FOOTNOTES:[48]Bancroft's Native Races; Vol. 2, P. 260; Vol. 2, P. 269; Vol. 2, P. 282[49]Vol. 3, P. 370[50]Under Baptism[51]Mat. 15.2, 3; Mark 7.5, 9[52]Mat. 3.5, 6[53]The Jewish People in the time of Christ Vol. 2, P. 320[54]Christian Institutions P. 6[55]Primitive Culture by Tylor Vol. 2, P. 440; Vol. 2, P. 441[56]Heb. 9.10; Gal. 4.9[57]Jon. 13.4, 17[58]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16[59]Epistle of Jon. 4.8, 16; Mat. 18.2, 4; Mark 10.13, 16; Luke 18.16[60]Britanica[61]Mark 10.13, 16; Luke 18.16[62]Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 1, P. 219[63]Jon. 13.1, 15[64]Exodus 29.4, 40.12[65]Leviticus 8.4, 6; Jon. 1.31, 33[66]Jon. 1.33, 34; Acts 2.17, 18; Acts 10.45; Acts 11.15, 16[67]Joel 2.28
[48]Bancroft's Native Races; Vol. 2, P. 260; Vol. 2, P. 269; Vol. 2, P. 282
[48]Bancroft's Native Races; Vol. 2, P. 260; Vol. 2, P. 269; Vol. 2, P. 282
[49]Vol. 3, P. 370
[49]Vol. 3, P. 370
[50]Under Baptism
[50]Under Baptism
[51]Mat. 15.2, 3; Mark 7.5, 9
[51]Mat. 15.2, 3; Mark 7.5, 9
[52]Mat. 3.5, 6
[52]Mat. 3.5, 6
[53]The Jewish People in the time of Christ Vol. 2, P. 320
[53]The Jewish People in the time of Christ Vol. 2, P. 320
[54]Christian Institutions P. 6
[54]Christian Institutions P. 6
[55]Primitive Culture by Tylor Vol. 2, P. 440; Vol. 2, P. 441
[55]Primitive Culture by Tylor Vol. 2, P. 440; Vol. 2, P. 441
[56]Heb. 9.10; Gal. 4.9
[56]Heb. 9.10; Gal. 4.9
[57]Jon. 13.4, 17
[57]Jon. 13.4, 17
[58]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[58]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[59]Epistle of Jon. 4.8, 16; Mat. 18.2, 4; Mark 10.13, 16; Luke 18.16
[59]Epistle of Jon. 4.8, 16; Mat. 18.2, 4; Mark 10.13, 16; Luke 18.16
[60]Britanica
[60]Britanica
[61]Mark 10.13, 16; Luke 18.16
[61]Mark 10.13, 16; Luke 18.16
[62]Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 1, P. 219
[62]Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 1, P. 219
[63]Jon. 13.1, 15
[63]Jon. 13.1, 15
[64]Exodus 29.4, 40.12
[64]Exodus 29.4, 40.12
[65]Leviticus 8.4, 6; Jon. 1.31, 33
[65]Leviticus 8.4, 6; Jon. 1.31, 33
[66]Jon. 1.33, 34; Acts 2.17, 18; Acts 10.45; Acts 11.15, 16
[66]Jon. 1.33, 34; Acts 2.17, 18; Acts 10.45; Acts 11.15, 16
[67]Joel 2.28
[67]Joel 2.28
John the Baptist was sent before Christ to prepare the way before him.[68]
John was a prophet of dispensation previous to Christ.[69]He was in the desert until the time of his showing unto Israel.[70]In the vision he was with Moses on the Mount and they talked with Jesus.[71]He with Moses vanished and left Jesus alone.[72]
John said: That he (Jesus) should be manifest unto Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.[73]John defines his commission as only to Israel (the Jews). His baptism was adapted to Jews only and not to us, who according to Jewish classification are Gentiles. Evidently John baptised Jews only and no Gentiles.
It was unlawful for Jews to keep company or come unto Gentiles and there is no intimation that John ignored this Jewish law.[74]
The woman of Samaria wondered that Jesus (a Jew) asked water of her, a Samaritan, for Jews had no dealings with Samaritans.[75]
Even in apostolic times we have norecord that any full Gentile was baptized with water; nor that any one born of Christian parents was so baptized.
