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John did not know Christ in person, John 1:33a; Christ had to be identified by an unmistakable sign from God, John 1:33b,34. Only in Christ does one encounter utmost
purity, grace, sinlessness, majestic godliness, and incarnate love. Thus, when Christ presented Himself to be baptized by John He was refused:
But John forbade Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? Matt. 3:14.
John knew that, unlike himself and others, Christ had no need to repent nor sins to confess. He was not expecting the request of Christ to be baptized at his hands, for
how could the "Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of Sins" apply to this unsinning man?
And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. Matt. 3:15
The original meaning of RIGHTEOUSNESS was a freedom from blame, a freedom from all legal claims to the contrary. It was originally spelled RIGHT-WAY-NESS, later,
RIGHT-WISE-NESS. Christ was born under the Mosaic Law and lived under this Law, and it was under this Law that His death was ruled a "curse," Gal. 4:4; 3:13. It was also under
the Law of Moses that before an anointing of a leader or official of the nation take place that the person was to be "washed," (Ex. 29:4; 40:12; Lev. 8:6). The baptism of Christ by
John preceded the "Official Anointing From On High" of Christ; upon its completion the heavens opened and there descended, and remained on Christ, the Holy Spirit, fulfilling the typology
used in the anointing of prophets, priests, and kings. Cf. Isa. 61:1; Heb. 1:9. The silence of God over the previous four centuries was finally broken:
This Heavenly affirmation was the formal close of Christ's private life . . . now the dye was cast, now He belonged to His people and to the world. The anointing
was by God, as was fitting. The title, CHRIST, means ANOINTED, as does the Hebrew equivalent, MESSIAH. It carries the meaning of one set apart for a special task, in respect to Christ
there was an inherent sacrificial aspect to His life and death - a life poured out for others just as each lamb selected for a sin-offering was set aside, and apart from its companions, and was
washed (Lev. 1:10-13) in preparation for the ascending flames. It was fitting then, for John to point out the Sinless Lamb, "Behold" - meaning look, see, inspect (John 1:29). In
Christ, the whole sacrificial system of the Law was fulfilled as Christ brought it to its focal point and ended it.
No one can "follow Christ in Baptism." He alone was baptized TO FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. He alone could have this unique identification
with the Law of Moses and the Laws of God. In Him every righteous demand of the Law was met, every demand of God's holiness was met, every act of obedience was perfect and every work
complete. ONLY CHRIST HAD THIS BAPTISM AND ANOINTING.
THE BAPTISM OF FIRE
The following formula is repeated, since it can be an aid in distinguishing the varied characteristics of any baptism being considered.
1. WHO is the BAPTIZER? 1. WHO is the BAPTIZER?
2. WHAT is the BAPTISM? 2. WHAT is the ELEMENT?
3. WHO are the BAPTIZED? 3. WHO are ACTED UPON?
Distinguish these and the enigma of baptism is solved.
FIRE BAPTISM: Mentioned in Matt. 3:11, 12; Luke 3:16,17.
. . . He (Christ) will baptize in holy spirit and FIRE Matt. 3:11b, Marshall Text.
. . . but the chaff He (Christ) will consume with FIRE unquenchable Matt. 3:12b, Marshall Text.
Christ is THE BAPTIZER, and the ELEMENT or BAPTISM is FIRE. In verse 11 this is joined to an "in spirit" baptism, or "POWER FROM ON HIGH," i.e.
"gifts." It is in holy spirit power or sign-gifts as in "Acts," but it is in a purifying power as well:
. . . when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from midst thereof by the SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT
and by THE SPIRIT OF BURNING. Isa. 4:3,4.
