7. Baptized into Messiah

Five of Paul’s thirteen epistles refer to baptizing and baptism. One of them, 1 Corinthians, reveals that he did perform the Messianic water rite for some believers. However water was not the only element with which he was familiar because in that same letter he wrote that all had been baptized with one Spirit. Thus Paul also was aware of being baptized with either water or Spirit. This corresponds well with the fact that Luke, the author of Luke-Acts, had been Paul’s traveling companion at various times and he recorded the distinction between water and Spirit once each from the mouths of R. John, Messiah and the apostle Peter,¹ three great voices of New Covenant revelation.

Water and Spirit must not be confused. Six times the unmistakable water-Spirit contrast is found in Scripture and this certainly reveals its foundational importance. This contrast must have had a vital impact on Paul since his close companion wrote of it three times, and Paul too had been filled with the Spirit by the laying on of hands. Moreover, a command from Messiah for a new water baptism is absent in both Luke and Acts and this certainly parallels Paul’s remark that Messiah had not sent him to baptize. We cannot assume Paul always meant water when he wrote of being baptized, especially since another epistle describes his salvation as a result of an outpouring of the Spirit, Titus 3:4-6, without mention of water.

This chapter reviews, in the generally accepted order of writing; five of Paul’s epistles which speak of baptism: Galatians, 1 Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians and Colossians. We will find described an abiding new life, a permanent transformation from being dead in trespasses and sins into the Life of Another. Revealed is the eternal union disciples are to experience with Messiah through the Spirit. In fact, Paul proclaimed in Athens that God was not far from anyone, “for in Him we live and move and have our being,” Acts 17:28. His view of existence “in the Creator” easily compares with his teachings of eternal life “in Messiah.” Through the New Covenant it is possible to enter a new realm, “to live in a new way, to move in a new way, and have a new kind of being ‘in Messiah.’” Baptize in Paul’s thinking often spoke of an everlasting state of being, a new life “in Messiah” by receiving the Spirit.

GALATIANS

The apostle pleaded with gentile Galatians not to be misled into believing there was a greater measure of holiness by submitting to the ritual laws of Torah. He even cursed such a teaching twice at the start of the epistle. Misguided Jewish teachers were saying salvation was not complete apart from ceremonial Judaism. On the contrary, every Spirit-led disciple is complete in the eyes of God because of the overwhelming sacrificial work of Messiah. Paul became exasperated;

“O foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only would I learn from you; Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Torah, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by works of the Torah or by the hearing of faith?” Galatians 3:1-5.

Works of the Torah

The force of Paul’s question, "did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Torah, or by hearing with faith?" must not be missed by sacramentalists who insist water baptism bestows the Spirit, or, for that matter, anyone else who believes baptism is commanded. If there really had been a new water baptism for every believer in Yeshua, and if it bestowed the Spirit, or was in any way connected with the Spirit, then Paul asked the wrong questions. In the eyes of the Galatians this water baptism would look exactly like a Jewish “work of the Torah.” His entire argument against circumcision and submission to the Torah would backfire. Remember that he is writing to ordinary folk of the first century. Neither do the Galatians have long experience with the New Covenant, they would not be in danger of the Judaizing error if they had. This epistle is among the first documents of the New Covenant to be written and there is no New Testament. Moreover about one person in every ten in the Roman Empire is Jewish! Essentially all apostles are orthodox Jews teaching about Israel’s King. With this background in mind we have to ask how the Galatians would ever have understood that there was some fundamental difference between the “various Jewish baptisms” of the Torah for Israel and a supposed new baptism for followers of the Messiah of Israel, vast numbers of whom at that time were ritual observant Jews.²

But Paul wasted no energy trying to dissociate all the Jewish baptisms from a supposed new water baptism for the followers of Messiah. Instead he simply focused on a supernatural experience. “Paul’s argument in vv 2-5 has to do with the Galatian Christians’ reception of the Spirit at the time of their conversion and their continuing experiences of the Spirit in their lives thereafter. The experience of the Spirit in their lives, both at conversion and thereafter, is the reality on which he builds.”³ His frank questions could be answered without hesitation. The Galatians had received the Spirit by faith through hearing, not works of the Torah. And it was this discernible reception of the Spirit which began their walk with God, not water baptism, nor any other Jewish work based on Torah.

