Corinthians - the Baptism With the Spirit — J. Glyn Owen

It is good to welcome you all this evening. We had a very happy, precious, and rewarding time as we waited upon the Lord together this morning. And we trust that in his goodness he will not let us flounder as we meet in this evening hour to consider a very significant passage of Scripture.

The Church as One Body in 1 Corinthians 12

When we felt led to come and meditate on 1 Corinthians 12, there was good reason for so doing. On the one hand, we felt that we had perhaps been learning a little more about the subject over the months.

And on the other hand, we felt that perhaps as a congregation we really need to take more seriously the thrust of the message that is woven into the pattern of this very exciting chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

And I trust therefore that as we come to this particular passage before us tonight, verses 12 and 13, we shall not simply be sitting in our pews or myself standing here in the pulpit in a sort of doctoral way, concerned only with the Ps and the Qs, the dotting of the Is and the crossing of the Ts doctrinally.

I trust that we shall be asking ourselves now, what has this really got to say to us? And not simply to me, it has to say something to me as an individual, to you as an individual. But this is a passage which tells us how we should relate to one another.

How a company of God's people should relate for one to the other in the fellowship which is born of God and which can only be maintained and perfected by the grace of the same God. The text before us tonight is essentially a very highly doctrinal one.

It has some very practical import of course, but it is essentially very doctrinal. And I trust that you with me will be asking the Spirit to help us really to see what the Word is saying. Now let's read then once again verses 12 and 13 in that twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians.

And this time I think I will read from the King James. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. And then the next verse goes on to explain why.

For by one Spirit are, it says here though the tense of the verb is in the past and we should really say were. Were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free.

And have all been made to drink into one Spirit. Now may I remind you very briefly of the way we've come. Greg Scharf took the first three verses of this chapter. In which he reminded us that the emphasis there seems to be upon the essential spirituality of those who will be capable of handling the gifts of God to his church.

If we are to understand what God wants to do with his church. And if we are rightly to understand the meaning and significance of God's gifts to his body. Then we need to be spiritual. There is a special word used there for spirituality.

And perhaps this spirituality finds its focal point in the fact that we acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. As the third verse puts it. Jesus Christ as Lord. Now that is at one and the same time the least that a Christian can recite and the highest.

You cannot be a Christian unless you can honestly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. In another sense your Christian creed can never get beyond that. Because Jesus Christ is all and in all. And I can get nowhere beyond my acknowledgement of the fact that Jesus Christ is what Scripture declares him to be.

Spirituality, Christ's Lordship, and the Gifts of the Spirit

Now we took the next passage beginning with verse 4 and going on to verse 11. The emphasis here is something like this. Within the Christian church the body of Christ there is a whole vast variety of gifts.

Not just one not just two or even half a dozen. Our variety such a variety it really takes us by storm. There are three different words used here for example for the various varieties or brands of gifts.

And I took the liberty of transliterating them into English. Some you're familiar with perhaps not others. There is a variety of gifts of the Spirit, charismata. A variety of commissionings for service by the Lord, diakonia.

The word from which we derive the word deacon, a servant. And then there is a whole variety of empowerings or energizings of men of God. They are energized, enabled physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically in every other respect.

To do what God sends them to do. He shall receive power, energy when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. Now what Paul is doing here is this. He's just opening a little window for us to see that the gifts of God to his church are vast and multitudinous.

And he can speak of them in so many different ways. And he does so in order that we should get some dim comprehension of the fact. God's gifts are not just one or two. God never gives anything skimpily.

Do you use that over here? All right, good. God never gives life there. He gives good measure pressed down and running over. And that's the stress. Now tonight we come beyond that. All right. Assuming that we have within the body of Christ, within the church of Christ.

A whole vast of gifts, a variety of gifts. They're as diverse as they're many. How on earth can people get on together? How on earth can people feel that they belong to one another if they're different gifts doing different things?

