“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 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.’
“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 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.” (1 Corinthians 1:10-17 ESV)
Questions:
• What similar divisions does the church have today?
• What is the relationship between baptism and the gospel?
• Can you be saved from your sins and not be baptized?
• What is the message of the gospel of our salvation?
• What is the power of the cross of Christ?
Whenever I read this passage of Scripture, what immediately comes to mind in relationship to the church today is, “I am Baptist,” or “I am Methodist,” or “I am Presbyterian,” or “I am Pentecostal,” or “I am Lutheran,” or “I am Episcopalian,” etc. This is not how it should be! The biblical church, the body of Christ, is not to be divided by church denominations. For we are all supposed to be of one heart and mind, which is the heart and mind of Jesus Christ and of the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles.
And, if truth be told, a lot of these divisions are based on human interpretations of the Scriptures, sometimes based on personal prejudices, and much because Scriptures are being taught out of context to say what they don’t say if they are taught in their appropriate context. A lot of this has to do with what has been passed down from generation to generation, and so many people just accept what they are taught without question and without examination to see if what they were taught is actually the truth.
And I believe these divisions can be eliminated if we who believe in Jesus Christ would just read the Scriptures in context, word by word and chapter by chapter and book by book, as a whole, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, without personal prejudice, and while putting aside all that we have been previously taught and believed so that we can just hear from the Lord what he wants to show us. When the Lord took me through this process, I saw so many things I was taught wrong and had to relearn.
Now, in Paul’s attempt to convince the Corinthian Christians that they were not to be followers of man, but of God, he made some very profound and interesting statements that I believe we need to examine biblically. Paul, although he was called of God to preach the message of the gospel of our salvation, baptized very few people. For, he said, “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.” So what does that say?
Now I will defer here to a writing from a month ago titled, “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism,” because I believe it will help answer this question.
Now, regarding this ONE BAPTISM, I am finding that there are varied opinions on this subject, and that most seem to favor water baptism as the one baptism, but there is a problem with that theory. For many people are baptized with water in the name of Jesus Christ who have never been reborn of the Spirit of God and who do not know God because they do not obey him, but they have continued in their sins. They are just going through a religious ritual. And then there are the cases when people were saved and filled with the Spirit prior to water baptism (Acts 10:44-48).
And then we have John the Baptist’s words when he stated: “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 10:11-12) So, the indication here is that the baptism that we receive from Christ is not of water, but of the Spirit, in death to sin and living to righteousness.
“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:3-7).
So, this is a spiritual baptism. And this can take place apart from water baptism, as well as water baptism is no indication that this spiritual baptism has ever taken place at all. So, I believe that our water baptism is more of an outward sign of an inward faith which has already taken place, and that this baptism into death (Romans 6) is of the Spirit of God, so this is also the baptism of the Spirit, since there is only ONE BAPTISM, and the only one that can literally bring about death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness is the one done of the Spirit and not in water. See:
[Matt 3:13-17; Matt 10:11-12; John 1:29-34; Mk 10:37-39; Ac 9:15-18; Acts 10:44-48; Acts 18:7-8; Acts 22:12-16; Rom 6:1-7]
Therefore, if we understand baptism in this light, it makes sense that Paul stated that Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel of Christ and the power of the cross of Christ in our lives. For the gospel message is that Jesus died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By faith in him we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness.
So sin is no longer to be what we obey, for if we obey sin, it leads to death, but if obedience to our Lord is what we obey, its end is eternal life with Christ Jesus, our Lord. For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to (save) our old sinful lifestyles, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience in holy living, then we have the hope of eternal life.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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