He continued his argument, that the reception of the Spirit was the proof of the promise to Abraham, not submission to the Torah. Messiah not only had kept the righteous requirements, but He also became a curse to fulfill and supersede every requirement of the Torah so that,

“that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations in Messiah Yeshua, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:14.

 The riches of the New Covenant had come to Galatia when they called on the risen Messiah and received the promise of the Spirit through faith, they did not have to join Israel and keep the Torah.

Moreover, this same “Spirit of promise” is a recurring theme in Acts, and the reception is also described as a wonderful experience. The disciples waited for the promise of the Father, Acts 1:4-5. When the outpouring foretold by Joel was made real the apostles taught,

 “Messiah received the Holy Spirit of promise, and has poured out that which you now see and hear”...“And you shall receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit, for to you is the promise.” Acts 2:33, 38-39.

 This New Covenant promise is being explained to the Galatians. They had received the Spirit through faith in Yeshua, nothing else, just like the hundred and twenty on Shavu’ot, just like the house of Cornelius. The reception of the Spirit was known as a wonderful, discernible miraculous experience. Not a vague guess, but the solid foundation of their walk with God. Paul, like his traveling companion Luke, wrote of an unforgettable and continuing experience and based his argument to the Galatians directly on it. With these things in mind we may consider the following passage:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua,” Galatians 3:26-28. (NASB)

²⁶ πάντες γὰρ υἱοὶ θεου̃ ἐστε διὰ τη̃ς πίστεως ἐν Χριστω̨̃ ’Ιησου

²⁷ ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστòν ἐβαπτίσθητε Χριστòν ἐνεδύσασθε

²⁸ οὐκ ἔνι ’Ιουδαι̃ος οὐδὲ ‘Έλλην οὐκ ἔνι δου̃λος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θη̃λυ πάντες γὰρ ὑμει̃ς εἱ̃ς ἐστε ἐν Χριστω̨̃ ’Ιησου̃

Though many think water is in this verse it is impossible for water to clothe anyone with Messiah.  The “Spirit of the Son” alone can accomplish such an awesome task.⁴ Since the Galatian salvation began with an experience with the Spirit, including miracles, it makes more sense to view this verse in those terms, not a ritual which would look exactly like a work of the Torah.

“Baptize,” “receive,” and “clothed” are three words used in Galatians that were also used in Luke-Acts in the context of the outpoured Spirit, and with no connection to a water rite. Disciples were to wait to be “clothed” with power from on high, Luke 24:49, the promised Spirit, and “receiving” the Spirit was by being “baptized” with the Spirit, Acts 1:5,8, equal to being “clothed.” The similarity to Galatians is strong. Just as Messiah spoke of a new existence, “clothed with power from on high,” so Paul wrote of being “clothed with Messiah,” the source of the power.

Paul also used the term “baptized into Messiah” not “in the name of Messiah.” The idea is not a one-time act with water but a new state of existence, brought into union with Messiah through the Spirit. In a similar way just a few verses later he said God had sent the “Spirit of His Son” into their hearts whereby they cried out, “Abba, Father,” Galatians 4:6, which is hardly a “formula” for water baptism. Rather it is a spontaneous heart-felt cry arising out of an intimate experience of sacred ecstasy. The love of God was poured out into their hearts through the Spirit. Now they shared the life of the Son through the Spirit. Summing up, there is no suggestion of a water ritual in this passage other than what traditional Christianity pins on the solitary word baptize.