The task of John the Baptist was to make Christ manifest to Israel, John 1:31, and to prepare Israel for their Messiah, Luke 1:17. Fire-baptism completed this trilogy:
FIRE is spoken of in Scripture as either remedial or as penal-judgmental. Peter spoke of the infamy that would befall many believers as a FIERY trial, 1 Peter 4:12, in
this they partook of Christ's sufferings, 4:13. The FIRE BAPTISM of Matt. 3:12 is the fire of awful penal judgments, the FIERY INDIGNATION which befell the Israelitish nation upon their
historical treading underfoot the Son of God and, their counting the blood of the New covenant an unholy thing, Heb. 10:27-31. This FIRE BAPTISM bears no relationship whatever to the
Pentecostal "Revivalist" usage of "Letting the fire fall" concept.
The Baptism of FIRE, whether corrective or penal, is distinct from those of John the Baptist. His was WITH WATER, and O.T. typical washing and cleansing to prepare a
people for the advent of their Messiah. In this FIRE BAPTISMAL element Christ was to purge His floor and burn up the chaff, i.e. make a clean sweep of all that would hinder God's
government. Whether or not the judging and death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), or death coming on those profaning the Passover Feast (the so-called Lord's Supper), 1Cor. 11:29,30,
has to do with this FIRE BAPTISMAL element, is open to conjecture. It is obvious that none of these judgments is operative now, not since the closing of the Apostolic ministry and the final
blow upon an apostate Israel in A.D. 70. Paul's words in 1Cor. 3:17 about defiling the temple of God (one's own body) and consequently being destroyed by God must be understood in light
of the New Covenant Feast, made with Israel and denied by her, and the subsequent national demise.
The so-called Lord's Supper, as served in churches, is actually a combination of Judaism and paganism and has nothing in common with the Passover Feast observed by
Christ. He changed the meaning and association of some of its elements - the old meaning looked back to Egypt and its deliverance whereas by imposing the New Covenant Feast meaning upon certain
elements, it was to symbolize a greater deliverance than that of Egypt and a greater deliverer than that of Moses. It also forewarned of a greater destruction than that which befell Israel in
the wilderness if they were at all disobedient, Heb. 2:2,3; 3:11; 6:8; 10:27-31.
In the Book of Revelation FIRE is used as a vivid protrayal of judgment, and it was significantly used of Israel's last chance as described in Heb. 10:27.
Whenever Israel is spoken of in this study, the "nation" is meant as represented by their rulers, not to the individual Jew. Even when the nation was in
apostasy there were individuals in captivity who, while denied the temple, offerings, and priesthood, nonetheless were owned, honored and used by God.
THE BAPTISM OF MATTHEW 28
Matthew 28:18-20 has long been the stronhold of Water-Baptistic denominations since it seems on the surface to give priority to water baptism as being the primary concept
whenever baptistic terms are used. The following tranlations are of interest as they imply something quite different from the water-baptism concept:
And Jesus, having come, spoke to them, saying, "There was given to me all authority in heaven and upon earth. Having gone on your way therefore, teach all the
nations, making them your pupils, baptizing them INTO THE NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to be attending to carefully, holding firmly to, and observing all, whatever thing I enjoined upon you. And behold, as for Myself, with you I am all the days until the consummation of the age". (N.T. Wuest, Moody Inst.)
The concept embodied in Kenneth Wuest's translation is reflected in the 1881 Revised Version, Samuel Lloyd's Corrected N.T., Nestle's Resultant Text, Godbey's
Translation of the N.T., The Diaglott, The Amplified N.T., American Standard Version, Dean Alford's N.T., Griesback's N.T., Waymouth In Modern Speech N.T., Williams N.T., Rotherham, and
others.
The proposition EIS is translated INTO 571 times in the A.V. It is translated TO 280 times, UNTO 203 times and TOWARD 32 times. It governs only the accusative case, illustrated by one thing meeting another at a certain point, hence motion toward, to, unto, into an object. The object being in this instance the sacred NAME, if the word BAPTISM had
been translated into English instead of being transliterated or carried over, the text would strongly imply that the nations were to be so discipled as to be IDENTIFIED with the NAME. They were
to be brought INTO THE NAME, just as Israel had been identified with and in the name of Moses (Baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea, 1Cor. 10:2 - both dry baptisms). The NAME is
singular and embraces all that is inherent in the concept of a Father. It is all that is revealed of the Father through the work of the Son, with the dynamics of the Holy Spirit. Christ
said, "I HAVE MANIFESTED THY NAME." John 17:6, or ". . . and in the NAME OF HIM nations will hope," Matt. 12:21. Marshall Text. Only Christ could say, ". .
