There is one baptism today, in this dispensation, and that is a spiritual baptism, where a person is identified into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and is identified into the body of Christ-all by the Holy Spirit(notice the Holy Spirit is the Baptizer, not the Lord Jesus Christ). You can get "immersed", "dunked", "sprinkled" until the tadpoles know your social security number, but that will not save you.
There is one baptism today in the "dispensation of the grace of God"(Eph. 3:2), and that is spiritual baptism of Eph. 4:5(notice the 7 unities of Eph. 4:3-6- are all spiritual), by which we are baptized(identified) into the Body of Christ, and thus identified into the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Most refuse to discern the difference between Christ baptizing WITH or IN the Holy Spirit at Pentecost(Mt. 3:11; Mk. 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:4,5;11:16), and "For BY(emphasis mine) one Spirit are we ALL(emphasis mine) baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been ALL(emphasis mine) made to drink into one Spirit"(1 Cor. 12:13). The Body of Christ's(which was not in existence in the early Acts period) baptism involves the Holy Spirit as the baptizer, which:
1.places/identifies/unites us into one body of Jews and Gentiles who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ alone as the Saviour, creating a NEW entity("new man") totally distinct in its nature and program from Israel, and
2. places/identifies/unites each believer with Christ("in Christ" and "Christ in me"), who is the "Head of the Body", and thus His death becomes our death, His burial becomes our burial, and His resurrection becomes our resurrection. There is therefore both a vertical and horizontal union simultaneously formed by this "one baptism"(Eph. 4:5-NOT TWO) by the Spirit. Notice that throughout 1 Corinthians Chapter 12 there is a constant reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. Quoting only one here, which illustrates the Holy Spirit's instrumentality: "Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking BY(emphasis mine) the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, But BY(emphasis mine) the Holy Ghost"(1 Cor. 12:3). All through that Chapter 12 it is clear and understood that the Holy Spirit is the One who is the Instrument doing the various actions. So the passage could not be made to say "in/with one Spirit". It has to be BY ONE SPIRIT, and therefore a different Spirit baptism is being spoken of here, which is separate and distinct from the Spirit baptism in Acts 1 where the Lord Jesus Christ is the baptizer.
Failure to discern the difference between these 2 baptisms has caused millions of people to be deceived and led astray into a vast number of heresies, including the "Holy Laughter" debacle, the "pscho-babble" tongues embarrassment, and the unscriptural "slain in the spirit" lunacy.
The Lord Jesus Christ had a literal circumcision on the 8th day, as all the little Jews had, and He had the real antitypical circumcision at the cross. There the "old man" was "cut away", "severed"(circumcized), not merely symbolically,and ceremonially or typically, but in reality. And now saints of the body of Christ have in the crucified Lord Jesus Christ the real circumcision made without hands. From now on the circumcision of the unbelievers who rejected the Christ was only a concision, Philippians 3:2, a laceration.
We now have not only a complete circumcision, but also a complete baptism. We have been laid together with Him in the tomb through the baptism , as Col. 2:12 says literally.
This is a reference to His baptism at Calvary-no water at Calvary-no water-Mt. 20:22,23/Mk. 10:38,39/Luke 12:50
=the baptism of His blood at Calvary-same as Romans 6:4.. This came three years after His water baptism. In this water baptism, He IDENTIFIED Himself with Israel and with us: Luke 12:50; Mat. 20:22,23; Mark 10:38,39; Romans 6:3,4; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:12.
In Romans 6:3,4, Gal. 3:27, and Col. 2:12 we have the same waterless baptism INTO the crucified, buried, and risen Lord Jesus Christ. There is no imitation of the Jewish water rite, water baptism, but an IDENTIFICATION with His "blood bath" at Calvary. We have been baptized, IDENTIFIED, into His death: Romans 6:4. When we were just dead Gentile "dogs", He also gave us a quickening, and a resurrection through that special operation of God, not men, by the way of faith. Those "in Christ"(get it?-united) are now people that had a resurrection from among the dead, and this certainly was not material. We were dead, but now our life is hid with Christ in God-Col. 3:3. How anomalous is it to BURY the living! The dead are buried, not the living!
