BAPTIZED
BY ONE
SPIRIT
INTO ONE
BODYA TEXTUAL EXPOSITION OF
I COR. 12:13
by Forrest L. Keener (CB)
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or
free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."
This is a verse which has, through the years, received a
huge amount of attention. I have read a great deal of
material on the subject, and even distributed a lot of
tracts with which I am less than totally pleased. I will
try, in this brief tract, to state what I feel is the extremely
simple and pointed truth of this verse. May I say to
begin with, I don't think we need to be an exegetical or a
translation expert to understand it; it is just not that
complicated. It says precisely and simply what it seems
to say.WHY THE COMPLICATED APPROACHES I have read many discourses which approach this
verse as if we needed some particular insight into great
mysteries, or an ability to dig out very obscure inter-
pretations of other Bible verses, to understand this one.
These approaches normally lead to some "necessary im-
plication" of a "universal body." This wrong inter-
pretation of I Cor. 12:13 ("For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to
drink into one Spirit.") is supported by a wrong inter-
pretation of Ephesians 4:3 and 4, ("Endeavouring to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There
is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling;") and in turn that wrong inter-
pretation of Ephesians 4:3 and 4 is supported by the
same wrong interpretation of I Cor. 12:13. The fact of
the matter is that nether of these verses so much as hints
at any kind of a universal body. In fact the words
universal and body are so antagonistic to each other,
that we should be forced into laughter, by merely hear-
ing them so used. The word body always means
something that is localized by union and united by
locality, while the word universal, as used in this respect,
means something that is everywhere. Infinitude of
locality always necessitates a spirit, as opposed to a
body. Why the complication then? It is because of the
carry-over of Catholicism, even through Protestantism,
in so much of our "Christian literature."
If it were not for the Catholic teaching that the "body
of Christ" is literally the visible universal (Catholic)
church, or the Protestant teaching that the "body of
Christ" is literally the invisible universal ("Holy
Catholic") church, no such notion would ever exist
among evangelical Christians. They certainly would not,
in a million years, arrive at it, merely by reading I Cor.
12:13, Eph. 4:3,4 and Eph. 5:25-27. The fact is that to
arrive at a universal church interpretation of these
verses, a man must start with this Catholic presupposi-
tion and use these verses as proof texts to support it. I
want to take each of the determinative words of I Cor.
12:13 and show that this passage does not even suggest
universalism. Then, I want to very briefly expound the
verse in its simple contextual meaning.THE WORD "SPIRIT" "For by one SPIRIT are we all baptized into one
body." It has been argued by some, who realized the er-
ror of the Catholic interpretation, that the Spirit here
was "a spirit of unity," and should be translated spirit
not Spirit. Such a conclusion is not necessary, and I do
not believe it is either accurate or logically justified. The
Spirit here is the Spirit of the context. He is the Spirit
who, according to verse 3, leads one to confess Christ, in
verse 4 bestows diversities of gifts, and in verse 7
manifests Himself for the overall profit of the church.
He is the same Spirit who, in verse 8, gives the word of
wisdom to one and the word of knowledge to another,
and who in verses 9 and 10, gives gifts of faith, healing,
miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers tongues,
and interpretation. He is the same Spirit who, in verse
11, sovereignly divides gifts to men, individually as it
pleases Him. It is, by every contextual standard of inter-
pretation the "Spirit" of the context and thus, the Holy
Spirit who is mentioned here.THE WORD "BY" "For BY one Spirit are we all baptized into one
body." It is thought, by the universalist, that this word,
if properly translated, forces us to believe that this verse
has the Holy Spirit baptizing us into Christ literally, and
thus the baptism could not be water baptism, and the
body referred to could not be a local church. This is in-
terpretation either by presupposition, or by panic, or
some of both. The word BY need carry no such meaning.
It simply means we are led by the Holy Spirit to unite
with that body (local church), exactly as we are led by
the Spirit to confess Christ in verse 3. This is how
Simeon, in Luke 2:27, came into the temple at the time
of Christ's dedication. ("And he came by the Spirit into
the temple: and when the parents brought in the child
Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,") He
came by the influence of, or the leadership of, the Holy
Spirit.THE WORD "BODY" "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one
BODY." Again the "body" of this verse is the body of
the context, that is the church at Corinth. This is what
Paul is, throughout the chapter, illustrating by the
human body. The first question that should be asked
here is this: Is the word "body" in this verse, that is the
body of Christ, being used literally or figuratively? Is
Paul saying we are literally being placed by this baptism
into the physical, fleshly, actual, biological body of
Christ? Of course not! He is using the human body, in
this chapter, to illustrate the truth of necessary union
and interdependency within the church, and he is using
this metaphor, "body of Christ," to illustrate the rela-
tionship that the local church has with Christ as her
"head," which is simply to say He has complete
authority over the church. To make the use of the words
body or head more literal than that is to violate the
whole nature of the chapter and indeed the entire epis-
tle. Let it farther be understood that we are to think
locally, that is of the church at Corinth, and locally as
these truths apply to us in any church. Only in this set-
ting can verses like 25 and 26 have any applicable
reference to the context. Members of a local, visible
assembly are to have the same care one for the other,
suffer with each other and rejoice when another is
honored. If there were such a thing as an invisible,
universal body (whatever that might possibly be) this
conduct would surely not be possible for them. So the
term body here is a metaphorical term describing the
relationship that the members of the church at Corinth
had with each other under Christ their head. He is talk-
ing specifically of the body, that is the church, at
Corinth. Oh, but someone asks, does Christ have many
bodies? This is a foolish question. Once we see the
metaphorical use of the word BODY in this passage we
understand that the usage is generic or institutional and
thus is not numerical in any sense of being either
singular or plural.