Cruden says: Naaman, Cornelius and the Eunuch were all proselytes of the gate and not full Gentiles.[76]
The Samaritans were a mixed race who observed the law of Moses. They also were Jewish proselytes and not full Gentiles.[77]When the Jews numbered the people they did not count the Gentiles. So all Jerusalem and Judea whom John baptized would not include the few Gentiles who lived among the Jews.[78]
The freedom with which the Jews followed John to the Jordan indicates that they were previously familiar with water baptism.[79]
But few of that great multitude whom John baptized appear to have become the disciples of Christ.
John said: "There cometh one after me mightier than I, whose shoe latchets I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit." And again: "He must increase but I must decrease."[80]
Christ said: "John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Peter quoted this saying of our Lord and recognized this Holy Spirit baptism to be the same as that which the prophet Joel foretold should be poured out upon all flesh, upon sons and daughters, servants and handmaidens.[81]
Two baptisms are here contrasted by John, Christ and Peter. Baptism of water must decrease with John and Judaism. Baptism of Spirit must increase with Christ and Christianity.
To whom can we turn with more confidence for knowledge about all baptisms ordained or intended for us than unto John the Baptist whom we are told was sent to administer one baptism, and unto Christ who was the author of another baptism?[82]
Three times in eight verses John says his baptism is of water, thus distinguishing it from Christ's baptism without water.[83]
They are both quoted as testifying to two dissimilar and distinct baptisms administered at different times, one with water and the other without.
Neither of them intimates that these two baptisms shall ever be united, but they do both plainly intimate that they shall not be united, and that the first shall pass away and the second remain, and no other be introduced.[84]
John says: He (Christ) shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit; but John never says that he nor anyone else shall ever baptize you with water.[85]
Christ says: Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit,[86]but he nowhere even intimates that we shall ever be baptized with water, nor does he ever mention water baptism but once, and this was with his last words when he introduced his own baptism of the Holy Spirit as its immediate successor.[87]
As Peter interprets the Prophet Joel: All flesh, sons and daughters shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit; but Joel never prophesied that they should be baptized with water.[88]
If in these gospel days we were to have been baptized with water, would not Joel have prophesied of water as well as of Spirit?[89]Would not our Saviour at some time have intimated that water baptismshould be continued and have given some instructions about it? And would he not have baptized his apostles in this way? Would John when teaching that great multitude of Jews on the banks of the Jordan have impressed upon them that water baptism was only transient and that they would all need to be baptized again with the Holy Spirit?[90]
John baptized his disciples with water.[91]Christ called to his disciples, "Follow Me."[92]Christ did not baptize with water.[93]He is calling to-day, "Follow Me."[94]The apostle John says: Jesus tarried with his disciples in Judea and baptized; tho' Jesus baptized not but his disciples.[95]
Jesus here sanctioned water baptism by his presence for a short time and then departed,[96]but he never baptized with water himself, nor directed others to do so, nor gave any instructions about it.
He likewise sanctioned circumcision, and the law of Moses generally.[97]It was observed all around him and he did not object. He sent the cleansed leper to the Jewish priest to offer for his cleansing as Moses commanded.[98]
This offering which Moses commanded was two birds and cedar wood and three lambs without blemish, &c.[99]
Shall all cleansed lepers of our day do as this one was commanded? Shall we keep the law of Moses, circumcise our children and baptize with water, because Jesus sanctioned it in Judea?
Jesus, his disciples and the Judeans were all Jews and this was under the law before Christian baptism had superceded water baptism at Pentecost. Of course they baptized with water, circumcised the flesh and kept the law of Moses; but this is no precedent for us whether Jews or Gentiles in these gospel days; since the Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh in all the fulness we are able to bear.
Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, saying "Suffer it to be so now,"[100]thus indicating that it should not be so always.[101]He was also circumcised, and in after life confirmed his early circumcision by fulfilling and not destroying the law and the prophets,[102]and by sending the cleansed leper to offer as Moses commanded, and by sending his apostles before Pentecost to preach to Israel (the circumcised) but not to Gentiles (the uncircumcised) until the son of man be come.[103]
He here recognized the covenant of circumcision[104]which God gave to Abraham and that it was not yet fulfilled.[105]He virtually said of circumcision the same that he had previously said of water baptism, "Suffer it to be so now." But we find no manifestation of his will that we should continue to observe the covenants and customs of that dispensation of which water baptism was one; and he never made any distinction whatever in favor of it but with his last words introduced his own baptism of the Holy Spirit as its immediate successor.[106]
Jesus exclaimed upon the cross: "It is finished," and the law and the prophets were fulfilled.[107]
He opened to us a more excellent way under his own glorious gospel dispensation of which that of Moses was a shadow.[108]He took away the first covenant that he might establish the second.[109]He purchased our redemption by his blood shed on Calvary. He died and was buried, he arose and ascended. Angels said to his disciples: Why stand ye gazing up into Heaven?[110]This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven.
The disciples returned to Jerusalem and tarried there as Jesus had previously commanded them. Upon the day of Pentecost he came again as the angels had said and as he had often promised his apostles and disciples.[111]
He came as the comforter, the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and to abide with us forever.[112]
By this one spirit are we now all baptized into one body, Jews and Gentiles, Bond and Free, male and female, all one in Christ Jesus.[113]All flesh, sons and daughters, servants and handmaidens, old and young.
By no other baptism can we all be baptized into one body. Water baptism diverts from this, one baptism into one body.
Farrar says: "That this first Pentecost marked an eternal moment in the history of mankind no reader of history will surely deny. Undoubtedly in every age since then the sons of God have toan extent, unknown before, been taught by the Spirit of God; undoubtedly since then to an extent unrealized before we may know that the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in us. Undoubtedly we may enjoy a nearer sense of union with God in Christ than was accorded to the saints of the old dispensation and a thankful certainty that we see the days which kings and prophets desired to see and did not see them, and hear the truths which they desired to hear and did not hear them, and that this new dispensation began henceforth in all its fulness."[114]
FOOTNOTES:[68]Mark 1.2; Luke 3.4[69]Luke 7.27; Jon. 3.28; Mat. 17.1, 8[70]Mark 9.4, 8; Jon. 1.31[71]Luke 1.80; Mat. 17.1, 8[72]Mark 9.2, 8; Luke 9.28, 36[73]Jon. 1.31[74]Acts 10.28[75]Jon. 4.9[76]Concordance under Proselyte[77]Britanica[78]Mat. 3.5[79]Mat. 3.5, 6[80]Mark 1.7; Mark 1.8; Jon. 1.26, 33; Jon. 3.30[81]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16; Acts 11.16; Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.8[82]Jon. 1.6, 34; Mark 1.8; Acts 1.4, 5; Acts 11.16[83]Jon. 1.26, 33[84]Acts 1.4, 5; Acts 11.16; Jon. 3.30[85]Jon. 1.33[86]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16[87]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16[88]Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.28, 29[89]Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.28, 29[90]Mat. 