. he that has seen ME hath seen the FATHER . . ." John 14:9b. In manifesting the NAME, Christ, SON-WISE, reveals the gracious nature of God as FATHER. A father's love must have
an object; it is a reflection of a father's heart. It must have "sons in the SON; He must love and be loved. The Father-God seeks fellowship, not as a despot or of necessity, but
because He loves as a FATHER. Charles Welch states: "All doctrine that pertains to our salvation is summed up in the title, FATHER. Every theory of the atonement must stand or
fall by the standard of 1 John 4:14, The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."
A commission such as this, to identify the nations into the Name of God and all that name implies, would herald for Israel a breaking out of their sectarianism and for
nations, including the scattered tribe-nations of Israel (Israel called nations in Genesis 35:11; 48:19) a teaching into the code of the Sermon on the Mount. For as yet, the great truths, later
spoken of by Paul in his letters written during the Book of Acts period and those after the close of the Acts ministries, were still unknown, and the Sacred Secret or the Mystery was still hid in
God. The first apostles to whom this commission had been given, had hardly gone beyond the immediate area surrounding Jerusalem, much less than the whole Land of Palestine. Seven years
had passed before Peter had protestingly spoken to Cornelius, and we find Peter's closing ministry, in his epistles, to have been still to the dispersed Jews. A Theocratic Kingdom had been
officially offered by a supremely empowerd Christ to Apostles given the power to bind or loose, to allow or disallow its blessings or its sanctions . . . hence the determination of the Apostles to
first bring the Nation of Israel within the blessings of the Kingdom and, if possible, to avoid the final awful judgment upon its rejection.
Baptism in a NAME! No water is mentioned. This was historic with Israel: Greek text, ". . . all EIS (into) the Moses were baptized . .
." 1 Cor. 10:2. The nation cast their future and fortunes with the outcast Prince of the House of Pharaoh. No water touched the Israelites, they crossed dry-shod, the
Egyptians, being immersed in water, died, Ex. 14. The Apostles were given life or death power, authority to bind or to loose, Matt. 16:19; 18:18-20. Israel chose death and thereby became
just as other unbelieving nations. Notwithstanding a lot of religious claims to the contrary, no evidence exists that the authority given to the Apostles, Matt. 16:19; 18:18,19, was to be
shared in perpetuity by others. The New Covenant of blessing and cursing, grace and law, offered to Israel alone is alien to the very nature and of a Dispensation Of Grace provided for all
peoples, cultures and races, Eph. 3:2. Its alien nature is seen in the sanctions attached to the New Covenant Feast, 1 Cor. 11:27,29. The power and authority of the Apostles were seen
throughout the Book of Acts but not thereafter. Nations were not "discipled' according to the terms of this commission. Christ had taught the Apostles not to carry money, not to
have two coats, not to carry a beggar's purse, Matt. 10:9,10. Leprosy is not cured, the dead are not raised . . . yet these cures and miracles were some of the things the Apostles were to
share as taught to them by Christ. All "Claimants" to this power need but demonstrate it by going into any hospital or mortuary or to those suffering from Hansen's disease.
To review briefly:
The tenets of the commission are simply set forth:
1. Immediacy is implied. The Apostles met at an appointed place, Matt. 28:16. All authority in heaven and earth had already been given to Christ, (28:18).
No hint is given that this commission belonged to a future and distinct ministry of the Apostles as some suppose and teach - others seeing in it only a call to build churches everywhere. A more
valid view would be that it belonged to the Apolistic age and would have been fulfilled upon the conversion of Israel as a nation. That this did not happen is no reason to propose another
"gap" theory wherein it is "put off" until another age rather than looking for the reason.
