Church Series-The Baptism of the Spirit Identifies the Believer with Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 1, 2016
The Church Series: The Baptism of the Spirit Identifies the Believer with Christ
Lesson # 10
In Romans 6:3, 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:27, Paul is using the verb baptizo in a figurative or metaphorical sense to denote the Holy Spirit causing the believer to be “identified” with Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 By means of one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek (Gentiles), slaves or free, and we are all made to drink into one Spirit. (NASB95)
Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with the nature of Christ. (Author’s translation)
Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (NASB95)
“Have been baptized” is the first person plural aorist passive indicative form of the verb baptizo, “to cause the believer to be identified with” the Lord Jesus Christ.
At the moment of conversion, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit causes the believer to become identical and united with the Lord Jesus Christ and also ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The baptism of the Spirit results in positional sanctification and the potential to experience sanctification in time and the guarantee of perfective sanctification at the resurrection of the church.
By positionally, I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ since at the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit placed the believer in union with Christ, identifying him with Christ’s crucifixion (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20), His death (Romans 6:2, 7-8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3), His burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), His resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12; 3:1) and His session (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1).
Therefore, in 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:27 and Romans 6:3, the verb baptizo does not refer to water baptism but rather it refers to the act performed by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit on behalf of those sinners who exercise faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
This act places the believer in Jesus Christ in an eternal union with Jesus Christ and identifies them with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit causes the believer to become identical and united with the Lord Jesus Christ and also ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The church age believer’s “sanctification” is directly related to the baptism of the Spirit.
“Sanctification” is a technical theological term for the believer who has been set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of conversion in order to serve God exclusively and is accomplished in three stages: (1) Positional (2) Experiential (3) Perfective.
Sanctification deals with conforming the believer to the holiness of God and reproducing it in the believer.
“Positional sanctification” is the believer’s “entrance” into the plan of God for the church age resulting in eternal security as well as two categories of positional truth (1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Ephesians 5:26-27; Hebrews 2:11; 10:10; Acts 20:32; 26:18; Romans 6:3, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
“Retroactive” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His death and burial (Romans 6:3-11; Colossians 2:12).
In other words, when Christ, died God considers the believer to have died with Him.
Romans 6:4 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. (NASB95)
1 Corinthians 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. (NASB95)
Colossians 2:12 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)
“Current” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His resurrection, ascension and session (See Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4).
In other words, when Christ was raised and seated at the right hand of the Father, the Father considers the believer to have been raised and seated with Christ as well.
“Positional sanctification”: (1) What God has done for the church age believer. (2) His viewpoint of the church age believer. (3) Sets up the potential to experience sanctification in time. (4) Provides the believer with the guarantee of receiving a resurrection body.
“Experiential sanctification” is the function of the church age believer’s spiritual life in time through obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God (John 17:17; Romans 6:19, 22; 2 Timothy 2:21; 1 Peter 3:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 7; 1 Timothy 2:15).
The will of the Father is for the believer to obey the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which constitutes experiencing sanctification.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. (NASB95)
“Experiential sanctification” is the post-conversion experience of the believer who is in fellowship with God by confessing any known sin to the Father when necessary followed by obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Spirit through the Word of God.
Experiential sanctification is only a potential since it is contingent upon the church age believer responding to what God has done for them at the moment of conversion through the baptism of the Spirit.
Therefore, only believers who are obedient to the Word of God will experience sanctification in time.
“Experiential” sanctification is experiencing the holiness or in other words manifesting the character of God through one’s thoughts, words and actions (1 Peter 1:14-16).
“Perfective sanctification” is the perfection of the church age believer’s spiritual life at the rapture, i.e. resurrection of the church, which is the completion of the plan of God for the church age believer (1 Corinthians 15:53-54; Galatians 6:8; 1 Peter 5:10; John 6:40).
It is the guarantee of a resurrection body and will be experienced by every believer regardless of their response in time to what God has done for them at justification.
All three stages of sanctification refer to the process of conforming the believer into the image of Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s plan from eternity past (Romans 8:28-30).
Understanding the nature of the baptism of the Spirit and its implications is so very important for the Christian to understand and apply to their own life.
The Father’s viewpoint of the believer is directly related to the baptism of the Spirit.
As we have noted the believer is identified with Christ in His crucifixion, His deaths, His burial, His resurrection and session.
God views the believer as He views His Son in the sense that He looks at the believer as having been crucified with His Son, to have died and been buried with Him and raised and seated with Him at His right hand.
This is all the result of the work of the Spirit.
The believer’s responsibility is to appropriate by faith this fact!
Doing so, results in the believer experiencing their sanctification and deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system.
Ultimately, it leads to the glorification of the Father since if the believer appropriates by faith their position in Christ, they will manifest the character of Christ and to manifest the character of Christ is to glorify God.
To glorify God is to manifest His character.
No wonder the devil has done enormous amount of work in this area to cloud and confuse Christendom’s knowledge of the baptism of the Spirit.
My prayer for this study is that it will lead the Christian reader to further transformation into the image of Christ.