One In Jesus

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 the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

“Wash” is used of baptism in —

(Act 22:16 ESV) And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

The verb in 1 Cor 6:11 is aorist, referring to a point-in-time action. Paul is therefore, I believe, referring to baptism.

“Washed” is parallel with “sanctified” (made holy) and “justified” (declared holy) — and this is all “by the Spirit of our God.” As always, consideration of the Spirit isn’t far from consideration of baptism. We’ve seen this repeatedly in the Gospels and Acts, and we’ll find it many times in Paul.

The active agent in our washing is not the water but the Spirit. And, plainly, Paul teaches that something happened in baptism that washed us. Immediately preceding v. 11 is —

(1Co 6:9-10 ESV)  9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Our baptism washes us from our former sins — indeed, from our former sinfulness. Paul’s point isn’t so much that we are forgiven as we are changed. We no longer act that way! He wants us to understand that the soteriology — the means of our salvation — tells us how to live. Our lifestyle is driven by how we’ve been saved.

1 Cor 12:13

(1Co 12:13 ESV)  13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Again, we see baptism tied to the work of the Spirit. Our baptism is “in one Spirit” so we will “drink of one Spirit.” Indeed, the only reference to water — “drink” — is a reference to what we receive from the Spirit.

Paul mentions the Spirit twice. The Spirit places in the body, and once in the body, we drink of the Spirit.

“Drink” makes us think of —

(Isa 44:3 ESV)  3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Of course, “drink” also brings to mind Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman. Paul is speaking of living water.

The main point of the verse, however, is the “one body.” This is, of course, the body of Christ, and so fits well with the imagery of Rom 6 — we’ve been baptized “into” Christ and so we are part of his body. It’s a theme found throughout Paul’s writings. Having been added to the one body, we are united, indeed, part of the same person.

Paul’s argument proceeds from irony. The Corinthians are arguing that the diversity of their gifts are grounds for division. Paul asserts the opposite. The gifts are from the Spirit, and the Spirit’s work is to unite the body.

Baptism is, obviously, part of the thought, but water baptism is incidental. Here, the emphasis is on what the Spirit does in baptism.

Now, there are those who argue that the emphasis on the Spirit shows that “baptized” is a spiritual baptism separate from water baptism. But that’s truly a forced argument. Paul had earlier written,

(1 Cor 1:14-17 ESV)  I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in [into] my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

And this passage is an obvious reference to water baptism. And, of course, in 1 Cor 15:19, Paul again uses “baptize” to refer to water baptism. We can’t just assume that Paul used the word in a different sense just to suit our theology.

Conclusion

Hence, in 1 Corinthians, Paul repeatedly refers to baptism as effecting a change of status, from outside of Christ or the name of Christ or the body of Christ to inside. But it’s also true that Paul’s stress is on our relationship with Christ and the working of the Spirit. He doesn’t address any of the issues we are so obsessed with: the convert’s understanding of baptism, the amount of water used, or such like. Indeed, although he is certainly speaking of water baptism, his focus is on the meaning of baptism for the convert and how he is to live his life after his conversion.

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 “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in [into] the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in [into] my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

(1Co 6:11 ESV) 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

(1Co 10:1-4 ESV) For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

(1Co 12:13 ESV) 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

(1Co 15:29 ESV) 29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

We covered 1 Cor 10 in the previous post, and I’m not inclined to sort through 15:29 here, because whatever it means, I don’t think it bears on a correct understanding of Christian baptism. The other three passages, however, say quite a lot on the subject. 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, Ephesians, and Colossians. And Paul refers to Christians having been “washed” in Ephesians and Titus, with both references being likely references to baptism. There is no explicit reference to baptism in 2 Corinthians, 1 or 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, or 1 or 2 Timothy.

By way of comparison, Paul refers to “faith” or a cognate in 132 verses, including all of his epistles. He mentions the Holy Spirit in over 100 verses, also including every single epistle.

This does not make his teaching on baptism any less true, of course, but it does tell us about the appropriate emphasis in Christian teaching. We are not to be known as the people who’ve been properly baptized. Rather, faith in Jesus and the Spirit are far more the identifying marks of the church and should be far more characteristic of our teaching. Continue reading →

According to John’s Gospel, how is someone saved?

(John 1:12-13) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

(John 3:14-18) Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Continue reading →

A hendiadys?

Now, Morris’s idea that “water and Spirit” means something like “spiritual seed” is more possible that it appears at first glance. He is arguing for a figure of speech known as a hendiadys — where two adjectives or nouns are joined with an “and” and the second adjective or noun modifies the first. The Wikipedia explains —

The typical result of a hendiadys is to transform a noun-plus-adjective into two nouns joined by a conjunction. For example, “sound and fury” (from act V, scene 5 of Macbeth) seems to offer a more striking image than “furious sound”. In this example, as typically, the subordinate idea originally present in the adjective is transformed into a noun in and of itself.

The structure is more common in Shakespearean English than contemporary English, but it goes all the way back to Biblical Greek. Thus, “water and Spirit” could mean “spiritual water” or even, as Morris suggests, “spiritual seed.” Continue reading →

Nicodemus

Born or begotten?

We considered Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in the “before” post. But we need to consider Nicodemus further. He’d never read a Gospel or Romans. The only baptism he knew was John the Baptist’s, if he knew that. Jesus said,

(John 3:3-4 ESV) 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

I can find but one Old Testament antecedent for “born again.” In the Greek Septuagint, we find —

(Deu 32:18 ESV) You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. Continue reading →

We don’t usually think of this as a baptism passage. And maybe it’s not. But there are good reasons to think that baptism is at least in the background.

(John 4:7-15 ESV) 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Now, the text makes clear that Jesus is speaking foremost of the Holy Spirit — Continue reading →