Through philosophical and carnal interpretations of the Bible, the true meaning of baptism has been completely overshadowed.
As a result, disagreement has arisen as to the manner in which baptism should be performed resulting in church divisions and mutual strife among Christians.
For what is the true baptism?
Is it infant baptism, often more of a sprinkling, or is it adult baptism?
And does infant baptism only hold value when the child confesses faith as an adult?
Similarly, with adult baptism, can it only be administered when the person in question gives his testimony before the full congregation and when this testimony is approved by the church council?
Once again, due to philosophical and carnal interpretations of the Bible, the true meaning of baptism has been completely overshadowed.
Paul warned us about this.
He said:
Colossians 2:8 (ESV)
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit,
according to human tradition,
according to the elemental spirits of the world,
and not according to Christ.
Throughout Colossians 2, Paul shows the difference between the teachings of men and the teachings of Christ.
He demonstrates that the teachings of Christ is a spiritual principle that occurs within us, while human teachings are external practices that hold no value and are done to convince oneself and others that everything possible has been done to belong to Jesus.
Thus, at the end of the chapter, he concludes:
Colossians 2:22-23 (ESV)
These are things that all perish as they are used.
They are according to human precepts and human teachings.
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom
but they are of no value and serve for the indulgence of the flesh.
What then are these practices introduced according to human teaching?
Paul gives several examples, starting with circumcision.
Colossians 2:11 (ESV)
In Christ you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands!
Not in the natural, with hands, but in the spiritual, by the Spirit.
In the next verse, Paul uses baptism as an example.
Colossians 2:12a (ESV)
You have been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him
How? By human hands?
No!
Colossians 2:12b (ESV)
through faith in the powerful working of God.
The Greek word translated as “baptism” is “baptizo” (βαπτίζω).
“Baptizo” literally means immersion or unification.
Like circumcision, Paul is not referring here to immersion in water by human hands.
In this chapter, he presents baptism as an example of an external practice introduced by human teaching.
If true baptism does not occur through human hands, how then does it occur?
True baptism does not take place in the natural, with hands, but in the spiritual, by the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13 (NKJ)
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body!
True baptism is not administered by a pastor, elder, or minister; true baptism is administered by the Holy Spirit.
Everything in the Old Testament are natural, external objects and events that God uses to teach us the spiritual, the internal.
Baptism, “baptizo,” is indeed an immersion, but not in water.
True baptism is immersion in Christ! Unified with Christ.
Romans 6:3 (ESV)
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We are baptized, unified, with the death of Jesus Christ, and thus we are also unified with His resurrection.
Romans 6:5 (ESV)
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
When you are baptized in water, you are baptized
- into Noah (1 Peter 3:20)
- into Moses (1 Corinthians 10: 2)
- into John (Matthew 3: 11)
John said:
Matthew 3:11 (ESV)
I baptize you with water,
but he who is coming after me, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Also in 1 Peter 3, you see this distinction between water, the natural and external, and the Holy Spirit, the spiritual and internal.
There, Peter is talking about them
1 Peter 3:20 (BSB)
who disobeyed long ago
when God waited patiently in the days of Noah
while the ark was being built.
In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
Then he says:
1 Peter 3:21 (BSB)
This water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also.
Is it immersion in water that saves us?
No!
Ephesians 1:7 (BSB)
In Christ we have redemption; through his blood.
It is baptism into the death of Jesus Christ that saves you.
The natural, external salvation through water, as seen with Noah, God uses as a visible example of what must occur in the spiritual, within us.
During Noah’s time, Jesus had not yet been crucified and resurrected.
Everything before Christ, the entire Old Testament, are natural, visible events that foreshadow everything after Christ, the spiritual and the invisible.
“And what about Philip?” you might say.
Because when the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ had already occurred, Philip baptized someone from Ethiopia in water (Acts 8:38).
The answer is that, in terms of time, Philip lived after Christ, but in his thinking, he lived in the Old Testament, before Christ.
The disciples had known Jesus in the flesh, and unknowingly, that was a big problem for them.
For everything they had experienced in the natural, they now had to understand spiritually.
Paul explains very clearly what I mean.
He says:
2 Corinthians 5:16 (ESV)
From now on we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Even though the disciples had known Christ in the flesh, in the natural, the external, they were now not to know Him in that way anymore.
How were they to know Him now?
In the spiritual, the internal.
The disciples were, in a way, still living in the Old Testament.
They had seen everything outside of themselves, in the natural.
Philip baptized the eunuch in water because he too knew Christ according to the flesh.
Paul had immediately learned that it’s about the internal, the spiritual.
He, therefore, talks about ‘Christ IN us‘ (Colossians 1:27).
You can see from the later letters of the apostles, such as the letters of Peter, for example, that they too eventually learned this principle.
In Acts 19, there is a beautiful example of how Paul nullifies the carnal, external baptism in water by re-baptizing some disciples in Ephesus.
Acts 19:3-6 (ESV)
Paul said, “Into what then were you baptized?”
They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
So, they were baptized into water….
But Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them.
See how Paul baptizes them again, this time with a spiritual baptism?
They were baptized in the Holy Spirit; a spiritual, internal baptism.
Peter said:
Acts 2:38 (ESV)
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Often this is read as a law
repent and be baptized!!
However, baptism is not a law, it is a logical consequence.
Baptism into the death of Christ is an automatic consequence when you repent, turn around, and start listening to what Christ, the Word, says!
The book of Revelation provides a splendid example of that.
In the first chapter of Revelation, John says:
Revelation 1:10-12 (ESV)
I heard behind me a loud voice, the word of God, like a trumpet saying,
” I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.”
Then I turned (he repented) to see the voice (the word of God) that was speaking to me
When you leave the old behind and turn to the voice of God, the consequence is that you are baptized into the death of Christ.
The Holy Spirit shows you what the death and resurrection of Christ mean for you (1 John 2:27), enabling you to grow into a mature son (Ephesians 4:13), a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1), a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Colossians 2:16 (ESV)
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. …or circumcision or water baptism
These are all a shadow! of the things to come, but the body belongs to Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 (ESV)
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
Namely the body of Christ.
All these Old Testament matters are a shadow of the things to come.
They are not the true image.
The things to come is the body of Christ; that is the new heaven and the new earth, the new creation.
…and whoever is in Christ is a new creation!
2 Corinthians 5:17
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!
Into what were you baptized (immersed / unified)?
In water?
Unified with Noah or Moses or John?
Or in fire and in the Holy Spirit?
Unified with Christ?
