So, By "Grace Through faith" (Eph 2:8),The LORD "Accepts us In The
Beloved" (Eph 1:6), "BY The ONE Baptism Of The ONE Holy Spirit"
(Eph 4:5; 1Co 12:13), Into the (
Heavenly) Body Of Christ, but:
the brethren will
not accept us into the
local (earthly) congregation
without the
other "baptism of
water," performed
traditionally (Many
Different ways),
their way?
So,
Many congregations believe there are TWO baptisms with much
Confusion of "who, what, when, where, and why," when God Says,
In Scripture, "There is Only
ONE Baptism"?
Just sayin' or askin'...
Grace, Peace, And JOY In Christ,
And In His Word Of Truth,
Rightly
Divided(+
I and
II)!
Yes, there is too much confusion over baptisms. In scripture we do see the Holy Spirit baptise the disciples with fire at Pentecost, fulfilling Jesus' saying that He will baptise them with the Spirit.
But this isn't giving eternak salvation, they were baptised this way as a group. I also believe they were saved eternally (except for Judas) before Pentecost.
So that's Acts 2. Then thru Acts we see more instances of GROUPS having the Holy Spirit come 'in their midst'
This is again not about receiving eternal life. These are already converted groups that have become NT churches.. with the Holy Spirit coming to be their Comforter and Lampstand. Jesus also doing the same thing as the Holy Spirit as the Head of each church.
The key verse though us 1 co 12:13
The Corinthians and Paul were baptised by one Spirit into one body.
The KJV has the 'by one Spirit' with a capital S..
But according to some, this is a poor translation and should be being baptised 'IN one spirit (small s) into one body.
So it means a spirit of unity to be baptized by immersion in water in reference to the church they joined.
Therefore Paul would have been baptised by immersion in water in reference to I think it was the church Antioch and then the Corinthians to the church at Corinth.
Now.. so this is clearer, every other reference to body in Corinthians aside from Jesus own physical body.. is of a connected, assembled, unified local congregation.
Paul says to the Corinthians 'ye are the body of Christ'
That's not every believer.. that's the church at Corinth.
So then the odds are that 1 Co 12:13 is also of a local congregation. The one body Paul joined.. seperate from the Corinthians.. and the one body the Corinthians joined.
Got a problem with multiple bodies?
Jesus indwells each believer with the Holy Spirit.. is that millions and millions of Holy Spirit's? No!