CROSS Spirit- and Water-Baptism 137
included, even though the primary reference, as in 12.13a, is to the Spirit's
role in the process.
Thiselton states that Dunn, followed by Fee, has 'performed an impor-
tant service in disengaging assumptions' that for Paul the Spirit is invaria-
bly tied to water-baptism and the supposition that water-baptism is the
invariable mark of the beginning of the Christian life. He then adds,
'Nevertheless, within its historical context at Corinth Paul doubtless
regards such a link as a general norm'.^60 David Wenham agrees, stating
that 'In his [Paul's] own churches baptism (as the expression of faith) was
the normative initiation rite'.^61
Given the discussion above there seems to be no reason to doubt that the
Corinthians could also have recalled their water-baptism,^62 particularly as
these elements were not only closely associated in the conversion-initia-
tion process, as the New Testament texts clearly indicate (most explicitly
Jn 3.5; Acts 2.38), but also in time, as expressed in immediate baptism.^63
- Metonymy and Synecdoche
The great strength of Dunn and Fee's position lies in their appeal to the
metaphorical use of baptism in 1 Cor. 12.13. But is this the only way of
seeing the reference to baptism here?
In his most recent study of baptism as a metaphor, James Dunn uses- Thiselton, First Corinthians, p. 1000, italics his. Thiselton (p. 997) comments
that Paul amplifies the unity spoken of in 12.12 'by speaking of the common agency
and experience of one Spirit and one body as focused in the very baptism that pro-
claimed and marked their turning to Christ and their new identity as people of the
Spirit', emphasis his. - Wenham, Paul, p. 344. Cf.Noakes, 'From New Testament Times', p. 116, who
says that 'It seems likely that the author of Acts intends the imperative of Peter in 2.38
to establish the pattern and norm for entry into the Church'. He continues: 'There are
three important and directly related elements in this process of entry into the Church:
repentance, baptism in water, and reception of the Spirit.' When he repeats these three
'necessary elements in initiation', he adds, 'but the most important of these is the gift
of the Spirit'. - Wenham, Paul, p. 346 n. 26: 'I take it that Paul is referring to water (or water
and Spirit) baptism in texts such as 1 Cor. 6.11; 12.13, not just to baptism in the
Spirit... Even if the texts themselves do only refer to Spirit baptism, there is no
question that Pauline baptism involved water.' Cf. also p. 230: 'It is baptism that brings
people "into Christ" and "into the body" and that is associated with the working and
giving of the Spirit (Rom 6.3; 1 Cor. 12.13)'. - Cf. my ' "One Baptism"', pp. 190-91.