Thursday, April 27, 2023

Sang-Won (Aaron) Son on the Believer's Union with Christ Through Baptism

  

There are two instances in which Paul relates εις Χριστον to baptism (Rom. 6:3, Gal. 3:27). Significantly, he connects βαπτιζειν with εις Χριστον and not with εν Χριστω. While in Rom. 6:3 “to be baptized into Christ” is “to be baptized into Christ’s death,” in Gal. 3:27 it is identified as “putting on Christ.” Similar expressions occur elsewhere in Paul’s letters. In 1 Cor. 10:2 the phrase is “to be baptized into Moses” and in 1 Cor. 12:13, “to be baptized into one body.” The expression of “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” in Rom. 13;14 is apparently equivalent to “putting on the new man” in Eph. 4;22, 24 and Col. 3:9-10 where the “new man” Jesus Christ is contrasted with the “old man” Adam. These two instances, therefore, have special significance for Paul’s understanding of the relationship between Christ and believers. (Sang-Won (Aaron) Son, Corporate Elements in Pauline Anthropology: A Study of Selected Terms, Idioms, and Concepts in the Light of Paul’s Usage and Background [Rome: Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 2001], 22-23)

 

1 Cor. 12:13 provides the basis for the idea expressed in verse 12. Paul states, “For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body (εις εν σωμα εβαπτισθημεν), Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink one Spirit.” A similar expression occurs in Rom. 6:3 and in Gal. 3:27-29, but there Paul says that believers are baptized into Christ (εις Χριστον), which he further defines as “baptism into his death” (Rom. 6:3) and as “putting on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). In view of these verses, “baptism into one body” must mean basically the same as “baptism into Christ” or “putting on Christ.” If so, “one body” in verse 13 signifies nothing other than Christ himself. Furthermore, verse 13 says that “in one Spirit (εν ενι πνευματι) we were all baptized into one body . . . and all were made to drink one Spirit (εν πνευμα).” The statement probably signifies that believers are incorporated into the body of Christ by baptism in the Spirit rather than by water baptism. (Ibid., 85-86)