Most of our present day churchmen contend for what they call the two church ordinances, water baptism and the Lord’s supper.
The scriptural meaning of the word “ordinance” is not hard to find. The word itself means a civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical statute, or law. It is used in Exodus 12:14 in connection with the commemoration of the “Lord’s Passover” and in Malachi 3:7 in connection with “tithes and offerings.” Again we have an ordinance set up by King David concerning the rewards for his soldiers and for those who tarried by the stuff (1 Samuel 30:24-25). There were many other old testament ordinances which God imposed on his people. Zacharias and Elisabeth “were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:5-6). The “apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem” ordained certain “decrees” which were delivered to the churches of the Acts period to establish them in the faith (Acts 16:4-5). This word “decrees” comes from exactly the same Greek word as the word “ordinances” in Colossians 2:14 and Ephesians 2:15.
Since we know of a surety that the “decrees” or “ordinances” of Acts 16:4 were blotted out, taken out of the way and nailed to His cross (Colossians 2:14), we can understand Paul’s question in Colossians 2:20-21: “Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using:) after the commandments and doctrines of men?”
There was a place for ordinances in the old testament times and during the period covered by the book of Acts because God was then dealing with National Israel. And, as I understand the Word, God will use the ordinances again during the tribulation period when He offers the kingdom again to his chosen people. But in this present Dispensation of the Mystery there is no room for ordinances. “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sin 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” (Colossians 2:9-12). Thus we, as members of the Body of Christ, have experienced a spiritual circumcision, a spiritual baptism, a spiritual burial into death, and a spiritual resurrection into life. These are things that cannot be obtained through carnal ordinances and there is no scriptural suggestion that these spiritual realities are typified by the ordinances imposed upon the saints of this age by the commandments and doctrines of men.
The Holy Spirit has issued a timely warning in Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” It is utterly impossible for a child of God to join a denominational or an interdenominational church organization without following after the tradition of men. God is building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We should be satisfied with the membership which He gives us, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, in the church which is the Body of his dear Son (1 Corinthians 12:13 with Ephesians 4:4-6).
The Holy Spirit has also given us some timely truth in 2 Timothy 2:15 and 1 Corinthians 2:12-13. Many of God’s dear children are content to listen and they forget that God says study. It is one thing to take what the preacher says. It is entirely another thing to search the Scriptures and find out what God has said. Too many Christians are like the little birds which are too young to leave the nest in search of food and therefore open their mouths to receive whatever the mother bird drops in. They sit without an open Bible and without searching the Scriptures to receive whatever spiritual counsel the preacher has to offer and whatever doctrine is contained in their denominational handbooks, or their interdenominational statements of faith.
As we approach the closing days of the age, the saints are going to need to be “rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:7). We are going to need our “loins girt about with truth” and not with the doctrines of men. We are going to need to wield the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” and not the flimsy weapons offered to the saints by the religious corporations of this age. We must have “the whole armour of God” if we stand against the principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and let us remember God says “Be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:10-18).
We will not forget Paul’s last message to Timothy: “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:1-2). The denominational and the interdenominational hirelings will never give all of Paul’s message. Such a commission demands “faithful men.” We may well remember that “the things” which Timothy heard of Paul were not things pertaining to the Kingdom Message with accompanying miracles, signs and wonders, and with ordinances which were ordained by the apostles of the Jerusalem church. They were things pertaining to the Mystery which was revealed to Paul and was not made known to men of other ages.
Paul’s message concerning Grace and Grace alone as it is related to the calling out of the Body of Christ doesn’t leave room for the man-made creeds and programs of the organized churches, therefore, it will never be popular among the masses. This is why “faithful men” and not “hirelings” are needed today.
Water Baptism and Why?
“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 bare: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11). John preached the “Baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel” (Acts 13:24), but we do not find any scriptural suggestion that John ever preached to the Gentiles. His message was “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and his ministry was in direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (Matthew 3:1-3).
It is clear from the above Scriptures that John understood that Christ was to come after him to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The baptism of the Holy Ghost began on the day of Pentecost, but the baptism with fire will not come until the close of the thousand-year reign of Christ when the heavens and the earth shall be purged according to 2 Peter 3:10-13.
Why Was Jesus Baptized?
