This is an excerpt taken from my book,
"The Two Witnesses/The Holy-Gram Of Biblical Physics",
About some friends sitting around the table discussing
scripture, looking at them "literally" and comparing them
"spiritually".
....It was around two o’clock by the time they finished and cleared the table. As they were talking, James asked Tony, and Bob, how far they had gotten on the subject of baptism.
“Well, like I said earlier, Tony had come by to go over it with me but I had run into the part about being ‘born of a woman,’ and when he got there, we started on that and never got back into baptism. The night before and a little into the next evening I had run some references and looked up some scriptures on baptism. Once we got started on the two Jesus' we didn’t have time for baptism; I was getting a spiritual one, I think.”
“Yeah, Tony had mentioned that you’d been getting some pretty good understanding, and if that is the case then you have been, baptized by that understanding. The key that set me off on baptism, was in first Corinthians chapter one. Did you happen to read that one yet?” James asked.
“No, I don’t think so, it doesn’t ring a bell. What does it say?” Bob replied.
“Get your Bible and we’ll read it,” said James. “We’ll start at verse 10 and read down through verse 16. Paul is trying to show there are divisions among them (the new believers) and questions if they were baptized by anyone other than Christ.
Anyway, I’ll try to explain it as we go. Okay, verse ten; ‘Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.’
“The reason he said this is, that they each had a different way of interpreting the scriptures. As he says in verse 11, ‘For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there be contentions among you.’
The word Chloe means, ‘those who can discern spiritual truth.’ To be in this state of mind (house), is without contention or division. Verse 12: ‘Now this I say, that everyone of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.’
The implication here is that each is of a different doctrine - definitely implying division, and we know a divided house, or mind if you will, can’t stand. This would be the same thing as casting lots for his garment, or His flesh, which is His Word, for which many have cast lots or carved out an image (doctrine).
There are many references. One good one is Isaiah chapter four and verse one. Turn to it and we’ll read it.
“‘And in that day [speaking of the third day] seven women [meaning the seven churches] shall take hold of one man, [in this case, the carnal doctrine or dogma] saying, we will eat our own bread, [again, doctrine] and wear our own apparel [bear rule by their means]: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.’ And that, brings us back to verses 12 and 13 where one is of this faith and another of that, and so forth. I could go on and on with this subject, but we’re getting away from baptism. Do you have any questions, Bob?”
“No, I’m fine for now. Go right ahead!”
“Okay, verse 13: ‘Is Christ [truth] divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?’ And verse 14: ‘I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;’ 15: ‘Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.’
“The baptism he’s referring to here is in Acts chapter 18, verse 8; let’s look at that one along with this one. ‘And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house [mind]; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.’
As you will see in the next verse of Corinthians, this baptism is by hearing.’ Verse 16: ‘And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.’
Now here is the part that really showed me what baptism Paul was talking about.
“Paul is an ‘apostle,’ which means that he is an ambassador for Christ, and of Christ, which means, ‘one like unto.’ In other words, an apostle would be the same as who he represents. In this case it wouldn’t make any difference if it was Christ or Paul.
Anyway what I’m trying to say is, Paul said he baptized Crispus and Gaius; and also the household of Stephanas. Let’s assume (literally) the household of Stephanas is, Stephanas himself, a wife and some children. Hypothetically, let’s give him three, maybe four children.
So what we would have is, Crispus and Gaius, that’s two, and the household of Stephanas, that’s six. Six and two is eight; here we have eight people, and one like unto the Son of God--Paul.
Now, Paul 'knows' he baptized eight people; outside of these eight, he doesn’t know if he baptized anyone else or not!
“Hold that thought and let’s take a scenario with a modern-day preacher, and a modern-day baptism. Assuming this preacher does not have the mind of God or Christ, as Paul did, do you think they could tell you who they baptized?
And if they could, do you think they would or would not know if they baptized more than eight people or not, even if they couldn’t remember their names?
Common sense would tell you, with just eight people, you would know the difference. Although, according to the story Paul evidently knew these folks quite well. But somehow-he doesn’t know if he baptized anyone else or not. And this apostle is supposed to have the mind of Christ.
“Well, to make a long story short, those are some of the scriptures which helped me understand that baptism was for our souls -- the way we think, not our human flesh. Flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Why even wash your flesh (human body) symbolically? What Paul meant was, he was preaching, and he knew eight heard (or were baptized) but he knew not if anyone else had heard. I have found myself in the same situation. Sometimes people understand what I’m saying and others don’t, some are baptized and some may not be, I know not.”
“You know, James,” Bob interjected. “I just knew it was going to turn out like that. It’s the same way I’ve felt all along about baptism but somehow couldn’t quite put it all together. Too much tradition, I guess. But it is so beautiful to see it all come together without any doubt.
“Being baptized by water is hearing the literal stories; being spiritually baptized is hearing the spiritual interpretation, which is the same thing as being baptized by fire.
“Exactly,” James replied. “You’re coming along pretty fast, Bob. If you want, we can get into the circumcision now. That always brings up a lot of questions. You’re pretty quiet, Tony. Did you want to add anything?”
“No, everything you said will do just fine.”
“Ha, I knew Tony would say something like that,” James grinned.
“What did you mean, James” Bob asked. “About getting into the circumcision?”
“Well, the circumcision is the cutting away of the flesh. It’s sort of like the baptism story we just went through. You take a carnal story and convert it into a spiritual one. Let’s take the Tower of Babel story in Genesis, for example. Remember that one?”
