Baptism, An Exploration: Ephesians

Eph 4:4-6 — “There is … one baptism”

(Eph 4:4-6 ESV) 4 There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

In Ephesians, Paul begins with God’s cosmic plan, he explains salvation in terms of —

(Eph 2:8-9 ESV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

— and he teaches the indwelling of the Spirit. He doesn’t get to baptism until chapter 4, and then baptism is part of the seven “ones.”

And so, in a general epistle written to many churches, some of which he never visited, Paul says next to nothing of baptism. But what he says matters a lot.

You see, baptism is one of the seven unities that Paul sees as uniting the church. We aren’t supposed to have multiple baptisms any more than we’re supposed to have multiple Gods. Rather, baptism is supposed to show our unity, not cause division!

And Paul includes baptism in with some of the highest, holiest elements of Christianity — the Trinity, the church (body), faith, and hope. That’s some august company!

Therefore, to treat baptism as a mere ordinance, a response to a command, seems too trivial. Indeed, even the Lord’s Supper doesn’t make this list! Baptism is a big deal.

But, of course, we Church of Christ folk hear “water baptism” when we read “baptism,” but Paul is referring to the baptism that is with the Spirit. Yes, he’s thinking of water, too. There’s just one. But Paul is much more concerned with baptism as the receipt of the Spirit than as the getting wet.

Paul had just prayed —

(Eph 3:14-19 ESV) 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This prayer speaks of the Father, the body (family in heaven and on earth), the Spirit, the Lord (Christ), faith, and love. It’s only missing hope and baptism to completely parallel 4:4-6. It’s surely part of the same thought — and it’s all about the working of the Spirit within us.

Paul had earlier written,

(Eph 1:13-14 ESV) 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

When were we sealed with the promised Holy Spirit? Surely when we received baptism of the Holy Spirit. Surely when we were baptized for the remission of our sins.

This is not to belittle water baptism but to insist that we not unduly separate water baptism from Spirit baptism. As Paul wrote, there is only one baptism, and so by the time of this writing, the two  normally occurred simultaneously. But that fact shouldn’t cause us to treat “baptism” as immersion in water. It is, rather, immersion in the Spirit, which happens when we are immersed in water. They happen at the same time, but the Spirit’s work is vastly more important than the water’s.

The reason baptism makes the list of seven ones is that baptism is the means by which man and God are joined, where the Trinity enters into the human and begins to transform him into the image of God.

We in the Churches of Christ tend to diminish the fact that baptism adds the convert to the body, because it sounds so, you know, Baptist. But, yes, baptism does add you to the church — the body of Christ on earth, placing the convert into a spiritual unity with Divinity — the Divine Presence enters the convert and the convert enters the Divine Presence, the very body of Christ.

Baptism is not in the list because it’s an ordinance or one of the “two sacraments.” It’s there because of it speaks directly to God’s cosmic plan to unite the nations.

(Eph 2:14-18 ESV) 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Paul sees baptism as part of God’s master plan to unite the world into a single community, a single body, under the headship of Christ. It’s part of the means by which unity is to be brought to a warring, divided, hating world. It’s God’s means of uniting those with faith in Jesus into one.

Eph 5:25-27 — “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word”

(Eph 5:25-27 ESV) 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

“Cleansed her by the washing of water” sure seems to suggest baptism. It would fit rather nicely. But if it’s a reference to baptism, why add “with the word”? Hmm …

The Greek word translated “word” is rema, which is only found in Ephesians here and in 6:17: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Now this passage does not equate the word with the Spirit. Rather, the word is a weapon used by the Spirit to accomplish its purposes.

(Isa 55:10-13 ESV) 10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

(Hos 6:5-6 ESV) 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

(Heb 4:12 ESV) 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

“Word” is therefore the effective word of God, God’s own message — the gospel. (Compare Rom 10:17.)

Therefore, “cleansed her by the washing of water with the word” is not a reference to the Bible but to God’s gospel message (which the Bible communicates, but so do evangelists and other Christians). And it’s the message of salvation, combined with the “washing of water,” that cleanses the church and sanctifies her (makes her holy).

It’s also the word used in passages such as —

(Gen 15:1 ESV) After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

“With the word” also reminds us of —

(Rom 10:14-15 ESV) 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

(Gal 3:2 ESV) 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Before there can be “hear, believe … ,” there has to be the word preached.

This is actually the only reference to “water” (hudor or hydor) in Paul’s letters. It’s surely a reference to water baptism — but as a metaphor for Spirit baptism. It is, after all, the Spirit that washes the church, by the power of the blood of Christ. Of course, in a letter teaching “one baptism,” Paul doesn’t see a sharp distinction between the two. They are two elements of one baptism.

You see, the 20th Century Church of Christ removal of Spirit from baptism turns baptism into a sacrament — worse yet, a work. Baptism is something the convert does to qualify for salvation, but the New Testament sense of baptism is primarily an emphasis on God’s work in baptism — through the Spirit.

It’s the Spirit who cleanses the church, not the church that takes a bath. Yes, it happens in water, but God does the work, not the convert.

I don’t say this as a complete explanation of why baptism isn’t works salvation, but it’s a critical part. You see, both those  in the Churches of Christ and Baptists are bad to think of “baptism” as the immersion in water, not the outpouring of the Spirit. After all, both denominations are immersionist and both print tracts by the thousands on why baptism is immersion. And the ardent defense of baptism as going under water tends to distract from the outpouring of the Spirit from heaven — which is where the real washing occurs.