REFLECTIONS
by Al Maxey

Issue #353 ------- June 26, 2008
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We, like parted drops of rain,
Swelling till they meet and run,
Shall be all absorbed again,
Melting, flowing into one.

Bronson Alcott {1799-1888}

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Immersed by One Spirit
Reflecting on 1 Corinthians 12:13

You and I, as the children of our heavenly Father, have been "called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" [1 Cor. 1:9]. Therefore, the apostle Paul entreats this vast called out group of brethren to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" [Eph. 4:1], "being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" [vs. 3]. For "Behold," King David exclaimed, "how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity ... for there the Lord commanded the blessing -- life forevermore" [Psalm 133:1, 3]. If everlasting life is genuinely our goal, and not just a theological, soteriological and eschatological concept to which we give token religious lip-service, then we must be diligently and tirelessly laboring to achieve the reality for which our Lord Jesus Christ prayed on the night of His betrayal and arrest -- "May they all be one ... that the world may believe" [John 17:21].

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling" [Eph. 4:4]. Our Lord never called us to be squabbling siblings, feuding factionists, or sectarian schismatics. Rather, we were called to be a unified whole: One Body ... a fully functional Family. How tragic that we have dismembered this great Body and brought dysfunction to His Family. How we've grieved the Spirit, resisting His efforts to bring about unity. This borders on blasphemy, quite frankly, and I fear many will face the full wrath of God for promoting uniformity of a sect rather than unity of the Spirit. An evil, divisive spirit within some claiming to be believers has prompted God to inspire this chilling declaration -- "The Lord hates ... one who spreads strife among brothers" [Prov. 6:19]. The text declares that such a one is "an abomination to Him." Notice that it doesn't say our God hates the sin (which, clearly, He does) -- it declares He hates the one committing it [see: Reflections #178 -- Hated by God].

If our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for unity among believers, and if He shed His precious blood to break down those barriers that divide men from one another, then He must have considered our oneness to be absolutely essential. Indeed, as already noted, He informed His disciples that whether or not the world believed would be conditioned upon whether or not we are unified. So, how do we accomplish this? By forcing those around us to submit to our endless partisan perceptions and precepts? By an imposed uniformity of traditional practice? Are we unified only when everyone goosesteps in unison to the most vocal, vicious and narrow-minded among us? Is the key to harmony an iron fist? The shouts of "NO!" ring loud and clear throughout the land ... and yet, in actual practice within much of Christendom, the opposite has been our sad reality.

The solution, of course, is partly in redirecting our focus. We must get our eyes off some elusive humanly perceived pattern, derived largely from mere assumptions, and direct them toward the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a "unity of the Spirit" that will ultimately prove to be transforming, not this futile quest to force the Family of God into some form of our own devising. Our unity, therefore, is not based upon what we do, but rather upon who we are. And the force that brings this oneness to His universal Body is none other than the Holy Spirit. I believe we too often discount the operation of the Spirit among the called out people of God. He has been given for a purpose, and far too many disciples, especially within our own faith-heritage (the Stone-Campbell Movement), have sought to utterly remove the Holy Spirit as the vital life-giving, unifying force within the Lord's One Body. This is a grave error, and the result has been apparent to the world about us. Rather than believing, they merely mock. Who wants to be part of a dismembered, dysfunctional Body? Brethren, it is time once more to be indwelt, empowered and led by the Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul wrote to a group of believers who were struggling greatly with themselves, saying, "Just as there is one body that has many members, and all of the many members of the body are one body, so also is Christ; for we were all immersed into the one body by the one Spirit, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free men; and we all have been given to drink of one Spirit" [1 Cor. 12:12-13, Hugo McCord's New Testament Translation of the Everlasting Gospel]. Not a few biblical interpreters have taken the view that this passage is sacramental in nature. In other words, the baptism mentioned is water baptism and the drink has reference to the cup of the Lord's Supper. Frankly, I do not believe either "sacrament" is in view in this passage. Contextually, neither practice fits. Rather, Paul is speaking of the concept of unity within the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing about this reality. I really appreciate the manner in which Ken Taylor phrased this passage in his Living Bible -- "Each of us is a part of the one body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves and some are free. But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one body. We have been baptized into Christ's body by the one Spirit, and have all been given that same Holy Spirit." Paul is not talking about water baptism, nor is he speaking of the Lord's Supper. He is talking about the power of the Spirit to unite us as beloved brethren in the universal One Family.

