Only One Baptism

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving… And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross… Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:6,7,10-14,16,17). Within this passage of scripture there exists a ton of deliverance, power, and assurance in the Spirit of God for those who embrace the understanding therein. I only want to point out a few key elements of the passage that will provide a clear picture of what the apostle Paul was dealing with here, and what he was actually saying. First of all we are instructed to continue in Christ in like manner as we have received him. Contrary to modern Christian tradition, the ONLY way anyone truly receives Jesus is by being baptized BY him with the holy Ghost: “Now the Lord IS that SPIRIT: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Cor. 3:17). Make no mistake, the ‘liberty’ stated here is speaking of being liberated from sin in the heart and soul. And, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body [of Christ]” (I Cor. 12:13). And once more; “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have PUT ON Christ” (Gal. 3:27). So it is evident that we receive Christ by being baptized with the Spirit INTO Christ, whereby we literally “put on Christ.” That is the same as saying, “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit [with him]” (I Cor. 6:17).

The whole point in this passage is that we can only receive Jesus Christ by FAITH IN Jesus Christ. The point that Paul was making ABOUT faith in Christ was that the keeping of ANY carnal, symbolic ordinance has nothing to do WITH faith in Christ. So in understanding that there is no other Jesus here other than the holy Ghost, being “rooted and built up in him” means to continue following after the Spirit into true holiness AFTER we receive him. Also that is the ONLY way that we can be “stablished in THE faith,” as he stated. The point of us being “complete in him” is that we cannot add any carnal ordinance of any kind to the wholeness of spirit that results from our being baptized BY the Spirit INTO him literally, and thereby becoming “one spirit” with the Lord. To exemplify this point Paul goes on to say that we are circumcised BY THE SPIRIT when we RECEIVE the Spirit. Then he continues the point by saying that we are also “buried with [Christ] in baptism,” and also that we are risen [from sin] with him through that same baptism that comes by “the faith of the operation [power] of God,” which power “raised [Jesus] from the dead." Now the baptism he is talking about here, like the circumcision he mentioned; is BY THE SPIRIT, or the power of God, as he said. He goes on to say that we have been ‘quickened’ from the dead state of being in sin, through the remission OF our sins, which is by means of the Spirit baptism; wherein we have "put on Christ” and been thereby “joined to the Lord” (I Cor. 6:11). Not only so, but he clearly states that the carnal ordinances of the law, which only symbolized and pointed to the spiritual realities that Jesus died and rose again to establish; were “nailed to his cross,” being put to death along with sin, for all who are in him and abide in him. The passage finishes by Paul saying that we should allow NOBODY to impose upon us that we must keep some natural ordinance in order to be in ‘obedience’ to Jesus. He says that every carnal ordinance was only a shadow type of what Jesus provided for us after a spiritual order, and that now it is all about Jesus who “IS that SPIRIT.”

Now that is exactly what we have seen set forth by the scriptures here in this passage my friend, and my question is this: How in the world does the whole Christian world get from verse twelve that we are buried and risen with Christ through WATER baptism? That does't add up. Not only does it not add up, it has also caused the entire body of Christ to go BACKWARD from continuing in Christ as we have begun in him, like we are admonished to do in verse six. Friend, to go backward from the leading of God’s Spirit is to go back to sin, even as the unfaithful Israelites went back to Egypt in their hearts after being delivered from Egypt by the power of God (Acts 7:39). Do you really believe that in this passage and the entire chapter and book in fact, wherein Paul was making the point of being ‘complete’ by having and continuing in the Spirit; and that carnal ordinances are NOT a part of that process; that he stuck in the middle of it all: “By the way, make sure you’re water baptized?” Not on your life or mine my friend. It is NOT being obedient to Christ to be baptized in water, as he NEVER commanded anyone to be baptized in water. Matthew 28:19 is not even in the oldest Greek text of the new testament. It was inserted by the Catholic Church to uphold the erroneous ‘trinity’ doctrine that they invented. The original commandment issued by Jesus before he ascended to heaven was recorded as; “Go and make disciples of all nations, and have them observe all that I have commanded you.” Jesus did NOT preach carnal ordinances, but rather he preached the kingdom of God, and the “righteousness, and peace, and joy” that is therein (Rom. 14:17). The ONLY reason that HE was baptized was the same reason that he was circumcised; which was to FULFILL it and get it out of the way so that HE could be the all in all, as he himself along with John who baptized him, stated (Mat. 3:15; Jn. 3:30). The only ‘obedience’ to Jesus Christ that exists is to believe on him unto being baptized BY him with the Spirit, and continuing to be “led by the Spirit” into holiness continually thereafter (Jn. 7:38,39; Rom. 8:14; I Jn. 3:3). It really is that simple, and there really isn’t ANYTHING that can be added to that equation. Anything that attempts to be added to that pure simplicity can and will only DETRACT from that pureness. That my friend, is a long proven and sad fact. Amen.