Baptized By One Spirit Into One Body
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and
have been all made to drink into one Spirit."
This is a verse which has, through the years, received a huge
amount of attention. I have read a great deal of material on the
subject, and even distributed a lot of tracts with which I am
less than totally pleased. I will try, in this brief article, to
state what I feel is the extremely simple and pointed truth of
this verse. May I say to begin with, I don't think we need to be
an exegetical or a translation expert to understand it; it is
just what it seems to say.
Why The Complicated Approached
I have read many discourses which approach this verse as if we
needed some particular insight into great mysteries, or an
ability to dig out very obscure interpretations of other Bible
verses, to understand this one.
These approaches normally lead to some "necessary
implications" of a "universal body." This wrong
interpretation of I Cor. 12:13 ("For by one Spirit are we
all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit.") is supported by a wrong interpretation of
Ephesians 4:3 and 4, ("Endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit,
even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;") and in
turn that wrong interpretation of Ephesians 4:3 and 4 is supposed
by the same wrong interpretation of I Cor. 12:13. The fact of the
matter is that neither of these verses so much as hints at any
kind of a universal body.
In fact the words universal and body are so antagonistic to each
other, that we should be forced into laughter, by merely hearing
them so used. The word body always means something that is
localized by union and united by locality, while the word
universal, as used in this respect, means something that is
everywhere. Infinitude of locality always necessitates a spirit,
as opposed to a body. Why the complication then? It is because of
the carry-over of Catholicism, even through Protestantism, in so
much of our "Christian literature."
If it were not for the Catholic teaching that the "body of
Christ" is literally the visible universal (Catholic)
church, or the Protestant teaching that the "body of
Christ" is literally the invisible universal ("Holy
Catholic") church, no such notion would ever exist among
evangelical Christians. They certainly would not, in a million
years, arrive at it, merely by reading I Cor. 12:13, Eph. 4:3,4
and Eph. 5:25-27. The fact is that to arrive at a universal
church interpretation of these verses, a man must start with this
Catholic presupposition and use these verses as proof texts to
support it. I want to take each of the determinative words of I
Cor. 12:13 and show that this passage does not even suggest
universalism. Then, I want to very briefly expound the verse in
its simple contextual meaning.
The Word "SPIRIT"
"For by one SPIRIT are we all baptized into one body."
It has been argued by some, who realize the error of the Catholic
interpretation, that the Spirit here was, "a spirit of
unity," and should be translated spirit not Spirit. Such a
conclusion is not necessary, and I do not believe it is either
accurate or logically justified. The Spirit here is the Spirit of
the context. He is the Spirit who, according to verse 3, leads
one to confess Christ, in verse 4 bestows diversities of gifts,
and in verse 7 manifests Himself for the overall profit of the
church.
He is the same Spirit who in verse 8, gives the word of wisdom to
one and the word of knowledge to another, and who in verses 9 and
10, gives gifts of faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning
of spirits, divers tongues, and interpretation. He is the same
Spirit who, in verse 11, sovereignly divides gifts to men,
individually as it pleases Him. It is, by every contextual
standard of interpretation the "Spirit" of the context
and thus, the Holy Spirit who is mentioned here.
The Word "BY"
"For BY one Spirit are we all baptized into one body."
It is thought, by the universalist, that this word, if properly
translated, forces us to believe that this verse has the Holy
Spirit baptizing us into Christ literally, and thus the baptism
could not be water baptism, and the body referred to could not be
a local church. This is interpretation either by presupposition,
or by panic, or some of both. The word BY need carry no such
meaning. It simply means we are lead by the Holy Spirit to unite
with that body (local church), exactly as we are lead by the
Spirit to confess Christ in verse 3. This is how Simeon, in Luke
2:27, came into the temple at the time of Christ's dedication.
("And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the
custom of the law,"). He came by the influence of, or the
leadership of, the Holy Spirit.
The Word "BODY"
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one BODY."
Again the "body" of this verse is the body of the
context, that is the church at Corinth. This is what Paul is,
throughout the chapter, illustrating by the human body. The first
question that should be asked here is this: Is the word
"body" in this verse, that is the body of Christ, being
used literally or figuratively? Is Paul saying we are literally
being place by this baptism into the physical, fleshly, actual,
biological boy of Christ? Of course not! He is using the human
body, in this chapter, to illustrate the truth of necessary union
and interdependency within the church, and he is using the
metaphor, "body of Christ," to illustrate the
relationship that the local church has with Christ as her
"head," which is simply to say He has complete
authority over the church. To make the use of the words body or
head more literal than that we are to think locally, that is of
the church at Corinth, and locally as these truths apply to us in
any church. Only in this setting can verses like 25 and 26 have
any applicable reference to the context. Members of a local,
visible assembly are to have the same care one for the other,
suffer with each other and rejoice when another is honored. If
there were such a thing as an universal, invisible body (whatever
that might possible be) this conduct would surely not be possible
for
them. So the term body here is a metaphorical term describing the
relationship that the members of the church at Corinth had with
each other under Christ their head. He is talking specifically of
the body, that is the church, at Corinth. Oh, but someone asks,
does Christ have many bodies? This is a foolish question.