And now our text tonight answers that question. And in a nutshell it is for this reason. Because of the mighty work and ministry of the blessed Holy Spirit. Who when he takes a man or a woman out of the world of sin and unbelief.

He baptizes or incorporates him. Enables him to become a member of a body. Not a brick in a building but a limb of a body. And a body that is animated by one life. That rules and dominates the whole corpus.

The Human Body as an Analogy for Spiritual Unity

Now let's come and look at that. Two main divisions. The first briefly and the second for a little while longer. First of all we look at the physical analogy of our spiritual unity in Christ. The body.

Now Paul's here talking of the physical body. The body is a unit. Though it is made up of many parts. And though all its parts are many. They form one body. So it is with Christ. That's the new international version.

Now Paul seems to have found the image of the human body a most helpful one. To illustrate the principle that he has in mind. That you can have a vast multiplicity of parts. As you have in the human body.

All functioning together and belonging to one another. And knit together in a cohesive whole. And then animated by one spirit making one entity. It's a remarkable thing. Now I guess it depends on the measure of our training.

Scientific training, medical training, what have you. As to how far we can dissect the human body. I mean in imagination. Don't start doing that in practice. I'm not suggesting it. How many members are there?

How many bones? How many, well what have you. You use your imagination. But the point is this. However many there are. They all comprise one body. And that one body is animated by one spirit. From toe to the crown of the head.

And this is exactly the message that the Apostle Paul wants to get across. In the body of Christ we have a whole crowd. A whole multiplicity of members. That are gifted to do a particular task. And they vary, they're different, they're many.

But they're so integrated into the body. And so related to one another. And so animated by the one spirit. That unless they grieve that one spirit and sin against him. They will be able to work together.

It's this delightful picture then of the human body. Now the image of the body used for a purpose such as this. Was quite common in Paul's day. I don't want to go into the background. But it might be right to say that many of the philosophers of Paul's day.

Talked about the human body as a picture of the cosmopolises. The Stoics referred to it. They spoke of the world state, the cosmopolis. As a body in which each member had a part to play. Plato has another picture of the human body.

In which he speaks of the head as the citadel. Of the neck as the isthmus. Of the heart as the fountain of the body. And of the sinews as the canals. Now I don't know whether you like that or not. I don't know how far Paul read.

Or was in any wise interested in some of those analogies. But there you have them. But Paul gets hold of this image of the human body. And he sees it as really representative of a spiritual truth. And of a spiritual reality.

The body of Christ. The blessed church of the Redeemer. Purchased with his own blood. Indwelt by his own spirit. Comprising men and women from every nation and every age. And yet making really but one body of Christ.

And they all belong to one another. Making one body. So that across the years of time. When we come to the end of the book of history. Across the years of time. Looking backwards. We shall be able to see that God has done something.

That he planned before the ages. And he's done. He's accomplished his work. Through his body. Using all the several members of that body. In the several ages of time. To finish a work that he had planned.

Saul's Conversion and Christ's Identification with His Church

Now I'll just say one other thing about this. In order to pass on to the main theme. Someone may well ask. What was it that gave Paul. The key to the fact that this was such a suggestive picture. What ignited it.

What set it alight in his mind. Well no one can answer that question with certainty. Personally I think that they have a point. Who say that it may very well have been his conversion. You remember something very big happened at Saul's conversion.

You remember how he was drawing towards the gates of the city of Damascus. Having authority from the high priests of Jewry. To hail into prison and persecute those who bore the name of Jesus. You remember the story.

And then suddenly when he's almost within sight of the gates of the city. A voice from the glory addresses him. You remember the question that was asked him on the highway. Saul, Saul. Why are you persecuting me?

Who on earth could be uttering those words? Well those words were the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. But where is the Lord Jesus Christ? Well he was living on earth until a little while ago. And they crucified him.

And they buried him. But he rose from the dead. And he ascended. This is what he said he was going to do. He said he was going to ascend to the father's right hand. And when he came to the place of power.

