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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jan. 1, 2009
Update	: Jun. 9, 2025
Parts	: 08

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part two, as I noted earlier, when Jesus arrived in Israel 2,000 years ago, the common people were totally beholden to the religious rulers of the day; more specifically, to the temple priests, and to the Scribes and the Pharisees. Their word was law to the common people of Israel, especially in Jerusalem. These oppressive religious rulers enriched themselves by enforcing the Old Testament laws regarding sins, tithes and sacrifices upon the people. There were specific kinds of sacrifices, as well as different types of tithes which had to be paid; all of which depended upon the nature of the sin, and the social and economic status of the person involved. These religious rulers used sin and guilt to condemn the people, and to keep them in complete submission. They used the Mosaic Law like a sword hanging over people's heads. This is why Jesus said the following concerning those greedy religionists:

"For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers . . . Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses . . ."


Do you recall the story of the widow's mite? In spite of her poverty, she gave all that she had in order to try to fulfill the mandates of the Old Testament laws. As Jesus said of His hypocritical, self-righteous enemies, she gave of her poverty and was blessed, while they gave of their abundance, as we see by these Bible verses:

"And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."


The story of the widow's mite is a prime example of exactly what Jesus meant by the previous verses. As I point out in a number of other articles as well, this is precisely why the Lord drove the money changers out of the temple in Jerusalem with a whip. It seriously grieved Jesus that they had turned the sacred business of worshiping God into nothing more than a worldly commercial enterprise. How many Christian churches and denominations do this very same thing today. I think you already know which ones are the biggest culprits of all.

As Jesus Himself made very clear, He came to lift the heavy burdens from our shoulders, and to free us from the bondage of sin, and the wage of sin, which is death. The way that He did this, is by placing the sins of the world upon His own shoulders, when He died on the Cross. Please consider the following verses:

"And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,"


"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."


"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free . . . If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."


Naturally, Jesus' liberating message posed a serious threat to the Jewish religious elders and the corrupt system which they had controlled for so long; many hundreds of years in fact. Thus, they hated Jesus for it. After all, if too many people began to follow the Lord, their oppressive religious empire would eventually collapse, and the vast wealth they had accumulated would disappear. Thus, through intentional deception and craft, they eventually convinced their Roman occupiers that Jesus posed a threat to Rome; and therefore He must be eliminated. Yet little did they realize, however, that Jesus' Death would bring spiritual freedom to us all.

So as I noted a moment ago, our bondage to the letter of the Law was terminated by Jesus' Death on the Cross. As a result of being perfect and without sin, Jesus became the Perfect Substitute, and the Perfect Sacrifice, and freed us from the bondage of the Law. He did what we cannot do ourselves. As the Apostles Peter and Paul wrote:

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."


"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."


Being as the Apostle Paul had been educated as a Pharisee, and thus had a keen insight and understanding of their view of the Law, it was only fit that once he had been converted to the new Christian faith, God would choose to use him to fight against the very thing which had once been the core beliefs of his life. This is clearly evident in some of his various Epistles. Over and over again, Paul discusses the supremacy of Grace -- through faith in Jesus Christ -- over the Law. He expounds on the fact that the Law was our guide and schoolmaster to bring us to the knowledge of the truth; that truth being that by knowing Jesus, and by trusting in His Sacrifice alone, we are henceforth justified by faith, and no longer by the dead works of the Law. Consider the following key verses:

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."


"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."


"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."


"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."


"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."


"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."


"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."


