Baptized By The Spirit

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.

I Corinthians 12:13

If the Body of Christ is one body, then, as one body, it has one Spirit.  As Paul is expounding the meaning of the Body of Christ, he refers to this one Spirit.  He says that we were all baptized into this Body by the Spirit.  This points us to the work of the Spirit to make us members of the Body of Christ.  Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, no one has ever been or ever will be saved.  It is the Holy Spirit Who regenerates us.  Until the Spirit works within us, we are dead in trespasses and sins.  The Holy Spirit awakens us from our spiritual deadness to our need of salvation by Christ.  He brings us to repentance and gives us faith to believe.  He baptizes us into the Body of Christ and indwells us.  He renews us in the whole person after the image of Christ and enables us to die more and more unto sin and to live unto righteousness.  He plants the fruit of the Spirit within us, then cultivates it so that love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance become the characteristics which we exhibit as a matter of course in everyday life.  This is a small portion of the whole of the work of the Spirit, but on a personal level, it affects us thoroughly. 

Our Wonderful and Wise God,
we rejoice that You have baptized us into
the Body of Christ by Your Spirit.
We praise You that now, being part of that Body,
we daily grow in grace.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning