Category Archives: Baptism

People need rituals. God doesn’t so much, but people do. Love Consider a young couple. The young man embraces his girl friend and for the first time says, “I love you.” She hugs him, smiles, kisses him passionately, and the … Continue reading →

[poll id=”2″] Inspired by HistoryGuy’s suggestion, I thought I’d try out Theoblogger’s polling feature. I don’t intend to be unfair in my list of options. If I need to add more, let me know.

We who grew up in the 20th Century Churches of Christ were taught that the Spirit is not received at baptism. The “gift of the Holy Spirit” is salvation. Or maybe it’s the “ordinary” indwelling — which doesn’t do all … Continue reading →

Theories We’re not finished. We have to work through Ephesians, Colossians, and some more beyond them. But I’m in the mood to consider what conclusions we might tentatively draw so far. We could wait to consider the other passages, but … Continue reading →

Baptism in Galatians Paul declares, (Gal 3:27 ESV) 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Baptism? Where does baptism come from? Why not say, “For as many of you as were circumcised … Continue reading →

Most readers will be familiar with Al Maxey. Al is the author of the “Reflections” weekly emails and a pioneer in Internet ministry among Churches of Christ. Al has labored mightily for many years teaching a more grace-filled, Christ-centered theology. … Continue reading →

Regular readers know that I spend a lot of time wrestling with Galatians. It’s a vitally important book for the modern Churches of Christ. And its theme is that it’s a deadly sin, indeed, a perversion of the gospel, to … Continue reading →

1 Cor 6:11 The next passage in 1 Corinthians we should consider is not necessarily a baptism passage — (1Co 6:11 ESV)  11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in … Continue reading →

1 Corinthians has more references to Christian baptism than any other New Testament book. We find there — (1Co 1:12-18 ESV) 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or … Continue reading →

We now turn to the Pauline epistles to see what Paul has to say about baptism. I count 12 verses containing an explicit reference to baptism, eight of which are in 1 Corinthians. The other four are in Romans, Galatians, … Continue reading →