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; Jon. 1.26, 33[91]Mark 1.4, 5[92]Mat. 4.19; Mat. 9.9[93]Jon 4.2[94]Mark 2.14; Luke 5.27[95]Jon. 3.22; Jon. 4.2[96]Jon. 3.22; Jon. 4.2, 3[97]Jon. 7.22, 23; Luke 2.21, 24[98]Luke 5.14[99]Leviticus 14[100]Mat. 3.15[101]Luke 2.21[102]Mat. 5.17; Luke 5.14[103]Mat. 10.5; Mat. 10.23[104]Acts 7.8[105]Mat. 3.15[106]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16[107]Jon. 19.30[108]1 Cor. 12.31; Col. 2.14, 17[109]Heb. 10.1, 9; Heb. 9.13, 28; Heb. 9.12[110]Acts 1.11[111]Acts 1.12; Acts 1.4; Acts 24.49; Acts 2.1, 18; Jon. 16.16, 22[112]Jon. 14.16, 21[113]1 Cor. 12.13; Gal. 3.28; Acts 2.16, 18[114]Life of St. Paul P. 52
[68]Mark 1.2; Luke 3.4
[68]Mark 1.2; Luke 3.4
[69]Luke 7.27; Jon. 3.28; Mat. 17.1, 8
[69]Luke 7.27; Jon. 3.28; Mat. 17.1, 8
[70]Mark 9.4, 8; Jon. 1.31
[70]Mark 9.4, 8; Jon. 1.31
[71]Luke 1.80; Mat. 17.1, 8
[71]Luke 1.80; Mat. 17.1, 8
[72]Mark 9.2, 8; Luke 9.28, 36
[72]Mark 9.2, 8; Luke 9.28, 36
[73]Jon. 1.31
[73]Jon. 1.31
[74]Acts 10.28
[74]Acts 10.28
[75]Jon. 4.9
[75]Jon. 4.9
[76]Concordance under Proselyte
[76]Concordance under Proselyte
[77]Britanica
[77]Britanica
[78]Mat. 3.5
[78]Mat. 3.5
[79]Mat. 3.5, 6
[79]Mat. 3.5, 6
[80]Mark 1.7; Mark 1.8; Jon. 1.26, 33; Jon. 3.30
[80]Mark 1.7; Mark 1.8; Jon. 1.26, 33; Jon. 3.30
[81]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16; Acts 11.16; Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.8
[81]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16; Acts 11.16; Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.8
[82]Jon. 1.6, 34; Mark 1.8; Acts 1.4, 5; Acts 11.16
[82]Jon. 1.6, 34; Mark 1.8; Acts 1.4, 5; Acts 11.16
[83]Jon. 1.26, 33
[83]Jon. 1.26, 33
[84]Acts 1.4, 5; Acts 11.16; Jon. 3.30
[84]Acts 1.4, 5; Acts 11.16; Jon. 3.30
[85]Jon. 1.33
[85]Jon. 1.33
[86]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[86]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[87]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[87]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[88]Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.28, 29
[88]Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.28, 29
[89]Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.28, 29
[89]Acts 2.16, 18; Joel 2.28, 29
[90]Mat. 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; Jon. 1.26, 33
[90]Mat. 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; Jon. 1.26, 33
[91]Mark 1.4, 5
[91]Mark 1.4, 5
[92]Mat. 4.19; Mat. 9.9
[92]Mat. 4.19; Mat. 9.9
[93]Jon 4.2
[93]Jon 4.2
[94]Mark 2.14; Luke 5.27
[94]Mark 2.14; Luke 5.27
[95]Jon. 3.22; Jon. 4.2
[95]Jon. 3.22; Jon. 4.2
[96]Jon. 3.22; Jon. 4.2, 3
[96]Jon. 3.22; Jon. 4.2, 3
[97]Jon. 7.22, 23; Luke 2.21, 24
[97]Jon. 7.22, 23; Luke 2.21, 24
[98]Luke 5.14
[98]Luke 5.14
[99]Leviticus 14
[99]Leviticus 14
[100]Mat. 3.15
[100]Mat. 3.15
[101]Luke 2.21
[101]Luke 2.21
[102]Mat. 5.17; Luke 5.14
[102]Mat. 5.17; Luke 5.14
[103]Mat. 10.5; Mat. 10.23
[103]Mat. 10.5; Mat. 10.23
[104]Acts 7.8
[104]Acts 7.8
[105]Mat. 3.15
[105]Mat. 3.15
[106]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[106]Acts 1.5; Acts 11.16
[107]Jon. 19.30
[107]Jon. 19.30
[108]1 Cor. 12.31; Col. 2.14, 17
[108]1 Cor. 12.31; Col. 2.14, 17
[109]Heb. 10.1, 9; Heb. 9.13, 28; Heb. 9.12
[109]Heb. 10.1, 9; Heb. 9.13, 28; Heb. 9.12
[110]Acts 1.11
[110]Acts 1.11
[111]Acts 1.12; Acts 1.4; Acts 24.49; Acts 2.1, 18; Jon. 16.16, 22
[111]Acts 1.12; Acts 1.4; Acts 24.49; Acts 2.1, 18; Jon. 16.16, 22
[112]Jon. 14.16, 21
[112]Jon. 14.16, 21
[113]1 Cor. 12.13; Gal. 3.28; Acts 2.16, 18
[113]1 Cor. 12.13; Gal. 3.28; Acts 2.16, 18
[114]Life of St. Paul P. 52
[114]Life of St. Paul P. 52
Water is not to be understood whenever baptism is named; neither is baptism to be understood whenever water is named. There are many baptisms without water mentioned in Scripture and elsewhere.
