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NASB | 1 John 5:6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 5:6 This is He who came through water and blood [His baptism and death], Jesus Christ--not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. It is the [Holy] Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. [He is the essence and origin of truth itself.] |
Subject: baptism summed up....... |
Bible Note: Greetings Arrow1, Let's look at Romans 6:3-4... "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." I have been alleged as "not taking Romans 6:3" literally, or some other such nonsense like that.. Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which happens at the moment one puts their faith and trust in Christ, joins the believer to Christ, separating him from the old life and associating him with the new (Colossians 3:5-11). He is no longer "in Adam" but is "in Christ." Water baptism is a portrayal, or symbol, of this truth. Water baptism depicts graphically what happens as a result of the Christian's union with Christ, which comes through faith. Through faith we are united with Christ, just as through our natural birth we were united with Adam. As we fell into sin and became subject to death through Adam, so we now have died and been raised again with Christ - which water baptism symbolizes. Baptism expresses faith in the same way that a word expresses an idea. Paul uses the common experience of believers being baptized as a picture of being identified with Christ. There can be an idea without words, but normally, ideas are expressed in words. Water baptism is a symbol of the spiritual union of Christ and the one who has placed his faith in Him. When a person first trusts in Christ, he or she is incorporated into and united to Jesus Christ, which includes being united to His death. Jesus' death becomes our death. Christian baptism displays these spiritual realities vividly. And, if the believer's identification with Christ means being identified with His death, then it logically follows that the believer also identifies with Jesus' resurrection. Having died and having been raised with Christ, the believer should live a new kind of life. All Christians have, by placing saving faith in Him, been spiritually immersed into the person Jesus Christ, that is, united and identified with Him (1 Cor. 6:17; 10:2; Galatians 3:27; 1 Peter 3:21; 1 John 1:3). Certainly water baptism pictures this reality, which is its purpose- to show the transformation of those who are now justified in Christ. Or shall we mince words on what exactly Paul meant by the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Now, let me go on the offensive.... It is interesting that a person who is baptized by water can choose the time, the place, the setting, the church, the pastor, and even the method (sprinkling, immersion, etc..) in which they would like to be baptized... When someone truly becomes saved through the grace of Christ, the timing is of the Holy Spirit's choosing, not ours. That truth, in and of itself, will always separate water baptism from that of salvation through Jesus Christ. Blessings to you, Makarios |