Saturday

Related Verses
Acts 2:38
38 And Peter said to them, Repent and each one of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor. 12:13
13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

1 Cor. 15:20-22, 25-28
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since through man came death, through man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
25 For He must reign until God puts all His enemies under His feet.
26 Death, the last enemy, is being abolished.
27 For He has subjected all things under His feet. But when He says that all things are subjected, it is evident that all things are except Him who has subjected all things to Him.
28 And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to Him who has subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

Related Reading
Concerning baptism, the New Testament reveals that we have been baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), into Christ (Gal. 3:27), into the death of Christ (Rom. 6:3), and into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). We need to exercise our entire being in order to have a proper understanding of such a wonderful baptism…Such a baptism, a baptism into the divine name, a living person, an effective death, and a living organism, puts the believers into a position where they can experience an organic union with Christ. (Life-study of Galatians, p. 177)

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Whenever we are about to baptize people, we should give them a rich, living message on the meaning of baptism…We should never baptize believers in a ritualistic way, regarding baptism as a mere act of putting people into the water according to the Bible…If people hear a rich word on the meaning of baptism and have the hearing of faith, they will earnestly desire to be baptized. Then, as we baptize them, we should exercise our faith to realize that we are not only baptizing them into the water but baptizing them into a spiritual reality. As we immerse them into the water, we immerse them into the Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit. When a person is baptized into the Triune God, he enters into an organic union, which is able to transform his whole being. By means of our organic union with the Triune God, we are one with the Triune God, and the Triune God is one with us.

To put on Christ [Gal. 3:27] is to clothe ourselves with Christ, to put on Christ as a garment. On the one hand, in baptism we are immersed into Christ; on the other hand, in baptism we put on Christ. Christ, the living Spirit, is the water of life. Hence, to be baptized into Christ is to be immersed into Him as the Spirit. When a person is immersed into Christ, he automatically puts on Christ as his clothing. This means that the baptized one has become one with Christ, having been immersed into Him and having become clothed with Him.

If Christ were not the life-giving Spirit, there would be no way for us to be baptized into Christ…For us to be baptized into Christ, Christ must be the pneuma, the air, the Spirit all around us…We cannot be baptized into a Christ who is only in the heavens. But we can be baptized into the Christ who is the pneuma, the Spirit. This is proved by 1 Corinthians 12:13, where we are told that in one Spirit we were baptized into one Body. The Spirit here is the all-inclusive, processed Triune God. In the Spirit, the processed Triune God, we have been baptized into one Body. Therefore, for us to be baptized into such a divine reality, Christ must be the life-giving Spirit. Whenever we baptize others, we should tell them that the Triune God as the processed life-giving Spirit is all around them and that they need to be baptized, immersed, into the reality of this divine person.

It is significant that at the end of chapter 3 of Galatians Paul concludes with a word about being baptized into Christ and putting on Christ…We should not be concerned with whether or not we have spoken in tongues but with whether or not we have been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ. Our concern should be that we have become one with Christ. I can testify strongly that I have been baptized into Christ and that I am wearing Him as my clothing, my covering. I have the full assurance that I am one with Him and that He is one with me. I have the divine life, I am in the divine person, and the divine person is one with me. (Life-study of Galatians, pp. 180-181)

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 123

Further Reading:
Further Reading: Christ and the Cross, Chapter 9

Hymn: #937
1 Lord, when by baptism we confess
Our oneness in Thy death,
Oh, by Thy mercy and Thy grace,
May Thou reveal its worth.

2 By baptism in Thy death we’re one
And buried too with Thee:
Thus we’re forever dead to sin
And from its bondage free.

3 By baptism in Thy death we’re one
And buried too with Thee;
Thus to the world we bid farewell,
From Satan’s slavery free.

4 We’re resurrected with Thee too,
From death’s great pow’r set free;
Now fruit of holiness we bear
In our new life with Thee.

5 We’re baptized unto Thy dear name,
No more our own are we;
Thy steps we’d follow, for Thee live,
And e’er be one with Thee.