Paul’s imagery is that all are sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua. They are clothed with Messiah when the Spirit wraps a disciple with his New Covenant sonship. As many as had been “baptized into Messiah” had been endued with the very nature of Messiah the Son. This fact forms the basis for Paul’s argument, and even the two curses at the beginning of the letter. Gentiles who live by the righteous life of the Son are themselves sons and have no need for submission to ordinances of the Torah. By the Spirit disciples were beyond distinctions of Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Now all share one new kind of existence in Messiah which Paul also described in the following,

“I am ‘co-crucified’ with Messiah, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Messiah lives in me,” Galatians 2:19-20. (rendered from the Greek)

Χριστω̨̃ συνεσταύρωμαι ζω̃ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ ζη̨̃ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός

The Galatians had not been baptized with water in the name of Messiah, instead they had been baptized into a radical change of nature when they received the Spirit of the Son.

1 CORINTHIANS

Unity in the body of Messiah to a group of believers from all kinds of backgrounds is the target of 1 Corinthians. Schisms were cracking relationships. Significant differences in background between Corinthian believers are clear in this letter. The ancestors of Jewish believers had all submitted to Moses, 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, while many Greek believers had been pagan idolaters, 1 Corinthians 12:2. Crispus had been president of the synagogue, 1 Corinthians 1:14, Acts 18:8, but not many others were so distinguished, 1 Corinthians 1:26. Some disciples knew Kayfa (Peter), others knew Apollos, and some were claiming special relationship with Messiah.

On the other hand, Jewish believers or Greeks were not to cut ties with their background. Jews would remain Jews and would continue to observe their customs and rituals, including the end-time water baptism for their nation, 1 Corinthians 1:13-17, and baptizing their dead prior to burial, 1 Corinthians 15:29. Greeks would remain Greeks. Even slaves were not to be concerned about their situation, but if they could become free they should, 1 Corinthians 7:17-23. Paul told all of them not to offend anyone in the city, Jew or Greek, or the assembly of saints, 1 Corinthians 10:32. Still all who had received the Spirit were to realize they were not divided, but unified, no matter what their origin.

“For with⁵ one Spirit we all into one body were baptized, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, all were given one Spirit to drink.” (rendered from the Greek)

¹³ καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι ἡμει̃ς πάντες εἰς ἓν σω̃μα ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἴτε ’Ιουδαι̃οι εἴτε ‘Έλληνες εἴτε δου̃λοι εἴτε ἐλεύθεροι καὶ πάντες ἓν πνευ̃μα ἐποτίσθημεν

We immediately notice striking similarity of thought with the passage in Galatians where there was neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. In Corinth all were part of one body whether they were Jewish or whether Greek, whether slave or whether free. There is essentially no difference in the value of this verse compared with that in Galatians. But Paul changed the wording to say there are Jews and there are Greeks in the body of Messiah. Distinctions among members of the body were not abolished, just as it is impossible to ignore the physical difference between male and female. But whatever distinctions exist are transcended by new life in the Holy Spirit.

In Corinth, with one Spirit all had been baptized into one body, the body of Messiah. In Galatia all were sons of God when they were baptized into Messiah. Both verses use baptize, and both proclaim the unity of Messiah’s body. The explicit mention of the Spirit in Corinthians confirms what was determined in Galatians, that when we read of being baptized into Messiah Paul means being baptized with the Spirit of the Son. “For Paul the reception of the Spirit is the sine qua non of Christian life. The Spirit is what distinguishes the believer from the nonbeliever (2:10-14); the Spirit is what especially marks the beginning of Christian life (Gal. 3:2-3); the Spirit above all is what makes a person a child of God (Rom. 8:14-17).”⁶

This corresponds directly with what Paul had written earlier, in 1 Corinthians 6:11. Though some had been among the worst of sinners, now they were washed, sanctified, and made righteous in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and in the Spirit of God. There is no mention of any water here, but there is express testimony of the Spirit, who alone is powerful enough to transform fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, the sexually perverse, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, revilers and swindlers into children of God. If a water ritual had really bestowed the Spirit and changed lives like this, then Paul’s first comments about baptizing in this epistle, 1:13-17, border on contempt. He should have thanked God for changing the lives of the few people he baptized. But Messiah had not sent Paul to baptize with water, rather to declared the Good News of changed lives through the power of the Spirit, that their faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but the power of God, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5.

