The Essential Baptism

Amen God calls and man responds to that call. To as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12.

I have a few questions for the sake of clarifying some things. The definition states, "The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the imperceptible work of God by which the believing sinner is placed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ at the very moment of his conversion." My two questions are... 

1) Do you, or did the Bible Study on which you were led, make a distinction between regeneration and baptism of the Holy Spirit? Sometimes other language is used, such as the distinction between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the baptism by the Holy Spirit. Do you think, for example, the disciples in Acts 19 were regenerate? The text explicitly calls them disciples, but the text also states they claim not to have even heard of the Holy Spirit. Were they saved? They are called disciples. Can they be disciples of Jesus and not be saved? If so, then can they be saved and not be regenerate? If not, then there is some kind of distinction between their being regenerate and then receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which they alter received. An earlier example would be the disciples of Jesus who were at Pentecost. They were all converts to Christ. The eleven especially had the knowledge of Christ and believed but they lacked the Pentecost experience. Surely had James, John, or Peter died prior to Pentecost they would have gone to heaven. Yes? Are we to say the pre-Pentecost disciples were not regenerate? Or are we to say they were regenerate but had not yet received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Presumably, if baptism of the Holy Spirit is "is what happens at the moment of your conversion when the Holy Spirit places you in the body of Christ," then the disciples baptized in the Spirit before Pentecost. Either that or they were not "in Christ" prior to Pentecost. 

2) Is faith a gift from God? If so, then how is it thought to be something separated from regeneration? If not, then how is it that God is dependent upon sinful human flesh? 

3) Are you aware baptism, scripturally speaking, is a form of washing? According to Peter, baptism of the Holy Spirit goes back at least as far as Noah and is something repeatedly asserted in the Mosaic Law and most, if not all, of it cited in the New Testament as some form of foreshadowing or typology of washing, renewing, regeneration, sanctification by the Holy Spirit. If that is correct, then there are a lot more than 11 verses in the Bible upon which the "whole doctrine" of the Holy Spirit baptism rests. Just yesterday I read a poster claim regeneration is mentioned only twice in the Bible. While it is true "palingenesias" is stated only twice in the New Testament, palingenesias is not the only word the Bible uses for regeneration. The same problem occurs with "baptism of the Holy Spirit." There a lot more than 11 passages upon which the baptism of the Holy Spirit rests. Using the language of "whole doctrine," seems somewhat questionable if this is true and only 11 passages are used at the expense of all else the scriptures say on the matter. I wonder about the thoroughness of any "Bible Study" that says there are only 11 passages upon which the "whole doctrine" rests.

4) Ephesians 1:13 states the saints in Ephesus were in Christ when they heard the message of truth, the gospel of their salvation. Some translations, such as the KJV and the NAS (my preferred translation), stipulate or imply the "in him" coming after the saint's hearing but NONE of that is in the Greek. The Greek has the condition of "in him," or "in Christ" as a co-occurring or preceding condition, not one that comes after the hearing. If that is the case, then the part where "the Holy Spirit places you in the body of Christ" and the part about "the believing sinner" warrants some clarification, maybe some correction, because of Ephesians 1:13's implicit order or lack of stated sequence. If believing is predicated upon hearing (and understanding) and the hearing is predicated upon being (already) in Christ, then the work of the Holy Spirit is quite abundant and diverse. He, the HS, regenerates, places a person in Christ, and gifts faith by which the sinner believes and that happens either during or before the sinner's belief. In other words, the part about "the believing sinner," has its context in the work of the HS, the Spiritual belief of the Spirited-believing sinner and not the fleshly belief of the non-Spirited belief of the sinner. 



I'll add in closing another observation about modernity and contemporary doctrine and practice. In the Bible's record we read of the early days when a pile of new and different things were happening that now, 2000 years later aren't new and they aren't different. For example, most of Christendom no longer sees a time lag between regeneration and indwelling. Most of Christendom, doctrinally, holds a person's conversion necessarily involves the Holy Spirit both regenerating a sinner's spirit and coming to reside in that now-regenerate person, and placing him/her within the condition of "in Christ" and within the body of Christ, the Church (the ekklesia). Those belonging to the Pentecostal sects differ in this regard. The point being this: an examination of the scriptures is good, but too literal a reading leads to problems in both doctrine and practice. We can see this in the fact Pentecost is not replicated throughout the rest of the New Testament. After Pentecost regeneration, indwelling, etc., are all aspects of the conversion experience and not things separate by days, weeks, months, etc. The Acts 19 saints are the exception to the rule, not the rule. 