The four evangelists and Peter each define two different and distinct baptisms following closely after each other. First John's baptism of water, then Christ's baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our Saviour also testified to these two independent baptisms but to no other baptism as the result or successor of these two. He speaks of one as past and of the other as yet to come.[115]
Many years later, Paul said there was only one baptism; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.[116]
One of these two baptisms which Christ and all the evangelists tell us about must have ended before Paul wrote. Which baptism had ended? Which remains? Can any Christian doubt which baptism remains to us? Christ's death, resurrection, ascension and return at Pentecost had all intervened between the time when John told the Jews of two baptisms and the time when Paul claimed there was but one. During this time Christ had blotted out ordinances and nailed them to his cross. He made no reservation 3 of water baptism. It went with the rest.[117]
Christian baptism came in fullness; water baptism ended.
Near the close of Peter's ministry he said: The baptism which now saves is not the putting away the filth of the fleshbut the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.[118]
Putting away the filth of the flesh evidently here refers to Jewish purification by water baptism. Peter says this is not the baptism which now saves. The baptism which now saves is the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.[119]
This answer of a good conscience toward God can refer to no other baptism than that of the Holy Spirit which Jesus said was the promise of the Father to follow or supercede John's water baptism.[120]It is also called the gift of the Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. And again it is called the earnest of the Spirit. This is the baptism which Peter recognized as that which was foretold by the prophet Joel: In the last days saith God I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. On my servants and on my handmaidens will I pour out of my Spirit and they shall prophecy.[121]
These are the Gospel days in which we now live. This is the one baptism ordained to remain.
Churchmen say: Burial with Christ in baptism (Rom. 6-2) is figurative, a mortification of our lusts; not a literal burial in water.[122]
We heartily accept this church teaching and suggest that baptism into Christ and crucifixion with Christ are no more literal.[123]
We see no more water about baptism into Christ than we see wood in the cross upon which all Christ's children must be crucified.[124]
Church catechism teaches that "baptism is generally necessary to salvation." As an apology for introducing this extrinsic word "generally," they say the thief upon the cross was evidently saved without baptism.[125]
As we understand this is all contrary to Scripture teaching, one error calls for another and the catechism leads astray. There is no "generally" about Christ's teaching. He said positively, Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit; and again he said, Ye must be born again. Without this new birth and baptism we see no hope of salvation.[126]
The thief was evidently baptized upon the cross with this saving baptism and was born again without water, and was thus prepared for the paradise which Jesus promised him. He experienced repentance, forgiveness and remission of sin.[127]
Simon the Sorcerer was baptized presumably with water; was he born again? We are told that he remained in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and that his heart was not right in the sight of God.[128]
Altho' apostles baptized Simon with water he was evidently not born again. Altho' admittedly not baptized with water the repentant thief was born again.[129]
Paul said, as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.[130]
Had Simon put on Christ, his heart would have been right in the sight of God, not in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity.
According to Paul's teaching, Simon was not baptized into Christ; but the repentant thief was baptized into Christ and put on Christ.
The bond of iniquity in which water baptism left Simon bound is a poorrecommendation to the rite. Has it improved since that early day, or is the gall of bitterness less pungent, or has the sight of God become dimmed?[131]
The New Testament makes no connection between new birth and water baptism.
Baptism, not of water, but of the Holy Spirit, makes the heart right. By resisting this baptism we fail to be baptized into Christ.[132]By yielding to this baptism we become our Saviour's new born children, baptized into Christ and buried with him in baptism.[133]This baptism is freely offered to every son and daughter of Adam.
Those of every land who never saw the Scriptures nor ever heard of Jesus with outward ear may be baptized with this saving baptism and be born again without instrumentality.[134]
There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God.[135]Our Saviour left us not dependent on book, man or water for salvation. His love is universal and unbounded; he tasted death for every man.[136]
This is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days,saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds, and in their hearts will I write them.[137]
Paul says, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." This does not imply that this grace has appeared to all men in the same way and fulness, but it does imply that it appears to every conscience with sufficient fulness to bring salvation if listened to and obeyed.[138]
He now stands at every door and knocks; if we open the door he will come in and sup with us.[139]If we love him he will abide with us; but we must heed his gentle knocks, his still, small voice, and open the door.[140]
Churchmen say: The visible church, comprising persons good and bad, saints and sinners, is the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of Heaven, and that the door of entrance is water baptism duly administered.[141]
Paul tells the Corinthians, the Gallatians and the Ephesians, each in nearly the same language, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Of fornication, wrath, strife, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, Paul says: I tell you plainly, they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, goodness, temperance, etc. Again, he says the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.[142]
By Paul's whole teaching those who yield the fruit of the spirit—love, joy, peace, &c., are the inheritors of this heavenly kingdom and the unrighteous are rejected.
