Which baptism is the "one baptism" of Christianity?

[K Watt]

Ephesians 4:4-6 reads

There is one body and one Spirit---just as you were called to one hope when you were called---one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

And in Luke 3:16 John the baptizer says,
"I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

I think most non-Catholics would agree that water baptism doesn't save a person and that it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that saves one, which spiritual baptism every believer receives when he or she is born again (having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. Colossians 2:12) .

What then is the purpose of water baptism? For Jews it was a symbolic ritual representing a desire for a good conscience toward God and repentance from sins. Jesus' disciples and the early Christians practiced the same ritual. Yet we have no instructions in the NT for how to water baptize or any command to perform or partake in the ritual.

Some believe that Christ sent the apostles to baptize people with water as a part of their evangelistic commission. But if there is only one baptism that saves, why would He? The two are obviously not one and the same.

The apostle Paul water baptized a few people, but he said that Christ did not send him to baptize but rather to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:13-17), through which those who hear and believe are baptized by the Spirit.

Why would the man who was arguably the greatest apostle not have been sent by Christ to water baptize if water baptism was an important or necessary part of Christianity, and if Jesus had indeed sent His other apostles to water baptize?

I am one Christian who believes that water baptism is an obsolete Jewish ritual that was carried over into Christianity for a time in the early days of the faith for its symbolic spiritual significance but which God didn't intend for Christians to continue and which is not necessary or important to administer or to partake in.

Isn't baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit a baptism in the Holy Spirit?

 

[GreekOrthodox]

So are you saying that baptism saves you conditionally (conditional on not walking away from Christ)?

Baptism is only the beginning of a lifetime race. We fall and get back up, through the other sacraments of confession, anointing and of course, the Holy Eucharist. St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain: "Because, brethren, we have fallen into sins after baptism and consequently have buried the grace of the Holy Spirit which was given to us at our Baptism, it is necessary that we make every effort to recover that original grace which is found deeply buried underneath our passions, like an ember in the ashes. This ember of grace we must fan into a new flame in our hearts. In order to do that, we must remove the passions from our hearts as ashes from a fireplace, and replace them with the firewood of obedience in the life-giving commandments of the Lord. We can blow upon the spark with heartfelt repentance of the mind and with the repetition of this prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Word of God, have mercy on me.” When this prayer remains permanently in our heart, it cleanses us from the ashes of the passions, and finding the ember of grace within, it strikes up a wondrous and strange fire."

 

[Scott Husted]

Ephesians 4:4-6 reads

There is one body and one Spirit---just as you were called to one hope when you were called---one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

And in Luke 3:16 John the baptizer says,
"I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

I think most non-Catholics would agree that water baptism doesn't save a person and that it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that saves one, which spiritual baptism every believer receives when he or she is born again (having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. Colossians 2:12) .

What then is the purpose of water baptism? For Jews it was a symbolic ritual representing a desire for a good conscience toward God and repentance from sins. Jesus' disciples and the early Christians practiced the same ritual. Yet we have no instructions in the NT for how to water baptize or any command to perform or partake in the ritual.

Some believe that Christ sent the apostles to baptize people with water as a part of their evangelistic commission. But if there is only one baptism that saves, why would He? The two are obviously not one and the same.

The apostle Paul water baptized a few people, but he said that Christ did not send him to baptize but rather to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:13-17), through which those who hear and believe are baptized by the Spirit.

Why would the man who was arguably the greatest apostle not have been sent by Christ to water baptize if water baptism was an important or necessary part of Christianity, and if Jesus had indeed sent His other apostles to water baptize?

I am one Christian who believes that water baptism is an obsolete Jewish ritual that was carried over into Christianity for a time in the early days of the faith for its symbolic spiritual significance but which God didn't intend for Christians to continue and which is not necessary or important to administer or to partake in.

All these are different facets of the same one truth.

 

[Radagast]

Baptism is only the beginning of a lifetime race.

Well, then it doesn't actually save you, does it? It's just the start of the race.

 

[ralliann]

Not a matter of Peter obeying Christ's command.


Also, not a matter of these people obeying a command. This outpouring was not produced by any of these people administering it.


Same here.


But now...this is speaking of a response to a command.

What these verses show is water baptism was done after the baptism of the holy spirit.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Well, then it doesn't actually save you, does it? It's just the start of the race.

We dont believe that salvation is a one and done checkmark. As Fr. Theodore Stylianopoulos (one of my professors) writes: St. Paul employs the verb “to save” (sozesthai) in the past tense (“we have been saved,” Rom 8:24; Eph 2:5); in the present tense (“we are being saved,” 1 Cor 1:18; 15:2), and in the future tense (“we will be saved,” Rom 5:10). He can think even of justification as a future event and part of the final judgment (Rom 2:13, 16). How Are We Saved? - Theology

 

[Albion]

What these verses show is water baptism was done after the baptism of the holy spirit.

Personally, I don't think that is indicated, and most of Christianity agrees that it is not. UNLESS, that is, you are meaning something other than the usual when referring to "baptism of the Holy Spirit."

 

[ralliann]

Personally, I don't think that is indicated, and most of Christianity agrees that it is not. UNLESS, that is, you are meaning something other than the usual when referring to "baptism of the Holy Spirit."

Charismatics usually believe speaking in tongues etc is the baptism of the holy spirit. I was covering that belief with those verses.

 

[Albion]

Charismatics usually believe speaking in tongues etc is the baptism of the holy spirit.

