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It is only fair to say that Dr. Lloyd Jones is not a dispensationalist and accepts that water baptism has its place,
but certainly not in Romans 6 and Colossians 2. This makes his testimony all the more telling.
It is this spiritual baptism effected by the Holy Spirit that is the `one baptism' of Ephesians 4. As to `hope',
`Lord', `faith', `God' there is little, if any, difference among true believers. But when we come to baptism, so many
forget that the one baptism is mentioned in equal terms with the above words. The emphasis in `one' is in
opposition to corporate diversity in the Body of Christ. There are those who suggest water baptism can be blended
with the Spirit's baptism here and yet be looked upon as one baptism. We do not understand this kind of mental
jugglery, but it cannot be true, not only in view of the above arguments, but also because water baptism did not form
a necessary part of the commission Christ gave Paul. `Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel'
(1 Cor. 1:17) he asserted. Even though he did baptize a few, it should be quite evident from the clear command of
the Lord that ritual baptism was not essential to the ministry entrusted to him and therefore it is an intruder in
Ephesians 4:5 and Colossians 2 as well as being quite foreign to the context. Each member of the Body is `filled full
(complete) in Christ' (Col. 2:10).  What can `shadows' add to this glorious fulness? And is it not lack of
appreciation of this fulness that causes many to cling to these `shadows'?
We would sum up by saying that the real Spirit baptism identifies and unites a believer with Christ eternally.
There are three great unities in Scripture:
(1) The unity between the members of the Godhead (John 17)
(2) The unity between Christ and the believer (Rom. 6)
(3) The unity between believers themselves (Eph. 4).
No wonder we are not exhorted to make a unity, but to carefully guard one already made by God.
The filling of the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 5:18 is another verse of Scripture which is often misunderstood:
`Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord'.
This verse is beloved of Pentecostalists who use it to teach that it refers to some exalted feeling in the believer's
experience subsequent to salvation when he receives the `second blessing', or receives the baptism or fulness of the
Spirit. The verb `be filled' is pleroo which takes the accusative case of the thing filled, the genitive case of the
matter with which the thing is filled and the dative case of the means used to accomplish the filling, the agent.
Sometimes the preposition en is added to emphasize the agent. In English we say `filled with'. Greek says `filled
of'. Here are two examples out of many:
`And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost' (Greek, filled of joy and of holy spirit) (Acts
13:52).
`Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing (Greek, fill you (accusative) of all joy and
peace in (en with dative) believing)' (Rom. 15:13).
Coming now to Ephesians 5:18 we find that `be filled' is the present passive plural, `be continually filled' en
pneumati, `by (the) Spirit' (dative). The Holy Spirit is the Filler, not the substance with which the believer is filled.
The Berkeley Version translates the verse `be filled by the Spirit' and the N.E.B. `let the Holy Spirit fill you' and if
anyone asks with what does the Holy Spirit fill the believer, the answer is given in the parallel context in Colossians
3:16:
`Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord'.
The one object of the Holy Spirit in this age of grace is to uplift and glorify Christ. `He shall not speak of
Himself ... He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you' (John 16:13,14). Let us not
make the mistake of limiting the words of Christ to those to whom He spoke on earth when He was a `minister of