Church Series-The Baptism of the Spirit and the Water Baptism
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday October 26, 2016
The Church Series: The Baptism of the Spirit and Water Baptism
Lesson # 8
The Bible teaches that water baptism is emphatically not the means by which a person gets saved.
The sinner is saved through faith alone in Christ alone (John 3:16-18; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16).
“Baptismal regeneration” is the teaching which contends that a sinner is regenerated by observing water baptism.
It is taught by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, some Pentecostal sects (notably the anti-trinitarian United Pentecostal Church and other “Jesus Only” groups), and pseudo-christian cult groups such as the Mormons.
Baptismal regeneration is also the doctrinal stance of many teachers and preachers within the Restoration Movement, sometimes called Campbellism (from its founder, Alexander Campbell), whose members are mainly found in churches called Churches of Christ or Independent Christian Churches.
Proponents of baptismal regeneration argue that water baptism is an essential part of salvation because, in their view, it is in the act or ceremony of water baptism that we are born again.
The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Ephesians 4:5 states dogmatically that there is only one baptism that matters, Spirit baptism.
Both passages teach that there is one Spirit, God the Holy Spirit and therefore, only one baptism.
In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul addresses the problem of divisions in the Corinthian church and he specifically mentions water baptism.
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. 16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. (NASB95)
Some believers made water baptism an issue, which resulted in divisions among believers in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:10).
Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 that water baptism was a non-essential and he emphasizes the fact that Christ sent him to preach the gospel and not to baptize with water (1 Corinthians 1:17).
The apostle emphasizes the importance of having the same mind, which refers to being unified in their doctrine (1 Corinthians 1:10).
The Corinthians were occupied with non-essentials such as tongues and water baptism and not with Bible doctrine, which is the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
The baptism in the Holy Spirit was defined by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, as being a distinctive part of the ministry of Christ.
He contrasted the baptism of water with the baptism in the Spirit.
Mathew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (NASB95)
Mark 1:8 “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (NASB95)
Luke 3:16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (NASB95)
John 1:32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” (NASB95)
Romans 6 teaches that baptism is being placed into Christ and identified with Him in His death and resurrection.
In this passage, the believer is not baptized into water, but into the death of Christ or more accurately identified with Christ in His death.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 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. 5 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. (NASB95)
Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (NASB95)
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience -- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (NASB95)
Notice what Peter says as he states that it is not water that is used in baptism, it is the Spirit who is poured out and regenerates the sinner who trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior.
It is also significant that Jesus never performed water baptism on anyone.
If water baptism was essential to salvation, why wasn’t the Lord practicing it?
John 4:1 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.” (NIV)
Water baptism was a teaching aid to instruct believers that when they believed in Christ, the Holy Spirit placed them in union with Christ identifying them with Christ in His death and resurrection.
When the believer was dipped underneath the water, this portrayed the reality that the Holy Spirit identified them with Christ in His death and when they were taken up out of the water, this portrayed that they were identified with Christ in His resurrection.
When the believer was dipped underneath the water, this portrayed that he was now dead to the cosmic system of Satan, the Law and the old sin nature and when he was taken up out of the water.
It portrayed the fact that they were now a new creation and were to walk in newness of life.
Baptism meant a clean break with the past and the old creation marred by sin and ruled by Satan.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (NASB95)
Characteristics of the baptism of the Spirit:
(1) Invisible.
(2) Eternal in Nature.
(3) Not related to any form of human merit or works.
(4) Obtained at the moment the sinner is declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ.
(5) Performed by God the Holy Spirit and not by men.
(6) Not water baptism.
(7) Not felt.
(8) Not an experience.
(9) Not an external activity.
(10) Not speaking in tongues.
(11) Not emotion.
(12) Can’t be improved upon.