CARNAL BAPTISM

 

  “Carnality” in the Christian lexicon is certainty that only one’s own belief is the correct one. It is dogmatism — that your own principles are incontrovertibly true. Denominations were formed for two reasons: (1) Dogmatism or (2) heresies. Oftentimes heresies are dogmatism that divides but at other times it is just misunderstanding of the Doctrine of Christ.

  Paul pointed out to the Corinthians that he had no doctrine of his own and neither did Apollos. Both were Doctrines of Christ, apparently presented in different ways. It was about baptism. First off, Apollos was knowledgeable, and Luke described him:

²⁴ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. ²⁵ This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. ²⁶ And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. (Act 18:24-26)

  Apollos taught what he had experienced, and that was the baptism of John — repentance for the remission of sins. “Repentance”  is both turning from sin AND dedication to refrain from further sinning. It is what the person does. “Remission” is negating the punishment for wrongdoing. It does not make the sin as if it never existed, which some misconstrue as “justification,” but that the sin is cleansed from the conscience of a believer. The person cannot do that. That is a teaching of psychology. God does the remission, and the cleansing agent is not just water but the “water and blood” of Jesus, to wit:

This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (1 John 5:6)

  Jesus baptized one time, but He was only with them when others baptized (John 3:22-23). When He died, He “gave up the Ghost” and with one breath He remitted all the sins of mankind and baptized them with His Holy Ghost (Mark 15:37). How was the baptism accomplished? The Holy Ghost of Jesus performed the rite. As the Ghost of Jesus was released, the “detergents” flowed freely when, “One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34).

  The Holy Cross was the baptism of Adam. His dust is said to be at Calvary, aka Golgotha — the place of the skull. Whose skull? Adam’s! [1] When the blood and water flowed down the cross, indubitably, it washed the sins of Adam away. “Adam” is man. Consider what Paul told the Romans:

As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned …For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Rom 5:12,19)

    Jesus, “God’s Flesh,” seemed to have baptized one “man” for all since by that one man, sin entered unto the world. He washed away Adam’s dust, and because all men, not just the Hebrews, are his “seed,” the death of Jesus was the Baptism with Jesus’s Holy Ghost.  Because Christ was made “obedient” as the second Adam, and because Adam is the father of all men, many shall be made righteous.

  Some distort baptism of the water and the blood. As I wrote recently, there are only two baptisms: Baptism of John  and by those who did the ritual as John did, and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost whose Baptism only the Ghost of Jesus was able to do, as is written on the synoptic gospels about John: “I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mark 1:8). Just what then is the baptism by the apostles? It is baptism by water representing water and the blood. Why “representing?” Because Jesus had not yet baptized the “whosoever” in John 3:16 by shedding his blood and emitting the water from within Him. Just what kind of water was that flowing from the Savior’s abdomen?

  Remember that God breathed the Holy Spirit into Adam but did not Eve? (Gen 2:7). When Eve was generated, she came not from Adam’s “rib” as is translated, but from the Hebrew, the “side chambers” (Strong’s Dictionary), much as in the Temple. Adam was the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and Eve surely had the Spirit breathed unto her through Adam. Like Adam who surely had God’s Spirit flowing from him unto Eve (the mother of all), the Second Adam had His Spirit flow from His abdomen to the souls of Eve and her seed. With His death, “Living Water” flowed from Jesus. Now consider this:

³⁸ He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹ But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:38-39)

  John defined “Living Waters” as the “Holy Spirit.” In the KJV only, the Greek word, “pneuma,” is used for both “spirit” and “ghost.” The difference is one of experience. The Spirit of God (Jesus) at His death became identified as the Holy Ghost of Jesus.

  The question is, when was Jesus glorified? It may have commenced at the Transfiguration of Jesus but was “finished” as Jesus Himself acknowledged when He “gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). With that information, there were two events available for Baptism of the Holy Ghost. The first event was for the man from whom all sin came to all. The Father made the Holy Ghost available to His first son, Adam, by the blood of His Second Son, Jesus. That was the first occasion, and the second was in Acts 2 when the Holy Ghost was made available to all who trust the blood and water of Jesus for the remission of sins.

  Remember the story of Esau and Jacob? Esau is symbolic of Adam and Jacob (Israel) symbolic of Jesus. Esau should have been heir to Isaac by the law of primogeniture as the first-born son. But Israel was, although he was the second son. His inheritance was by the grace of his father, Isaac, who represents the heavenly Father.

  It turned out that the birth of the twins (Esau and Jacob) was a preview of what the Cross would do. It rejected the first son in favor of the second but blessed the first son (Adam) just as Esau had been blessed. Where was the symbolic blood and water with the birth of Esau and Jacob? The natural birth of blood and water, signifying that only rebirth in the same manner could be accomplished. Hence, baptism by water is not rebirth, but baptism by the Holy Ghost which is the Living Water and the Blood (Purpose) combined.

