Water of separation

Water baptism separates people. It separates people who are water baptized from those who are not. If you are dipped you get separated into a group, dunked is another group, splashed is one, and splattered is another, and on and on. So no matter what method a group uses, the fact is that their water baptism SEPARATED them. And guess what? That was exactly the purpose for water baptism in the first place. But separated from what and unto what?

When you talk to the average church member or when you browse the Internet for discussions or articles concerning it, water baptism and the need to do it usually falls into about three different categories. They are:

1. It is an ordinance

2. We are to follow the Lord

3. It is an outward sign

You hear numerous arguments but generally they can be lumped into those three main categories. Notice here:

Matthew 21:23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?

Matthew 21:24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Matthew 21:25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?

Matthew 21:26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.

Matthew 21:27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.

The religious leaders of the day could only say "We cannot tell." They were caught in their own trap. When it boils right down to it that's the way it is today. WE CANNOT TELL. People simply cannot tell exactly why they should be water baptized, or at least think they should. The more you press for a verse or verses to show that water baptism is a biblical requirement for today the more hostile the environment usually becomes and it ends up with most or all of the arguments falling into one of the three categories above. None of which can be substantiated by a verse or verses....to a bible believer.

Incidentally, we KNOW where John's baptism was from:

John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

John 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

John the Baptist was God's messenger, as in Malachi 3:1. Now there is a SIGN to document John's authority...the Jews require a sign, according to 1 Corinthians 1:22. But men rejected John's authority FROM HEAVEN pertaining to water baptism:

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

It could be that people today, not understanding the rightly divided word of truth, as in 2 Timothy 2:15, fear that they will reject the counsel of God against themselves if they are not water baptized. Some sort of know the truth but say they got water baptized "for insurance." For insurance against what? Bible truth? That is, the truth Paul wrote:

Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

And knowing from numerous scriptures that the ONLY WAY for a person to be saved and become a member of the body of Christ is to be SEALED in Christ with that holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:14, which is the baptism BY the Sprint INTO the body of Christ of 1 Corinthians 12:13 and the same as the baptism INTO Christ's death at Calvary in Romans 6:3, which is to be BURIED with him as in Colossians 2:12,

When faced with all those verses theologians begin their arguments and their but, but, buts. One says that there is only one REAL baptism. On the basis of that then, any other baptism would be what? Fake? Another says that there is only one baptism that COUNTS. If so, why spend so much time and money and effort on something that doesn't count?

Someone will get downright sarcastic and call people who know the truth "dry cleaners." That seems to be saying that he thinks that his water baptism "cleans him" doesn't it? But if you suggest that to him be ready to duck! Of course, there are some who actually think that somehow water will wash away sins.

Now, the bottom line of all of the arguments on the part of religious leaders is that they want to be sure that the church which is Christ's body had it's beginning AT LEAST by Acts chapter two in order to be able to retain their water baptism. The truth is, that is impossible. The doctrine is not there, the salvation is not there and there is absolutely no bible evidence to show that the body of Christ was there in the early part of the book of Acts.

So the next thing they will come up with is that "a thing can exist before it is revealed," referring to the church, the body of Christ. This unbiblical teaching intimates that all of those in Acts Two, Three, Four and so on just got baptized into the body of Christ only they didn't know it. But there is no scriptural basis for the argument. There is not a single scripture anywhere in Acts One through Acts 12 (the conclusion of Peter's ministry as far as the bible account goes) nor is there a single scriptural reference anywhere in the books of Hebrews through Revelation that any of them thought, taught or believed any such doctrine pertaining to a joint body of believers called the church which is Christ's body. As a matter of fact the evidence is that the people in Hebrews through Revelation are NOT in the body of Christ.

How could you say that the writers of Hebrews through Revelation, which are properly called the "Hebrew epistles" rather than the "general epistles", wrote inspired scripture to the body of Christ when the salvation doctrine in those books is contrary to the salvation doctrine OF the body of Christ in Paul's epistles of Romans through Philemon.

Take your bible, if you have the time and inclination, and search carefully the books of Hebrews through Revelation for the phrase OUR FATHER....in reference to God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will find three references (Hebrews 3:9, James 2:21 and 1 Peter 1:18) to the fathers of the nation of Israel, and that's it!

When you have checked that out then look in Paul's epistles, Romans through Philemon for the same phrase: OUR FATHER. The answer is SEVENTEEN TIMES. Now why is that? Because the same SPIRIT which baptized believers into the church, the body of Christ is the SPIRIT of adoption:

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Members of the church, the body of Christ have boldness and access with confidence by the FAITH OF HIM (Jesus Christ) as in:

Ephesians 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

The only way that those in Hebrews through Revelation can have the same privilege, of being the SONS OF GOD is that is they OVERCOME:

Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Now the only place anywhere in Hebrews through Revelation where you find the phrase SONS OF GOD is in 1 John:

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Keep in mind that the book of 1 John is written to overcomers, most likely to the 144,000 of the book of Revelation, and the reference to "we shall be like him" looks back to the book of Psalms:

Psalms 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

You see, those OVERCOMERS expect to die:

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

And they expect to AWAKE, as in Psalm 17:

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Get a theologian to explain to you WHY you cannot find any sons of God who call God OUR FATHER anywhere but in Paul's epistles, in Romans through Philemon. Can a thing exist before it is revealed? Absolutely, the church, the body of Christ existed in the heart and mind of God before the world began. But you cannot find the existence of the church, the body of Christ anywhere in the BIBLE outside of Romans through Philemon.