The Holy Spirit was very careful to tell us just why John came baptizing with water and just why Jesus, Himself, was baptized by the hands of John in the river Jordan. He gave us this information through the testimony of John the Baptist, himself, who said, “I knew Him (Christ) not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water” (John 1:31). Thus it is clear that water baptism was necessary in connection with the manifestation of Christ to Israel. However, it does not necessarily follow that water baptism is linked with the manifestation of the Lord Jesus to “Gentiles in the flesh,” which were “At that time aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11-12). Back in the days of John the Baptist, Gentiles were alienated strangers, “But now in Christ Jesus” they are “Made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).
“The blood,” by which the “Far off” Gentiles are now made nigh, necessitated a second baptism for Jesus Christ. Long after He had been baptized in water, He said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened (pressed) till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). The fact that this second baptism had such a terrific straitening, or pressing, effect upon the Saviour suggests that it is the same baptism which He refers to in Matthew 20:22-23, where He said, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Surely, this can be nothing other than His baptism into “death,” which He experienced on the cross of Calvary, and which the present day believer experiences when he is “Buried with Him by baptism into death” (Romans 6:3-4). There is a vast difference between the water baptism, which Christ entered into with John the Baptist, that He might be made manifest to Israel as their King; and the death baptism, which He entered into on the cross, that He might be the Saviour of the whole world.
Water baptism was included in the program of Christ’s earthly ministry. This is evidenced by the testimony borne in John 4:1-2: “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus, Himself, baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judaea, and departed into Galilee.” Since both John the Baptist and Jesus preached a Kingdom message (Matthew 3:1-3 with Matthew 4:12-23) and since they were both sent to the people of Israel (Acts 13:24-25 with Matthew 15:24) and since they both labored to make national Israel behold and receive her King, it is no strange thing that water baptism is practiced in connection with both of their ministries. Wherever we find a bona fide Kingdom message being given, we always find the use of water.
The So-Called Great Commission
of Matthew 28:19 was given by the risen Christ to the “Apostles whom He had chosen” (Acts 1:2), and to whom He had said, “I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me” (Luke 22:29). I do not know why churchmen have designated this particular passage of Scripture as the “Great commission.” It seems to me that 2 Timothy 2:1-2 would be a much more appropriate passage to single out as God’s great commission for this present dispensation of the mystery. However, the Holy Spirit has not designated any particular portion of His Word as the great commission; therefore, we consider it dangerous to follow “After the tradition of men” along this or any other doctrinal line (Colossians 2:8).
Under this commission to the “Eleven” and to Matthias, who later took the place of Judas and was numbered with the eleven, the risen Lord said: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (age).” We call special attention to three very important things which the Lord has included in this divine commission:
- These teachers were to go to “All nations.”
- They were to teach the observance of “All things” whatsoever Christ had commanded them, the teachers, to observe.
- He promised to be with them to the “End of the world (age).”
This commission was never fully carried out by the “Twelve” to whom it was given: it has not been fully carried out by any other company of saints since the days of the twelve apostles, and it will not be fully carried out until the “Hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel” preach it again during the period of “Great tribulation” immediately preceding the “End” (Matthew 24:13-14).
“Great salvation” through this kingdom message “first began to be spoken by the Lord” and it was “confirmed” unto the Hebrew believers “by them that heard Him,” namely the “Twelve,” and God was with them “bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will” (Hebrews 2:34). Just “after the Lord had spoken unto them” (the eleven) the words of the so-called “great commission,” He was “received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following” (Mark 16:19-20).
Water Baptism During the Acts Period and Why?
That period of time covered by the Book of the Acts of the Apostles (approximately 30 years immediately following Pentecost) is the period during which the kingdom message of the Lord was “confirmed” with “signs following” (Mark 16:19-20 and Hebrews 2:3-4), according to the commission of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:14-18.
During that period, the Holy Spirit was offering the kingdom message to Israel. The nation had rejected and crucified her King, but His prayer for them, on the day of His crucifixion, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” was answered when the nation was given another chance to accept the Messiah under the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. When they rejected His offer of the Kingdom they committed the “Unpardonable sin” of Matthew 12:31-32, and the nation was set aside until after the calling out of the “Church, which is His body,” and then the above mentioned kingdom message will again be given to all nations, after which, the Age of Grace will end and the Kingdom of Heaven will be set up.