"Some have taken these thoughts as references to the Christian sacraments -- water baptism and the Holy Communion. ... It is doubtful that this is Paul's primary intent. Rather, he is emphasizing spiritual baptism, and the communion of spiritual food and drink" [The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 10, p. 264]. "The aorist forms argue against the view that this verse refers to the ongoing practice of water baptism and Communion, as though the physical acts would somehow make the Christians one body. If the physical rites were in view, present tense verbs would be expected" [ibid, p. 265]. John Gill, in his classic Exposition of the Entire Bible, in commenting on this passage, concurs: "This is to be understood not of water baptism." Dr. Albert Barnes, in his monumental work Barnes' Notes on the Bible, also agrees: "Many suppose that there is reference here to the ordinance of baptism by water." However, Dr. Barnes notes, this seems clearly out of touch with the context of the passage. I completely concur.

I'm thoroughly convinced that the "baptism" mentioned in this passage is not some ritual or rite or sacrament, but is rather simply a use of the Greek word to convey the idea of complete immersion into something. That "something" into which the people of God are completely plunged is JESUS, and, by extension, His universal One Body. And the One who places us WITHIN HIM is none other than the Holy Spirit. Thus, by the agency of the Holy Spirit we are all completely plunged into (immersed into) the Lord Jesus, with all who are thus incorporated into Him constituting the One Body universal of our Lord on earth. This passage, therefore, has nothing whatsoever to do with water baptism, but has everything to do with the power of the Holy Spirit to unite us with the Son of God, and in so doing to unite us with all others the world over who also have been added to Him. It is "the unity of the Spirit." As the passage states, "we were all immersed into the one body BY the one Spirit." This is an "immersion" effected BY the Holy Spirit, the purpose of which is to unite the many diverse parts into a unified, harmonious, functional whole body. Therefore, Paul immediately goes on to say that as a result of this spiritual "immersion," there is no longer the distinction of Jew or Greek, slave or free, or any other such human perception of separateness. We are all now ONE by the action of the Spirit, who has incorporated (immersed) us all into Christ Jesus.

Dr. C. K. Barrett, who at the time he produced his commentary was a professor of theology at the University of Durham, points out that the intent of Paul in this passage was very practical in nature: he sought to illustrate the reality of their oneness, and that this was the work of the Holy Spirit. "The various national and social groups, and the dissident religious cliques at Corinth, have all entered into the unity of the Body of Christ, which they ought to express, and not deny, by means of their various gifts" [A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 289]. Again quoting from the work of Dr. Albert Barnes -- "it means, that by the agency of the Holy Spirit, they had all been suited, each to his appropriate place, to constitute the Body of Christ -- the church. The Spirit had so endowed them as to fit them to constitute One Body, or to be united in one, and to perform the various duties which resulted from their union." Dr. G. R. Beasley-Murray, in his great study Baptism in the New Testament, observed, "Baptism into the one Body by the one Spirit overcomes the deepest religious and social divisions of mankind: in the Body there is no room for maintaining the distinctions between Jew and Gentile, and slaves and free; in Christ they are 'one man' (Gal. 3:28), and the one Spirit divides his gifts to all. The unity of the Body thus does not consist in uniformity of character and function, on the contrary Paul is about to explain how the very idea of a body presumes the necessity of members with different functions; but these differentiated functions are possible because the Body is a unity, informed by one life and inspired by one Spirit" [p. 171].

