Foolish Preaching On "The One Baptism"
The phrase "one baptism" is found in Eph. 4:5. Sometimes people engage in "foolish preaching" about the one baptism mentioned there.
Not long ago, I was talking with a man who said he believed in only one baptism, but he believed that one baptism was Holy Ghost baptism. Many have made the same error. They have been taught this, because false teachers do not admit that water baptism is essential to salvation. In trying to detour around what the Lord commanded, they try to tell us that the only baptism mentioned is Holy Ghost baptism.
However, even those who claim that the one baptism is Holy Ghost baptism do not limit themselves to what they claim to believe. They have two baptisms, or claim to have. They think they receive a Holy Ghost baptism, and they also practice water baptism. When I learned to count, one plus one made two. So, they do not practice one baptism, but claim themselves to practice two baptisms.
Does the Bible teach that the one baptism in Eph. 4:5 is Holy Ghost baptism? Let me emphatically deny that it does. When our Saviour gave the great commission, he told the apostles, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mk. 16:16) Cf. Matt. 28:19-20.) The baptism of the great commission, then, is a command of the Lord.
Is the baptism of the great commission the baptism of the Holy Ghost? We must admit that it is the one baptism mentioned in the fourth chapter of Ephesians, because Paul said there is "one baptism" and because Jesus indicated that the baptism of the great commission was to be perpetual. (Matt. 28:19-20.) When we turn to the New Testament examples of conversion, we learn that the element in which the apostles baptized was water. In the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, they came to a certain water, and the eunuch was baptized by Philip. (Acts 8:36-39.) If the eunuch had been listening to some "foolish preaching" that is done nowadays, he would never have learned anything about being baptized in water. He would have had no incentive to request water baptism. He would have wanted the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But Phillip evidently had taught him to be baptized in water. Phillip was laboring under the great commission. Hence, we conclude that the one baptism of Eph. 4:5, and the baptism of the great commission was baptism in water.
In Acts 10:47, the apostle Peter asked his six Jewish brethren, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" Peter had been called to the house of Cornelius. As he began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell upon them. This convinced the Jews that the Gentiles had a right to receive the benefits of the gospel, as well as the Jews. Peter's question was to the six Jewish brethren who had accompanied him from Joppa. Since Peter was laboring under the great commission, we must conclude that the one baptism was water baptism; it was not Holy Ghost baptism.
Another reason for believing that the baptism of the great commission was not Holy Ghost baptism is that the baptism of the great commission was a command, while the baptism of the Holy Ghost was promised. The baptism of the great commission was to be performed by men, but Holy Ghost baptism was to be performed by the Lord. (Matt. 3:11.) Hence, baptism in the Holy Ghost cannot be the baptism of the great commission, nor the one baptism of Eph. 4:5.
There are only two examples of Holy Ghost baptism in the Bible. The first is recorded in the second chapter of Acts, concerning events of the day of Pentecost. It enabled the apostles to speak by inspiration, and furnished evidence to the Jews that they were preaching the truth. The second instance is recorded in the tenth chapter of Acts, concerning events at the house of Cornelius. The context indicates that the household of Cornelius received the baptism of the Holy Ghost to convince the Jews that the Gentiles had been granted "repentance unto life." These events happened some thirty years before Paul wrote in Eph. 4:5 that there is "one baptism." At the time that Paul wrote Ephesians, the great commission was still in force. Hence, we must conclude that the one baptism of Eph. 4:5 is water baptism.
We might also briefly point out that this excludes the baptism of John. John's baptism pointed forward to the coming of Christ, and was never administered in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. With the beginning of the Christian dispensation, the baptism of John went out of effect. Over in Acts 19:1-5, we find that Paul arrived at Ephesus and found twelve disciples who had been baptized under John's baptism. After Paul explained the situation to them, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They learned that they had received the wrong baptism, and were baptized again. It is not a shame to be baptized twice. If a person has not been baptized according to the teaching of Christ, he needs to be baptized again, so he can be baptized scripturally. If he has not been baptized according to the teaching of Christ, he has not received the "one baptism" of Eph. 4:5.
Since the one baptism of Eph. 4:5 is water baptism, this would also exclude fire baptism. Sometimes we hear people pray for a baptism of fire. Such do not know for what they pray. If you will compare the language of Matt. 3:11-12 with Rev. 21:8, you will see that the baptism of fire refers to the final destiny of the wicked (Cf. also 2 Thess. 1:7-9).
Foolish preaching does not admit that the one baptism is water baptism. In fact, false teachers try every way to detour around this simple truth. They don't want to let people know the truth. They hate the commands of the Lord. That is foolishness!