Scripture Reading: Col. 2:11-13, 2:19, 20; 3:1; 1:27-28; Matt. 28:19; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3-5; 11:17; John 15:4-5
In 1:27 Paul speaks of Christ in us, and in the following verse, of presenting every man full-grown in Christ. These verses indicate that, on the one hand, Christ is in us and that, on the other hand, we are in Christ. According to John 15:4-5, first we are in Christ, then Christ is in us.
The two expressions, Christ in us and we in Christ, imply a divine, two-way traffic, a traffic which is a universal mystery. What a mystery that we are in the Triune God and that the Triune God is in us! We can bear strong testimony to the fact that we have entered into the Triune God and that the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God has come into us.
Some Christians are offended when we speak of the processed God. They would say, “Isn’t God eternal, infinite, almighty, and unchanging? How can the eternal, infinite God be processed?” Instead of arguing with people about this point, we should simply present the facts from the Word of God. The Bible reveals that one day God became flesh. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh. Does this not point to a process? If there were no process involved with the incarnation, how could the eternal, infinite God have become a finite man? After thirty-three and a half years, this processed One went to the cross and was crucified. Some may be amazed to hear that it was God who was crucified. However, we need to remember that the One who was crucified was God incarnate. After His crucifixion, Christ was buried. Then He passed through death and came forth in resurrection. Was that not also part of a process? Christ was buried with a physical body like ours. But when He came out of the tomb in resurrection, He had a spiritual body. His physical body had been transfigured into a spiritual one. Certainly this indicates a process. Therefore, we can say with assurance that our God has been processed. He was processed through incarnation to become a man, and then He was processed through resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
Our God today is not merely the Creator revealed in Genesis 1:1. He is the processed God, as revealed in Matthew 28:19. Matthew 28:19 is more complicated than Genesis 1:1. Genesis 1:1 simply says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But Matthew 28:19 tells us to baptize people “into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This verse speaks of the one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The name of God here is Father-Son-Spirit. Due to the poverty of our language, we may be forced to use the term “person” in speaking of the Father, Son, and Spirit, referring to Them as the three Persons of the Trinity. We have done this in the opening lines of one of our hymns (Hymns #608):
What mystery, the Father, Son, and Spirit,In person three, in substance all are one.
However, we should not press this term too far, lest we unintentionally endorse the doctrine of tritheism, the belief that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three Gods. We definitely do not believe in tritheism; we believe in the one true God, whose name, according to Matthew 28:19, is Father-Son-Spirit. This is the processed God into whose name we are to baptize people.
The English word “baptize” is an anglicized form of the Greek word baptizo, which means to dip, or immerse, an object in water. In baptism, we are immersed in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. However, many Christians argue about the method of baptism or about the kind of water used, yet they have little or no comprehension of the spiritual reality symbolized by the water. Because our relationship with the Lord is mysterious and spiritual, the Bible uses the physical symbol of baptism to signify our union with the Triune God. Being immersed in the water of baptism signifies that a believer is being put into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
The name in Matthew 28:19 denotes the sum total of the divine Being. Hence, the name is equivalent to the person. To be put into the name is to be put into the person. To baptize a believer into the name of the Triune God is to immerse him into all that God is. To have the name is to have the person. To baptize people into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit is to baptize them into a wonderful Person. The water used in baptism signifies the wonderful Person of the Triune God. Whenever we baptize people, we should tell them that the water into which we immerse them symbolizes the Triune God. When we immerse them into the water, we are actually putting them into the Triune God.
Matthew 28:19 does not tell us to disciple the nations and baptize them into a certain kind of water. The Bible does not specify what kind of water should be used. We are simply to baptize people in water which signifies immersing them into the Triune God. What a difference it makes to realize that in baptism people are put into the Triune God!
In Galatians 3:27 Paul says, “For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” The Christ in Galatians 3:27 is equal to the Father, Son, and Spirit in Matthew 28:19. Therefore, to be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Many years ago a certain person tried to argue with me about baptism. Acknowledging that we respected the Bible and baptized people in water, he asked me in what name we baptize the believers. Was it in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, in the name of Christ Jesus, or in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? He went on to say that the name makes a great difference. I asked him to explain the difference between Christ in Galatians 3:27 and the Father, Son, and Spirit in Matthew 28:19. He replied that Christ is merely the Son. Then I went on to say that instead of arguing, we should simply enjoy the Father, Son, and Spirit, Christ Jesus, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I said that Christ is all-inclusive, that He is not only the Son, but also the Father and the Spirit. I also told him that we may baptize one person into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit; another, into Christ; and still another, into the Lord Jesus Christ or into Christ Jesus. There is nothing wrong with baptizing people in this way. When we compare Matthew 28:19 with Galatians 3:27, we see that to baptize people into Christ is to baptize them into the Father, Son, and Spirit. We do not care to argue over terminology; we care only for the living Person, for the all-inclusive, life-imparting, processed Triune God.
In Romans 6:3 Paul asks, “Are you ignorant that as many as have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” Have you ever wondered why Paul says that those who are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into His death? We have been baptized into a living Person. How then can we be baptized into His death? Why are we not baptized into His resurrection? If I had been the author of Romans 6:3, I would have said that those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His resurrection. If you had a choice, would you not prefer to be baptized into resurrection instead of into death? But Paul says definitely that those who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death.
The resurrected Christ still bears in Himself the effectiveness of His death. Otherwise we could not be baptized into His death by being baptized into Him. The fact that we are baptized into Christ and into His death indicates that Christ and His death are one. Drinking tea can be used as an illustration. When we drink tea, we drink both tea and water. Because the water and the tea are one, the water carries the element, the reality, of the tea. In like manner, the resurrection of Christ carries the element of His effective death. Thus, when a person is baptized into Christ, he is spontaneously baptized into the death of Christ. It is impossible to separate Christ’s death from Christ Himself. The being of the resurrected Christ includes the element of His effective death. The effectiveness of Christ’s death is one of the ingredients of His all-inclusive being. To be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into His death.
