HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN? BAPTISM

Baptism:

  People are confused as to the merits of water baptism. That shall presently be examined.

  Still in Antioch where they were first called Christians, the Gentiles were called and then persuaded; called by God and persuaded that Jesus is the way to salvation. For that to be, they believed that Jesus is God. The Gentiles at Antioch believed, but were they safe? I started to write “saved” but that will be addressed momentarily. What had Jesus told the apostles:

¹⁵ And He said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16)

  The apostles went to many places and had come back to Antioch. They had commenced the Great Commission; to wit: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” To the Jews, Gentiles were “creatures” in the sense that they were not living souls as they thought of themselves. “Living souls” (Gen 2:7) were “very good” creatures (Gen 1:31) with God in them. Adam and Eve, or mankind, were created in Glory and glorified.

  Apparently, Jesus came to change every “creature,” even “beasts” like the Gentiles into glorious creatures who glorify God. Adam, at the start, was a beast like the rest until God breathed life into him. “Life” is not animation but glorification. “Life” is when beastly creatures have the Spirit of God imbued unto them. “Living” then is God within. Adam lost his “life” when he ate of the forbidden fruit. What would revive, or regenerate, Adam? To have God’s Spirit breathed unto him again.

  God kept Adam “safe” with a coat of skins, and Eve as well (Gen 3:21). Safe for what event? When the dead in Christ shall arise to forever be with the Lord in Heaven (1 Thes 4:15-17). At that time, Adam and all those “dead in Christ” shall be with Jesus forever. Adam will finally have a re-genesis and be with God again. In other words, Adam will be regenerated as he was generated in the beginning.

  All those years, Adam’s soul has been preserved and safe from the evil one, and at the “rapture” God will breath again unto Adam’s soul, and Adam will be re-created a living soul. He will again have his “very good” glorious body imbued with God’s Holy Spirit. (More on imbuement shortly).

  Adam was protected by God for a future event. By grace God made them coats from the flesh of a living lamb. For the first time a creature died for mankind; a docile lamb creature. That was for safety until the Perfect Lamb of God would die for mankind as promised Adam (Gen 3:15).

  Now back to the Great Commission of Jesus to his disciples: They were all to preach the gospel; that is the truth about God — that Jesus is God in the Flesh, the Lamb of God promised since the beginning of the world. What would happen as they preached the truth? God would knock and all those who heard could either reject or believe. A decision was required and free will exercised.

  Not all that followed Jesus would continue the Way. After Paul and Barnabas extended their journey, it was necessary to backtrack. Why would they do that?

²¹ And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, ²² Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:21-22)

  To encourage them who previously believed to confirm the souls of converts and that they continue in the faith. The Gentiles at Antioch had been converted — they were called, persuaded, and with that “believed.” Remember the Words of Jesus? “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

  The new Christians at Antioch had believed, but they seemed to have not been baptized. Why would the apostles stop short of the Great Commission? They did not! They did not perform the Baptism of John in water, but Jesus Himself did the baptizing. The “Ghost” of Jesus came down and breathed life unto them. Acts chapter thirteen ends with, “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Act 13:52).

  Before Paul left the first time, the disciples at Antioch believed and were baptized with the Holy Ghost. Had Paul forgotten to baptize them with water as John had? Before the Holy Ghost descended, Luke had said, “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). A distinction was made there between water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Ghost — that would be the Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus. Jesus had not been concerned with John’s water baptism but His own. Belief and baptism for conversion is belief and reception of the Holy Ghost.

  Paul told the Galatians in his letter, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). He was speaking to the Church at Antioch in Pisidia in that letter as well.

  The disciples at Antioch had been baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with that, they had “put on Christ” or as He was called, the Lamb of God. There we have it again, God provided the flesh of a lamb to preserve Adam from the world, and He provided the Flesh of His Lamb again to preserve (keep safe) his creatures until the rapture. Death is gain because the soul is saved. The Rapture is perfection because the flesh is saved and reunited with the soul, making again “living souls” from those dead in Christ.

  Remember a few moments ago when you read that the apostles returned to Antioch, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith?” That was confirmation that the Holy Ghost had truly been put on and encouraging them to continue in the faith wherein they once believed. Paul feared that even those who he confirmed were Christians may have a change of heart. But had they not been “saved?”