There are couple of other places where I have comment or inquiry but those four turned out to be more detailed, nuanced, and complex than I first thought when I started this post, so I'll reserve the rest for later. These four can be taken one at a time in separate posts if you like.

Regeneration is a spiritual rebirth. Spiritual rebirth has been taking place ever since humanity fell into sin with the fall of Adam and Eve. From the beginning, whoever has put their trust in the promises of God for their salvation from their sins has experienced a spiritual rebirth, or regeneration. It is not something which has only taken place during the New Testament era.

Old Testament Saints looked forward to the Cross... the promised Messiah. They knew a Messiah was coming.

With the limited knowledge of God given to them at the time, the Old Testament saints understood God would have to do something dramatic to save them. They placed their faith in the coming Savior who was described from the earliest of times. God told Adam and Eve one of their descendants would eventually defeat Satan (Genesis 3:15), and Abraham understood God would provide a sacrifice for sin, just as God provided the substitutionary sacrifice to replace Isaac (Genesis 22:8, Romans 4:3 John 8:56).

Job had a similar expectation and hope for a Redeemer (Job 19:25-26), and Moses also expected and believed in the coming Messiah and the reward of Salvation (Hebrews 11:26, John 5:46). Many other Old Testament prophets and wise men spoke about the coming Savior. Enoch, for example, even talked about the second coming of the Messiah (Jude 14)! Old Testament prophets clearly described where the Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2), how He would be betrayed (Zechariah 11:12), how He would die (Isaiah 53:5), and how He would be resurrected (Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 26:19).

But the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit has only been in existence since the time of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Indeed, previous to His ascension, there was no such thing as a “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” This is the case because the risen Christ is the baptizer. Consequently, we should take care not to confuse the two.

I would say, especially, water baptism is a sign and seal of regeneration, of our union with Christ and of our receiving the Holy Spirit. Now, again, I say it is a sign and a seal. I do not become regenerate as I am baptized; I only have a right to be baptized because I am regenerate.

Baptism tells me that I am regenerate; it certifies to me that I am born again, that I am united to Christ and that the Holy Spirit dwells in me. It is the sealing of that to me. It is God’s way of giving me a pledge. As He gave the rainbow, and as He gave circumcision to the chosen race, so He gives us a sign and a seal of our regeneration in the act of baptism. It's an outward sing of an inward conversion.

And then, thirdly and lastly, baptism is a sign of membership of the Church which is His body. It is a separating from the world and an official introduction, in an external manner, into the visible body of Christ. We are already in the invisible but here we enter into the visible and baptism is a sign or a badge of that.

In the Old Testament, they were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, looking ahead to the coming of Christ. Jesus said in John 8:56, “Abraham saw My day, and he was glad.” We are saved by looking back to the first coming of Christ, who died on the cross bearing our sins. In the Old Testament, they simply looked ahead to the coming of Christ. We all meet at the foot of the cross. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that anyone is saved.

We must be crystal clear about this. When the Scripture says, “The dead in Christ will rise,” it is speaking of the bodily resurrection of all believers! At this time, the spirits of believers will be united with their perfect and complete resurrection bodies. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first [no exceptions!]. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).

Does this come close to answering you question?

Ezekiel 37 is a prophecy about the restoration of the nation of Israel at the time of the millennial kingdom. In 1948 we have witnessed a pre-fulfillment of Israel’s return to power. But the ultimate fulfillment occurs after the second coming of Christ when the millennial kingdom is established. In theology this is called “already, but not yet.” Ezekiel 37:22, 24 clearly refers to the millennial reign of Christ when we are told “My Servant, David shall be king.” Ezekiel 37:12-14 refers to the resurrection of Old Testament saints at the beginning of the millennial kingdom.

Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’” Ezekiel 37:12-14 (NASB)

Here we are told the dead Jews will be resurrected. These bodies will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to come alive  to have someone in there. This is the resurrection of the Old Testament believers. Daniel 12:1-2 also prophesied the resurrection of the Old Testament saints.

I have long considered that passage to be prophetic metaphor interpreted by the Bible later in that chapter but your scenario is an interesting claim that I will have to think about. I definately see what you are getting at here.