ROMANS

A later epistle sent to disciples in Rome adds to this. Before mentioning baptism Paul wrote about the workings of God through His Spirit, saying the hope believers have does not cause disappointment,

“Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us,” Romans 5:5.

ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη του̃ θεου̃ ἐκκέχυται ἐν ται̃ς καρδίαις ἡμω̃ν διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου του̃ δοθέντος ἡμι̃ν

James D.G. Dunn makes important remarks on this verse from which we quote at length.

“The perfect tense of ekkexutoi (poured out) as usual indicates a continuing effect of a past event. Here again the experiential nature of what Paul has in mind, with some element of ecstasy not excluded - cf. Acts 2:1-4, comes strongly into view, under the vivid metaphor of a cloudburst on a parched countryside. The (in our hearts) underscores the same point since it is precisely the fact that God has effected his work at the level of their motive and emotive center through the Spirit and in fulfillment of the promise of Jer 31:31-34, which in Paul’s view most clearly distinguished the first Christians from their typical Jewish counterparts.”

Dunn continues,

“‘Through the Holy Spirit given to us,’ dia (through) can designate not simply the means through which, but the perceptible form in which the Spirit comes to expression (in charismata, “charisms,” as the manifestation of the Spirit), without reducing the Spirit to, or identifying the Spirit wholly with, an experience of God’s love. Here it is important to recall that in prophetic expectation the outpouring of the Spirit was looked for as the mark of the new age (see particularly Isa 32:15; 34:16; 44:3; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26-27; 37:4-14; Joel 2:28-32). Together with the echo of Jer 31:31-34 and Joel 2:28-29 in the preceding phrase, Paul effectively brings to clear expression what had been more implicit throughout his argument from 3:21 onwards:...the new age of Jewish expectation had already dawned...This claim was rooted in very vivid experiences...filled with God’s love. Elsewhere the Spirit is associated with the experience of joy (1 Thess 1:6) of miracles (Gal 3:5), of charismatic utterances (1 Cor 1:4-7) and of moral transformation (1 Cor 6:9-11) - cf. Acts 8:17-19; 10:44-47; and 19:6.”

Dunn adds,

“Within Paul’s thought...the gift of the Spirit...determines belonging to Christ and functions as the mark of belonging to Christ; The tendency of commentators to treat the aorist dothentos (given) as a reference to baptism reflects the longstanding ecclesiastical tradition in which the baptized is not expected to experience anything, so that any recall to someone’s beginning as a Christian has to be the [water] baptism itself. In contrast, the experience of the Spirit in the Pauline communities as a rule was evidently vivid enough that it could be referred to directly (as in 1 Cor 12:13; 2 Cor 1:22; Gal 3:2-5; see farther Dunn, Baptism, pt 3).”

       Dunn continues on pp 265-6,

“...the reason [for hope] Paul actually spells out is the fact that the love of God and the Spirit of God have already been richly experienced in their lives. Paul uses vivid “Pentecostal” language, and obviously recalls his readers to deep emotional experiences which must have been common to many of those who became Christians at the time. Described here is a sustained experience of a love that was other than merely human love - an awareness of being loved and presumably also of being filled with heartfelt love for others....Whether he thinks of the gift of the Spirit as a distinct event or experience is less clear. He carefully distinguishes the two elements conceptually - the Spirit of God given once for all (aorist), the love of God still experienced in full flood (perfect).” (For all this Dunn goes on to reiterate personal reservation about any particular experience.)⁷

Paul reminded the Romans of a supernatural encounter. In fact in a later chapter he again described the riches of this salvation, that “all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13, the concluding verse of the description of the outpouring of the Spirit in Joel. So Romans 5 tells of the outpouring of God’s love through His Spirit, just as foretold in Joel, and promised to all New Covenant believers who will seek it.

