1Corinthians 12:13
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
There are those of the Pentecostal/Charismatic
denomination who incorrectly teach that this verse is speaking of baptism in
the absence of water (which is a Scriptural impossibility). They come to this
conclusion because of the phrase “by one Spirit”, yet this verse in no way,
shape, or form, is speaking of baptism without water. There is nothing there to
even suggest that. Baptism in water does not negate that it is the work of
the Spirit that is active in baptism (in water). Just as in Colossians 2:12 where it is the power
of God at work, so too, it is here. It is God who
raises us. It is God who washes our sins away; It is God
who clothes us with Christ (Galatians
3:26-27); It is God who adds us to the body of Christ—the
church. When we are baptized into Christ in water, we receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit as well as the forgiveness of our sins. And these are
simultaneous events. To teach this verse is excluding WATER is to
forget Paul’s words just two chapters earlier of the very same letter:
Now these things
occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil
things as they did…
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
What is the CLOUD made of? What is the SEA
made of? WATER!!! God is telling us that the illustration of the
Israelites coming out of the Land of Slavery (Egypt), passing through WATER,
and entering into the Promised Land (redemption) is an illustration for us
today!
Back then (Old Testament):
1.)
Left Egypt –the land of
Slavery
2.)
Passed through
water—baptized into Moses
3.)
Entered promised land
Today (New Testament):
1.)
Leave “land of
slavery”—sin. See (John
8:33-34)
2.)
Pass through
water—baptized into CHRIST
3.)
Enter into “promised
land”—redemption/kingdom of heaven
To teach baptism to the exclusion of water is to
contradict Jesus Christ’s very own words:
"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom
of God unless he is born
of WATER and the Spirit.”
–John 3:5
This page added: January 13, 2003