Apostles & Prophets: Their Roles in the Past, the Present, and the Last DaysBeispiel

Baptized By One Spirit Into One Body

As believers, we are individual members of the Body of Christ and have been baptized into Him. Collectively, we are also members of this one Body, with Christ as the Head. First Corinthians 12:13 confirms this, telling us that when a believer is born again, he or she is “baptized by one Spirit into one body.”

This supernatural baptism takes place the moment one repents and calls Jesus the Lord of his or her life. In that split second, faster than you can blink your eyes and without your even being aware that it’s happening, the Holy Spirit Himself baptizes or immerses you into Christ.

Paul referred to this initial baptism in Galatians 3:27 when he wrote, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” This is also the baptism Paul referred to in Ephesians 4:5 when he wrote, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” It is a baptism into the Body of Christ that comes simultaneously with one’s salvation. When a sinner repents and calls Jesus Lord, the Holy Spirit takes over from there and supernaturally baptizes and melds him or her into the Body of Christ. From that moment forward, that person is in Christ.

In First Corinthians 12:13, Paul wrote that regardless of our ethnicity, class, gender, or race, after we are baptized into the Body of Christ, these distinctions cease to exist in the Church in terms of partiality.

Paul radically said, “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.” When Jesus looks at His Church, He doesn’t see race, gender, or class distinctions — He simply sees one unified Body.

Paul additionally stated that each born-again believer is “…made to drink into one Spirit.” The word “drink” is a translation of the Greek word potidzo, which means to water or to irrigate. It is the word used to depict a farmer watering his garden or vineyard to provide nourishment to his plants so they can grow. It can also be translated to imbibe, which conveys a picture of a field becoming soaked or saturated. Paul’s use of this word means that, once baptized into the Body of Christ, each believer becomes a fully saturated recipient of the Spirit.

God’s intention is to water, irrigate, imbibe, soak, and saturate each one of us with the Spirit until we are full — regardless of our ethnicity, class, gender, or race — to bring us into spiritual growth and to demonstrate the glorious fullness of Christ in the Church. That is His vision for His Body and what He desires for every single believer to experience.

Questions to Discuss:

As a result of the new birth, we are supernaturally, joined into a single Body of believers comprised of people with different genders, skin colors, ethnicities, and societal statuses. In your experience, does today’s Church reflect this divine diversity and lack of barriers, or does it need to reflect it better?