So what puts a person into the body of Christ, which is also referred to as the ONE NEW MAN after the revelation Paul writes about in Ephesians? Some say that it is "what you know determines where you go." That could be true to some extent, but what is it that IDENTIFIES a member of the church, the body of Christ? IT IS YOUR BAPTISM!

There is NO EVIDENCE of anyone Peter preached to in the book of Acts and no evidence in the epistles of Hebrews through Revelation that ANY PERSON was EVER baptized BY ONE SPIRIT INTO ONE BODY. Let's check a few things:

John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Now can you guess what that POWER was which would enable them TO BECOME the sons of God? Answer:

Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Fact check: Did the Ephesians to whom Paul wrote the Ephesian letter stand in line to receive "the promise of the Father?" No! And they didn't get it and neither did anyone alive today. Now God is ONE, and consists of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but the baptism WITH the Holy Ghost is not the same baptism as the baptism BY the Spirit.

Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

That is the POWER TO BECOME the sons of God. Peter said so:

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Unto what? Unto salvation. When? In the last time. Does that sound like Paul's doctrine? No, people today do not have that baptism, they do not have the "power TO BECOME" the sons of God. We BECOME children of God by our baptism, the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5, the baptism BY the Spirit INTO the body of Christ. A believer sealed with the Holy Spirit IS A CHILD OF GOD no matter what. He has no power to become one, he has no strength at all:

Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Now Peter never said any such thing as that. Neither did James or John or Jude.

So the baptism of Acts two, three, four and so on and the baptism of Cornelius in Acts 10 was WITH the Holy Ghost. Not BY the Spirit. Jesus Christ was the one doing the baptizing there just as John the baptist and Jesus Christ had said:

John the Baptist:

John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

Jesus Christ:

Acts 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

The Holy Ghost FELL ON the Cornelius group in Acts 10 just as it did on the 12 on the Day of Pentecost, according to Peter in Acts 11:

Acts 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.

Notice where it came from:

Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

So 12 Jewish men were baptized BY JESUS CHRIST with the Holy Ghost and just like he had told them, they RECEIVED power. That was the power to "become the sons of God." It was the power to suffer, the power to endure the tribulation, the power to endure unto the end. We didn't get it and charismatics don't have it. We don't have any need for that power because in our case, Jesus Christ endured to the end for us.

So our baptism is BY one Spirit, not WITH but by. It is the only baptism God recognizes today and any other baptism is useless except to religion and religious men who practice it. A "Greek expert" will consult his manuscripts and find that the Greek preposition "en" is the word used for both WITH in Acts 1:5 and the word BY in 1 Corinthians 12:13 and say that the baptisms are the same since the word is the same, but that don't "hold water."First of all, the word INTO, which is the Greek word "eis" is not in the passages related to Peter. It IS there in Paul's epistles. "into one body," "into Christ," "into his death" and so on. Peter and John went up INTO the temple in Acts 3:1 but nobody was baptized INTO the body of Christ by Peter's preaching. The Greek word "en", according to Strong's is used in a WIDE VARIETY of ways. The meaning is determined by the context. Of course they will do the same thing with remission and forgiveness, but remission is not the same as forgiveness as the context in each case proves.

But what was the water baptism for back then? It was a baptism of SEPARATION. Water baptism SEPARATES people. It did then, and it does today. Notice here:

Numbers 19:9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

Notice also here:

Numbers 19:20 But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.

Now in the context that cleansing has to do with being in contact with something dead. When Jesus Christ came unto his own in the red letters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John he came to a nation practicing a DEAD religion. It was called the "religion of the Jews." Notice here:

Matthew 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

Matthew 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Matthew 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

Matthew 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Look at another example in Numbers:

Numbers 31:21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;

Numbers 31:22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

Numbers 31:23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

So water was for separation. It separated the clean from the unclean in those cases. Peter spoke of the water baptism as a figure:

1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

So the water baptism was an identification and it was to SEPARATE people. Notice Peter's words here:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

So when they were baptized with the water (of separation), it SAVED THEM FROM an untoward generation. (That's not the same as being saved and secure in the body of Christ). The word untoward carries the idea of being warped, perverse or crooked. Christ called them a generation of vipers and snakes. Peter exhorts the people to SAVE YOURSELVES from them. SEPARATE yourselves from them. So those who were water baptized SEPARATED themselves by IDENTIFYING with their Messiah, looking for his second coming and a YET FUTURE day of atonement for Israel when their sins would be blotted out. All you have to do is compare Acts 2:38 with Acts 3:19 and 20.

