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
- Beasley-Murray, 'Holy Spirit', pp. 180-81.
- Beasley-Murray, 'Holy Spirit', p. 183.
- 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' - 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)