Let me illustrate this truth thusly: Christ took a piece
or loaf of bread, on the night before His crucifixion, He
broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." He was
simply saying this piece of bread, which you are to eat,
pictures my body. But He said "This is my body[.]" Now,
are we to understand that this was the only piece of
bread about which that statement could be made, or
that all pieces of bread are a composite part of one great
piece? Absurd! When we see that the statement is a
metaphorical one, and could be rightly made of any
qualifying piece of bread, that is unleavened bread con-
secrated to the purpose of symbolizing Christ's body, we
see the truth that applies in I Cor. 12:13. Any proper
qualifying piece of bread, at any proper time, and in any
proper place and setting, could be referred to as "His
body," and in the singular, without violence to any
other piece. The very same thing applies easily and
automatically to any true church, and it does no violence
to any other true church, nor does it so much as hint
that they are composite parts of the same thing.
Moreover, it does not hint at the foolish idea that the
local church is only the manifestation or as some prefer
to say, the only visible manifestation of the "real
thing," "the true church," or the "universal church."
Notice this truth as applied to the human body in I Cor.
12:15. Can the foot say "...I am not of the body..."
What body? It speaks of the human body as an object,
not an individual. So is the normal case in all
metaphorical usages.THE WORD "WE" "For by one Spirit are WE all baptized into one
body." Some have said the word WE here of necessity
includes Paul, who was obviously not a member of that
local assembly, and thus the usage of WE supports a
universal interpretation. Nonsense! If the word WE in
verse 13 necessarily included him, the word YE in verse
27 of the same chapter would necessarily exclude him.
The principle, that we are each part of a local body, ap-
plies to Paul, and thus he uses the word WE in an
editorial sense. However, throughout the epistle and
especially in the context, he excludes himself from this
body of which he is speaking in this chapter. Notice
verses 1,2,3, and 27. In none of these places does he im-
ply that he is including himself in the body to whom he is
speaking. To understand his editorial use of the word
WE in verse 13, notice the use of the word I in chapter
13, verses 1-3. His usage here is hypothetical as if he had
not love and became as sounding brass, but he does not
really include himself in that group. For an example of
the use of the word WE, which does not include both
first and second persons, notice I Thes. 3:1. Notice I
Thes. 5:5, where he, in the same verse, uses YE and WE
referring to the same group. So don't let the word WE in
I Cor. 12:13 be used to erroneously point you in a
universal direction. It implies no such thing!THE WORD "BAPTIZED" "For by one Spirit are we all BAPTIZED into one
body." The universalist's interpretation of this verse is
essentially this: The Holy Spirit places (baptizes) us into
the "true church," "The Body of Christ." They make
this a statement of regeneration, that is to say salvation
is the Holy Spirit baptizing us into the "true church,"
the universal body of Christ. But where in Scripture is
salvation referred to as "baptism" either in or by the
Holy Spirit? While it is true that baptism is used
metaphorically to describe salvation, salvation is never
referred to as baptism in or by anything or anyone,
unless I Cor. 12:13 is the only place. No ground is laid
for it anywhere in Scripture. The believers of Luke 3:16
and Acts 1:5 were promised the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. It was fulfilled to them in Acts 2:14, but no one
would claim that this was their regeneration. Salvation is
not the context of I Cor. 12:13, the context is conduct in
the local church. Again, salvation is not the context of
Eph. 4:4. In reading Eph. 4:1-3 you find that mutual
conduct among the members of the church at Ephesus is
the context. This will be the case everywhere in Scripture
you see the illustration of the body used. Regeneration is
never the context. I thus conclude that no place in Scrip-
ture ever refers to salvation as baptism in, or by, the
Holy Spirit. These people in the church at Corinth had
been led by the Holy Spirit to confess Christ, and had by
the same Spirit been led to identify themselves with that
particular body, by water baptism. It was by the or-
dinance of water baptism that they had come into the
fellowship of that body (the church at Corinth).THE SIMPLE INTERPRETATION OF THE VERSE The message and exhortation of I Cor. 12:13 and 14 is
this: Cease your individual competition in the attempted
display of spiritual gifts. Notice the first and last verses
of each chapter are clearly this, and every verse in be-
tween is right on that line. This verse is simply saying:
All of you whether Jew or Gentile, whether bond or free
have been led by the Holy Spirit to, by water baptism,
unite yourself with this body (the church at Corinth).
Now stop competing for position and pre-eminence, as
if you were a unit within yourself, and accept the place
in the body to which God has sovereignly appointed
you, because you are by the design of God all dependent
upon each other.
If this simple truth is missed, we not only entertain a
totally wrong concept of Bible doctrine and definition of
the biblical word church, we miss the glorious practical
appeal for church unity and intersubmission within our
church. Any notion of a universal church becomes an
escape from the obligation to the local church, and to
proper conduct within the local body, the true and only
church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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