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Transcript 501A — How Can There Be Only One Baptism?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I was reading about baptism, and it seems to be a little bit complicated, and there seems to be a lot of confusion among some people. Maybe you could shed some light on the subject. The problem is that John the Baptist, in Matthew 3:11, said that "I baptize with water, but He that is greater than I shall come after me and shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And then we read that there's only one baptism. By the Holy Spirit we are baptized into one body. And in Mark 16:15-16 we find that it says, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Does that mean by water or by the Holy Spirit and the baptism that Christ was talking about?
HC: All right. Let me see if I can unscramble this for you. First of all, let's talk about John's baptism. What was it? John's baptism was really part of the Old Testament ceremonial law In the Old Testament there were at least 4 signs that demonstrated or pointed to the washing away of our sins. There was the killing of a lamb, that is, the shedding of blood of a lamb or an oxen, because Christ would shed His blood on the cross. That was one sign that they employed to show that their sins would be washed away by the coming Messiah.
A second was to offer a burnt offering, whether it was a meal offering or a turtledove offering or a meat offering. And that was pointing to the burnt offering that Christ was.
A third sign was circumcision. The foreskin was cut off, symbolizing the fact that through the coming Messiah their old sins would be cut away. And a fourth sign was water ablutions or baptism. The priest, for example, before he went about his priestly duties, washed in a basin or a laver of water that was in the temple area. And you'll recall at the Wedding at Cana of Galilee, in John 4, the water that was in the six stone jars was water of purification. It was water used in the Old Testament, pre-cross, ceremonial rites. And that was the nature of the baptism of John the Baptist. It was really part of the Old Testament ceremony.
Now when Christ speaks of baptism, that we are to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, that is speaking of the New Testament or after-cross baptism. The word baptism means cleansing or washing. And the baptism in the Holy Spirit means that we've become born again and that our sins have been washed away through the blood of Christ. It's a description of what occurs when we are saved. And every born again believer experiences this. This is what Mark 16 is talking about, those who believe and are baptized, not baptized in water, but baptized in the Holy Spirit, that is, who have had their sins washed away.
CALLER: Why do so many people baptize in water?
HC: Christ gave an outward sign, after the cross, to show that we had joined the Kingdom of God, just as before the cross there were 4 signs. There was the offering of a blood sacrifice, there was the offering of a burnt offering, there was circumcision, and there were washings of various kinds. All of these were signs to indicate that they had placed their trust in the coming Messiah. Now after the cross, all those 4 signs were done away with. They were completed in Christ. They're not to be used again. But after the cross Christ introduced one sign, namely, water baptism, as a sign that we have entered the Kingdom of God, or become identified with the Kingdom of God.
CALLER: How do you get this, because it says there is only one baptism?
HC: You see, there's only one burnt offering, too, that has any merit. The burnt offering that they offered in the Old Testament had no substance in itself It could not wash away their sins. It was merely a shadow. It was merely a reflection of the burnt offering that would be the Lord Jesus Christ.
CALLER: The Bible says there's only one baptism, which is by the Spirit into the body of Christ. Now are you talking about two baptisms, one of water and one of the Spirit.
HC: No. I'm talking about one baptism. Let me explain that. The baptism that is efficacious, that actually involves the saving of us, is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That's something that is done within our hearts, which we cannot see. God does that.
The water baptism has no substance in itself. It has no merit, it has no grace. It is a shadow. It is a reflection of what the baptism in the Spirit is. Let me use this analogy. If you have a tree, and the sun is shining, it will cast a shadow. Now the true is what has substance. The shadow has no substance. If you took the shadow away, the tree would still stand.
CALLER: You know, that's poor reasoning on your part, because the slaying of the lamb was the shadow of the coming of Christ.
HC: Yes.
CALLER: Now according to you, then we should slay the lambs every time and sacrifice them, because that proclaimed something to come.
HC: No. Now remember, we have the before-cross laws which God laid down, and the after-cross. Let's again talk about before the cross. Before the cross the substance was in the Lamb who was the Lord Jesus Christ. When John the Baptist saw Him, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." That's where the substance was.
The shadow was in the sacrifice of the lambs or the oxen, and the burnt offerings and the circumcision, and all these other things. These were shadows. They had no substance. They could not cleanse anyone from their sins or free anyone from their sins.
CALLER: You didn't say anything about water baptism.
HC: All right. Now let's go after the cross. After the cross the substance is in the activity of the Holy Spirit in washing away our sins. That's the substance. The shadow is in the water baptism, which merely is a sign to indicate that we have had our sins washed away.
CALLER: That doesn't bear out. For one thing, a person can be baptized and not be in the body of Christ. He can be baptized with water and not have his name in God's Book of Life.
HC: You're correct. You're absolutely right. You could be baptized a hundred times in water, and it wouldn't mean a thing, because water baptism has no substance.
