By One Spirit
by Terry Wane Benton
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free persons, and all were made to drink one Spirit" (I Corinthians 12:13 LEB)
The “by” tells us the influence that compelled us to be baptized (immersed) into the body of Christ. They were all baptized by means of the Spirit guiding the apostles in the words of the gospel. The Spirit gave the gospel. The gospel was “by the Spirit” (I Peter 1:12). The gospel is the Spirit’s instrument that urged “every creature” (Mark 16:15-16) to believe and be baptized. Thus, by the one Spirit, “we were all baptized.”
The 3000 Jews on Pentecost were not baptized because of mere human influence. The Spirit revealed through Peter and the other Spirit-guided apostles with words confirmed by miracles that they needed to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, which is in water (Acts 10:47). There is nothing else that moved them to be baptized except the Spirit reveal and confirmed gospel. Thus, by one Spirit, all 3000 were baptized in water in the name of the Lord.
There is no compelling reason to let someone dunk you in the water in the name of the Lord except the Spirit of God said to do so and why, confirming it is Jesus connecting. By human reason alone, I would never feel compelled to let someone dunk me in the water. But by one Spirit, I was so compelled. Those 3000 “gladly received the word” (Acts 2:41) of the Spirit and “were baptized.” By human doctrine? No, by one Spirit! They were all baptized into one body by the compelling force of the gospel given by one Spirit.
And when they were baptized into Christ, receiving remission of sins, they continued “steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine,” which is “the truth through the Spirit” (I Peter 1:22), which is another way of saying they were made to “drink one Spirit.” When you are swallowing the Spirit's revelation, you drink in one Spirit. By one Spirit, we were baptized and began like newborn babes to drink the sincere milk of the word (of the Spirit) that we might grow thereby (I Peter 2:1-4). The Spirit gave the word that brought about our new birth, and the Spirit gave the supply to feed our souls to keep growing. By one Spirit through one gospel to all nations, people were baptized into Christ and given refreshing living water to drink for the rest of their lives in Christ.
Have you been so influenced by the same Spirit in the gospel?
