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10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
What
We Believe and Why
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1986
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
BAPTIZED INTO THE BODY
I COR. 12:13
We believe that when a person is saved, he becomes a member of the family of God. We do not believe that automatically makes him a member of the Lord's church, which we believe is His body. To become a member of the church, he must follow the Lord in scriptural water baptism. In so doing, he becomes a member of the church.
This chapter is designed to show why we believe this and at the same time to show the truth of I Cor. 12:13, and to eliminate false assumptions about it.
I. The body under consideration in this text is the church:
A. The context of I Cor. 12 shows the subject under discussion to be the body of Christ, which in this case was the church at Corinth:
1. I Cor. 12:12 says even as the natural body, being made up of many members is one; likewise the body of Christ, being made up of many members is one.
2. It is to those many members in Corinth that Paul addresses this book. He calls them "the church of God which is at Corinth", (I Cor. 1:2), and says to this identical group in I Cor. 12:27, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."
3. Notice that these Corinthians are not called a part of the Body: they are the body just as each human constitutes a whole body. Likewise each church constitutes the body of Christ.
B. The body, which is the Lord's church, has always been and now is, a visible, local body of born again, scripturally baptised believers, called out to assemble in a specific place at a specific time to carry out definite work:
1. Only a local church could assemble and observe the ordinances which are prescribed. I Cor. 11:2, 17-34.
2. Scripturally, the officers of a church were only to serve one particular congregation; never were they to serve in a general sense over two or more congregations or over just any and every congregation where they might go.
3. God gave instructions only to a particular church or body to administer discipline and bind and loose with heaven's authority. Matt. 18: 17-18.
C. The Bible specifically declares the body to be the church:
1. Col. 1:18 plainly says, "He is the head of the body, the church..."
2- Again the truth is clearly set forth in Eph. 1:22-23, "And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body. ."
3. Since there is "one body" (Eph. 4:4) and the local church is definitely a body (I Cor. 12:27); then the only kind of church there is, is a local visible church.
4. Since other chapters of this book are devoted to showing both that the body and the church are one and the same as well as the fact that both speak only of a local assembly; we shall not labor the point here.
5. We simply want to make clear that the body, into which the baptism of I Cor. 12:13 puts one, is a local church.
II. The baptism which puts one into the church (body) is water baptism:
A. We emphatically reject the contention that the baptism referred to here is some mystical "Holy Spirit baptism."
1. Eph. 4:5 says there is "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."
2. If believers automatically receive a Holy Spirit baptism at the time of the new birth, then water baptism must be a second baptism; and such a contention as that would render untrue Paul's Holy Spirit inspired statement that there is "one baptism."
3. We know that at faith one is "born" of the Spirit (John 3:5, 1 Pet. 1:23), but a birth in no way is a baptism.
4. Unbelievers shall experience a baptism of fire (Mat. 3:11, compare II Thes. 1:8); and the Apostles were baptized in (not by) the Holy Ghost at Pentecost (Acts 1:5). But,the only baptism outside of that is water baptism.
B. That people are added to the church by water baptism is seen elsewhere in God's Word:
1. in Acts 2:41 the Bible says, "Then they that gladly receive his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."
2. Notice that only such as were saved and baptized did the Lord add to the Church, compare verse 41, 47.
3. It is easy to see that there is a vast difference in being "added to the Lord" as we shall discuss in Part III and in being added unto "them" (Acts 2:41) which is the "church." Acts 2:47. Since the church is "not one member, but many" (I Cor. 12:14), it is easy to see that the expression "them" refers to the "many" who constitute the body which is the church.
4. Acts 18:8 shows exactly how the Corinthians had been formed into a church. It says, "many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized."
5. We conclude that the Corinthians became members of the Corinthian church by this water baptism, just as the Jerusalem believers became members of the Jerusalem church by water baptism.
C. Thus, we believe Paul's teachings in I Cor. 12:13 to be in perfect harmony with God's single means of adding to His church. When a believer is scripturally baptized in water, he is added to the local church.
III. A man must be in the Spirit before he can be scripturally baptized into the body:
A. We believe the correct translation of the word "by" in I Cor. 12:13 is "in":
1. According to Strong's Greek Dictionarv of the New Testament, page 28, number 1722, the word from which "by" is translated is a preposition which can mean "by, in, on", and others.
2. To render the word "in" is in harmony with the other scriptures teaching on the relation a man must have in order to be a candidate for baptism:
a. At the new birth, believers are "added to the Lord" (Acts 5:14) (not church, but Lord).
b. The result of that is that we "live in the spirit", (Gal. 5:25), for we are completely "sealed" with the Spirit. Eph. 1:13.
c. Rom. 8:9-10 Also shows that believers are "in the Spirit."
3. Thus, in keeping with the teaching of God's Word as to the position that believers are in (in Christ), we believe the clearest translation of I Cor. 12:13 into English is, "For in one spirit are we all baptized into one body." As is given in the American Standard Version.
B. We believe the Spirit we must be in, in order to be baptized is the Holy Spirit:
1. You will note that in verse 13 as well as in most of the context, the word "Spirit" is capitalized, thus denoting the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit under consideration (verse 11). To make this verse suddenly deny that the Holy Spirit is under consideration would be to wrest the continunity of Scripture and pervert the meaning.
2. We thus reject the belief that this scripture is teaching we must all be in a certain attitude or "spirit" (non capital "s").
C. It is only those who are believers who are in the Holv Spirit thus eligible for water baptism and the resulting church membership:
1. Only if a man believes may he be baptized (Acts 8:37) and honestly show forth his personal participation in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:4-5).
2. It is useless to baptize anyone else, for he is not in the Spirit (John 14:17) and never shall be till he believes.
3. Consider the first lesson on "Water Baptism."
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"