Transformation, Not Simulation

In Romans 6, the chapter referring to baptism, Paul said disciples most definitely should not continue in sin. But he did not command this by submission to works of the Torah. Instead he asked,

“We who died to sin, how shall we yet live in it?”

Paul describes a drastic change of nature as a result of faith in Messiah, saying, “we died to sin,” much like his earlier declaration in Galatians, “I have been crucified with Messiah.” This is also comparable with receiving the Spirit and having old sinful ways forever washed away. In the same way, in Romans “death to sin” by the Spirit provides freedom from sinning, not more intense striving to keep rules and regulations. He continued in Romans 6:3-4,

“Or are you ignorant that as many as were baptized into Messiah Yeshua, into His death we were baptized. Therefore, we were co-entombed with Him through the baptism, into the death (to sin), in order that as Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.” (rendered from the Greek)

³ ἢ ἀγνοει̃τε ὅτι ὅσοι ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστòν ’Ιησου̃ν εἰς τòν θάνατον αὐτου ἐβαπτίσθημεν

⁴ συνετάφημεν οὐ̃ν αὐτω̨̃ διὰ του̃ βαπτίσματος εἰς τòν θάνατον ἵνα ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστòς ἐκ νεκρω̃ν διὰ τη̃ς δόξης του̃ πατρός οὕτως καὶ ἡμει̃ς ἐν καινότητι ζωη̃ς περιπατήσωμεν

Carefully notice, believers are:

1. Baptized into Messiah

2. Baptized into His death (to sin, on the cross)

3. Co-entombed (συνετάφημεν) with Messiah through baptism into death.

Here believers are not immersed in water to simulate burial in a graveyard. Instead, a marvelous event transformed the Roman disciples from existence in sin to “newness of life” in Messiah.⁸ If they have been “baptized into Messiah” they share His divine nature. This baptism is far different than a one-time act with water, it means an event of transforming, abiding union through the Spirit, sharing all aspects of Messiah’s perfection. In fact Paul later made the Spirit the determining factor of belonging to Messiah, not water baptism:

“Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, he is not His,” Romans 8:9.

The “if” in this statement is conditional, and as Dunn remarks in his commentary, not everyone hearing this letter being read in public would have fulfilled the condition.⁹ In other words Paul did not say “every Christian has the Spirit,” he said, “if you have the Spirit of Messiah you are a Christian, but if not you have not begun the New Covenant relationship.” Dunn remarks further on this verse;

“Paul’s point is not to assert ‘that every Christian is indwelt by the Spirit.’ Typical is Ridderbos’s reversal of Paul’s statement: ‘To be of Christ, to belong to him, means therefore to ‘have’ the Spirit.’ But Paul’s point is rather to remind his readers that only those who have the Spirit can claim to be Christ’s; only those whose lives demonstrate by character and conduct that the Spirit is directing them can claim to be under Christ’s Lordship. Unlike so many of subsequent generations, the key element in Paul’s definition of ‘Christian’ is not a verbal profession or ritual act (from which possession of the Spirit may be deduced, even if not evident; ...) but evidence of the Spirit active in a life as the Spirit of Christ... the crucial element for Paul was evidently the Spirit experienced immediately as the Spirit of Christ ... ‘not a subjective state of consciousness, but an “objective” mode of being’” (p 429, Romans).