Again Paul says: Some of those Corinthians who were once unrighteous were washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God. He said they were not inheritors of this kingdom while they were unrighteous.[143]
Membership in the visible church at Corinth did convey this inheritance.[144]They had to be washed, sanctified and justified (not in water, but) in the name or power of the Lord Jesus and in the spirit of our God. They had to be washed in the Spirit of our God before they could enter his kingdom.[145]
In four of Paul's epistles he recognizes the Spirit at the door of entrance to this kingdom. He mentions it seven times in ten verses in this connection, but nothing whatever about water baptism.[146]
Paul knew of no door to this kingdom by way of water baptism or he would have told us of it, for this door and how we may enter is just what Paul was emphasizing.
Our Lord's memorable Sermon on the Mount, which occupies the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew is mostly about this heavenly kingdom, the blessed who possess it, the unrighteous who cannot enter and how we may all attain it, but not one word about water baptism.
This ancient ordinance was far away from the mind of our Lord amid the dim and receding shadows of Judaism[147]when he taught that multitude on the Mount and gave his kingdom to his saints, the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, the meek and the merciful, and encouraged us all to seek first this kingdom, which he said those only can enter who do the will of our Father in Heaven.[148]The kingdom ofGod is mentioned more than sixty times and the kingdom of Heaven twenty times in the New Testament but water baptism is never once named nor alluded to in any of those eighty texts.
This silence impressively suggests that water baptism is entirely foreign to this kingdom and must belong to another dispensation.
Plainly no door of entrance to this kingdom by way of water baptism had been discovered at the time the New Testament was written. Jesus said that he himself was the door to this sheepfold and that he is a thief and a robber who climbs up some other way.[149]
We read that John baptized with water but Jesus should baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire;[150]and again: Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God; and again: Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.[151]
This birth from above; this birth by water and the Spirit; and this baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire are all three plainly one and the same divine operation and there is no water baptismeither mentioned or implied: Yet man who is prone to substitute the letter which killeth for the spirit which giveth life, long ago perverted this testimony of Christ to Nicodemus by construing "born" to mean "baptized" and thus by changing one Scripture word he would close the kingdom of God against his fellow man who would not come to him and be baptized with water.[152]
But we trace through history from the beginning a seed or remnant who constantly protested against such sacramentalism and by legions sealed their testimonies with martyr's blood.[153]
With the Bible, which was long forbidden, now open to all, how can we of this enlightened day still adhere to such idle dogma or ever quote these words of Christ to Nicodemus as authority for any water baptism?[154]By this whole context and by all of Christ's relevant sayings upon the Mount and elsewhere he had no allusion to water baptism. Had he meant baptized he would have said baptized and not born.
Just as Christ said: We must surely be born of water and the Spirit and we must just as surely be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, but we shall no more be born of material water than we shall be baptized with material fire.[155]
Neither is Christ's fan material nor his axe at the root of the tree, nor are the waters which he said should flow from the bodies of believers, nor the waters which he promised should be in them a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life;[156]nor the living fountains of water, where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Neither shall we be tried and refined literally as gold and silver; nor purged literally as a fuller purges with material soap.[157]
These fires, fountains, births, baptisms, waters, &c., are all spiritual. The purifications are symbols of our spiritual regeneration and preparation for the kingdom of God which the unrighteous shall neither inherit nor enter.[158]
Like those Corinthians we must be washed, sanctified and justified in the name or power of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God; be saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewings of the Holy Spirit shed upon usabundantly by Jesus Christ our Saviour.[159]
We must be circumcised and crucified as well as washed and baptized.
We must be crucified upon a cross which we may often carry but with outward eyes can never see. We must be circumcised in Christ and buried with him in baptism. We must be baptized into Christ. Put on Christ. We must be circumcised of heart in the Spirit by the circumcision of Christ.[160]
As instructed by Scripture we accept this circumcision without hands, and this baptism and washing without water, and do most firmly believe that our Saviour never commanded nor intended any other.[161]