There are a couple of companion passages that I strongly believe provide us some additional insight into the thinking of the apostle Paul on this matter. "For as many of you as were immersed into Christ clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all united in Christ Jesus" [Gal. 3:27-28, Hugo McCord's translation]. Many translations render the final phrase: "For you are all one in Christ Jesus." This is essentially the same message as that found in 1 Cor. 12:13. Paul is stressing our oneness, and a unity of diverse brethren which comes from the immersion by the Holy Spirit of these diverse elements into spiritual union with Jesus Himself, thereby making of us One Body. When the Spirit plunges us into Him, we are thereafter fully "clothed" with Christ Jesus. The Greek word translated "clothed" is enduo, which signifies "to be arrayed, invested; to be clothed with." The Analytical Greek Lexicon states, "to be invested with spiritual gifts, graces, or character" [p. 138]. When the Holy Spirit plunges us completely and intimately into Jesus, we are so utterly immersed in Him that we are daily thereafter increasingly transformed into His character, overwhelmed with His grace, and endowed with His gifts. It is this immersion of which Paul speaks, NOT the rite of water baptism. It is an immersion performed BY the Spirit of God that incorporates us into the Son and thus not only unites us with Him, but also with all others who have been thusly incorporated by the Spirit into the Son. THEREIN is the basis of our unity and oneness!! Paul tells us that when this is our reality, we, in effect, have cast off our "old man" and have "put on the new self" who is being transformed into the very image of the One into whom we have been immersed -- "a renewal in which there's no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all" [Col. 3:10-11]. It is an immersion we dare not deny, and dare not diminish, both of which I believe we do when we seek to restrict the meaning of "immersion" in these passages to the rite of water baptism.

Does this perception in any way whatsoever diminish the place of water baptism as a visible demonstration of faith; as an evidence essential to our faith response? Of course not. I am in no way suggesting such a thing. I am merely suggesting that perhaps we have misapplied the above passages in our zeal to prove a particular doctrine and practice that, frankly, if one is not careful, can be easily given improper emphasis and thereby abused. Water baptism most definitely has its place in the process that leads us to and evidences our union with Christ Jesus. I fear, however, that too many for too long have elevated it to such a place of distinction that the work of the Spirit has been all but forgotten, if not replaced altogether. This is dangerous, and such a practice really needs to be challenged. There are many uses of the term "baptism" within the pages of the New Covenant writings. Thus, it is totally fallacious to assume they all have reference to water baptism. Jesus, by way of a singular example, spoke of a baptism He would soon experience, and which many of His disciples would experience as well [Mark 10:38-39; Luke 12:50]. This was an immersion into suffering and death, however, which had nothing to do with the rite of water baptism. Let us always remember those three essential rules of biblical interpretation: context, context, context!! It can prove to be a life saver ... literally!

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Reflections on the Holy Spirit
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Readers' Reflections

From a Reader in Louisiana:

Dear Bro. Al, You have truly given us a jewel in your Reflections article about T. B. Larimore. I can only say Thank You, for you have given us something we can read repeatedly with tremendous benefit. I had previously read some of Dr. Leroy Garrett's articles on him, as well as the entry in The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Would that our God would raise up about a dozen more Larimores for our present time. Your Reflections article was so intimate that it was almost as if I were having a conversation with this great man! Praise God for T. B. Larimore!! And praise God for your writing about him!!

From a Reader in Texas:

Dear Brother Al, That was an excellent study about Bro. T. B. Larimore, a man of great power and influence; a man whose example we need to follow today!

From a Missionary in the Philippine Islands:

Dear Brother Al, You might be interested in knowing that my wife is the granddaughter of T. B. Larimore's brother. That would make her a grandniece. She has no recollection of ever meeting him, as she was only three years old when he died. The very best to you, yours, and all of God's people there.

From an Elder in North Carolina:

Bro. Al, I relished reading your article on T. B. Larimore as he was my great-uncle. It was a nice refresher course in family history. I have in my library a personally inscribed copy of the book to which you referred -- "Life and Letters of T. B. Larimore" by Emma Page Larimore -- that was given by her to my grandmother in 1931. On page 175 of that book is a photo of T. B. in his grey chaplain's uniform, and attached to the page is the original photo that was used for the book. I only wish I could have inherited far more of his spiritual stature. Brother, you are right in your wish that we could all focus more on his desire for unity. I believe that with your help, however, we are making real progress in that direction.

From a Minister in California:

Brother Al, I have the privilege of knowing many of T. B. Larimore's descendants. A couple of years ago I did the funeral of his last surviving granddaughter. She particularly wanted me to do the funeral because I was a graduate of Mars Hill Bible School, and because she had read my writings for many years and knew that I "would use proper grammar." Shortly before her death, I was visiting with her and I asked, "Would you still want me to preach your funeral if I did not use proper grammar?" Without hesitation, and with great emphasis, she replied, "NO!" Her granddaughters (twins) were on the praise team where I preached for fifteen years. Thank you so much for this excellent article on a humble giant of our faith-heritage.

