In this message we shall continue to see the significance of the believers’ being baptized.
The believers have been baptized into Christ to put on Christ, to enter into the organic union with Christ. “As many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). To be baptized into Christ is the way to be in Christ. Based upon the fact that we have been baptized into Christ, we can say that we have put on Christ.
To believe is to believe into Christ (John 3:16), and to be baptized is to be baptized also into Christ. By both faith and baptism, we have been immersed into Christ, having thus put on Christ and having become identified with Christ. Because we have been baptized into Christ, we now enjoy an organic union with Him.
In order to experience the organic union with Christ, we need to believe into Him and be baptized into Him. Believing and being baptized are two parts of one step. First we believe into Christ, then we are baptized into Him. By believing in Christ we believe into Christ. (The Greek preposition eis, used in John 3:16, 18, and 36, means into.) By believing in Christ we enter into Christ. In addition to believing into Christ, which is inward and subjective, we also need to be baptized into Him, an act that is outward and objective. We need both the inward action of believing and the outward action of being baptized. In this way we make one complete step to enter into Christ. The step which begins with believing into Christ is completed by being baptized into Christ. In this way there takes place in full an organic union between the believers and Christ.
We should never baptize believers in a ritualistic way, regarding baptism simply as an act of putting someone into water according to the Bible. Such a baptism is void of the reality of the organic union. As we baptize a believer, we should exercise our faith to realize that we are baptizing that one not only into the water but also into a spiritual reality. As we immerse him into the water, we immerse him into Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit. When a person is baptized into Christ, he enters into an organic union, which is able to transform his whole being.
Matthew 28:19 speaks of baptizing the believers into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and Galatians 3:27 says that we have been baptized into Christ. The Christ in Galatians 3:27 is equal to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in Matthew 28:19. Therefore, to be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. When we baptize believers into Christ, we baptize them into the Triune God.
Galatians 3:27 tells us that as many as are baptized into Christ “have put on Christ.” To put on Christ is to clothe ourselves with Christ, to put on Christ as a garment. On the one hand, in baptism we are immersed into Christ; on the other hand, in baptism we put on Christ. Christ is the living Spirit. Hence, to be baptized into Christ is to be immersed into Him as the Spirit. When a believer is immersed into Christ, he automatically puts on Christ as his clothing. This means that the baptized one has become one with Christ, having been immersed into Him and having been clothed with Him.
If Christ were not the life-giving Spirit, there would be no way for us to be baptized into Christ. How could we be baptized into Christ if, according to the traditional teaching of the Trinity, He were only sitting in the heavens? For us to be baptized into Christ, Christ must be the pneuma, the air, the Spirit, all around us. If we regard Christ simply as One in the heavens far away, we can practice baptism as a ritual, and people can be baptized without any realization of the significance of baptism. However, we cannot be baptized into a Christ who is only in the heavens. But we can be baptized into Christ who is the pneuma, the Spirit. This is proved by 1 Corinthians 12:13, where we are told that in one Spirit we were baptized into one Body. The Spirit here is the all-inclusive, processed Triune God. In the Spirit, the processed Triune God, we have been baptized into one Body. Therefore, for us to be baptized into such a reality, Christ must be the life-giving Spirit. Whenever we baptize others, we should believe that the Triune God as the processed life-giving Spirit is all around them and that they are being immersed into this divine reality.
We have pointed out that to put on Christ is to clothe ourselves with Christ. Whenever we clothe ourselves in a certain way, we indicate that we intend to live in that way. In like manner, to put on Christ means that we live by Christ, in Christ, and with Christ. In particular, it means that we live out Christ. Christ becomes the expression of our living. Immediately after we have been put into Christ and have entered into an organic union with Him, we need to live Christ. Day by day, we need to be clothed with Christ and express Him as we live in Him, by Him, and with Him.
In Romans 6:3 Paul again speaks of being baptized into Christ. Although we were born in one person, Adam, we have been baptized into another person, Christ. Whether we were good or bad, we were born in Adam. By being baptized into Christ we get into Christ and become a part of Him. The meaning of baptism is to put the believers into Christ. Baptism, therefore, is an extremely significant experience, for in it a spiritual transfer takes place. Baptism is an act in which we put the members of Adam into the death of Christ, thereby transferring them out of Adam and into Christ. Whenever we baptize others we need to have this realization.
We praise the Lord that we have been baptized into Christ. Although we were born in Adam, by baptism we have been identified with Christ in His death and resurrection. Through death and resurrection Christ was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. Even Christ Himself needed death and resurrection to transform Him from the flesh to the Spirit. Likewise, through identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, we have been transferred out of Adam and into Christ. When we were baptized into Christ, we were transferred from being a part of Adam into being a part of Christ. Now we are no longer in Adam—we are absolutely in Christ.