Just as sure as our circumcision was without hands, Col. 2:10-12, so also is our baptism without hands. We were quickened with the Lord Jesus Christ, and raised with Christ, but not in or through water baptism. Water baptism could not possible be a burial with the Lord Jesus Christ, for He was not buried in a liquid grave, but in rocks, and buried when dead. In contrast, the "dry baptismal" candidate is buried as soon as he has received life! That saint was raised, Col. 3:1-2, and THE SINNER "in Adam" was BURIED! Believers are not to be buried, but are most emphatically declared to have been buried, eventhose who religiously never touched a drop of water! It is not to happen, but it happened when he died and was buried, Romans 6:3-5. He was long ago baptized, IDENTIFIED, into Christ Jesus and into His death: Romans 6:2-5; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:10-12; Eph. 4:5. People today read baptism in the imperative mood, whereas the LORD God wrote it in the PAST TENSE. They today read it as a prerequisite, while the LORD God states it as a prerogative. They today regard it as something material, while the LORD God regards it today as spiritual. People today regard it as for the few that obey. The LORD God says He baptized, IDENTIFIED, all believers. People today want it to be done. The LORD God says He already did it 2000 years ago. The LORD God buried the dead Lord Jesus Christ. People today want to bury living Christians.The LORD God buried in rocks. People today want to bury in water. The LORD God redeemed from the curse. People today want to "dip" the saint under the element of a curse. The LORD God made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, people today take joy/delight in going down to the waters of death with the tadpoles.
One Baptism - the work of the Holy Spirit that identifies, or"baptizes" the believer into the very death of Christ (see Romans 6:3-4 with Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:11-12).
This act of the Holy Ghost (the Baptizer) baptizing the believer into the death of Christ (the "element"), and thus so identifying the believer with his Lord as to make him a member of the Body of Christ, takes place the moment one believes the gospel of the Grace of God; this is the one baptism (and only) for today. (Note Ephesians 4:5 with 1 Corinthians 12:13). It is an operation of God, not of man (Colossians 2:11-12). Thus, we stand complete in Christ, apart from the works of men, either our own or another's. This one baptism that identifies us with the Lord Jesus Christ as members of His body was a part of a revelation received by the Apostle Paul, which he calls "the mystery"-- a secret that had been kept hidden in God before the foundation of the world, never made known to men of other ages. See Ephesians 3:1-10, Colossians 1:25-29.
These are 2 separate issues talked about in Col. 2:10-12. Understanding "the circumcision of Christ" is to understand that this was a spiritual circumcision at the cross. While Christ's spirit returned to the Father, God the Father "severed" Christ's soul from His body at the cross(the physical circumcision was a severing of the flesh from the body) Christ's soul went to hell, "separated" from His physical body-"made without hands"=God the Father performing this spiritual circumcision. Likewise, when you were saved, who you were "in Adam" was severed from your body-our "soul" was separated from "the body of the sins of the flesh".
Per the previous, the baptism here is also a spiritual one. Baptism means to identify for the purposes of union, oneness, change in condition, status, IDENTITY. This is a reference to the fact that when Christ was buried, believers were "identified" with the Lord Jesus Christ in this burial.
Also note that Romans 6:3-4 states that we were baptized into Christ's death, and Galatians 3:27 states we are baptized into Christ= when Christ died, I died. When Christ was buried, I was buried. When Christ rose from the dead, I rose from the dead.
Col. 2:12:
"...ye are risen with him")=God the Father "identified" me in the death, burial, and resurrection.
Again, in this dispensation, the LORD God is now reconciling Jews and Gentiles to Himself in one body purely through faith in the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Ephesians 2:13-18). The very instant a believer trusts the Gospel (1 Cor.15:1-4), he is "by one Spirit baptized into one body" (1 Cor.12:13) and thus "baptized into Christ" (Gal.3:27). There is no opportunity for a water ceremony here. No human rite or ceremony can consign the believer "into Christ." No, the "one baptism" (Eph.4:5) of the "one Body" is performed by "One Spirit", not by a preacher, priest. pastor...............
The working of positional truth of being "in Christ" is this Spirit baptism. So absolutely adequate is our position in Christ by virtue of this Spirit performed baptism that we are told in Col. 2:10 "....And ye are complete in Him."