He would send forth the Holy Spirit to the church. And then he would make the church to be his witness. And all the several members of the church his witnesses. In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Why are you persecuting me? says the questioner. Jesus in the glory asks Saul. Why are you persecuting me? But Saul might well have answered. Jesus I'm not persecuting you at all. You're not around to be persecuted.

I can't see you. I can't touch you. I can't handle you. I can do nothing with you. I can hear your voice. But how on earth can I put my hand on you? Have you got the point? The point is this. In the estimation of the ascended Lord.

To persecute his people. Is one and the same with persecuting him. He is the head and he's in the glory. The church is the body and the body is on earth. And the relationship between the head and the body is so intimate.

And the sensitivity of the head to the problems and the needs of the body. So great, so acute. That he feels the wounds that Paul is inflicting. Or Saul is inflicting upon the saints of Jerusalem and elsewhere.

And you see this unquestionably helped. To create the image in the mind of the apostle Paul. Of the unity of life and of spirit obtaining. Between the risen reigning Lord. Albeit unseen by the physical eye.

And the church. That he has called together by his word and by his spirit. And welded into a community of faith. So much for that. Now let's come to the main thrust here. The apostles explanation of the phenomenon of the church as the body of Christ.

The Church Created by Christ's Baptism with the Spirit

How did this phenomenon come into existence? I don't know whether we do so often enough. But we do from time to time. Acknowledge and celebrate the wonder of the human body. Sometimes we sing with the psalmist.

Or read his words. For you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body. It's a delightful picture. Of God weaving together the pattern of the human body.

And constituting man as his creature in the womb. Whence came the human body? Well the answer of the Bible is that God made it. But whence came the body of Christ? The spiritual body of Christ. The church of Christ that is here referred to under the metaphor of the body.

This vast organism of countless units welded into a cohesive unity. And resembling the body as Paul makes it so clear. Well there can be only one answer to that question. And the answer is the same. The miracle of the physical body is even multiplied.

When we consider the sheer wonder of the spiritual body of Christ the church. And yet Paul comes to our in our text tonight. And he says well he says here it is. The body has come together because the Lord Jesus Christ has baptized us with his spirit.

And constituted us as one. And made us to drink of the very spirit with which he baptized us. Now let's come to it and let's try and analyze what the Apostle is saying here. And do so with humility I trust.

This is a subject where we may not all agree. And if you don't agree with what is being said tonight. I hope you will pray for the one who's speaking. That the Lord will give him fresh light if he needs it.

And I'm sure he does. But I must tell you what I think this passage says. And I trust that as you look at the Scriptures with me. We shall have a sense of unanimity that we are not resting the Scriptures at any rate.

But we are really trying to expose the underlying truth. So that we may grasp what is here being said. Now the focus of attention is here upon an act which is called a baptism. How did the church come into being?

Well by a baptism. And the first thing that we need to notice as far as we are concerned now. Is we need to notice the author of the action. The author of the baptism that constituted the church. Now you notice that our text does not emphatically and unambiguously answer the question.

Who is doing the baptizing or did the baptizing. The text does not clearly and unambiguously specify who the author of the action really is. Because the preposition that is translated by. In the New International Version in verse 13.

We were all baptized by one spirit. You will notice I take it in your translation as in mine. That if you go to the bottom of the page. It says you can translate instead of by, with or in. Now that immediately tells us that we are in a land of some uncertainty.

If we take this translation by. We were translated by the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit is the baptizer. The Holy Spirit is responsible for the action. Now there are seven places in the New Testament.

Where we have the phrase the full phrase. Baptize with the Holy Spirit. Only seven. There are other places in the New Testament that refer to baptism. And in some of those cases it is evidently baptism with the Spirit.

But it is only in seven places that we have reference to this phrase. Either in the active or the passive voice. To baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now four of them come in the Gospels. Three of them in the first three Gospels and the one in John.

The occurrence in the first three Gospels. All refer to a statement of John the Baptist. I will quote to you from Matthew. But you find almost identically the same words in Mark and then in Luke. John the Baptist said this.

