Let's Reason Together
When a Bible study group, a group of church elders, hit a snag in discussion, one elder turned to an old way of resolving questions. The elder said that some things about God are a mystery to us.
Indeed, the apostle Paul said, in effect, "Now, we see as through a glass darkly, but, then," in the heavenly realm, we will know more fully.
And yet God moved Paul to encourage others to do deeper study, just the way Jesus told His earthly parents He had to be about His Father's business, and later told His church, on whole, to "seek" and "find."
Questions and puzzlement are okay, as long as we're seeking and finding the way.
One question that all of a sudden has puzzled me is why did Jesus tell Nicodemus the only way we move toward new life in Him is through physical water (baptism) and through receiving the Holy Spirit? It's all of a sudden a little puzzling, because I had accepted, in the Spirit, "Without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins."
I knew the Holy Spirit to say Jesus shed His blood, and His blood only, in fulfillment of prophecy that sins be taken away so life can begin again. That's why we can say we're saved for new life in Jesus through believing that He shed His blood alone, that He died for our sins, and that He rose to live again, defeating the curse of sin, that we may live life anew, being useful, instead of slaving to sin.
But then, here comes the apostle Paul, saying, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sins." And, right there, Paul is emphasizing what Jesus said to do, to be washed in the Spirit — not blood, right?
Are we supposed to feel Jesus wants us to ignore the shedding of His blood?
We do believe we're cleansed of our past through His shed blood; so, no, we don't ignore His blood! But we mourn His blood, every Easter, don't we? And we celebrate His rising up in the Spirit to give us new life, every time a soul is baptized!
So there is almost a literal puzzle with His shed blood, and then His directions about water. And I think the missing puzzle pieces we need are that His blood imparts guilt to us, and so we begin to be convicted in Spirit (our salvation begins, being convicted by His blood begins cleansing us in conscience); then, hearing His word with new attentiveness and obedience, and with prayers in the Spirit, we suddenly want with all our heart to be washed in Spirit, to tell God alone we're sorry, that we have His new life in heart, and that water is the perfect representation of the spiritual cleansing or new life we're receiving every time we go to prayer, to study, to meet or hear a pastor — and on and on our new life goes.
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A little more for us to know:
We're Baptized Into Our Salvation: One minister explains why baptism isn't a step anyone takes in order to receive forgiveness, or remission, of sins. When we're baptized, we already know we're redeemed, forgiven, delivered from our past sins, and we even claim spiritual healing. So here is a pastor who tries to stand in the gap where there are differences between how we're each receiving baptism.
... Some of us know God has saved us, and we're ready to rise in His Spirit.
Before I took that step as an adult, I felt like my childhood baptism was only like a christening or a promise to God. And right before I stepped into the baptismal pool in 2006, a church lady stood at the baptismal entry with me, and told me she knew the Holy Spirit was moving (a soft paraphrase). We also had had a minister counsel us as a group before we each walked over to the pool. He counselled in Jesus's name, which is more than a name, but a life.
Stepping into baptism is to step into all that God is: Redemption, Salvation, Deliverance, Healing, Eternal (Godly) Love.
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