Which Baptism Is It? [Part 1]

Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” It would be hard to read through the New Testament and find anything that would seem to contradict any of the statements made to save one. Paul tells the church in Ephesus that there is only one baptism, and yet there are several that are mentioned throughout the Bible. Now God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33), and so we ask ourselves, “Which one is it?” I would like to look into each example of baptism mentioned in the New Testament and determine which is the one to which Paul refers as the “one baptism.”

The Baptism of John

John the Baptizer is the first person that we come across preaching baptism for the remission of sins (Lk. 3:3). Even though he was the first to do this, baptism and other forms of ceremonial washing  were not foreign ideas to the Jews or to the people of the Old Testament (2 Kgs. 5:14; Ex. 30:20-21; Mk. 7:3). So was John’s baptism the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5? John’s baptism was indeed for the remission of sins, but we can see from what Paul tells some disciples in Ephesus that it was not sufficient for their salvation. “And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John's baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:3-5). John’s baptism was only valid up until Pentecost, when the apostles started baptizing in the name of Christ in which they would receive the Holy Spirit. The individuals in Acts 19 were ignorant of the Holy Spirit and the need to be baptized into Christ. Because they were baptized after John’s baptism had been invalidated, they needed to be baptized again, this time in the name of Christ. Because John’s baptism is no longer valid, it cannot be the one that Paul was speaking of in Ephesians 4:5.

The Baptism of Suffering

Even though baptism was used in reference to the dipping of an object into a liquid, such as a garment in a dye, a cup into a vessel of water (Vines Expository Dictionary), or a person into a body of water (1 Pet. 3:20-21), it can also be used figuratively. Plato used it when speaking of his being overwhelmed by questions. The phrase “baptism of fire” is often used today for enduring a difficult experience. Christ says in Luke 12:50, “But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished.” Again, when the disciples of Christ assured Him they were able to follow after Him in this baptism (Mt. 20:22), He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with” (Mt. 20:23). Christ said that He must suffer many things (Lk. 9:22), and we can imagine the great agony He felt as He prayed in the garden, His sweat becoming like drops of blood (Lk. 22:44). This suffering that he endured, and that His followers after Him would endure, was an overwhelming thing; it was a baptism of suffering. This baptism cannot be the one that Paul was referring to because this baptism is a metaphor for suffering, but the baptism of repentance is a physical one.

The Baptism of Moses

There is a baptism that is mentioned as taking place during the time of the Exodus, of which the children of Israel experienced. “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:1-4). We have here a baptism being used symbolically. Just as Noah and his family were saved through the waters of the flood (1 Pet. 3:20), so were the Israelites saved from Pharaoh, and his armies when they passed through the waters of the Red Sea. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left” (Ex. 14:21-22). This baptism is not the one either that Paul mentions in Ephesians 4:5. This example only applies to those who lived during the time of Moses and escaped from Egypt through the sea on dry ground.