Quote:
"What TYPE of baptism is Paul writing about?" i.e Spirit or water, is what I was trying to address.
And what I said was: I don't think, the Presbyterian doesn't think, it much matters how one answers that question. Personally, I don't think Paul was self-consciously separating or distinguishing those ideas in his head when he wrote those words. From the God-ward vantage point, all is perfect and effectual what the Spirit does when he baptizes; and Paul is representing that perfect work of God under the imperfect actions of the church, when he says "We are all baptized into one body."
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Bruce, thanks for your clarification. I am curious as to how Presbyterian ecclesiology effects the
exegesis of the text. From an exegetical standpoint I don't see how water baptism can even be alluded to in 1 Cor. 12. If I understand correctly you see an inherent bond between the mystical of 1 Cor. 12:13 and water baptism, in that water baptism is a sign of the first. If that is true then that understanding is as much hermeneutical as it is ecclesiological, and therein resides the systemic separation between Baptists and Presbyterians. I'm fine with that. This dialog (for me) has nothing to do with agreement as much as it does definition in terms. IMHO that is half the battle in our baptism dicsussions on the PB.