Salvation-Salvation and the Christian's Identification with Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 16, 2015
Salvation: Salvation and the Christian’s Identification with Jesus Christ
Lesson # 12
During the dispensation of the church age when a sinner exercises faith alone in Christ alone, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit places that person in an eternal union with Christ, thus identifying the believer positionally with Christ in His crucifixion, death, resurrection and session.
This results in the believer being delivered from eternal condemnation, condemnation from failing to keep the Law perfectly, spiritual death, the sin nature, personal sins, Satan and his cosmic system.
It also results in making the believer a permanent member of the royal family of God, a new spiritual species and eternally secure (Mark 16:16; John 7:37-39; 14:20; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:11-13; 1 Peter 3:21).
This is called the “baptism of the Spirit.”
To be identified with Christ means that the Holy Spirit has made the justified sinner identical and united with the Lord Jesus Christ and also means that the Spirit ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This does not mean that the believer becomes the second person of the Trinity, but rather it means that God views the believer as having been crucified, died and buried with Christ two thousand years ago as well as raised and seated with Him.
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.
This ministry of the Spirit never took place before the day of Pentecost in June of 33 A.D. and will not take place after the rapture of the church.
The completion of the royal family of God at the rapture will mark the end of the baptism of the Spirit.
The baptism of the Spirit distinguishes the church age from other dispensations.
There was no church before the baptism of the Spirit.
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 promise 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 Him 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.
At the moment of the moment the believer was declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit caused the believer to become identical and united with the Lord Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, His spiritual and physical death, His burial, resurrection and session.
It 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.
“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.
“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 to be restored to fellowship and which fellowship is maintained 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 him at the moment of conversion, therefore, only believers who are obedient to the Word of God will experience sanctification in time.
“Experiential” sanctification is experiencing the holiness of Go 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 salvation.
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).