We Were All Baptized

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Ephesians 4:5

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

I Corinthians 12:13

What is the ‘one baptism’ to which Paul refers in our text?  If we lay this text alongside the one from I Corinthians, it becomes clear that this cannot be the rite of baptism.  In the second text, the discussion is of an entirely spiritual occurrence.  It is the ‘one Spirit’ Who does the baptizing.  He baptizes ‘all’ into the ‘one body,’ which we understand from the rest of Paul’s writing to be the Body of Christ, which is a spiritual body.  So, if the Holy Spirit is baptizing all of the people to whom the verse refers, ‘Jews, Greeks, slaves and free,’ into a spiritual body, then the baptism must be spiritual as well.  This is a baptism, which all believers undergo.  Therefore, it cannot be the rite of baptism but is rather the spiritual work done by the Spirit to bring us into the Body of Christ as initiated members of that Body.  This liberates us from viewing our standing in Christ as being in any way connected to a specific rite or sacrament.  It means that the Holy Spirit has performed this spiritual initiatory rite to confirm us as full-fledged members of the Body of Christ regardless of our origins.

Our Father and our God,
we rejoice that You have made us members of the Body of Christ.
We praise You that being baptized into that Body,
we are members of it forever.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning