One Baptism

TWIN CITIES GRACE FELLOWSHIP

Sermon 1 · New Testament Ordinances

One Baptism

Not made with hands — the baptism the church is called to know, teach, and partake in

Ephesians 4:5

THESIS

The one baptism of Ephesians 4 is the baptism we should partake in, know, and communicate in the church today.

SERIES NOTE:

• This is the first of two sermons on the ordinances committed to the local church — baptism, then the Lord's Table — each examined for what it actually signifies, not merely how it is practiced.

INTRODUCTION

OPENING

• Two ordinances are commonly identified in the New Testament: baptism and the Lord's Table. Both are widely practiced; both are widely misunderstood in the same way — mistaken for the physical act itself rather than what that act was always meant to signify.

• Before we can rightly teach baptism, we have to answer a prior question: which baptism? Scripture speaks of several.

WHY THIS MATTERS

• The one baptism is not with water, fire, or Spirit — nor is it done with man’s hands. Yet we must be baptized in order to be quickened, to have new life.

• Two ordinances committed to the local church, per the church’s doctrinal statement: (1) showing forth faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior; (2) union with Him in death to sin and resurrection to a new life; (3) a sign of fellowship and identification with the visible body of Christ.

• If we call the wrong baptism “the one baptism,” we risk resting the church’s identity on a rite rather than on what God Himself has done.

THESIS AND ROADMAP

• We will move through this question in three movements:

• I. Defining Baptism

• II. The Doctrine of Baptisms

• III. Water Baptism Progressively Revealed

• IV. The One Baptism

TRANSITION We begin not with the many baptisms Scripture records, but with what baptism itself means — before we ask which one applies today.

SERMON

I. Defining Baptism

STATE

• Baptism is purification or cleansing unto sanctification and a new identification.

ANCHOR

Hebrews 9:8–10

“The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”

DEVELOP

A. The Old Testament Pattern of Cleansing

• The elements varied — fresh/running water, sprinkling water for leprosy, hyssop, blood at the altar, sacrifice, fire, ashes of a heifer — but the goal was constant: the removal of stains and impurities.

• The result was sanctification: the person or object made holy, regarded, and given access and privilege.

Cross-ref: Num. 31:22–23 — that which abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water | Lev. 15:14–15, 25–30 — washings tied to cleansing from various uncleanness

B.  Cleansing as the Doorway to a New Identity

•  Washing was never the endpoint — it was the entry point into a new office. Before Aaron and his sons could be clothed as priests, they were first washed with water; the washing itself identified them for what came next.

•  This is the pattern the word “identification” is drawn from: cleansing that visibly marks a person for a new standing and function they did not have before.

Cross-ref:  Exodus 29:4 — Aaron and his sons... thou shalt wash them with water  |  Leviticus 8:6–7 — Moses washed them with water... and put upon him the coat

C. The New Testament Names the True Agents

• Blood, word, and Holy Spirit are named as what actually cleanses — not water alone.

• The result is a new identification: for use, for relationship, for service.

1 Corinthians 6:11 “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Cross-ref: 1 John 1:7 — the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin | Eph. 5:26 — the washing of water by the word | Titus 3:5 — the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost

LAND

The pattern of biblical cleansing always issues in a new identification — set apart for God’s use. The real question is not whether baptism cleanses, but which baptism, and by what means.

TRANSITION But Scripture doesn’t speak of one washing only — it speaks of many baptisms.

II. The Doctrine of Baptisms

STATE

• The doctrine of baptisms — plural — is one of the foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ.

ANCHOR

Hebrews 6:1–2

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

DEVELOP

A. Three Baptisms Named in Matthew 3

• Water unto repentance — John, and later the disciples, with confession of sins.

• Christ baptizing with the Holy Ghost — gathering the wheat into the garner.

• Christ baptizing with fire — burning up the chaff, thoroughly purging the floor.

Cross-ref: Matt. 3:11–12 — I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance... he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire

B. Israel’s Baptism Unto Moses

• Israel was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea — dryshod, without water ever touching the people directly.

Cross-ref: 1 Cor. 10:2 — were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea

C. Summary of the Old Testament Pattern

• Divers washings; priests given access — a kingdom of priests; the people cleansed from sin, offering up spiritual sacrifices; John the Baptist as the type meeting its substance in Christ.

LAND

The doctrine of baptisms is not one act but many — a category, not a single ordinance. The question now is what became of water baptism within that category.

TRANSITION This doctrine of baptisms didn’t stay static — Scripture shows water baptism itself unfolding, and fading, across redemptive history.

III. Water Baptism Progressively Revealed

STATE

• Water baptism, within this doctrine, is progressively revealed — and just as clearly time-stamped.

ANCHOR

Hebrews 9:9–10

“Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”

DEVELOP

A. The Doctrine of Baptisms Is Time-Stamped

• The divers washings and carnal ordinances were imposed only until the time of reformation — a fixed sunset written into the text itself.

Cross-ref: Heb. 9:10 — divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation

B. The Great Commission and Mark’s Formula

• The baptism formula in the Great Commission and Mark’s belief/baptism statement belong to this same Gospel-era administration — pre-cross, addressed to the Eleven.

Cross-ref: Matt. 28:19 — baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost | Mark 16:16 — he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved

C. Acts Traces Water Baptism to Its Fading Point

• Acts names water explicitly in its early chapters — the Ethiopian eunuch, Paul’s own baptism, Lydia, the Philippian jailer, Crispus and the Corinthians.

• Cornelius’s household receives the Spirit by believing — before water is ever mentioned. The Ephesian disciples are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus — with no water named at all.

• From that point forward — through the riot, the trials, the voyage, and Paul’s ministry in Rome — baptism does not appear again; by Acts 28, it has dropped out of the narrative entirely.

Cross-ref: Acts 8:36, 38 — see, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized | Acts 9:18 — arose, and was baptized | Acts 16:15, 33 — she was baptized, and her household... was baptized, he and all his | 18:8 — believed, and were baptized | Acts 10:47 — can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized | Acts 19:4–6 — they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus | Acts 28:24–31 — Paul’s ministry in Rome, no baptism named

LAND

Water baptism is progressively revealed through the Gospels and Acts — then recedes as the church’s own doctrine unfolds. What remains, once the record falls silent?

TRANSITION If water baptism recedes, what baptism remains for the church today?

IV. The One Baptism

STATE

• The one baptism is not administered by human hands — it is an operation of God by His Spirit.

ANCHOR

Ephesians 4:4–6

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

DEVELOP

A. No Command to the Church to Baptize

• Outside the Old Testament, outside the Gospels and Acts, water baptism is barely discussed in the teaching given to the church. No epistle instructs the church to administer it — including the Pastorals. Paul himself distances his apostleship from the act.

Cross-ref: 1 Cor. 1:13–17 — Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel

B. Hebrews and Peter Both Rule Out a Fleshly Reading

• Hebrews time-stamps the divers washings as carnal ordinances, imposed only until the time of reformation. Peter denies the saving baptism is a fleshly washing, locating it instead in the conscience’s answer toward God, by the resurrection of Christ.

Cross-ref: Heb. 9:9–10 — carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation | 1 Pet. 3:21 — not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God

C. Every Named Agent Is Divine

• Wherever Scripture names who performs the true baptism, the agent is always God — the Spirit or the Word — never a man with hands.

Cross-ref: 1 Cor. 12:13 — by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body | Titus 3:5 — the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost

D. Baptized Into Christ

• The consistent pattern across the church epistles is identification “into Christ” — accomplished by God, not performed by hands.

Cross-ref: Rom. 6:3–4 — baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death | Gal. 3:27 — as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ | Col. 2:12 — buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him

LAND

Our identity is not set at a font — it is set the moment we believe, by the operation of God.

CONCLUSION

SUMMATION

• Baptism, rightly defined, is cleansing unto sanctification and a new identification.

• The doctrine of baptisms is plural, not singular — Matthew 3 alone names three, and Israel’s baptism unto Moses adds a fourth pattern entirely.

• Water baptism is progressively revealed through the Gospels and Acts, then recedes as the church’s own doctrine unfolds; no epistle instructs the church to administer it.

• The one baptism of Ephesians 4 is not performed by human hands — it is the Spirit’s operation, identifying every believer with Christ the moment they believe.

DOCTRINAL LANDING

• From the Old Testament’s typology to Ephesians’ declaration, the pattern of baptism moves from many washings performed by hands to the one baptism performed by God alone. This is not a rejection of what Scripture records about water — it is a recognition of where the New Testament’s own emphasis finally rests: on what God has done, not on what has been done to us.

• Every text that names an agent for the baptism that saves — Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27, Titus 3:5 — names God. The doctrine given to the church is not a call to a rite, but a declaration of a reality already accomplished.

APPLICATION OR EXHORTATION

First — do not confuse identification with administration. The one baptism is not something the church performs on you; it is something God has already done in you the moment you believed.

Second — hold the historical baptisms of Scripture — John’s, the Levitical washings, the baptism unto Moses — in their proper place: real, but time-bound, pointing forward to what Christ would accomplish.

Finally — rest your assurance where Peter placed it: not in the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but in the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That resurrection life is what the one baptism identifies you with.

CLOSING PRAYER

Father, we thank You that our standing before You was never dependent on what human hands could perform on us. Thank You that the one baptism of Ephesians 4 is Your own operation — that by Your Spirit You have joined us to Christ, buried us with Him, and raised us to walk in newness of life. Guard us from resting in any picture when we have already been given the reality it points to. Teach us to hold the ordinances You have given the church rightly — treasuring what they show forth, without mistaking the sign for the substance. In Christ’s name, Amen.