At this point, you may possibly be wondering how all of this ties into the issue of water baptism. Quite simply, the water baptism that was performed by John the Baptist as well as the Apostles, was likewise a guide and a schoolmaster. It was a physical aid to help people to understand a deeper spiritual truth. Water baptism was a simple picture, just like the many Parables that Jesus told. However, as had occurred with the ceremonial portion of the Mosaic Law, which dealt with the different kinds of sacrifices which had to be made in order to atone for sins, once Jesus' Blood was shed on the Cross, water baptism became unnecessary. It served a purpose for a time, but that time is now passed. Similar to observing the symbolic rituals of the Mosaic Law, water baptism was just a physical act that was used to symbolize an inward spiritual change of both mind and heart, and a cleansing of the spirit. The cleansing by water was replaced by cleansing by Christ's Blood. The message of John's water baptism was in fact this:

". . . Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


In other words, John's ministry was a baptism of repentance. This is clarified for us a number of times in the pages of the New Testament, as we see by the following verses:

"John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."


"And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;"


"When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel."


"Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus."


The true meaning of the word "repent" is not simply to feel sorry for something wrong that we have done. Derived from the Greek word "metanoeo", it means to change one's mind for the better. It means to make a positive change in our lives; to turn around and go the other way; to put on the brakes, and in fact, to make a U-turn, and go in the opposite direction. That is to say, to go in a better direction. True repentance represents a complete revolution in our lives. As we learned earlier, this is what John was preaching. His whole ministry of water baptism was to prepare the way, to prepare people's minds and hearts so that they would be ready to accept God's divine plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ, who would wash us in His own Blood. Furthermore, with time, some people would also begin to receive the baptism by fire. That is to say, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

As I explain in "Is the Message of Salvation Meant for All Men?", when Jesus arrived, and more specifically, when He gave His life on the Cross, the way to Salvation was finally made available to all men everywhere. As Jesus Himself said in the Gospel of John:

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."


The phrase "all men" means exactly that, both Jew and Gentile alike. However, in order to accept this wonderful free Gift, the Jews had to be willing to forsake some of their old ways of thinking. It is for this reason that once John the Baptist had fulfilled his final mission -- that is, baptizing Jesus and identifying Him to the people of Israel -- as soon as he was sure that Jesus was indeed the One they had been waiting for, John knew that his life's work was almost over. That is why he then directed his disciples to start following Jesus. He knew that Jesus would baptize them, not with water -- that is, the old way -- but rather first with His own Blood, and eventually with the fire of God's Holy Spirit -- the new way. Likewise, Jesus would also take away the sins of the world. This is quite evident in Bible verses such as the following:

"Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."


"Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease."


"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:"


"John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:"


In fulfillment of Jesus' own promise that is found in Acts chapter one, as well as promises that He made in the Gospels, we all know that this is precisely what occurred on the Day of Pentecost in chapter two of the Acts of the Apostles, where we read the following:

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."


The previous verses demonstrate the first major outpouring of the Holy Spirit on a large scale. However, I am not so sure that this was the first time that Jesus shared a portion of the Holy Spirit with His most intimate followers. This seems to be evident by a little-mentioned verse which I have also briefly discussed in other articles. That verse is found in the Gospel of John and states the following:

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:"


Exactly what is going on in the above verses? Weren't we told that the Apostles received the Gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost? Yes, but my personal speculation is that the previous incident may possibly have been some kind of a small "preview" so-to-speak, that Jesus gave to the eleven remaining Apostles. You can take it for what it is worth. I honestly do not know for certain. As I point out in the article "Was Jesus Filled With the Spirit From Birth?", as well as in a few other articles, the Bible, and more specifically, the Gospel of John, informs us that Jesus possessed the Spirit without measure. He was a spiritual powerhouse. In the third chapter of the Gospel of John we find the following verse:

"For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."


That's why Jesus was able to perform so many miracles. It is also why some people felt the power of the Spirit emanating from His body, such as the woman who had been healed of the issue of blood. Jesus was a powerhouse of the Spirit, and in that instance in John chapter twenty, Jesus chose to share a small portion of the Spirit with His followers. Not a full in-dwelling of the Spirit yet, but just enough to give them a foretaste of what was to come on the Day of Pentecost. It is also important to realize when this incident occurred. It happened after the Lord's Resurrection. Why was this? Again, the Scriptures provide us with a very clear answer. The Lord had told them the following a few chapters earlier in the Gospel of John:

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."