Once we see the metaphorical use of the word BODY in this passage
we understand that the usage is generic or institutional and thus
in not numerical in any sense of being either singular or plural.
Let me illustrate this truth thusly: Christ took a piece or loaf
of bread, on the night before His crucifixion, He broke it and
said, "Take eat, this is my body." He was simply saying
this piece of bread, which you are to eat, pictures my body. But
He said "This is my body." Now, are we to understand
that this was the only piece of bread about which this statement
could be made, or that all pieces of bread are a composite part
of one great piece? Absurd! When we see that the statement of a
metaphorical one, and could be rightly made of any qualifying
piece of bread, that is unleavened bread consecrated to the
purpose of symbolizing Christ's body, we see the truth that
applies in I Cor. 12:13. Any proper qualifying piece of bread, at
any proper time, and in any proper place and setting, could be
referred to as "His body," and in the singular, without
violence
to any other piece. The very same thing applies easily and
automatically to any true church, and it does no violence to any
other true church, nor does it so much as hint that they are
composite parts of the same thing. Moreover, it does not hint at
the foolish idea that the local church is only the manifestation
or as some prefer to say, the only visible manifestation of the
"real thing," "the true church," or the
"universal church." Notice this truth as applied to the
human body in I Cor. 12:15. Can the foot say "...I am not of
the body..." What body? It speaks of the human body as an
object, not an individual. So is the normal case in all
metaphorical usages.
The Word "WE"
"For by one Spirit are WE baptized into one body." Some
have said the word WE here of necessity includes Paul, who was
obviously not a member of that local assembly, and thus the usage
of WE supports a universal interpretation. Nonsense! If the word
WE in verse 13 necessarily includes him, the word YE in verse 27
of the same chapter would necessarily exclude himself. The
principle, that we are each part of a local body, applies to
Paul, and thus he uses the word WE in an editorial sense.
However, throughout the epistle and especially in the context, he
excludes himself from this body of which he is speaking in this
chapter. Notice verses 1, 2, 3, and 27. In none of these places
does he imply that he is including himself in the body to whom he
is speaking. To understand his editorial use of the word WE in
verse 13, notice the use of the word I in chapter 13, verses 1-3.
His usage here is hypothetical as if he had not love and became
as sounding brass, but he does not really include himself in that
group. For an example of the use of the word We, which does not
include both the first and second persons, notice I Thess. 3:1.
Notice I Thess. 5:5,
where he, in the same verse, uses YE and WE referring to the same
group. So don't let the word WE in I Cor. 12:13 be used to
erroneously point you in a universal direction. It implies no
such thing!
The Word "BAPTIZED"
"For by one Spirit are we BAPTIZED into one body." The
universalist's interpretation of this verse is essentiality this:
The Holy Spirit places (baptizes) us into the "true
church," "The Body of Christ." They make this a
statement of regeneration, that is to say salvation is the Holy
Spirit baptizing us into the "true church," the
universal body of Christ. But where in Scripture is salvation
referred to as "baptism" either in or by the Holy
Spirit?
While it is true that baptism is used metaphorically to describe
salvation, salvation is never referred to as baptism in or by
anything or anyone, unless I Cor. 12:13 is the only place. No
ground is laid for it anywhere in Scripture. The believers of
Luke 3:16 and Acts 1:5 were promised the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. It was fulfilled to them in Acts 2:1-4, but no one would
claim that this was their regeneration. Salvation is not the
context of I Cor. 12:13, the context is conduct in the local
church. Again, salvation is not the context of Eph. 4:4. In
reading Eph. 4:1-3 you find that mutual conduct among the members
of the church at Ephesus is the context. This will be the case
everywhere in Scripture you see the illustration of the body
used.
Regeneration is never the context. I thus conclude that no place
in Scripture ever refers to salvation as baptism in, or by, the
Holy Spirit. These people in the church at Corinth had been led
by the Holy Spirit to confess Christ, and had by the same Spirit
been led to identify themselves with that particular body, by
water baptism. It was by the ordinance of water baptism that they
had come into the fellowship of that body (the church at
Corinth).
The Simple Interpretation Of The Verse
The message and exhortation of I Cor. 12:13 and 14 is this: Cease
your individual competition in the attempted display of spiritual
gifts. Notice the first and last verses of each chapter are
clearly this, and every verse in between is right on that line.
This verse is simply saying: All of you whether Jew or Gentile,
whether bond or free have been led by the Holy Spirit to by,
water baptism, unite yourself with this body (the church at
Corinth). Now stop competing for position and pre-eminence, as if
you were a unit within yourself, and accept the place in the body
to which God has sovereignly appointed you, because you are by
the design of God all dependent upon each other.
If this simple truth is missed, we not only entertain a totally
wrong concept of Bible doctrine and
definition of biblical word church, we miss the glorious
practical appeal for church unity and inter-
submission within our church. Any notion of a universal church
becomes an escape from the obligation to the local church, and to
proper conduct within the local body, the true and only church of
the Lord Jesus Christ.