Baptized into One Body

I have something fairly short and to the point today, yet it is as integral to the spiritual and physical healing of the body of Christ as anything can be. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). Let's quote that one more time for emphasis: "For - by - one- Spirit - are - we - all - baptized - into - one - body..." We'll leave it there since that is really the point. Do you realize how incredibly powerful and revealing that one verse truly is, and how much universally accepted religious tradition that it dispels? What that one scripture tells us is that there is only one way for anyone to get into the "one body" of Christ, the only congregation of God in this world (Eph. 4:4). And that one way is exactly what the scripture says it is - The baptism of the holy Ghost. Not water baptism, but as the scripture states, the baptism of the Spirit. This is the same holy Ghost baptism that John the Baptist said Jesus was coming to provide, and likewise it was the same Spirit baptism that Jesus commanded his followers to wait for, just before he left (Mk. 1:7,8; Acts 1:4,5). And it is the same baptism of the holy Ghost that fell on about 120 of his followers who followed his last instructions. It is also the same Spirit baptism that moved all of those 120 to "speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4). And that sign has never been removed from the experience, or at least not by God. Everyone who has received the experience knows that for personal fact, and every time the Spirit baptism is received by a hungry, believing soul, that scriptural truth is confirmed. There simply is no such thing as receiving the holy Ghost without the sign that God provided to go along with this new birth experience that Jesus suffered and died for. Speaking with other tongues is God's witness that someone has truly and fully repented, and truly and fully believed on, and relied on his Son for the remission of their sins (Isa. 28:11,12; Mat. 11:28; Acts 3:19; I Jn. 5:6,9; Jn. 15:26).

Now let's look at what this scriptural reality really means to us today. The body of Christ is the only thing that a true believer in Christ can be a part of in this life, that is of God. The body of Christ is in the kingdom of God, and in fact we are told that "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy, IN THE HOLY GHOST" (Rom. 14:17). So it is clearly evident that being "born of the Spirit" into the kingdom of God is the exact same thing as being baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (Jn. 3:5,6; I Cor. 12:13; Rom. 14:17). What this means is that the Christian traditions of "getting saved," "accepting the Lord as your personal savior," and "confessing Jesus as Lord," are all erroneous and not at all in conformity with scriptural truth. Don't misunderstand me, we don't want to "get lost," or "deny Jesus as our savior," or "refuse to confess Jesus as Lord." The problem is that Christianity uses these phrases as a means of being converted to Christ. These terminologies represent to the entire Christian world a born again experience, when in fact there is no such born again experience in the Bible. These are shortcuts into Christ that anyone can do, but the truth is none of these things get ANYONE into Christ. If you will recall, the Bible says that the holy Ghost baptism is the ONLY way anyone can get into Christ. And it is obvious according to the scriptures that getting into Christ is the new birth experience: "Therefore IF any man be IN CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). There it is my friend, no one can become a "new creature" apart from getting into Christ, and there is nobody in Christ who was not baptized by the Spirit to get there. If this foundational truth can be acknowledged by all of God's people, or at least by a large number; and the false "new births" of Christianity be put away like the idols and "high places" of old testament times, we will see the beginning of unity and healing in the body of Christ. That is a guarantee. Amen.