That was my understanding also. If so, it does not precede reception of sacramental Baptism, does it?

 

[ralliann]

That was my understanding also. If so, it does not precede reception of sacramental Baptism, does it?

It seems to have been the case with Cornelius. oops I think I might be misunderstanding the term precede?

 

[TLSITD]

Isn't baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit a baptism in the Holy Spirit?

If I'm correct, the word translated as "in" in many English Bible translations is actually the word "into" in the original Greek.

If a person is baptized by the Holy Spirit when he or she hears the gospel preached and believes, that person is baptized into God and into His name, which he or she now wears as one belonging to Christ. (That's quite a bit different than just being water baptized in God's name.)

Pouring water on someone or dunking them under water in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit saves no one, except that they happen to also be baptized by the Spirit at the same moment, which might happen in some cases. But water baptism in and of itself doesn't bring anyone into God.

 

[Albion]

It seems to have been the case with Cornelius.

True, but Cornelius had a vision and an angel telling him to send for Peter. None of that occurs when anyone we know today receives or claims to have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And this miracle involving Cornelius is recorded in Acts as being important for the reason that it revealed that the faith was not meant only for the Jews.

 

[Jipsah]

Jesus told us to do it: Matthew 28:19.

'Nuff said!

 

[K Watt]

If I'm correct, the word translated as "in" in many English Bible translations is actually the word "into" in the original Greek.

If a person is baptized by the Holy Spirit when he or she hears the gospel preached and believes, that person is baptized into God and into His name, which he or she now wears as one belonging to Christ. (That's quite a bit different than just being water baptized in God's name.)

Pouring water on someone or dunking them under water in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit saves no one, except that they happen to also be baptized by the Spirit at the same moment, which might happen in some cases. But water baptism in and of itself doesn't bring anyone into God.

Why are we commanded to do it?

Why does Peter say that it saves us?

 

[ViaCrucis]

So are you saying that baptism saves you conditionally (conditional on not walking away from Christ)?

The one who is baptized is unconditionally saved, God's word connected to and comprehended under the water of Baptism is an unconditional word and promise--that we belong to Christ and thus are saved. But if one rejects their salvation, they are rejecting their salvation.

As long as one is taking refuge they are safe, but if they abandon their refuge and step again into danger, they have left the safety of the refuge. Our salvation is found in Christ, if we reject Christ then we reject our salvation found in Him.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ralliann]

True, but Cornelius had a vision and an angel telling him to send for Peter. None of that occurs when anyone we know today receives or claims to have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And this miracle involving Cornelius is recorded in Acts as being important for the reason that it revealed that the faith was not meant only for the Jews.

Well, I think some aspects of what you say are true, but it is not the whole of it IMO.
I think maybe (not settled on any of this) taking into consideration the situation. Jew's were for the most part already baptized in water by John, and the disciples were continuing John's baptism as Christ's disciples. Jesus baptized none but John's baptism was being done by them.

Knowing only the baptism of John.

Instructed in the way, the things of the Lord

24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

The way of God more perfectly....
26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:
28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. {Christ: or, is the Christ }
1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
These disciples seems were John's, since they did not seem to know that Jesus was the one that John said to follow (as did the disciples of John which followed Jesus).

John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

So, this seems to be a distinction. His glorification caused their ministry to gain power that was not before.

 

[TLSITD]

Why are we commanded to do it?

Why does Peter say that it saves us?

Peter obviously knew that water baptism doesn't save anyone. He explains that water baptism symbolizes repentance, which it does. It's a somewhat murky verse in the wording, but in the context of what the rest of the Scriptures teach on the subject, it's clear that water baptism doesn't save people. So whatever Peter meant by what he said, or however what he said was translated, that's obviously not what he meant or he would have been preaching another gospel than the one Jesus and the other apostles preached.

Recall what John the baptizer said to the Pharisees who came to him to be water baptized. If water baptism saves everyone, why were they rejected?

Jesus was water baptized by John in order to fulfill the righteousness of the law of Moses, just as He was circumcised and kept the passover for that reason. It wasn't an example for Christians to follow as a religious practice.

Jesus didn't command the apostles to baptize people with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; He sent them out to baptize people into God with the saving baptism of Christ, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit (which those who hear and believe the gospel receive from God, not man), not the symbolic baptism of John the baptizer which was water baptism.

 

[K Watt]

Peter obviously knew that water baptism doesn't save anyone.

It is not obvious. Why would he say the opposite?

 

[TLSITD]

I explained that already. I don't believe he's saying what he seems to be saying, in light of what the rest of the Scriptures say on the subject. With verses that seem to suggest something other than what other Scriptures say about the same subject, look to what the rest of the Scriptures say about it. If what Peter said in that verse meant that water baptism saves people, the rest of the New Testament's teachings about how a person is saved make no sense. There is only one baptism that saves, and everyone who gets saved is not water baptized.

 

[Albion]

Well, I think some aspects of what you say are true, but it is not the whole of it IMO.
I think maybe (not settled on any of this) taking into consideration the situation. Jew's were for the most part already baptized in water by John, and the disciples were continuing John's baptism as Christ's disciples. Jesus baptized none but John's baptism was being done by them.

Well, the New Testament clearly differentiates John's Baptism from Christian Baptism. John's Baptism was obsoleted by Christian Baptism, even though we're talking about two things that look similar.

25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

We see that point illustrated here.