The
Word of Truth Ministries
Baptized
into Him
and put him on
Rom. 6:3
A brother in the southern part of the USA asked a question I think many probably have asked, so I discuss here my answer given to him, but expanded. To baptize in Jesus' name does not mean that use of the formula for baptism is, in fact, to put him on. Most serious and honest students of the word will concede that in Matthew 28:19, Jesus gave a formula, and in Acts 2:38, Peter carried out that formula. They will also concede that Colossians 3:17 is a further expression of that formula.
But to concede, as I do, that to baptize into Jesus
name is not to put him on--at least not totally--is not to say that the
formula of God must not be understood and followed according to his word.
There are many formulas God feels are important and essential, and since
He does, who are we to question what HE has demanded?
Paul argues, however, that as many as have been baptized unto Christ have put him on. And as a result of putting him on, all are one; therefore, there is no distinction between races, classes, professions, etc. Yet this surely has been modified in many churches and among many people in this society. [Gal. 3:27] And that modification of God's word to fit carnal desires by those who call themselves Christians may well indicate that many of those Christians are not really baptized into Christ at all. Indeed, it is a favorite profession among many carnal Christians to claim Christ and be propelled by the promptings of Satan.
Furthermore, Paul writes to the church at Rome and says that we should put him on and make no provisions for the flesh and the lust of the flesh. Making provisions for the flesh and its lusts is a way of self-deception. No Christian/saint can grow up into him--mature in Christ--if he/she cannot get pass the sin issue. And if you are making provisions for the flesh, you are in a static position and you are still in your sins. Any saint in light can readily see who has put him on by that person's behavior.
Once a saint has put on Christ, he will put away sin--sin is anathema to God and his people. It is a hard argument to make, and many attempt to make it, that after being saved from sin, one is still engaging in sin. To engage in sin is not to live the life of Christ, but the life of a sinner. That sinner may think he/she is a saint, but he is not. Let no one deceive you: YES, you can live beyond and above sin, and MUST live beyond it, if you are to go to the next level in Christ. To put him on is, first of all, to put away sin from our lives in preparation of something else. After putting away sin, there is a greater fight that must be fought to grow into him. Indeed, that battle can never be fought unless the sin-issue is conquered. [Rom. 13:14]
The questioner asks if we are really being baptized
in his name by the use of the formula. To baptize is to thoroughly
submerge, and to be baptized is the beginning of the baptism in his name—a
beginning that is crucial to our eternal salvation. But a beginning is
merely a beginning. And,
indeed, most Christians have not put on his name because even those who
have their eyes open to see the need for baptism in his name (a first
step) have become stagnant in that single truth and have not gone
further to put on his name, his body, his identity.
Although there is a vast body of scripture that teaches
without a doubt that one born again (a first step) must go on to perfection,
most Christians, however, are so far away from this truth, being as Peter
wrote, "willingly ignorant," that they have no idea of how to
put him on or understand that only through the perfection of the saints
collectively and individually can one put on his name and him.
There are many ministers who stand behind pulpits Sunday after Sunday in a feign attempt to preach Christ, and they are as deeply involved in sin as any rank sinner. And many of those have been in sin so long that they now believe their own lies about salvation. These are not even babes in Christ. Still other ministers have been in the church for many years and are still lying, being double-minded, without faith, still stealing from the people of God, and still do not understand God's word. These ministers too are not even babes in Christ. But among the various flocks are serious saints who can only go according to the limited light they have. Therefore, those sincere servants of God are, in fact, babes in Christ, yet Christ wants them to be more! He wants them to put him on, a term that means to be perfect. [Heb. 6:1-3]
When we put on his name, we are putting him on; when
we put him on, we are growing into the fullness of the stature and measure
of Christ: We are growing into him! [Eph. 4:11-16] That is the command
of God for one who has done the first works of salvation, to become new-born
babes. But after that, we must grow up into him that we will be the church
he is returning for.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to be thoroughly baptized in his name, we must be baptized using the mandated formula because there is no salvation in any other name, AND we must, after being born again, grow up into him, and that growth is the thorough baptism in his name, and, therefore, into him, so that we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. [John 3:3-5; Acts 4:12; Rom. 8:17]
But one should not be confused about the difficult nature of putting on his name. For with his name also goes the suffering that is associated with those who walk the life of Christ—seeing that he has suffered, arm yourselves with the same mind. [1Petr. 4:1] For he that suffers in the flesh has ceased from sin. Many are the afflictions of the righteous….
And it is through that suffering that we also take on his name and therefore his identity unto perfection. One of the major problems of American Christians is a desire to short-change the methods and procedures of God and be godly their way. And Americans are fashioned for the quick decision, the take-a-pill approach to life and religion, but God has another way that does not conform to American ethos and models of painless quick-fixes into perfection, as we put him on.
Yes, we will be baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, but that fire is not just in the Holy Ghost but also experienced during the life we lead for Christ, as the fiery trials come upon us. Jesus predicted that for his stake families will be divided, etc. That is just the beginning of the fire. [Mat. 10:36] But it takes that fire to purify and mold us into him, and once we are into him, we have then, and not before then, put him on.
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© 2005 by The Truth of God