Water baptism was preached and practiced by Spirit-filled men throughout the Acts period. The Holy Spirit said, through Peter, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). As I understand the Word, the baptism of this verse is “Water baptism,” and it was essential to salvation. Let us remember, however, that the Spirit was here addressing the “House of Israel” and “when they (members of the house of Israel) heard” Peter’s message concerning the risen Christ “they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:36-37). God was still endeavoring to make Christ “manifest to Israel” as their King, therefore water baptism was still in His program. While the Holy Spirit was giving the message of Acts 2:38, He was also telling Israel about “The Times of Refreshing” and “The Restitution of All Things, Which God Had Spoken by the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets Since the World Began” (Acts 3:19-21). The “times of refreshing” Acts 3:19) could not be the same as “The Hope of Glory” (Colossians 1:27), and the “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His Holy Prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21) could not be the same as “The Mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” (Colossians 1:25-26). These simple comparisons of “spiritual things with spiritual” will prove that the Kingdom Message of John the Baptist, and of Christ, and of the “Twelve” was continued on into the opening chapters of the Book of the Acts. This is why Peter and the “eleven” preached and practiced water baptism.
Cornelius and his household were “uncircumcised” Gentiles (Acts 11:1-3), yet God saved them, gave them the Holy Ghost, and “put no difference” between them and the Jews upon whom He poured out the Holy Ghost at Pentecost (Acts 15:7-11). These are the first of a chosen number of Gentiles who are elected to be “A people for His name,” and their call is in full agreement with “The words of the prophets,” and they are to be linked with the building again of “the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down” (Acts 15:13-18). This links Cornelius with the kingdom hope and, therefore, accounts for his water baptism of Acts 10:47-48.
Paul, the preacher, the apostle and the teacher of the Gentiles (2 Timothy 1:11), did not preach water baptism at any time, yet during the Acts period he practiced baptism with water (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). During this period, Paul was an “able minister of the New Covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:6), and, as such, he was guided by the Holy Spirit to make a difference between the “Jew” and the “Gentile” (Romans 1:16, Romans 3:1-2, 1 Corinthians 9:19-22, etc.). His Acts period ministry to the people of Israel included “None other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come” (Acts 26:22). This accounts for Paul’s recognition of both water baptism (1 Corinthians 1:14-17) and Holy Spirit baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13) during the Acts period, and for his clear cut statement, after the Acts period, that there is just “One Baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). As I understand the Word, this one baptism is Holy Spirit baptism and not water baptism.
John the Baptist knew only one baptism and that was water baptism. During the Acts period two baptisms are recognized—water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism. In our present church age, we have only one scriptural baptism and that is Holy Spirit baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13 with Ephesians 4:5). During the period of tribulation at the end of the Grace Dispensation, Holy Spirit baptism will continue toward Israel, as during the Acts period, and water baptism may be recognized again.
A summary of the scriptural use of water baptism in God’s plan and program for Israel will clearly distinguish three different groups of “labourers together with God.” These three groups are set forth in the Scriptures as follows:
- John, the Baptist, and the earthly ministry of Christ with His twelve disciples (Matthew 3:11 and John 4:1-2). These labored under the old (law) covenant.
- The Acts period ministry of the Holy Spirit through Peter and the eleven (Acts 2:38 and 10:46-48). These labored under the new covenant.
- The Acts period ministry of the Holy Spirit through Paul and his co-workers (1 Corinthians 1:14-17 with 9:19-22). These were “able ministers of the new testament” (2 Corinthians 3:6).
The same Kingdom Message which was borne to National Israel from the beginning of John’s ministry to the end of the book of Acts will be preached again during the 70th week of Daniel immediately before the coming of the Lord in Glory to usher in His Kingdom (Matthew 24:8-14). Since the commission of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:14-18 will be the marching orders for the true ministers of God during this period between the rapture of the body and the setting up of the kingdom, it is reasonable to expect that water baptism will have its place in this future period as it did in the three periods mentioned above.
We call your special attention to the fact that the ministry of the above mentioned groups, and the ministry of the tribulation saints does not include the preaching of “the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19) or the teaching of the truth concerning the dispensation of “the mystery” (Colossians 1:24-27). Therefore, there is no scriptural reason for introducing the use of water baptism in our present Mystery Dispensation on the grounds that it was preached by John, the Baptist, the twelve apostles and even Paul during his Acts period ministry. Either water baptism or Holy Spirit baptism must fade out of use with the application of Ephesians 4:5 which says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Since it is the Holy Spirit baptism that puts us into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), and since Paul was not sent to baptize with water (1 Corinthians 1:14-17), it seems clear that the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5 is Holy Spirit and not water.