2. The Commission was given to the Apostles alone. There is no warrant to suppose that the power and authority of Christ that He specifically shared with His Apostles,
Matt. 16:18; 18:18-20; John 20:21-23, was ever conferred upon others. To bind or to loose, to allow or to disallow as on legal grounds, to forgive or to hold the nation hostage to its guilt in
rejecting their Messiah-King, this was the undergirding of this commission inherent in the age covered by the Book of Acts. The commission has been watered down so as to merely represent some
supposed continuing church authority over its members, or orders to evangelize the world even though the very basic truths such as justification, imputation, reconciliation, etc. had not as yet been
revealed. To suggest that this "life" or "death" authority extended beyond the ministry of the Apostles, or has functioned since the Grace of God Dispensation to all people
was fully operative after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish State in A.D. 70, is to perpetuate a defunct Israelitish state Theocracy. To contend that this authority now resides in any
office, person, or denomination or functions when two or more persons pray together is to missapply the terms and design of the initial empowerment and subsequent commission.
3. The Apostles were to "disciple" the nations, that is, to make "learners" of the nations. This commission being
found in the Book of Matthew, a Jewish Gospel, one might assume that the nations spoken of are the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In Gen. 35:11 the sons of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, are
called "nations," as are the descendants of Ephraim, (Gen. 48:19). The "nations" mentioned in Acts 2:5-11 were the home-land of Jews and proselytes that had come to
Jerusalem out of every nation under heaven, Acts 2:5. This would be a help to explain the nations mentioned in Matt. 25:31-46 - the condition of inheriting the kingdom being the treatment of
the Jewish brethren of Christ, 25:40. Those in China had not even heard of Him . . . "Nations" or "Gentiles" are a poor rendering of the word "ETHNOS," meaning
people of different races, culture, or religion. When Christ spoke of giving the kingdom to another nation, He was not speaking of giving it to a non-Jewish people, but to another segment of
Israel, those living in exile from Palestine, in the case of 1Peter 2:9, those living in the Province of Babylon (not the city, as that had been destroyed over 300 years before) and called a Holy
Nation, a Royal Priesthood. It is indeed strange that this "Holy Nation" status should be applied to the Jews of the Dispersion rather than to the "at home" Jews in
Palestine. The Alexandrian Jews of Egypt had their great synagogue that served millions of their country-men and was hated by the Judean Jews for its influence and opulence. In the days
of the captivity it was the exiled Jews that kept alive the hope of the nation and their names grace some of the books of the Old Testament. It has been always assumed that the "at
home" Judean Jews were the faithful of Israel and those living outside the Land were unfaithful. Those to whom Peter spoke in Acts 2:5-12 were foreign Jews whereas those who mocked him
were from the Jerusalem area, Acts 2:14. After the leaders of Israel had become mere political puppets of whatever emperor was in power the dispersed Jew held on to his national heritage and
showed remarkable courage, oft under the most adverse circumstances. The unwillingness of the Judean Jews, and their synagogues, to heed the message of the Apostles left the spear-head to reach
the other nations, blunted, dulled, and finally, stopped. Thus, the work that started out with great promise and attended by miracles, wonders, and signs - and token evidences of mighty power
that the Apostles did not bear the Sword of Authority in vain.
4. Baptism into the NAME. Christ made much of the NAME in His ministry. John 17:4-26. The "NAME" in Matt. 28:19 is singular, not
"names." The name was inclusive of all that is implied by the other titles. The title of FATHER is revelatory as is "Son" or "The Holy Spirit" as Christ
spoke of Him as the "Parakletos," this corresponding to the Hebrew "Menahem," Consoler, as the Messiah was called. Cf. John 14:16,17,26; 15:26; 16:7. The people
were to be closely associated with the NAME so as to partake of and in its meaning. The NAME may have reference to the JEHOVAH title, i.e., that God in Christ has always been, is, and will
always be whatever He must needs to be to HIS own. No record exists of any national Tri-Name Baptism in "Acts" or anywhere else, since the governing body of Israel refused the
proffered terms of the New Covenant and trod under foot the Son of God. The Twelve Apostles were equated with the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and if Israel had been regenerated, the Twelve
Apostles would have been their "Judges" or "Rulers," (Matt. 28:20). The vast scope of this commission is lost if it is reduced to a mere watery formula.
