Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

124 Dimensions of Baptism

ence of conversion-baptism 'the Spirit works creatively in the believer,

giving him a new beginning and a restoration such as that which the earli-

est believers knew at the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit'.^8 He states

his position unequivocally: 'as baptism is the counterpart in the believer's

experience of the Spirit coming on the Church at Pentecost, so it is the

counterpart in the believer's experience of the disciples' incorporation into

Christ to become the Body of Christ'.^9 Beasley-Murray, then, is concerned

with uniting exegesis and theology. This is nowhere clearer than when he

writes, 'To be baptized, then, is to become one with Christ through the

Holy Spirit and a member of the Body of Christ. It means union with

Christ by the Spirit and in the Spirit. To possess Christ is to possess the

Spirit, even as it is to be reconciled with the Father. This truth forms part

of the very foundation of our Faith. To divide the reality it attests is to

sunder the Trinity and to make of the Three-in-One three Gods living

separate lives of their own.'^10

J.N.D. Kelly endorses this interpretation of Paul's understanding of the

relationship between water- and Spirit-baptism when he illustrates it from

the writings of the Apostolic Fathers up to the end of the second century.

He writes: 'The early view, therefore, like the Pauline, would seem to be

that baptism itself is the vehicle for conveying the Spirit to believers; in all

this period we nowhere come across any clear pointers to the existence of

a separate rite, such as unction or the laying on of hands, appropriated to

this purpose.'^11 From the fourth century onwards, however, he notes that

8. Beasley-Murray, 'Holy Spirit', pp. 180-81.


9. Beasley-Murray, 'Holy Spirit', p. 183.


10. Beasley-Murray, 'Holy Spirit', p. 181, italics original. See also his discussion
    of 'Baptism and the Spirit' and 'Baptism and the Church', in Baptism, pp. 275-79 and
    279-84 respectively. Beasley-Murray, 'Holy Spirit', p. 182: 'So far as apostolic Chris-
    tianity is concerned, Acts 2.38, 1 Cor. 12.13, Tit. 3.5, and indeed the whole Pauline
    corpus settle the issue. God himself has joined together our experience of Christ and
    the Holy Spirit'


11. J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (London: A. & C. Black, 5th edn,
    1977), p. 195. Kelly, pp. 194-95 believes it to be what was in Clement's mind in
    1 Clem. 46.6; as the meaning of the 'seal of baptism' in 2 Clem. 7.6; 8.6, and also in
    Hernias, Sim. 8.2.2-3; 8.6.3; 9.16.3-4; Justin Martyr, Dial. 14.1; 29.1; Irenaeus, Dem.
    3; Haer. 5.11.2; 3.17.1-3. Kelly, pp. 207-11 demonstrates that this view, which still
    persisted, nevertheless began to change in the third century, becoming associated
    more and more with chrismation and the laying on of hands. On the period up to the
    end of the third century, see also J. Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the
    Development of Doctrine. I. The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600)