The Holy Spirit: Baptism With The Spirit (Part 4)

The baptism with the Spirit was a supernatural work of God in fulfillment of His promise to empower the early church. After Pentecost, this work was limited to the apostles’ ministry and it ceased with their passing.

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The Holy Spirit: Baptism With The Spirit (Part 4)

In order to complete our study on this topic, we need to consider a few more passages where Paul discusses baptism. The question we must answer is whether Paul was referring to water baptism in some fashion, or whether he was referring to Spirit baptism, also called baptism of the Spirit.

Read Colossians 2:10-12.

“Circumcision” and “baptism” were two words that were very familiar to Jewish ears. They knew what these words meant in their day. Circumcision was the practice of removing the foreskin on the Jewish boys when they were eight days old. Baptism was the practice of dunking people under water to identify as a follower of a particular rabbi and their teaching. That was the natural meaning of these terms, so that’s the one that we should prefer unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

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Verse 11 - circumcision - the death of Christ

Verse 12 - Water baptism - the burial and resurrection of Christ

Paul uses these practices as an illustration of our Savior’s finished work on the cross and subsequent victory over sin, death, and the grave. Paul is teaching on what it means for the believer to be in Christ and to be identified with Christ’s work and victory.

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In Christ: what is true of Christ is true of me.

It would do you good as a Christian to meditate on that thought.

Jesus did all of the work of salvation on the cross for me. Because I’m in Christ, God sees all of that work as being true of me. From God’s perspective, it as though I have participated in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

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Romans 6:4 KJV 1900

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.

The baptism that Paul refers to here is simply water baptism, which is an illustration of what Christ did at Calvary for you and me. Every time we baptize someone in water, we are picturing our Savior’s finished work on the cross and how it was applied to that person at the moment of salvation.

There is a lot of deep theology here, but I am convinced that when you look at the context, this passage has nothing to do with the baptism of the Spirit. It has nothing to do with the supernatural work that we studied in the book of Acts. I believe that that is true also of the following passages:

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Romans 6:1-5.

Galatians 3:26-28.

In each of these references, Paul is using water baptism as an illustration of how God sees the believer in Christ. From God’s perspective, all of Christ’s work on the cross and victory over sin is true of the Christian also. Paul is not referring to the baptism with the Spirit.

Now let’s look at one final passage.

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Turn to and read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27.

What is the context of these verses? What is Paul writing about? Look at verse one. Spiritual gifts

The church at Corinth was very carnal. These believers were being controlled by the flesh, not by Christ - and it was evident in the church. They were divided into different camps. Some followed Paul. Others followed Apollos. Still others said they followed Christ. All of them thought that they were superior to everyone else. Paul addressed that very early in the letter.

They were plagued by sin. Sexual sins were being permitted in the church. They were taking each other to court instead of first addressing matters in the church. They were making a mockery of the Lord’s Supper and they had even more issues than that. Finally, in chapter twelve, Paul teaches them concerning spiritual gifts because they lacked understanding there also.

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As Paul teaches about spiritual gifts, in verses 12-27, he uses the human body as an illustration of Christians exercising their spiritual gifts in the local church.

The human body is one united creation, but it has many different parts - many different members. The local church is the same way. All of the parts of the body are different, but they all need each other and they all work together for the good of each other. God intends for us to exercise our spiritual gifts and serve in unity together. Just as the parts of your body work together to help each other, that’s how we are to exercise our spiritual gifts.

Now let’s look at verses 12-13.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.

Verse 12:

The human body has many different parts, but they are united as one - so is the local church

Verse 13:

“Baptize” - not literal, but figurative

“drink” - also not literal, but figurative

It is the Holy Spirit who immerses us, identifies us, or places us together into one body. The Holy Spirit specializes in taking a diverse group of people and unifying them together as one local church to exercise their spiritual gifts together and to serve together for the furtherance of the gospel. The Holy Spirit can take people from all different backgrounds - Jew, Gentile, slave or freeman - and puts them together so that they can effectively fulfill the Great Commission. See Galatians 3:26-28.

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Application: Are you being used? Are you submitted to the Holy Spirit using you to build up this body of Christ? Are you getting involved so that He can use your spiritual gift?

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