BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SPIRIT (4th in a series)

. . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all . . . (Ephesians 4:5-6a RSV).

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the othe apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"  Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:37-38 NIV).

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13 RSV).

One of the characteristics of Christian baptism that is different from John's baptism is the Holy Spirit.  John's was, like Christian baptism, an immersion in water on condition of repentence for the forgiveness of sin.  The Holy Spirit was not a part of the promise of John's baptism (Note: Acts 19:1-3. Rebaptism was necessary in this case.).  If the Holy Spirit is not involved in the baptism, it is not Christian baptism. 

So how is it that there is but one Christian baptism, yet it appears that there are two baptisms that are a part of conversion, one in water and one in the Spirit?  John 3:5 gives us a clue:  . . . unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (RSV).   There is one baptism with two facets, the outward baptism in water which dramatizes ones faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the inward baptism of the Spirit, which is the surrender our our spirit to the renewing of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 6:6 indicates the baptism of the Spirit when it says, For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin (Roman 6:6-7).

Have you received the one baptism?

Our Father's Blessings
Tom