From a Reader in Georgia:

Dear Bro. Al, I grew up in Florence, Alabama. T. B. Larimore's Mars Hill Academy had by then evolved into Mars Hill Bible School, which was a K-12 private school. I did not attend it myself, but went to a public school. Mars Hill was both good and bad. It was good because a lot of kids got a Christian education there. It was bad because a lot of parents depended on the school to educate their children about Christianity, thus many of them didn't make the effort at home. Things have changed over time, though. Mars Hill has become (to the best of my knowledge) the premier school in the area, although, sadly, it is steeped in legalism. The congregations in that area have also moved away from Larimore's position. Sad! I grew up in legalism, but -- praise the Lord -- have learned about our freedom in Christ. Keep on keeping on, Al. You are doing much good!!

From a Minister in Tennessee:

Bro. Al, What a tribute to a great man of God. It's been my privilege in years past to read some of Larimore's sermons. He was a giant among others in the Stone-Campbell Movement. He had an eternal vision, and his greatest desire was "that he might win some" to Christ. Bro. Al, I continue to grow in my appreciation for your clarity of thought.

From a Minister in Texas:

Brother Al, Thank you ... Thank You ... for your article on our brother Larimore! I had heard of him through casual mention of his name, but nothing more. I am so very glad to read of his life and labors for our Father. You describe our brother as a "great shining beacon" of the Stone-Campbell Movement, which is absolutely correct. He was! Also, the Stone-Campbell Movement was, and is, just exactly THAT -- a movement started by mortal men. They were sincere, good-hearted individuals, simply seeking a better way. But, over time they detoured onto the false path of legalistic patternism! I've "been there and done that," to my chagrin, and I've had to admit I was wrong for following after hundreds of years of tradition rather than Truth. Tradition is a formidable foe, and is a tool Satan uses against us every day. Thanks again for the biography of Larimore. I love you as my brother, Al.

From a Minister in Oklahoma:

Thank you, Dear Jesus, for giving us preachers of the Good News such as T. B. Larimore, who paved the way for men of God like Al Maxey; men who do not let pride make them say that their way is the only way, but who say that love and grace are more important than ego! Amen. Bro. Al, thank you for the way in which you handle the Good News!!

From a Reader in Oregon:

Dear Brother Al, T. B. Larimore epitomizes what Christians should be like. While I believe that non-instrumental music is preferable, and breeds less contention and competition in the church, I don't believe it has anything to do with salvation or the gospel. It is not doctrine at all, but merely man's private interpretation of what he is comfortable with presenting to God. Romans 14 is very clear about not holding our brethren hostage to our own preferences or freedoms (and not allowing them to hold us hostage). If those with perspectives different from mine live a righteous life, love others more than themselves, and agree that Jesus Christ is the Lord in all things, then I extend to them the hand of fellowship.

From a Reader in Pennsylvania:

Bro. Al, That was a great article on T. B. Larimore. While not of the Stone-Campbell Movement, it is wonderful to hear the stories of ordinary men and women who have made a difference in our fallen world. Please keep up the good work you are doing. As a 61 (soon to be 62) year old, I respect men, such as you, who go where angels fear to tread. This is especially true because you use Scripture as the ultimate test of Truth. While I do not always agree with your conclusions, I really appreciate your challenges. May God bless you.

From a New Reader in Alaska:

Dear Brother Al, I have been reading some of your Reflections, and really appreciated the one on John 3:5 [Reflections #212 - Born of Water and Spirit]. On another note, a friend gave me a copy of a collection of Alexander Campbell's "The Christian Baptist." I think the following quote from him continues to fit the status of Christianity within this country: "I have yet to meet with the first church which holds a human creed with inflexible rigidity, and which is also enlightened in the Holy Scriptures. The stronger the faith in human creeds the weaker the attachment to the Bible, and the greater the ignorance of its contents. This is, at least, in truth and fact, the result of my experience and observation" [The Christian Baptist, vol. 5, no. 1, August 6, 1827].

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