(continued from prior post)
When the term baptism is used to describe a spiritual interaction, it seems to convey the idea of connection with God and a relationship with God. After being chosen by God, people are set apart for service, sanctified by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it seems consistent that after God accepts the heartfelt faith of a believer, He sets apart (chooses) them by baptizing them into the body of Christ. This establishes the relationship; the believer is now “in Christ” figuratively covered with His blood. Being baptized into Christ results in God granting grace through faith for the forgiveness of sin. When we are baptized into Christ, we become a new creature, washed by His blood. The Holy Spirit of God invades our being, our baptism with the Holy Spirit, then we are indwelt, sealed with a pledge and predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ by the renewing of our mind under the influence of the Holy Spirit and our love of Jesus. The believer’s baptism by the Holy Spirit into Christ, based on God’s acceptance of their faith is the anointing of God. Sometimes this influence is felt immediately (Acts 10:47) and sometimes it is felt subsequently such as in response to obedience and prayer surrounding water baptism (Acts 2:38 and Acts 19:6). Water baptism symbolizes our spiritual baptism into Christ, not the baptism of the Holy Spirit for equipping for service and as a pledge of eternal life.
John 14:15-21 reinforces the picture of spiritual intermeshing. After someone has placed their love on Christ (made a lifelong commitment to follow His commandments), Jesus will ask the Father and the Father will give the Helper, which is the indwelling and influence of the Holy Spirit. So the baptism by Jesus of the chosen with the Holy Spirit is clarified a little, the Holy Spirit comes from the Father. Further, the world cannot receive the Helper, indicating that only those born again can receive the Helper. And if we love Jesus, both Jesus and the Father will come to us and make their abode with us, which suggests that the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:33-41 conveys the close of Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost. The Jews were convicted by the words of Peter and the behavior of the other Apostles, and rather than rationalize their past behavior, they repented and asked “What shall we do?”
Peter reveals a big chuck of the mystery in what he says next. “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The newborn believers were probably water baptized at this point, the text does not say but the implication is clear. Note that the text does say their heart was involved (cut to the heart) not just intellectual assent, and those that accepted the message were baptized. The onset of the felt influence of the Holy Spirit is not recorded in this passage.
Acts 10:46-47 if carefully considered, presents a similar sequence of salvation. Unbelievers were listening to the words of Peter; he was still speaking, and so they had not been water baptized. But the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. Therefore, between the conviction brought by Peter presenting the gospel of Christ, and the baptism with the Holy Spirit, a change occurred in the unbelievers. They had repented and became believers. They placed their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. This passage does demonstrate that water baptism was not necessary for forgiveness of sins. Even if Peter’s words addressed water baptism in Acts 2:38, we still have a consistent pattern of salvation. Receptive unbelievers are presented the gospel of Christ, they are convicted and repent of their sins, they place their faith and love upon Jesus, and subsequently they experience the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:3-4 describes the believer’s baptism into Christ indicating it symbolizing the shared death, and concludes that if we share the likeness of death, so shall we share in the resurrection.
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Paul teaches the unity in Christ; we were baptized into one body and one Spirit indwelt us all. This verse describes the process of salvation, God accepts our heart-felt faith and sets us apart (chooses us) with the baptism by the Holy Spirit into Christ and then Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit representing both the Father (Spirit of God) and the Son (Spirit of Christ). The double election doctrine accepts the believer’s baptism into Christ, the anointing, and positional sanctification as the second election. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world corporately and chooses us, after accepting our faith, individually by baptizing us into Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” Here we see the two-step process: He, who gave us the gospel, establishes and anoints us in Christ, then also indwells us as a seal and pledge.
Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of Promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” In this passage Paul clarifies the process of salvation, we are established in Christ after, having listened to the gospel and having believed the gospel, and then we are sealed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If you drop the anointing mentioned in 2 Corinthians 1:21, into the sequence between “having also believed” and the subsequent “you were sealed” which is consistent with the sequence given in Corinthians, the second election is revealed.
Ephesians 4:30-31; 5:18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19 teach that if we sin we will grieve the Spirit and quench the Spirit, reducing the Spirits influence in our lives. But, through prayer and obedience, and examination of God’s Word, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. But if, indeed, we have been established in Christ, anointed and sealed in Him, we will only grieve and quench the Spirit but the Helper will never leave us, never abandon the pledge. Those, who think the indwelt Holy Spirit influenced them, then subsequently abandon their faith, present a problem to the doctrine of Eternal Security, but not to the doctrine of Uncertain Security. For at any time during our walk with the Lord, “believers” can look back at works, and accept it as evidence of their spiritual condition. No faith means no salvation, we were mistaken; God did not accept our sincere offer of faith because it did not reach our heart, the core of our being. They were deluded or disingenuous when they attributed their actions to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught, in John 14:11 that we can trust the miracle works of God as a basis for confidence in our salvation and my commentary is that we can trust the lack of sustained works as a basis of no confidence of being saved. Only the Lord knows who is saved and someone could stumble for quite some time, if in his or her heart they still trust in Jesus and still desire to please God. But falling away, especially when faced with difficulty in the first few years clearly indicates a lack of salvation. Falling away later could be a symptom of a cultural Christianity where the person just followed the crowd because it was the lifestyle of his or her acquaintances.
The baptism mentioned in Ephesians 4:5 is the believer’s baptism by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. In Colossians 2:11-12, Paul reiterates that believers are set apart (the circumcision made without hands) by the circumcision of Christ. When we are baptized into the Chosen One, we become set apart. Paul then explains that we have been buried with Christ when we were baptized into the body of Christ; then raised up with Christ, raised up alive in the spirit, just as God raised up Jesus from the dead. This was accomplished through faith by the workings of God. In 1 Peter 3:20-21, Peter teaches that just as the ark saved some in the days of Noah, baptism into the body of Christ now saves us, not by the removal of dirt from the flesh but by forgiveness of sins, and a fresh start with a good conscience, through our faith in the resurrection of Jesus. This view mirrors the thoughts given in Hebrews 9:8-14. This believer’s baptism is also in view when the washing of regeneration is mentioned. Figuratively when we are immersed into Christ’s body, Christ’s blood washes away our sin, the removal of the “flesh” from the body mentioned in Colossians 2:11.
In summary, the believer’s baptism is the baptism by the Holy Spirit of believers whose faith in Christ has been accepted by God, into the body of Christ. This results in the washing of regeneration, the removal of the “flesh” (sin) by the grace of God. The believer’s baptism is the second election whereby we are set apart by God, chosen by God and anointed based in part on accepting our faith in His Chosen One, Christ Jesus (Isaiah 42:1).
