A closer examination of 1 Corinthians 12 reveals the evident fact that

in Paul's analogy `the members' thus described and compared, are not

believers, but `the gifts'.  This is easily seen by comparing verses 18 -27

with 28 -31.

`But now hath God Set the members',

then follows a list of different members, in which three are closely

associated with intelligence, the eye, the ear, the nose.  `And God hath Set

some in the church', then follows a list of supernatural gifts enjoyed by the

church during the period of the Acts in which three are closely associated

with intelligent administration, apostles, prophets, teachers.  Even the very

order and number of these first gifts (1) apostles, (2) prophets, (3)

teachers, differs from those of Ephesians 4: (1) apostles, (2) prophets, (3)

evangelists,  (4) pastors and teachers, and the succeeding `miracles',

`healing', etc. are foreign to the dispensation of the Mystery.

To come back to our starting point again, we therefore find it

unscriptural to speak of the One Baptism of Ephesians 4 as `The baptism of

the Spirit', because that phrase is so definitely associated with miraculous

gifts and so definitely links that Church to Pentecost (see Matt. 3:11; Acts

1:5; 10:47) so that it is misleading and untrue if brought over into the

dispensation of the Mystery.  It is as impossible to think of the Baptism of

the Spirit apart from all the accompanying gifts of the Spirit, as it is to

think of the baptism of John without water.

The reader may feel that by this argument we have reached a deadlock.

He may say, `If the One Baptism of Ephesians 4 is neither that of water or

spirit, it ceases to exist at all'.  This would be the case if the Scripture

limited baptism to either water or spirit -- that is the error that blinds

the eye to the fuller teaching of Ephesians 4.  What if there is a third

baptism, of which both water and spirit were shadows?  Is there such a

baptism anywhere to be found except in the mind of the present writer?  Yes,

it is found as early as the Gospels.  There we find that the Lord Jesus was

baptized in water by John in Jordan, and that this was followed by the

baptism of the Spirit, `the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting

upon Him' (Matt. 3:13 -16), yet when this was long past, the Lord said `I

have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened (held in narrow

limits) till it be accomplished!' (Luke 12:50; Matt. 20:22,23).

There are, therefore, three baptisms, not two baptisms that are before

us in the New Testament:

The baptism of water.

The baptism of Spirit.

The baptism of death and burial.

It is this third baptism that is in view in Ephesians 4, for Colossians

2, which belongs to the same dispensation as does Ephesians, most distinctly

`Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through

the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead'

(Col. 2:12).

When the dispensation changed and a new sphere of blessing was made

known `in heavenly places', that did not alter the fact that beneath it all