oneness we have all been baptized, joined and united into one body. Evidence of this is:
Phil. 2:2 KJV) Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Phil. 1:27, Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Salvation is by faith alone and not by faith plus a Spirit baptism or any baptism. This doctrine is foreign to scripture and subversive to the teaching of Christ.
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