I he said baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I. Whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Now that is Matthew 3 .11.

And you'll find the same kind of thing in Mark 1 .8 and in Luke 3 .16. So you have three references there. One each in the three Gospels. All of them specifying that it's the Lord Jesus who is the baptizer with the Holy Spirit.

All right. Now when we come to John's Gospel it's a little different. But that point is still unequivocal. Jesus is still the baptizer. But John puts it differently. Let me read to you from John 1 verses 32 and 33.

Then John gave this testimony. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. That is on Jesus. I would not have known him. Except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me.

The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain. Is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And John goes on to say. I saw and I believe. So here again the Gospel of John referring still to other words of John the Baptist.

Make it quite clear. The words make it quite clear. That the baptizer with the Holy Spirit is the Lord Jesus. As John the Baptist baptized with his water baptism. He announced that Jesus would come as the baptizer with the Holy Spirit.

Right. Now that covers four of the seven instances. Now we have two in the book of Acts. The first comes in Acts 1 .5. Some of us were meditating on this and its context on Wednesday evening here. The words of Acts 1 .5 are these.

Our Lord Jesus speaking to his disciples says. For John baptized with water. But in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not there say that he was the baptizer with the Holy Spirit.

But since he is taking the words of John the Baptist and referring to them. Had there been a change and if the Spirit was the baptizer rather than Jesus. It is surely legitimate to conclude that Jesus would have said so.

Moreover when you go on a little further in Acts in verse 33 of chapter 2 for example. The Apostle Peter makes it quite clear. That it was the it was the Lord Jesus who sent out the Holy Spirit. Who did the baptizing.

In verse 33 he says in Acts chapter 2. That he now seated at the father's right hand. Crowned he Lord of all has asked of the father for the Holy Spirit. And he has poured forth this that you see and hear.

We conclude then from from 1 .5. That the reference here again must surely be to the Lord Jesus as the baptizer. And the same goes for chapter 11 and verse 16. Where Peter is the speaker still. But he's now referring to the the way in which.

Cornelius and his household were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now if that is the case. Six of the seven instances of the use of this full phrase. Six of them clearly imply that the baptizer is the Lord Jesus.

It is hardly probable then that here in our text it could be anyone else. He was in the Old Testament foretold to be the Christ the anointer. Who would anoint. And a Christian is a one who enters into the prison of the Christos.

He is the anointer. He is the one to whom the Spirit is given without measure. And as the head of the church. That which is poured out upon him comes down over Aaron's beard and over his body. To give the Old Testament picture.

We conclude therefore that here also. It is surely right to say that Jesus Christ. Risen reigning Lord is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. But you say now look why take all that time with that is it important.

Aren't you really quibbling about something that is not important at all. Well now granted in one sense it might not be important. Provided we all live very close to verses 4, 5 and 6 of chapter 12. Because in verses 4, 5 and 6 the implication of what Paul is saying is this.

Whatever kind of gift you have be it a charismata. One of the charismata or a diakonia or an energamata. Or the energamata in the plural. It doesn't really matter. Everything comes from the one and the same God.

The same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God. In other words what he is saying is this God is one. And whether the gift comes from the Father or the Spirit or from the Son it makes no difference. They never work in isolation.

They are one Godhead. And because the gift comes from one member of the Godhead it comes from the whole. So in one sense it may be that we're spending a little time that we shouldn't. But in another sense I question that and I'll tell you why.

Because there is abroad today the concept that there is another kind of baptism. And though people are not able to define it they speak of it as the baptism of the Spirit. By the Spirit. The Spirit is the doer, the actor.

But you see you can't get away with it like that. Because Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 5 that there is only one Spirit. And if there is only one Spirit you've got to determine which one it is.

And because we are unequivocally told that Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I conclude therefore unless there is very clear evidence to the contrary. That the one real effectual baptism is the baptism of the Spirit.

