148 Dimensions of Baptism
baptism, recognition that 'baptism' is here an example of synecdoche
(which is the more precise term than metonymy) is strongly suggestive
that the referent is to both Spirit- and water-baptism^104 and the rest of the
conversion-initiation process. The problem for contemporary scholars in
understanding the way Paul and the earliest Christians understood the
close connection between water- and Spirit-baptism is that sometime
between the third and fourth centuries, as witnessed to by the development
of the rite of consignation/confirmation and, in all probability, also infant
baptism, the various components of Christian initiation began to be sepa-
rated theologically, temporally and in practice through the development of
various initiatory rites and the catechumenate which prevented the practice
of immediate water-baptism at the time of the response to the gospel
message (a New Testament practice which is witnessed to in the many
conversion-baptisms recorded in Acts).^105
While not all the above considerations carry equal force, together, I
believe, they make a solid case for interpreting 1 Cor. 12.13's reference to
'baptism' to include both Spirit- and water-baptism. The advantage of this
position lies in its retaining the theological and historical strengths of the
traditional interpretation—interpreting 1 Cor. 12.13 within the broader
context of Pauline and New Testament teaching on soteriology, pneuma-
tology and ecclesiology—but also the recognition of the way baptism is, at
times, used figuratively—not at this point as metaphor, but as synecdoche.- Cf. the similar conclusion of McDonnell and Montague, Christian Initiation,
p. 43. - Dunn, 'Baptism and the Unity of the Church', p. 93: 'The information provided
by the New Testament itself suggests.. .that for the first half-century or so at least, the
initiation ceremony was still simple and spontaneous.'