Paul further admonished, “Put on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts,” Romans 13:14. Here the “putting on” has no connection with a one-time ritual, it is a standing command to be filled and led and empowered by the Spirit, and corresponds exactly with what he had written to the Galatians. The Galatians had been baptized into Messiah and had “put on Messiah.” Everyone united to Messiah through the Spirit is united to everything in His nature, including His death to sin and burial in the tomb, as well as the fresh newness of everlasting life. All who are baptized into Messiah have been vitally joined to His death, that all might walk in His life. The Greek prefix sun found in four words in Romans 6 confirms this understanding. Disciples have been co-entombed (6:4), co-planted (6:5), co-crucified (6:6), and thus will co-live (6:8) in the resurrection life of Messiah. All have been inseparably unified through the Spirit. This is the breathtaking mystery of eternal life. Paul confirmed this death to the desires of sin through the power of the Spirit in Romans 8:12-17 where we read,

“Therefore, brethren we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption (huiothesias-sonship) by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Messiah, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Receiving the Spirit is the basis for sonship. The Holy Spirit Himself tells disciples they are sons, not an administrator of a water ritual. Moreover, crying out “Abba, Papa” when the Spirit is received is not a baptismal formula, it arises from a wonderful miraculous experience. Could Spirit-filled disciples continue to live in sin? Paul says they cannot, they will die if they continue. But those led by the Spirit of God live a life which puts to death the desires of the flesh, even as the Son Himself walked. This is the central idea of being baptized into Messiah’s death, being co-crucified with Him and co-entombed with Him, putting to death the desires of the flesh. Disciples who have truly been filled with the Spirit and are led by Him will not only die to sin but will come alive to righteousness as sons. The indwelling Spirit leads to a life of holiness and power. This is not an unattainable carrot on a stick, it is the daily hope and call of the Good News of the New Covenant in Yeshua.

EPHESIANS

In his letter to the Ephesians Paul brings to mind the wonders of God’s triumph through Messiah. God had predestined all who would believe in His Son for salvation, to the praise of His glory, Ephesians 1:11-12.  

“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14.

The Ephesians heard the Good News, trusted Messiah and were sealed with the Spirit of promise. He is the guarantee of redemption. Anyone who has not received the Spirit has no guarantee of salvation. The term promised Spirit again reminds us that disciples received the outpoured Spirit with supernatural glory, just as had the hundred and twenty, Paul, Titus, the Galatians, the Corinthians and the Romans. We also see words reminiscent of Acts, of “having heard” and “believed” and then receiving the Spirit. In this case “sealed.” In Acts “many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized,” Acts 18:8, and in Ephesus, “hearing they were baptized in the name of the Lord Yeshua,” Acts 19:5. The latter verse followed Paul’s question in Acts 19:2 if they had received the Spirit when they believed. They heard and received the Spirit when Paul laid his hands on them. We also see a parallel in the question to the Galatians, whether they had received the Spirit by works of the Torah, or by “hearing” with faith. Thus the crucial role of receiving the Spirit upon faith in Messiah after “hearing” the Good News is obvious, He is the seal and guarantee of New Covenant life.

Ephesians 4 is saturated with the Spirit. The apostle pleaded that they guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, just as they had been called in one hope of their calling, there being, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The story of the Ephesians in Acts linked the Spirit to a baptism, and the Spirit was received when hands were laid, not during a water ritual. This makes it hard to believe “one baptism” describes the water of men, a source of major division in the Christian world. The unifying baptism must be of the Spirit, poured-out by the one Lord after exerting one faith in Him. Indeed, multitudes today have been “baptized with the Spirit” but profess all kinds of baptismal creeds. The “one baptism” cannot be from men, it must be from God, the source of a wondrous change, that God be all in all. Paul recorded a glorious prayer for those in which this transformation had occurred:

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, from whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Messiah might dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Messiah which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God,” Ephesians 3:14-19.