Effected by Jesus of which water baptism ought to be a symbol. So then it is necessary for us to see I believe that the baptizer here. The one who is sovereign the Lord of the church. The founder of the church.

The one who said I will build my church. He, he is the baptizer with the Holy Spirit. He brings the members in. He unites them to the body. He is Lord. He gives us our place. He puts us may I say it reverently in our place.

The Holy Spirit as the Element of Christ's Baptism

Now the second thing I would like us to look at briefly is this. The element that is involved. Let's now make explicit what is implicit in what we've said. How does Jesus do this? Well we were all baptized by, with, or in one Spirit.

Jesus Christ who died for us on the cross and is risen again. And is ascended to the Father's right hand is Lord. As Lord he has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. In order to execute his will and to gather his church from the four corners of the earth.

And from all the ages of time and to equip them to serve in this world. And ultimately to bring them home triumphant and glorious. And he builds his church. How does he bring the church together to start off with?

Well by this that is right at the heart of our day. This mighty, this massive, this supernatural phenomenon called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had a sense of sheer inadequacy when he said I.

He says I baptize you with water unto repentance. As if to say there's nothing very much about that. What can water do? Even if you dip men in the Jordan, what can water do? It can only symbolize a vest.

It doesn't always take away your superficial dirt. With a sense of thrill he introduced to his generation. But he says there comes one who is mightier than I. The latchet of whose shoes is one of the versions.

I'm unworthy to unloose. I'm not worthy to have anything to do with the most menial task related to him. And he, he says, he'll baptize you with a Holy Ghost and with fire. And here's the contrast. Water and fire.

That which burns and burns to change and melt down. And water. There can at best only touch and influence the outside. But he is coming and his baptism is entirely different. It is effectual. Now you see in these two references to water and the Spirit.

We move from the human and the natural realm to the divine and the supernatural. And from the symbolic to the effectual. John the Baptist had been very conscious of the impotence and inadequacy of the water that he was deploying.

But he saw the day coming when the Savior, the Lord. Would perform another baptism that would be effectual and would do what he could not. Now I think it is right for us to ponder for a moment and get this image clearly within our minds.

I think it is true to say that worship, the quality of worship that is in spirit and in truth. Ought always to be colored by scripture. Let's try and get the image of the baptism that we have here. Because it is very significant.

Now unfortunately we divide here you see. Because of our different views of the mode of baptism. And I am very conscious of that when I preach to a congregation like this. And there are friends with us who are not of our own congregation here.

But you must bear with me tonight. And please be sure that I am here not just to stand for a point. But to try and expound what the scriptures say here. I think there is an image here that we need to see.

And you see if I have been brought up and I believe that immersion is the only form of baptism. I'll have a little battle in my mind at this point. And I will translate some of these words according to my preconceived idea.

And if I have been brought up to believe that baptism is to be by sprinkling or pouring. I will be in exactly the same condition. So that really we've got to see, we've got to try and be very clear here.

And controlled and let our minds be governed by the scriptures. But I want you to see something. It caused a revolution in my own life. You will notice that the imagery that we have of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Everywhere in the early book of Acts is in terms of the Spirit being poured out upon people. If we take the translation that we have here about being baptized by the Spirit or in the Spirit. The images of an immersion, of our being dipped into the Spirit.

Which as far as I know is not something that is very common in scripture even if it is found there at all. But it is necessary to see that in all the book of Acts, the early part of the book of Acts. The imagery of the Holy Spirit is always coming upon us.

And coming upon us like water or showers or rain or something of that kind. Now in order to be quickly through this. Nevertheless in order to see it. I'd like you to look at Acts 1 .5 or rather Acts 1 .8 I should say.

Having announced in Acts 1 .5 that John the Baptist's prophecy was soon to be fulfilled. Jesus goes on in Acts 1 .8 and he says this. I'm quoting from the New International Version again. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

Literally comes down upon you or falls upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So the picture there is of the Holy Spirit descending upon the believers.