The Lord’s Supper and Why?
Modern churchmen refer to their various communion services, which include the eating of bread and the drinking of wine, as “The Lord’s Supper.” However, the expression “Lord’s Supper” is used only once in all of the Word of God: and this one time the Holy Spirit is telling a company of Acts period saints that when they came together in “one place” they could not eat the Lord’s Supper. We quote this one verse which is recorded in 1 Corinthians 11:20: “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.” In the original language the verse reads “Ye cannot eat the Lord’s supper.” There is a scriptural reason why the New Testament Church could not partake of the Lord’s supper in one place, or in a general assembly. As I understand the Scriptures, this reason was the fact that the Lord’s supper was the antitype of “The Lord’s Passover” of Exodus 12:11, and was to be eaten in their houses and not in the general assembly (Exodus 12:3-4).
The day of “The Lord’s Passover” was set forth as a memorial day to be kept throughout the generations of Israel “by an ordinance forever” (Exodus 12:14-17). This Passover was eaten by the children of Israel on the night before their redemption by blood from the iron hand of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. Almost 1500 years later it was eaten by Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles on the night before His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary. I call your attention to His own language concerning that last Passover supper. Turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 22 and beginning with verse 14. “And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come.” The kingdom reference in this passage is explained more fully in verses 28 to 30 of this same chapter. “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Two important dispensational truths are brought out in the Scriptures quoted in the above paragraph. The first one is the fact that Christ and His disciples were eating the Passover which had its beginning in Exodus, chapter 12. The second truth referred to is the fact that Christ declared He would not eat the bread and drink the wine with them again until the yet future day when they shall eat and drink at His table in His kingdom, and “sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” This helps us to understand the expression of the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death til he come.”
According to Paul’s own instruction, the Corinthian Church was to eat the bread and drink the wine (1 Corinthians 11 :23-27). However, we must bear in mind that this eating and drinking was a household affair and not a service that could be performed by the whole congregation in one assembly (1 Corinthians 11:20). The reason for this is found in Exodus 12, verses 3 to 4, where the children of Israel were specifically instructed to eat the Passover supper in their respective households and not in the congregational assembly. We are also to remember that when Paul received this ordinance from the Lord and delivered it unto the people he was an able minister of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6), and not a minister of the Dispensation of the Mystery (Colossians 1:24-26).
As a labourer together with God under the “new testament,” Paul instructed the church at Corinth concerning the teachings of Christ who said “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:28-29). He was giving instruction concerning the New Testament and the “Hope of Israel” and not the revelation of the mystery and Christ in the believer, “the hope of glory.”
After the setting aside of National Israel in the closing chapter of the book of Acts, the apostle was no longer a minister of the new covenant, which was promised through the prophet to the “house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31-34), but he was “a minister, according to the dispensation of God” which was given to him “to fulfill the word of God” (Colossians 1:24-25). The Lord’s supper, which was the anti-type of the Lord’s Passover, had a place in the New Testament Church of the Acts period, but it has no place in the church which is the body of Christ, which is now being called out during the Mystery Dispensation.
As I understand the Word, the Lord’s supper along with all other externals must be left behind by those who would “go on unto perfection” in body truth. We say with Paul of old: “Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using); after the commandments and doctrines of men?” (Colossians 2:20-22).
Under the old covenant, the Passover lamb was slain and its blood covered the sins of the people. Under the new testament, Paul said, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7), but in the Mystery Dispensation he declares that Christ is “our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh” (Ephesians 2:14-17). There was a place for the Lord’s supper among those who were looking to Him as their “Passover” but there is no room for such an ordinance among we members of the body of Christ who know Him as our “peace.”
Some of the doctrines of other dispensations have been brought over into the Mystery Dispensation and the things which God has brought across we rejoice to preach and practice. However, it seems clear that both water baptism and the Lord’s supper are not only left out of Paul’s Mystery Dispensation, but they are forbidden by such Scriptures as Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:14, 20-23; and Colossians 2:9-10.