There is a tremendous difference between death in Adam and the death of Christ. I loathe death in Adam, but I appreciate the sweetness of Christ’s death. His death is dear and lovable, and I long to abide restfully in it. How wonderful that a believer baptized into the all-inclusive Christ is also placed into the death of Christ! In the words of a hymn written by A. B. Simpson, “Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ!” Rest and victory are found in Christ’s death.
We have seen that to be baptized is to be placed into the Triune God, into Christ, and into the death of Christ. How is it possible for Christ to be the spiritual water in which we are immersed? Christ can be such water because in resurrection He was processed to become the pneuma, the life-giving Spirit. As the pneuma, Christ is the heavenly air. To baptize someone into such air is much easier than to baptize him into water. Everybody knows that water comes from rain and that rain comes from moisture in the air. Christ today is the spiritual air full of moisture. When we baptize people into Christ, we baptize them into Him as the heavenly pneuma, into the all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Triune God.
The way to get into Christ is to be baptized into Him. All believers should have the assurance that they have been baptized into the Triune God. We can boldly testify that because we have been baptized into Christ and into His death, we are now in Christ.
In Romans 6:4 Paul says, “We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into death that as Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Here Paul introduces the thought of burial; he says that with Christ we have been buried through baptism into death. Which comes first, death or burial? In the natural realm, a person dies first and then is buried. But Paul’s word indicates that we are first buried, and then enter into death. According to the Bible, we, the believers, are buried into death. However, we are not buried into death directly; this takes place with Christ and through baptism.
Suppose a certain person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus. He should then be baptized into Christ. To baptize this new believer into Christ is to put him into the death of Christ. When he is baptized, he is actually buried. This burial results in death. This is what it means to be buried with Christ through baptism into death.
Every candidate for baptism is a person in the process of dying. Through baptism such a person is put to death. Having been identified with Christ and with His death, he is immersed in water and is buried. Through baptism, he enters into the actual experience of death with Christ.
This burial has a glorious consequence. As Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, we also may walk in newness of life. This indicates that after baptism we become a new person in resurrection. When we are immersed in the water, we enter into death. But when we come out of the water, we enter into resurrection. We all need to have such a wonderful realization and understanding of baptism.
In Romans 6:5 Paul goes on to say, “For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” We have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, that is, in the baptism mentioned in verse 4. Now we see that we shall also grow in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, in the newness of life, also mentioned in verse 4. The important point is that to be baptized is to grow. One who has been baptized has grown in the likeness of Christ’s death and now is growing in the likeness of His resurrection.
The growth in Romans 6:5 can be illustrated by the grafting of a branch from one tree into another tree. Through grafting, two lives become one. Hence, the process of grafting signifies our spiritual identification with Christ. We are identified with Christ, made one with Him, by being grafted into Him.
In Romans 11 Paul uses the example of branches from a wild olive tree grafted into a cultivated olive tree (vv. 17, 24). In order for grafting to take place, both trees must experience cutting. This cutting signifies the experience of being put to death. Apart from this cutting, grafting cannot take place. In His crucifixion, Christ was cut, and He still bears the marks of this cutting. This means that within the being of the resurrected Christ, there is an opening into which we, the wild olive branches, can be grafted. However, if we would be grafted into Him, we also must be cut. Then we are joined to Him at the very place where both He and we have been cut. In a sense, the two cuts embrace each other. Through such an embrace, the grafting is accomplished, and the two trees become one.
Immediately after the process of grafting has been completed, the branch from the wild olive tree begins to grow in oneness with the cultivated olive tree. Furthermore, the cultivated olive tree grows with the branch from the wild olive tree. Both trees grow together as one tree with one life and one living. The life in this tree is a new life in which two natures have been mingled together.
To be baptized is to be grafted into Christ. This baptism involves growth. After a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus, he grows with Christ first in the likeness of His death and then in the likeness of His resurrection. By the growth which takes place in baptism we get into Christ.
Now that we are in Christ, we are growing in Him. In Colossians 1:28 Paul speaks of presenting every man full-grown in Christ. By warning others and teaching them in all wisdom, Paul helped them to grow. We should do the same thing in the church life today. After a person has been baptized, he needs to be nourished in order to grow to maturity.
Because we are in Christ, Christ is also in us. This fact is also illustrated by grafting. After the branch from a wild olive tree is grafted into a cultivated olive tree, it is part of the cultivated olive tree, and it grows in it. The life juice from the cultivated olive tree enters into the branch from the wild olive tree. In this way, the cultivated olive tree grows in the branch from the wild olive tree. In like manner, since we have been grafted into Christ, He now dwells in us and is growing in us.
In 1:27 Paul says that Christ is in us and in 1:28, that we are in Christ. First we are put into Christ, then Christ is in us. The more we get into Christ, the more He comes into us; and the more He comes into us, the more we get into Him. This becomes a cycle by which we grow in life. When we grow in this way, spontaneously our culture, including philosophy, asceticism, and the elements of the world, fall away.
Baptism is the reality of circumcision in the Old Testament. According to 2:11-12, baptism was our experience of circumcision, a circumcision not made with hands “in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.” Through baptism, our whole being was circumcised. Since we have experienced such a circumcision, we have no need for asceticism. The more Christ grows in us and we grow in Him, the more asceticism and all aspects of culture will fade away. Then instead of living by our culture, we shall live by Christ.