There are certain mechanisms pertaining to the Spirit World which we humans simply cannot understand. But all we know is what Jesus said; and that is that He told the Apostles that He would send the promised Comforter and Teacher following His Death. That is precisely what we see occurring in that previous verse.

From the Scriptural evidence that I've now presented, we see two very clear instances where the Lord baptized His closest followers, not with water, but rather with the fire of the Holy Spirit, exactly as John the Baptist prophesied that He would do. We have also seen that while His Apostles baptized people with water in the Gospels, there's no record of Jesus having ever done this.

To reiterate a point, when Jesus arrived on Earth, He changed a lot of things. Many physical examples and foreshadows were replaced by their spiritual realities, or counterparts. Water baptism was simply a schoolmaster, to help people understand the baptism by blood, as well as the baptism by fire that was yet to come. This is what so many Christians still fail to understand. This is due to the fact that organized religion has purposely cultivated this erroneous belief, that every time you see words such as "baptism" and "baptize", you must immediately think water baptism. But this just is not so. The New Testament clearly refers to different kinds of baptism; such as water baptism -- or baptism of repentance -- baptism by blood -- cleansed and saved through Christ -- and finally, the baptism by fire -- the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word "baptisma" does not mean "baptism by water". What it does mean is immersion or submersion, but that most definitely does not necessarily mean that it has to be in, or by, water. It can mean anything. In fact, after providing a two-word definition, the very first example that the Greek lexicon provides is "of calamities and afflictions with which one is quite overwhelmed". So baptism literally means to be immersed, submerged or overwhelmed by anything, such as being overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit in a baptism of fire.

The one strict meaning of applying to water was only added later by the deluded so-called "Church Fathers" of the Roman Catholic Church, who were more interested in promoting their doctrines as a way to keep the people in bondage to the Roman Catholic Church. To even suggest that the word "baptism" only means to be immersed in water, makes the phrase "baptism by fire" sound illogical, because water is the exact opposite of fire, and puts out a fire.

So initially, water baptism started out as a good thing, and it served a good purpose by preparing people's hearts to know and accept the Lord. However, just as the brass serpent made by Moses also started out as a good thing -- that is to say, to serve as a vehicle of faith to cure the people of serpent bites -- it eventually was idolized and had to be destroyed. In similar fashion, for many modern churches, particularly the ones which adhere to the misguided doctrine of "baptismal regeneration" -- such as the Roman Catholic Church -- water baptism has in fact followed a similar course. It has become a tool of bondage which should be done away with, because our Salvation does NOT depend upon water baptism by any means. It depends on the shed Blood of Jesus Christ alone. Period.

When we look at the original meaning of the Greek "baptisma", where it doesn't necessarily mean water, it is so much easier to understand why we can speak about baptism by fire, or why John the Baptist could say I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire", and why Jesus could say "John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost". To suggest then that every time we see the word "baptism", or derivatives thereof, we are to think it means water baptism, is simply wrong, and reflects a poor understanding of the Scriptures. It is poor exegesis.

So John was basically saying to them, "Look, there is your true Savior. Now it is time for you to follow Him, and not me. I have accomplished what I came to do. My ministry here is almost over. It is about time to put away these childish things of water baptism. There is the One who will baptize you with His Blood, and with the true Spirit of God." As I explain in the four-part series "Is Jesus the Only Begotten Son of God?", the Apostle Paul spoke all about this parallel between the Old Testament ritual of the sprinkling of blood, and the New Testament revelation regarding the sprinkling of Christ's Blood on the Cross. In speaking of our "baptism by blood", Paul very clearly wrote the following:

"But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? . . . For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people . . . And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."


