Baptism of the Holy Spirit - Part 2 – 1 Corinthians 12:13 (Part 4)

What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? – Part 2 

 1 Corinthians 12:13 (Part 4)

Take another look at the verse1 Corinthians 12:13 – the phrase used is ‘we were all baptized’ – past tense; something done and accomplished; something completed. The ‘we’ implies Paul and Sosthenes (1 Corinthians 1:1) and all of Paul’s other companions, and all of the Jews, Gentiles, Greeks, free, or slave. Everyone together were immersed or submerged into the one body of Christ. Now, throughout the New Testament, is there any record that Paul or any of his ministry colleagues and companions received a separate Baptism of the Holy Spirit at any time; or that they were empowered by this Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and then they set out on their world changing ministries (Acts 17:6)? Paul’s baptism, after his being saved and converted on the road to Damascus is duly recorded (Acts 9:18) ; and it is also recorded that “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). He did so with such zeal and intensity that people were amazed (Acts 9:21), and from thereon Paul continued to increase in strength and confounded the Jews more and more (Acts 9:22). Neither did Paul have to ‘Tarry’ for the Holy Spirit; nor did he ask or wait for any ‘Baptism of the Holy Spirit’, and yet his ministry was so intense that no one could stand before him; and therefore eventually the Jews started to plot executing him (Acts 9:23). Does not Paul’s initiation into the ministry make it clear that there is no requirement for this Baptism of the Holy Spirit before one can be useful for the Lord?

Coming back to our lead verse, 1 Corinthians 12:13, while it says “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…”, yet nowhere does it say that any of those mentioned in this verse asked for this to be done, or they waited and prayed for it to be done for them. It was something that the Holy Spirit did on its own – covered them all in Himself and joined them all together into one Body of Believers. Moreover, nowhere does it say that on some grounds, some were considered worthy of this being done for them, but others were left out since they could not qualify for it. Nowhere does it say or even hint that any new members of the Corinthian Church, or any other Church at any place, at any point of time, will also have to undergo this Baptism of the Holy Spirit, if they want to serve the Lord, or want to be useful for the Lord. Using this verse to preach all such thoughts and teachings is contrived and ridiculous. By no means can any such teaching be derived or justified through this verse.

This verse also provides an excellent example of the very selective use of Biblical words and phrases and manipulating them to propagate, and promote a false doctrine (another such example is in 1 Corinthians 14, but we will look at it at some other time, as and when the Lord wills). The proponents of the doctrine of Baptism of the Holy Spirt quite vehemently cite this verse as a proof since it says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body….” But then they very conveniently forget to say anything about the ending phrase of this very verse “…and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”

Ever heard of anyone saying, teaching, or stressing that one needs to drink the Holy Spirit too? Are not ‘baptized’ and ‘made to drink’ part of one and the same sentence? Therefore if the initial part is so necessary, that a doctrine has been built upon and is aggressively taught, then why completely ignore the subsequent part? If the subsequent part is a figure of speech, then why not give the same consideration to the initial part, and put an end to this concoction of untenable doctrines and teachings by misinterpreting and misusing Scripture? The simple and straightforward meaning of the verse through use of these two figures of speech is that every member of the body of Christ is totally surrounded – inside and outside by the Holy Spirit of God – He has us all totally covered and protected.

The plain and simple fact is that there is no doctrine of the requirement of a Baptism of the Holy Spirit for being effective for the Lord spoken of here. To push such wrong teachings is to distort the Word of God and to speak lies to mislead the gullible into a useless and fruitless endeavor.

- To Be Continued

 Next: Baptism of the Holy Spirit – Part 3 – How many Baptisms; Implications