Let it be emphasized—filled with all the fullness of God. When a disciple is first filled with the Spirit he enters into intimate communion with God who willingly comes to indwell forever. How can anyone believe this is not an indelible supernatural experience of holy elation, praising and glorifying Him? Those who have never been filled have no way to know and cannot speak from experience. Paul wrote to disciples of one well-known Spirit baptism which allows the one God and Father to be over all and through all and in all, Ephesians 4:6, even as Paul earnestly prayed that the fullness of God might dwell in all disciples.

The disciples were also exhorted to be filled with the Spirit, not wine, Ephesians 5:18. This means every believer is responsible to know whether or not he has been filled with the Spirit and whether or not he is currently filled. Then he must either seek to be filled or abide in the filling. If the Ephesians had been disciples for a long time and were admonished to be filled, how much more must new believers ensure that they have been filled with the Spirit. One does not just assume he “has” the Spirit. Earlier Paul had ensured these very disciples were filled by asking them bluntly if they had ever received the Spirit. Then he laid hands on them that they might receive. Spiritual reality was not cloudy theological debate for Paul or disciples under his care.

COLOSSIANS

The Colossians were warned not to be deceived by various world philosophies which were not from Messiah. He Himself is overwhelmingly superior to all worldly things.

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Messiah, buried [lit. co-entombed] with Him in the baptism, in which you also were co-raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead,” Colossians 2:9-12.

⁹ ὅτι ἐν αὐτω̨̃ κατοικει̃ πα̃ν τò πλήρωμα τη̃ς θεότητος σωματικω̃ς

¹⁰ καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτω̨̃ πεπληρωμένοι ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχη̃ς καὶ ἐξουσίας

¹¹ ἐν ὡ̨̃ καὶ περιετμήθητε περιτομη̨̃ ἀχειροποιήτω̨ ἐν τη̨̃ ἀπεκδύσει του̃ σώματος τη̃ς σαρκός ἐν τη̨̃ περιτομη̨̃ του̃ Χριστου̃

¹² συνταφέντες αὐτω̨̃ ἐν τω̨̃ βαπτισμω̨̃ ἐν ὡ̨̃ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τη̃ς πίστεως τη̃ς ἐνεργείας του̃ θεου̃ του̃ ἐγείραντος αὐτòν ἐκ νεκρω̃ν

Disciples were complete in Messiah, in need of nothing extra; food or drink, festivals, new moons, or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Messiah, Colossians 2:16-17.

Circumcised with the circumcision of Messiah by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh certainly speaks of a spiritual operation on the heart, putting off the old sinful nature. Only this inner surgery of the Spirit allows entrance into the New Covenant, just as physical circumcision brings an Israelite into the covenant of Sinai. The Colossians were wonderfully changed through the Spirit, not physical circumcision. So when Paul continued, saying that they had been “co-entombed with Him in the baptism” why is it taken that he speaks of water baptism? The ink was not even dry about spiritual circumcision with the Spirit. Surely Paul maintained some continuity of thought in this single sentence. He said there is a well known, vital baptism in which a disciple comes to share the nature of Messiah, sharing His death, being co-entombed with Him. If Messiah circumcises with His Spirit, putting off the sins of the flesh, then the obvious conclusion for the next clause is that He also co-entombs that same sinful body through a tremendous event of radical change, Spirit baptism.

In Colossians, as in Romans 6, the Greek prefix sun emphasizes the metamorphosis of all who are united to Messiah by the Spirit, co-entombed (2:12), co-raised (2:12), and co-quickened (2:13) with Messiah. The well-known baptism of which Paul wrote told of vital union with Messiah, and this radical change is something the physical properties of water will never cause, no matter if you have an ocean to pour out or to dip into.

