142 Dimensions of Baptism
be made for interpreting 'one baptism' in Eph. 4.5 to mean precisely what
it says,^81 and if this is so, then it supports the contention here that baptism
in 1 Cor. 12.13 is an example of synecdoche and similarly refers to 'the
entirety of Christian initiation'. In his discussion of 1 Cor. 12.13 Fee
speaks of the 'most crucial ingredienf of conversion as 'the receiving of
the Spirit'.^82 Statements like these—that baptism is a 'shorthand descrip-
tion', 'concertina word' and 'most crucial ingredient' of conversion—come
tantalizingly close to the understanding of baptism as synecdoche as
outlined here without using the word. And while it does not prove that
baptism in 1 Cor. 12.13 is an example of synecdoche, it does open the
door to the possibility.
One further point Wright makes in his discussion of synecdoche is
relevant here. He notes that synecdoche works in two stages in which the
speaker, possibly unconsciously, substitutes the part for the whole,^83 while
the hearer makes the substitution in reverse. 'The entire exchange in its
original context probably took place on a completely instinctive, near-
instantaneous, unreflective level.'^84 It is possible to see that Paul is doingjust this in 1 Cor. 12.13, using part of the conversion-initiation process to
refer to the whole. Dunn accepts that Spirit- and water-baptism are essen-
tial parts of the process of becoming a Christian, and it is widely acknowl-
edged that in the primitive Church all believers were baptized.^85 Given
this, it is hardly conceivable that when they first heard Paul's letter read to
them the Corinthians would not have called to mind their water-baptism
with the Spirit-baptism which is the primary referent of 12.13. This point
receives support from the way that Spirit- and water-baptism were equated
by the early Christian writers before initiation began to be broken up into
clearly separate and distinctive rites and theologies.
As we have already seen, at the beginning of his Baptism in the Holy
Spirit, Dunn identifies the various components of conversion-initiation as
the gift of the Spirit, the effective proclamation of the gospel, belief in- See my '"One Baptism"', pp. 182-93.
- Fee, First Corinthians, p. 605.
- Wright, Voice, p. 230, calls this 'a part-for-whole synecdoche', on which see
also his discussion on pp. 201-207. - Wright, Voice, p. 194. His example is 'many' for 'all' in Mk 10.45.
- Dunn, 'Baptism and the Unity of the Church', p. 90: 'Overlap anomalies like
the Ephesian disciples aside (Acts 19.1-7), we know of no unbaptized Christians even
in the first generation of Christianity.'