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of the baptism of Israel into Moses. The church of the Mystery is baptized into Christ,
and there is the same insistence upon the absence of water. In the unity of the spirit
(Eph. 4: 3-5) there is but "one" baptism, whereas during the Acts there was baptism in
both water and spirit (Acts 10: 47). This unity will not tolerate two baptisms, anymore
than it will tolerate two Bodies, two faiths or two Lords. Before there can be any
participation in the high glories of the Ephesian teaching, this one baptism, typified by
the baptism of all Israel "into Moses" without a spot of water in the process must become
a fact.
"Buried with Him in baptism" (Col. 2: 12) follows "In Whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands . . . . . by the circumcision of Christ",
and when it can be proved that the church of Colosse were instructed to perform the rite
of literal circumcision, it will be time enough to argue that the burial with baptism that
follows takes place at the font by sprinkling or at the pool by immersion.
Assuming that the reader has traveled with us in spirit so far and is willing to examine
the clusters of blessings that may be represented by this bunch of the grapes of Eshcol, let
us turn our attention to some of the unique features of this great Epistle to the Ephesians.
ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS (Eph. 1: 3)
Writing to the believer before the great dispensational landmark of Acts 28:, Paul
speaks of "the blessing of Abraham" coming on the Gentiles, but Abraham is never
mentioned in the "Prison Epistles", and no blessing of Abraham is associated either with
"heavenly places" or "before the foundation of the world". There are some terms used in
the Scriptures, which by their very nature and the place they occupy in the scheme of
salvation, come over and over again in the writings of the apostle. Such terms as "faith",
"redemption", "justification" will come to the mind immediately, and are found in many
of the epistles whether written before or after Acts 28: No one moreover could
deny the use of the word "blessing" when speaking of these great doctrines of salvation,
yet the fact remains that Rom. 15: 29 "the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of
Christ", I Cor. 10: 16 "the cup of blessing which we bless" and Gal. 3: 14 "the blessing
of Abraham" are the only other occurrences of the word in Paul's epistles. So far as the
Prison Epistles are concerned Eph. 1: 3 stands alone, the word "blessing" meeting us in
the very opening words of the new revelation and never again employed in any capacity
by the apostle. Terms such as "seated together" and "blessing" receive emphasis by their
glorious solitariness They stand alone and are beyond compare.
Green, in his handbook says that where the adjective pas "all" in the singular number
is written without the article "the", it signifies "every", but with the article it means "the
whole of" the object which it qualifies. Thus pasa polis means "every city"; pasa he
polis or he pasa polis "the whole city" and he polis pasa would have a slightly different
meaning--either "the city, all of it" or "the city in every part".
The church of the one body is blessed "with every blessing that is spiritual". This is
even wider in its scope than to say "all spiritual blessings", for if the number of blessings