Not of the believers being immersed in the Spirit, but the Spirit coming upon them. Both the verb eperchomai and the preposition ephoumas. Clearly imply the notion of the element descending upon the baptized person.

Now this is not a matter of being a Presbyterian rather than a Baptist. This is just here in the text. That is also the unquestioned imagery taken over from the Prophet Joel and stated by the Apostle Peter as fulfilled in Pentecost.

Look at Acts 2 .17 and 18. In the last days God says I will pour out. God in his heaven pouring down upon men on earth. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants both men and women I will again pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy. Now you get the point? God is pouring out the Spirit.

The Spirit is being poured upon men. They are not being dipped in the Spirit, but the Spirit is coming down upon them. Then again will you look forward. Well there is verse 33 in Acts 2 which says the same thing though I've not quoted it.

Acts 2 verse 33. He being by the right hand of God exalted. 2 .33 have I got it? Exalted by the right hand of God. He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit. And has poured out what you now see and hear.

This is how baptism is being understood in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Even though as far as classical Greek is concerned its obvious implication in the first place is to dip. But here in the New Testament it is otherwise.

And it is used here without any apology in the first place in the book of the Acts of the coming of the Spirit of God upon people. And you have at least one other instance to which I'm going to refer now.

It's Acts 11 15 and 16. Again we're in the or it's after the episode with Cornelius. Peter says as I began to speak the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Now you see the point once again there are four instances in the early chapters of the book of the Acts. Where the metaphor the image of the coming of the Spirit of the baptism of the Spirit is not of anybody being immersed in the Spirit.

It's rather of the Spirit being poured out upon coming down upon. I guess the picture is as some of the Reformers used to say is of the drenching rains of paradise. Coming into the wilderness of human life and saturating and fructifying.

Despite all the evidences of sin from crown of head to our toes. Now what's the intention of all this? The intention of the baptism with the Spirit well here it is. We were all baptized with now I dare to use that.

With one Spirit into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks slave or free and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now will you notice the goal in view the intention why is Jesus doing this? He's the baptizer he sends the Holy Spirit down upon his church in order to baptize us.

That is the baptism that he baptizes with. What's he going to do it for? What's the end in view? Well here it is. Two. There are two things to note. One. The one goal is objective in nature. We were all baptized into the one body.

By this baptism Jesus Christ is incorporating us into a body of people. A community. Now it is this that Paul is stressing in the context in 1 Corinthians 12. Christians as we have already indicated are variously gifted.

We were created and recreated to serve the head and the body. And we are severally gifted for that purpose. Basic to that however is the fact that we were baptized with the Spirit. In order to belong to the body within which we are to serve God.

You belong to the Christian church by the baptism of the Spirit. He incorporates you. Therefore you see it really is a sin for a professing Christian to shy away from the Christian church. Because the Spirit baptizes men and women into the Christian church.

And you may say well it's a very poor specimen of the Christian church that I shy away from. I wouldn't shy away from the perfect thing. But no my good friend but if you joined it it wouldn't be perfect anymore.

Neither would it be if I did. There is no such thing in this world. Let us with all our powers try to maintain purity of doctrine and of morality and of practice on every level. But there is no such thing.

I've never met a perfect Christian church. Have you? I'd like to see it. You will notice that this is described in the New Testament in two ways. It used to puzzle me. The baptism of the Spirit is described sometimes as a baptism into Christ.

Now I believe that is what we have in Romans 6. There's no reference to water in Romans 6 at all. Water doesn't come in there. And it says that we are baptized into Christ. Into his death. Then in other places as here we are told that we are baptized into the body of Christ.

And I really was puzzled by that. Pardon me I'm just telling you how dull I was. But I make a confession. And then suddenly one day I saw that the head and the body are one you see. And whether the New Testament tells me that I'm baptized into the head or into the body it makes no difference.

I'm in the same entity. I'm in the same phenomenon. I'm in the same body. The head and the body are one. And whether by his baptism of the Spirit Jesus incorporates me into life union with himself. Or into communion with his people.