That GENERATION was told that the "kingdom of God" was WITHIN THEM. (Luke 17:21) In other words there was a new nation there. Paul recognized it as the true Israel of God in Galatians 6:16. The Lord was calling out from WITHIN the apostate nation of Israel the true Israel, as in:

Deuteronomy 4:33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

Deuteronomy 4:34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

If you ever saw a good bible case of AS AND SO there it is. AS Moses led the children of Israel out of apostate Egypt SO the Lord led a little flock of believing Jews out of apostate Israel. Further proof is what Jesus said to the elders of Israel:

Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

So there is your water of separation. It separated a group of individuals. The Lord told them:

Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So there are: 12 men at first, then 3000 in Acts Two, 5000 in Acts Four, "many thousands" in Acts 21. And Cornelius and his group associated with them, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. It FELL ON them as it had on the 12 on the Day of Pentecost, so Peter surmised, "How can we forbid water under these circumstances:"

Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Notice that? POURED OUT. Was the Holy Ghost POURED OUT on you when you got saved? No. There are no signs for skeptical Jews in this age. We walk by faith, not sight.

Acts 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,

Acts 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Now our "baptizing" brethren will take that and say that after Paul was saved the order was reversed. In other words you had to be baptized with water first in Acts 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on but after Paul was saved people got water baptized after they were saved. Then they try to prove that Paul was water baptized after he was saved and that every other person in the bible was water baptized after he was saved. Anything to hold on to the water. But the truth of the matter is that none of those people who were water baptized as the result of Peter's ministry were even saved....yet. Their salvation was to be at the second coming of Christ. They had to endure to the end.

So there they go. Thousands of water baptized Jews and NONE of them calls God OUR FATHER. All of them enduring to the end for salvation at the end if they make it to the end and don't fall away. If they keep the faith and do works of faith stedfast unto the end.

So they receive the so-called "great commission."

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The way some misquote the passage is to say, in effect, "He that believeth and is saved ought to be baptized." But that is NOT what the Lord said. He said "he that believeth AND is baptized shall be saved." Water baptism for them was a requirement. It was a water of separation. It was water of identification.

But in our case, rightly dividing the word of truth, knowing that only Holy Spirit baptism places us into Christ, into his death, into the body of Christ, and knowing the truth of Ephesians:

Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

What do we conclude from that? That there is only ONE baptism for believers in this age in which we live and that it is NOT water. Otherwise this verse makes no sense:

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

When you start fooling around with the words and add water baptism to Paul's commission you see what you do? You make the cross of Christ of NONE EFFECT. Paul's doctrine is different and unto a totally different group of believers than the message of Peter, James and John.

The 12 were SENT to baptize. Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38. Paul was sent NOT TO BAPTIZE. Well then, why did he baptize those few people he mentions in 1 Corinthians. Answer: He baptized a few after his meeting with Peter, James and John in Acts 15. That continued until he had a vision in the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 18:22) and he was sent NOT to baptize.

So once again, the three main categories of reasons to water baptize:

1. It is an ordinance

We have no ordinances today. The Law was taken out of the way by the cross and ordinances were blotted out.

Galatians 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

So we are redeemed from the curse of the Law. Believers are crucified with Christ. We are buried with him by BAPTISM INTO DEATH. Water can't do that. Only the Holy Spirit can identify you in the death of Christ, making it your death.

Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

So water baptism cannot be an ordinance for today. All ordinances have been blotted out.

2. We are to follow the Lord

Some actually say that we are commanded to "follow the Lord in water baptism." Really? Where do you find the verses? There are none. The baptism of Jesus Christ was a one of a kind. Notice:

John 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

John 1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

Have you ever heard of anyone else who was preferred before John the Baptist for he was before him...other than Jesus Christ?

John 1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

Preferred before John the Baptist and MANIFEST TO ISRAEL. Who could claim that? What does anybody have to manifest to Israel today except the fact that God would have all men to be saved....including Israelites or Jews. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not telling them to follow him in water baptism. Anybody, anywhere can be saved today without lifting a finger and without a drop of water, simply by trusting Jesus Christ, believing that he did ALL of the work that needed to be done in order to save you.

Trust Christ and you instantly get a baptism made without hands. You can't see it, touch it, smell it or hear it. It is a faith proposition. We walk by faith not by sight. You couldn't follow the Lord in water baptism if you tried.

3. It is an outward sign

People say their water baptism is an outward sign of an inward commitment. There again we walk by faith, not by sight. It was the Jews who required signs. If a person is performing a sign for the world why not go to the parking lot at the shopping center to do the sign, that's where the world is? No there is no such verse in the bible that water baptism was an outward sign. That's called tradition:

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Being complete in Christ involves both a circumcision and a baptism made without hands:

Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Colossians 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

See it there? If you tried to say that "buried with him in baptism" means being baptized with water, then what would the circumcision be? It says it is made without hands. The baptism is the same...without hands. It is a spiritual baptism.

So water baptism is not an ordinance, there are none. It is impossible to follow the Lord in water baptism. We were never told to do so. And the only sign of your inward commitment you can give are the words which come out of your mouth, the testimony of WHAT it is that you are trusting to save you.

Is it the shed blood of Jesus Christ at the cross? Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification. Trust Christ alone as your Saviour and your baptism is a done deal.