  No one baptized before the Holy Ghost ascended were properly baptized. The water was no more effective than with the baptism of John. Even after the Holy Ghost came, some had the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, but not the baptism of John. Others had the baptism of John but were later baptized by the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.

  Christian baptism is more like the baptism of John but for one thing — rather than for repentance of remission of sin, it is symbolic of the remission of sins. Since the believer has trusted the water and the blood, the Holy Ghost flows, not from the preacher, but from the God unto the believer just as it did from the Word, Jesus, unto Adam.

  Now back to the problem in Corinth. Apollos seemed to have a wrong viewpoint about the efficacy of water baptism since he only knew the baptism of John However, he already had a “fervent Spirit.” Apollos had received the Holy Ghost when he first believed but thought it when he was baptized by John. The Baptism of John allowed the Holy Spirit to reside on one person only — Jesus (John 1:33). All that happened to any of the others was no more than Jewish ceremonial cleansings as with the Molten Sea in the Temple of Solomon. That was a Temple built carnally by hands of men. Now consider that the Baptism of John (in moving water) was not the same as the Baptism of the Holy Ghost in Living Water:

² He said unto them (in the absence of their teacher, Apollos), “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” And they said unto him, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” ³ And he said unto them, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” And they said, “Unto John's baptism.” ⁴ Then said Paul, “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” ⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (Act 19:2-6)

  Apollos had been teaching them the Baptism of John in water as efficacious, but rather, it was Baptism by the Holy Ghost alone as in Galatia where the, “The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Act 13:52) without water baptism as with John.

  Paul (above) understood the error of Apollos. Paul did things right. The baptism of John had been for repentance. Now it was for remission. He then baptized with the Baptism of Jesus (aka, Baptism of the Holy Ghost since Jesus has been glorified at that time.) Paul baptized them, but it was not water that brought forth the Holy Ghost; it was Paul’s hand that had virtue flow onto them. How was that possible? Just like Adam with Eve, “Living Water” flowed from Paul to the believers, just as Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). That’s how Eve received the Holy Spirit from Adam in the early glorious times.

  The Holy Ghost of Jesus flowed from the soul of Paul to the believers. It was not the Spirit of Paul as he told the Corinthians, but the Ghost of Jesus. Neither had Living Water flowed from Apollos because he performed only water baptism. That was an issue in the Church of Corinth. They followed Apollos, but Paul insisted that neither could he be followed. The Baptism of Paul was not effective; it was always and only Baptism in the Name of Jesus and washing by His Water and Blood — the Living Water of the Holy Ghost of Jesus. With that said, why baptize believers with water at all? Because those who live in the tents (Tabernacles) of Jews, require a sign (1 Cor 1:22).

  Apollos still had the Holy Ghost without further baptism. Whether Apollos was ever rebaptized or not is unknown, but it seems that his water baptism was enough because it was symbolic. What was important for Apollos? He had the Holy Ghost. Note that Paul never said that Apollos was not a Christian, but that the doctrine of Apollos was divisive. Whether water baptism was effective or even required divided the Church at Corinth.

  Paul made a point there — that the teaching of Apollos was carnal. He inferred that baptism with the hands of men was not efficacious just as the works in the Temple with the Molten Sea was ineffective and carnal. Apollos was a minister in the Church of Christ, but his doctrine of baptism was carnal and wrong. He was not an evil person, but only misunderstood the Doctrine of Christ.

  The Church at Corinth was dogmatic. There were divisions. The dividers were endeavoring to restore the doctrine of the Jews, thinking that washing by the hands of men is effective in the remission of sins. In like manner, the modern-day “Church of Christ” is dogmatic on that point and is more like the Synagogue of the Jews than the true Church of Christ. The doctrine of many in the  “Churches of Christ” damns those who are not baptized their way, without regard to the Way of Jesus. It was not Paul’s “ghost” that the Spirit delivered through his hands but the Holy Ghost of Jesus flowing freely without water.

  What I write is not my own belief but what the Holy Ghost led me to believe. The Holy Ghost leads those in the Churches of Christ as well as long as they have Him within. Like Apollos, they merely misunderstand. Aquila and Priscilla taught Apollos better, and that is what I am attempting; not to offend but to eliminate discord and to have accord within the universal Church of Christ. Please consider this message worthy of consideration and do not be like the disciples at Corinth — the “Church Not of Christ,” but the “Church of Apollos.”

  So, what is carnal baptism? It is that baptism performed by men is saving. That is  not damnable doctrine, but wrong doctrine. It is due to misunderstanding, not heresy.

(picture credit: YouTube; O Brother Where Art Thou, "Sins Being Washed Away")

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[1] For more refer to my book, The Skull of Adam, and why it is believed to lie under the cleft at Golgotha. To this day, that cleft exists and is a shrine to Adam. His burial there is acknowledge in sacred literature.