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THE
NEW LIFE by
John Marshall
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Chapter
2 • BEING BORN AGAIN
Part of the Body
of Christ
Paul shows that being born of the spirit means not only an
entry into a new life, a spiritual one, but it means becoming
part of the body of Christ: "For in one Spirit were we
all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether
bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit."
Through the rebirth by water and spirit believers become what
Paul describes as "the temple of God" in whom His
spirit dwells. As a result instead of the works of the flesh
which can range from fornication to covetousness (equally
heinous in the sight of God), they bring forth the fruit
of the spirit which is: "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance . .
."
The Meaning of the Word Baptism
If it were not for the confusion caused by the failure of
scholars correctly to translate the Greek verb baptizo (with
its noun baptisma) most religious bodies would have seen more
clearly the vital necessity of baptism in water, as well as
the baptism of the spirit. Hugh Schonfield is a rare exception,
for in his Authentic New Testament he always translates baptizo
as "immerse" and correctly describes John the Baptist
as John the Immerser.
The word baptizo has been consistently and correctly understood
from Greek classical times to modern Greece. When Plutarch
said he "baptized" a cup in a bowl of wine, he meant
that he had plunged the cup completely into the wine. And
when a Greek, in the time of Christ "baptized" a
garment he meant that he had dyed the whole garment.
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References
1 Cor 12v13 RV, Gal 5v22
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Chapter
2 • BEING BORN AGAIN
G. H. Lang once asked
a Greek what the word baptizo meant today. Pointing to a ship, he
said: "If that ship were to sink completely beneath the water,
we should say that it had been 'baptized'." When he was asked
if baptizo would also be used were some drops of water to be sprinkled
on the ship, he replied: "No; for that we should use the word
rhantizo." This is the word that is used in the New Testament
for sprinkling.
When we read that after his baptism "to fulfil all righteousness"
Jesus "came up out o/the water" and that Philip and the
Ethiopian Eunuch "went down both into the water" we see
there were no doubts then what baptism meant, or about its vital
necessity. But what is more important than the form of the baptism
is its significance which Paul makes very clear: "Are ye ignorant
that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father so we also might walk in newness of life."
The agony of the crucifixion of Jesus, the darkness of death, the
morn of resurrection have to be figured in the o
solemnity of the moment of the death of the Adamic man, and the
joy of the resurrection of the Christ-man who rises from the waters
of baptism. Thus, unless we are baptized there is no "washing
away of sins", no "washing of regeneration", no "answer
of a good conscience toward God", and no valid transition from
the old to the new life.
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References
Heb 9v13,19,21, Heb 10v22, Mark 1v10, Acts 8v38,
Rom 6v3-4, Acts 22v16, Titus 3-5, 1 Peter 3v21
See Churches of God, by
G. H. Lang, page 48.
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