The Spirit absolutely baptizes people but His medium is not water.
The Holy Spirit baptizes each believer into the Body of Christ.
”For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…”
A nice reminder that He, the Spirit, determines our place in the Body. More importantly, He determines how the church should receive another believer in the Spirit.
“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”
who created the doctrine of baptism for remission of sins ?
The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?”
Luke 20:4 KJV
“
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same
came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.”
John 1:6-7 KJV
God established baptism in the Bible
God sent John to baptize the people in preparation for the messiah
“But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife
Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and
he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And
many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God….. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but
he shall be called John.
And his father Zacharias was
filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: For
thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, And
the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”
Luke 1:13, 15-16, 60, 67, 76-78, 80 KJV
Its important for us to realize
baptism is a design of God it’s God who sent John to establish the doctrine of baptism for repentance and remission of sins. God is behind what John was doing this new doctrine called “baptism for remission of sins “
Hohn was just carrying out
Gods design for baptism and foretelling the reception of the Holy Ghost later
this was Gods design for
men to act on his word promising remission of sins .
If we remove all the actions and elements from the doctrine of baptism it just becomes something we say and then later things like this don’t really make any sense but imagine if a person had been baptized by immersion in water how this would sound different
“Know ye not, that
so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. For
if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:”
Romans 6:3-5 KJV
See if I had been baptized in jesus name in water buried beneath the water and raised up this is addressed to me and is exactly loaning why I was buried beneath the water and raised up again .
or again here
Remember the term from the gospel “ baptism for remission of sins “
“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.”
Colossians 2:11-12 KJV
Do you see how baptism by immersion makes all of that make sense but if we had removed baptism by immersion being buried beneath the water and raised up on his name none of that makes any sense at all but Paul’s speaking to those who had been baptized explaining the workings of it to them and power of it to operate in us by faith baptism is and always was performed in water the spirit comes from God in heaven that’s not a doctrine for us but a promise he made to believers
“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and
preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See,
here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said,
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And
he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”
Acts 8:35-38 KJV
“While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then
answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to
be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”
Acts 10:44, 46-48
the only relevance to baptism is that God established water baptism for remission of sins and John was also filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb sent by God John the Baptist established the one baptism and Jesus later gave the holt ghost as John foretold
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