UNION WITH MESSIAH

We have seen that throughout Paul’s writings there is an emphasis on union life with Messiah by the Spirit. The following passages speak of being joined to all aspects of His divine nature, and to all others who had been conjoined to Him. Consider Paul’s extensive use of the Greek prefix sun;

1. Romans 8:17	sumpascho	co-suffer
2. Romans 6:6    Galatians 2:20	sustauroo	co-crucified
3. 2 Timothy 2:11	sunapothuescho	co-died
4. Romans 6:5	sumphutos	co-united (in death)
5. Romans 6:4    Colossians 2:12	sunthaptomai	co-entombed
6. Ephesians 2:5    Colossians 2:13	suzooopoio	co-quickened
7. 2 Timothy 2:11	suzeasooomen	co-live
8. Ephesians 2:6    Colossians 2:12, 3:1	sunegereio	co-raised
9. Romans 8:17	sundoxazomai	co-glorified
10. Ephesians 2:6	sugkathizo	co-seated
11. 2 Timothy 2:12	sumbasileaoo	co-reign
12. Romans 8:17	sugkleronomos	co-heirs

SUMMARY

All who are filled with the Spirit of Messiah are infused with His unbounded life. The spirit of the disciple is inseparably joined with the Spirit of the Lord, making all Spirit-filled disciples one with the LORD, 1 Corinthians 6:17. This brings to pass God’s eternal goal in His Son, the joining of both the holy remnant of the nations and the holy remnant of Israel into a new Humanity, one new Man, living the life of Messiah on earth, Ephesians 2:14-18. All of these wonders happen by being “baptized into Messiah,” in whom all Spirit-led disciples live and move and have their being. 

Chapter 7 Endnotes

¹cf. Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; 11:16.

²Today many scholars unwittingly derive the supposed universal Christian baptism from Jewish rituals in the Law or the Prophets or R. John’s baptism to Israel or other Jewish traditions, e.g. proselyte baptism.

³Richard Longenecker, Galatians, Word Bible Commentary, vol. 41, Word Publishers, Dallas, 1990, p 107.

⁴Galatians 4:6, cf. Romans 13:14.

⁵The Greek preposition en can be translated as either in, with, or by, and result in different meanings for the verse, see ‘With One Spirit’ in the appendix.

⁶Gordon D. Fee’s comment on this verse in his book, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1987, p 603.

⁷James D.G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, vol. 38, Word Bible Commentary, 1988, pp 253-66.

⁸Though Dunn, op.cit., apparently holds to the usual view that water baptism is referred to in this verse he makes some significant remarks, p 307, “The context implies more strongly that what Paul had in mind is a death which puts the individual beyond the power of sin, and so unable to live “in” it, that is, in its realm, under its authority....The language has the same vivid quality and character which we would expect to find in a fundamental life-transforming experience or rite of passage....Baptism is not the subject of the passage. The theme is one of death to sin and life under grace, which is documented by use of baptismal language in vv 3-4, but then also by different elaborations of the death/life theme and by a rational in which baptism is not mentioned again (salvation-history, not liturgy).” On p 312 Dunn continues, “As the Baptist’s words, which stand uniformly at the beginning of the gospel in all four cases, clearly indicate, ‘baptize’ in reference to the ritual act and ‘baptize’ as a metaphor can stand side by side without conflation or identification; the point is wholly ignored by Wilkens when he refers Acts 1:5 and 11:16 simply to ‘Christian baptism’ and describes ‘the experience of baptism...(as) the central “datum” of the beginning,’ ignoring the stronger evidence that it was the experience of the Spirit which originally filled this role of primary datum.” Dunn adds on p 318, “The ‘likeness’ has to do with sharing Messiah’s death. The thought is not simply a repetition of v.4b: the fusion is with the likeness of Christ’s death (which is equivalent to the fusion with Christ in His death [RSV, NEB, NIV], but not to fusion with Christ by means of the likeness of his death [NJB].”

⁹Dunn, op. cit., p 428, “Eiper (if)...of itself does not imply that the condition [of having the Spirit] has been met. We should not therefore take it for granted that Paul naively assumed it was fulfilled in this case; he would be conscious that many of those hearing his letter read out would be at the inquiry stage, hence the careful definition which follows.”

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