Sanctification and Sacrament

Purification rites are sacraments mystically depicting the real work of the Spirit. Jesus' baptism served as another kind of sacrament: it depicted the new hielsgeschicta. God tore the heavens rifting time. The mission commenced, Christ would atone for creation, and the Spirit would sanctify creation. Our baptism in water sacramentally depicts the Spirit's whole work of sanctification in us. Our baptism in the Spirit equips us to be participants in His sanctifying work through the use of Charisms.

Mark in synoptic context

Morna Hooker brings some interesting things to my mind. I have found Mark’s theme of the secret of Christ’s identity intriguing, ever since my synoptic studies class my senior year. Here we see Mark make plain who Jesus is. We as his readers are introduced to the fact that he is the Son of God by the veracity of a Voice from Heaven. Yet it is significant that only he seems to be the recipient of that news in Mark’s Gospel. We know, and he knows, but no one else seems to get it until his death.

His death is certainly connected to this periscope both in imagery and the Centurion’s later statement at the foot of the cross that He is the Son of God. Yet Mark presents this story with out comment, or question, his isn’t a statement of Christ’s sinless nature or preeminence, but a simple statement of identity.

I’ve also found it interesting that the baptism of the Holy Spirit keeps popping up on these “Baptism of Christ” Sundays. Mark sees the Spirit descending like a dove through rent heavens. He doesn’t say that the Spirit is in bodily form like Luke does, but the image is interesting none the less. “The Babylonian Talmud refers to Gen. 1.2 in this way: ‘And the Sprit of God was brooding on the face of the waters like a dove which broods over her young but does not touch them.’” The Splitting of the heavens, where God is thought to be on the top of a triple-decker universe, along with the decent again of the Creative God gives the impression of a new work of God among man. What an introduction! The Voice is speaking again!

What were you doing last year?

Last year at this time, I was remembering and mourning the loss of hundreds of thousands of voices as Tsunami rushed them to sea.  The imagery was apropos to the mystery of baptism.  

It is interesting to compare last year’s readings to this year’s.

Last year	This year
Isaiah spoke of the transcendence of the self-existent I AM	Genesis speaks of the creators power
Psalm 29 spoke of God’s voice over the waters	Psalm 29 takes on a creation tone when placed behind the Genesis reading.
In Acts peter witnesses the household of Cornelius being baptized in the spirit this time before being baptized in water.	Paul witnesses the Ephesians men baptized in the Spirit after being baptized in Jesus’ baptism.

The voice on the waters

It is the Old Testament readings that strike me. Baptism for all of us is familiar. If there is one thing that I am dissatisfied with our (the A/G) belief in believer baptism, it is that it lacks the mystery and purpose I somehow feel is there.

The water spoken of in the creation story is formless, vast, and terrible. This water, dark and menacing is a good picture of chaos and death. Over this thunders the voice of God—creating life and order. The psalmist declares:

The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over mighty waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

What a picture for our baptism. The creative and powerful voice of God speaks over us, creating new life as the old is lost in death and chaos. This is the voice that thundered at Jesus’ baptism and it is the voice that creates in us a clean heart.

The early church knew a baptism of fire that was more powerful yet. For not only are we immersed in death and brought to new life, but now we are immersed in the very Fire of God!

Filled with the Spirit

Filled with the Spirit:
THE EPHESIAN MEN (ACTS 19:1–7)
Two important and interrelated questions are crucial for a proper understanding of this passage: (1) At the time Paul encountered these men, were they disciples of Christ or disciples of John the Baptist? (2) What did Paul mean when he asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?” We must remind ourselves that Luke, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, has accurately given the essence of Paul’s question.

When Paul came to Ephesus, he found “some disciples.” The word disciple (Greek mathetes) occurs 30 times in the Book of Acts. Both before and after this passage, it means a disciple of Christ.7 There is no reason why Luke would have deviated from his consistent application of the word. Some argue that his use of the word some/certain (the Greek indefinite pronoun) implies they were not Jesus’ disciples. But Luke uses the same word in the singular when he speaks about Ananias and Timothy, calling each “a certain disciple” (9:10; 16:1). The simplest explanation for his use of “some” is found in Acts 19:7, which says there were “about twelve men”; Luke was not sure of the exact number.

The situation of these men is comparable to that of Apollos (18:24–28) who was already a believer “speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John” (verse 25). Priscilla and Aquila “took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (verse 26). He was a Christian in need of further instruction; so it was with the Ephesian men.

Considerable discussion revolves around Paul’s question: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2). Some translations have “since” or “after” instead of “when.” A strict translation, and one which lessens theological bias, is: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit, having believed?” (translation mine). In the Book of Acts, the terminology of “receiving the Holy Spirit” is found in the Samaria and Caesarea accounts (8:15,17,19; 10:47; see also 2:38). Paul, therefore, is asking the Ephesian men if they have had an experience of the Spirit comparable to that of the Samaritan and Caesarean believers. Paul was not playing a theological word game with these men. He acknowledges that they had indeed believed. Much has been written about the tenses of the two verb forms in Paul’s question and whether, from a grammatical standpoint, the receiving of the Spirit should be understood as taking place at the moment of believing or, alternatively, at a time subsequent to the believing.8

The context provides the best answer. The experience of the Spirit about which Paul inquired is the experience recorded in verse 6. In this instance it came about by the imposition of his hands and was accompanied by external manifestations similar to those previously experienced by believers (2:4; 10:46). The experience recorded in 19:6 was not coincident with their salvation. Even if one is convinced that Paul, by his question, had reservations about the genuineness of their salvation, the fact remains that this experience of the Spirit followed their baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus and was preceded by the laying on of hands.

It is often maintained that Luke’s portrayal of the Holy Spirit, especially with reference to being filled with the Spirit, differs from that of Paul in his letters. The Ephesus incident, however, shows that Paul, just as Luke, believed in an experience of the Spirit for believers that was distinguishable from the Spirit’s work in salvation.

It is significant that this incident occurred more than 20 years after the Day of Pentecost. Among other things, it teaches that the Pentecostal experience was still available to believers well removed from that day both temporally and geographically.