CALLER: Why bother with it?
HC: Because Christ commanded it.
CALLER: He commanded?
HC: Yes. It's just like the Old Testament believer. He could offer a thousand sacrifices, and that didn't save him in any way whatsoever. Well, why did he do it? Because God had commanded that he should do it, that he should offer these sacrifices. And through these sacrifices he would be able to see the nature of the Messiah who was coming.
Now through our water baptism we get a picture of the nature of the cleansing that was provided by the blood of Christ.
CALLER: Where did Christ command us after the cross to use water baptism?
HC: We find it both in the statement of Matthew 28, where He said, "Make disciples, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," and we also find it in at least three or four instances, maybe more than that, where someone did become saved. We find, for example, when the Samaritans were saved that they were baptized in water. When the family of Cornelius was saved, they were baptized in water. When the 12 Ephesians were saved, they were baptized in water. When the family of Lydia was saved, they were baptized in water. When the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 was saved, he was baptized in water. You see, we have all these examples.
CALLER: If you use that kind of reasoning, why don't you carry it out throughout the whole Bible? They also spoke in tongues, and they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And there were other things. Now you say that was carried over and done away with. So was the water, because there was one time when Peter went to preach to people, and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then why didn't he baptize them with water, too? God was showing him right there and then that he could be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and if he was baptized with the Holy Spirit, then why bother with the water? It doesn't make sense.
HC: Well, only because Christ has commanded it. You have to read the Bible very carefully. You'll find that to be baptized in the Holy Spirit means that we have become saved. And if we have become saved, then we are to be baptized in water. That's why the Ethiopian eunuch said, "Here is water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?"
CALLER: That water baptism baptizing the eunuch was just like people laying their hands on, and they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which they don't do now. Now when Christ said, "Go baptizing them," He meant to go and preach the Gospel, and that's the way you get them baptized. That's the way that Christ is going to baptize, when they hear the Gospel, and Christ will be able to baptize them with the Holy Spirit. The only things that counts is Holy Spirit baptism. The water baptism doesn't mean anything.
HC: Well, it has no substance in itself. But why then do we find five or six illustrations where after people are saved, they are baptized? You see, look at the Philippian jailer, for example. When he was saved, straightway he was baptized. And we find Lydia and her family were baptized.
CALLER: If you're going to use that kind of reasoning, then why use that same kind of reasoning about the laying on of hands and speaking in tongues, too?
HC: Because other scriptures apply to that. You see, tongues, for example, was a legitimate phenomenon in the church at Corinth of that day, by which certain individuals did receive information from God in an unknown language, But later on God specifically said that we're not to add to the words of this book. So that set aside that possibility.
Now if later on, let's say, in Revelation, God used language to indicate that water baptism was no longer employed, then I would agree with you. Then we would set it aside. But God has not given us a revelation like that. And so we have to continue using it.
CALLER: He has given that, because He told Peter, when Peter went to the Gentiles He said to the first Gentiles he preached to, "Did you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" Now there's only one baptism in the Bible. There's one baptism, one Christ, one faith. And this Cornelius received it. Peter went on his own to baptize him with water also. He goofed over there.
HC: No. You see, that's why I was using the analogy of the tree and the shadow. Think this out a second. The tree has a shadow. The shadow has no substance, but it's totally identified with the tree. If you move the tree, the shadow moves. And yet the tree can exist without the shadow. But the shadow cannot exist without the tree.
And so it is with water baptism, which is the shadow of baptism in the Holy Spirit. The water baptism has no substance in itself. The baptism is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is one baptism. The water baptism is simply reflection of that baptism in the Holy Spirit,
CALLER: I just told you that Peter went and preached to Cornelius, and Cornelius was baptized, so the water baptism didn't have to precede it. God could baptize in the Holy Spirit without the water baptism.
HC: Of course. You're absolutely correct. The water baptism is no guarantee of salvation, nor is it a requirement for salvation. You're absolutely correct. But Christ commands us. It's the same as when we partake of Holy Communion. We don't derive any grace from Holy Communion. It again is a shadow. "Do this in remembrance of Me." In the Old Testament they had the Passover. Now when they partook of the Passover, they didn't receive any grace because of that. That is, there was no substance in that. It was pointing to the broken body of their Lord, who was going to come.
And in the Holy Communion we simply remember what Christ did for us on the cross. It is a shadow of what Christ did on the cross in paying for our sins. But we observe Holy Communion because God has commanded it. We can't argue that it doesn't make sense. The question is, are we going to be obedient to what God has stated?
CALLER: Well, are you going to interpret it right or not? That's the thing, because Christ did not command water baptism.
HC: All right. Well, we've covered this pretty well in our discussion together, and so I want to thank you so much for calling, because it gave us an opportunity really to look at this question of baptism. Thank you very much. Good night.