So as you can see, being baptized by Jesus' Blood -- that is, to be symbolically sprinkled with Christ's Blood and not with physical water -- is what really results in the remission of our sins, and thus also in true Salvation, and nothing else. Once we gain an understanding of what Paul is saying in the previous set of verses, it becomes a lot easier to understand what he means in other verses we find in his other Epistles, where he likewise mentions being baptized in Christ. In order for there to be continuity in Paul's thoughts throughout his Epistles, he must be referring to the very same sprinkling of blood, or baptism by blood. To suggest that he is referring to baptism by blood in the above verses, but to water baptism in every other place, is really quite confusing. Thus, in the following Scriptures, it is my belief that Paul is likewise talking about the baptism by blood:

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."


"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."


"In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."


"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"


The Apostle Paul is clearly talking about being washed in -- or sprinkled by -- sanctified by, justified by, cleansed by, renewed by and baptized by the Blood of Christ. As we have clearly seen, it is only this symbolic baptism by blood that results in the full remission of our sins. It is only this baptism by blood that results in the death of our old man, and the resurrection of our new man. Water baptism can't and will not do it. It's only the baptismal blood of Jesus which fully regenerates our spirit. In my view, the phrase "washing of regeneration" isn't referring to water baptism. Rather, it is synonymous with the sprinkling of blood, or blood baptism. In short, the Old Testament -- or Old Covenant -- sprinkling of blood ritual has been replaced by the New Testament -- or New Covenant -- symbolic sprinkling of the Blood of Christ.

This symbolic baptism by blood -- as opposed to meaning water baptism -- is confirmed for us by the fact that in those three sets of verses, Paul is writing from a spiritual perspective, and NOT from an actual physical perspective. When he speaks of our being buried in baptism with Christ, he is obviously writing of a symbolic burial. This is why Paul writes in his first Epistle to the brethren at Corinth, "I die daily", as we see by this verse:

"I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."


Obviously, we cannot physically die, be buried, and be raised from the dead on a daily basis. So Paul must be speaking in a metaphorical or spiritual sense in those verses. This thought is in perfect agreement with what Jesus Himself taught us, as I point out in a number of my other articles. As an example, Jesus said the following in the Gospel of Luke:

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."


That Paul is speaking metaphorically, is made even more clear for us by the previous verses in Colossians where he explains that he's referring to spiritual circumcision, and NOT to the physical act of circumcision, with which all Jews were quite familiar. Thus Paul clearly says "ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands". So Paul was writing from a spiritual point of view, and NOT from a physical one. To try to insert a physical water baptism into his words, is to only confuse his readers, because it would not be consistent with what he plainly tells us in Hebrews regarding the sprinkling of blood, or baptism by blood. The phrase "buried with him in baptism" should therefore also be understood in a spiritual sense, and means the spiritual baptism by blood, and NOT in a physical sense, meaning water baptism. To say that any of those verses is referring to water baptism, is to force upon them a meaning which was not intended by Paul, in my view.

Let me remind you again that a large part of Paul's ministry was to convince Jews and Gentiles alike outside of Israel, of the spiritual significance of Christ's Death and Resurrection. The Jewish elders were so caught up in the physical aspects of temple worship, and their dead religion, that they missed the spiritual significance of Christ's coming. It is for this reason that over and over again, throughout his Epistles, he purposely expounds on the spiritual aspects of our Salvation Rebirth, and New Life in Christ, and repeatedly de-emphasizes the importance of the physical rituals of Judaism, even going so far as to tell the brethren the following:

"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."


Even Jesus Himself made it very plain that our cleansing, our renewal, our regeneration, the remission of our sins, and our Salvation, is a spiritual process and NOT a physical one that is tied to physical rituals of any kind. In the Book of John, Jesus said the following:

"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."


Jesus repeatedly forgave, cleansed and healed people through nothing but the awesome power of His words, and, of course, by the Power of His Father's Spirit that flowed from within Him. As Jesus also plainly stated:

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."


Please go to part four for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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