5. The Apostles were to teach what they had been taught during Christ's earthly ministry, (Matt. 28:20). The Lord speaking from
heaven to the Apostle Paul was no accident. In reading "Acts" one can discern that from the onset that Israel in the rejection of their Messiah was to be in turn rejected for the role
she would have had on the world's stage as the harbinger of a Messiah-Saviour for the whole world. With the call of Paul the role and function of the Twelve diminished and finally
ceased. The words of Christ to the Twelve gave way to the words from the Heavenly Christ to the Apostle Paul and in the ministry of this man, as new truths were revealed, the old gave way,
until finally the governmental principle of God's pure grace ruled over all.
6. Matthias had been appointed in Judas's place to round out the number twelve so that there be twelve apostles to represent the Twelve
Tribes or Nations of Israel. Christ appeared to Twelve Apostles after His resurrection, 1 Cor. 15:5, and to Paul many years later. Christ was to be with these early Apostles unto the
conclusion of that age. The phrase ". .. unto the end of the world" is a mis-translation, the text is speaking of a certain segment of time, the conclusion of an age in which certain
things were to be done relative to the office and authority conferred upon the Apostles.
All the ages in Scripture are bracketed within time - events so that when Hebrews 26 mentions that certain "ages" were completed
in the sacrifice of Christ, that is, His death would complete, and thereby end, the ages of Levitical priesthood with their sacrifices. Each age must be interpreted by the events or persons of
which it treats. Christ will always be with His own under all circumstances and in spite of circumstances but He need not be with them always in the same way. He used an earthquake in the
ministries of Peter and Paul, an Ark in the life of Noah, a whale with Jonah, a coin in a fish's mouth to pay taxes - lack of these things, or others, does not mean His presence is less, or that He loves less. 1Cor. 10:11 tells of the "end of the ages" (literally, the ends of the ages), the context grouped a series of events that befell Israel in their wilderness wanderings and implies by these examples that a similar fate could befall others. In 1Cor.
11:29,30 the fate is connected with the New Covenant Feast being partaken of in an unworthy fashion, the result being an enfeeblement, sickness and finally, death. In these chapters Paul is
speaking to a Jewish element to whom these examples would have meaning, and by contrast he derides the Gentiles. If the then present counterpart of Israel in the wilderness would behave as
their ancestors did, the tangled skein of Israel's ages would come to an end. Thus, Matt. 28:20 must have a "juncture" of the ages in mind, and ending and a beginning; not the end
of the cosmos, not indefinite time, but rather of the events that would fulfill or negate the completion of the commission - whether good or bad. The "epoch" of the Apostles and their
ministries ended. What had begun to auspiciously in "Acts 2" ended in "Acts 28" with the third and final pronouncement of judgment on Israel. Cf. Acts 13:40,46; 18:6;
28:26,27.
Christ had promised to be with His Apostles until the completion of the age. The special uniqueness of this promise is lost if it is made a general thing and to every
believer. Christ had been with the Apostles during the few years of His public ministry in an individual and physical way. Another "Comforter," One alongside of the same kind
was to be sent from the Father to be with them " . . . unto the age," John 14:16. It was in this way that He would come "unto them" and how the Father would " . . .
come unto them," John 14:18:23. Christ, in Spirit, would be with and in them, John 14:17. It is only in this way that Christ could be with each of the Apostles as they went on their
assignments.
"Disciple all the nations . . ." This included the Jews. The Apostles at the beginning of their ministry went only to the Jews in
the Land, then first to the Jews elsewhere. Thereafter, the wall is abolished, not only between the "at home" Jews and those "abroad" but "in Christ" between all
races, cultures, and people, Co. 3:11; 2:14,15. No priority exists for the Jew now.
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Scripture Research - The Baptism Edition 
