 |  |
Had the nation of Israel repented, and the kingdom would have come as a
consequence, these passages would have exactly fitted the prophecy of Zech. 14: 9,
"And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and
His name one." As it is, the kingdom is in abeyance, and instead of one Lord being King,
He is exalted as Head of the church, His body; not "over all the earth," but "in the
heavenlies," for "earthly things" (John 3: 12) are connected with regeneration and the
kingdom of Israel.
The one body of I Cor. 12: is essentially and inseparably connected with gifts. Such
gifts as are there described are absent to-day, and it is as foolish to endeavour to regulate
an assembly to-day by I Cor. 12:, as it would be to try to navigate a sailing-ship with the
regulations and orders suitable for a steamship.
"All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally
as He will, for as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that
one body, being many, are one body; so also the Christ; for by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body. . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."
The fact that all had a gift is compared to a body having many and varied members,
yet all composing one body. The words, "all made to drink into one Spirit," refer to the
promise of John 7: 38, 39:--
"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water; but this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should
receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet (received), because that Jesus was not yet
glorified" (compare Mark 16:14-20; Acts 2:33).
It seems hardly possible that an intelligent Christian should teach that "drinking into
one Spirit" meant partaking of the Lord's Supper, but we mention it here in order that any
reader who may have received this interpretation may give the passage a prayerful and
contextual re-consideration.
A question arising out of what we have been considering is, Does the term "The
baptism of the Spirit" of the pentecostal dispensation mean the same as the baptism of
Eph.4? We sometimes meet a Christian who tells us that he has "received the baptism of
the Holy Ghost," or that he is "praying for the second blessing." "Second blessings" are
delusions, resulting from undispensational views. The believers' charter commences
(Eph. 1: 3) with the fact that God "hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings." The book
of the Acts gives us very clear data as to what the baptism of the Spirit meant in
pentecostal times. Acts 1: 5 and 11: 14-16 make it quite clear as to what the term refers:--
"And began to speak with other tongues" (Acts 2:1-4).
"When Simon saw. . . . the Holy Ghost was given" (Acts 8:18).
"They heard them speak with tongues" (Acts 10:44-46).
"They spake with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:6).
Almost without exception miraculous gifts followed the baptism of the Spirit, but such
is nowhere hinted in the epistles written after Acts 28: Ministering the spirit and
working miracles is connected with justifying faith in Gal. 3: 5,6. Is it so now? The one