  First off, “shall be saved” is a future event. It could be the next instant or many years thereafter. Most reformed churches take it to mean right now. The Greek word in that expression is sosos. It can be interpreted as “safe” or “saved.” The interpretation is based on context. Reformed doctrine would have it as “saved” and Arminian Doctrine implies “safe” in that security is conditional for the latter and unconditional for the former. What would be the “condition” for salvation? That Christians continue in the faith. That would imply that Christians can abandon the faith, and many Christians do; even those that ministers of the gospel have confirmed!

  Paul convinced some using signs. He brought the dead back to life. When he did that, the Gentiles thought that he was one of their gods — Zeus for Barnabas and Hermes for Paul. Signs did not work so well.

  The sign of the Holy Ghost had been as fire in Jerusalem. That was to convince the Jews who required a sign. On the other hand, Gentiles, influenced by the Greeks, would require wisdom (1 Cor 1:22). Hence, the Jews got their sign, but the Gentiles did not. Their Holy Ghost was put on like a coat, just as with Adam and Eve. Some Christians still want a sign but others take God’s Word for it — if the creature changes, the new creature has on the Holy Ghost.

  Water baptism is symbolic of that conversion from the old creature to the new. Putting on the Ghost of Jesus is the way God changed Adam from a sinful creature into a respectful, domesticated creature, and the same way he changes all those that are confirmed Christians. How would Paul confirm the new countenance of those at Antioch? By their countenance. He would judge them according to the joy they had when he had left them before.

  Those who had been baptized with the Holy Ghost at Antioch and other places had not been baptized by water the way that John did it. Others had been baptized with water and then received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Peter asked the other apostles, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” Remember that Paul had already confirmed that the converts at Antioch were Christians because they believed and had been baptized with the Holy Ghost. Water baptism was not confirmation that they were Christians. Joy was!

  Christians were Christians because God had baptized them by putting on them the Holy Ghost, and without the fanfare of fire, I might add. Water baptism came subsequently to their conversion from the old person to the new. Water baptism was a testimony to what had already occurred. Without the evidence of fire, the evidence would be by water. How so? Those joyous with their new persona would want others to know about their conversion. Water baptism is the sign that doubters need to believe. Those who insist that Christians need that sign surely doubt that the Holy Ghost has been imbued into them.

  With this commentary, I have refrained from using the expression, “filled with the Holy Ghost.” As seen from Adam’s “Comforter,” the Holy Spirit was more a “coat” which covered him. That is not so suspect when one considers John’s Baptism. The Holy Spirit did not fill or cover anyone except one: “And I knew him not: but He (the Father) that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, ‘Upon Whom (Jesus) thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost’” (John 1:33).

  Therein is John’s Baptism of water and Jesus’s Baptism with the Holy Ghost. In that passage, God’s Spirit came upon Jesus, not filled Him, and He was the only one! Then John made a distinction between baptisms. His was baptism in water to temporarily cover the flesh, and Jesus’s the baptism of the Holy Ghost which continually covers the flesh as the Comforter, just as Adam’s coat did.

  When will Adam be filled with the Spirit of God? When he is raptured by Jesus. How is Adam preserved until then? He is covered with God’s Holy Spirit as with a coat.

  The definition of pimplemi (Greek interpreted “filled’) is translated as: “filled” as with a sponge (Mat 27:48), “accomplished” (Luke 1:23), and emotion (Luke 4:28; Luke 5:26; Act 3:10). The sponge is more imbuement according to Strong’s Dictionary because sponges can be dampened or saturated. Perhaps the Christian is covered with the Holy Ghost until the rapture, then filled completely as Adam was in the beginning.

  Pentecostals look for the signs of the Holy Spirit. Paul only looked for joy. Joy can be emotional or attitudinal. Christian can be joyous without the emotion, and emotional people may be melancholic.

  For myself, I am not emotional, but I am joyous; I call my brother often to share my joy in what God has done in me. I don’t cheer for my ball team but am elated when they win, all the while remaining unemotional.

  People confuse emotions and countenance. My cousin came to me when in deep spiritual straits, because, he said, “I saw a twinkle in your eye.” He saw a countenance in me that was not always there. He did not see a jumping, shouting, David-like twirler; he merely saw a twinkle. If anyone needs the emotion, I can fake it for them anytime they choose. You may not feel as if you have the Holy Ghost, but if you are a confirmed faithful person, you do!

  Only you and God know how you are. Confirm your own faith. That is done not by your emotions but your faith. If you have continued in your faith, you indeed have the Holy Ghost who keeps you safe until Jesus saves you personally in the end!

(picture credit: Tonya Aevenshine "Rapture" Pinterest)