When John was baptizing he did so to announce Jesus Christ to Israel. “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”(John 1:31). It was a baptism of purification (John 3:22—25). When Jesus was baptized it was done to fulfill all righteousness. He did not do so for our example but to fulfill all the Law. He identified Himself with sinners as one who needed to be baptized for purification even though He was pure.

Our identificatin with Christ comes through our spiritual baptism by the Holy Spirit into Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). There is no need to have the shadow of water baptism when we have the real thing. The idea that water baptism symbolizes our baptism into Christ’s death, burial and resurrection is not supported by Scripture. Man has take certain verses out of context then forced them to fit their idea of water baptism.

One last thought. When Jesus was on earth he came to minister to and save Israel (Matthew 1:21; 10:5). After Israel reject the offer of the Kingdom, Paul was raised up and revealed the Mystery directly from the risen Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11, 12). When we follow the Pauline epistles we are following the last words of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, through Paul, does not command us to be water baptized. It’s only when people try to mix together God’s dealings with Israel and His dealings with the Church that confusion reigns.

God Bless us all

Joe

Dear Glen,

Thanks for your response.

My purpose in writing that article was to affirm that the Gospels and the teachings of Jesus contained therein are authoritative and binding for the entire church age for the entire church.

I received a lot of material and feedback from many people who follow the “Paul only” teachings and promote them. They use nearly identical arguments as those I document.

I see no reason to assume that this section:

EPH 3:4 And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
EPH 3:5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
EPH 3:6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
EPH 3:7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
EPH 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
EPH 3:9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things;

means to Paul only. Who are the “holy apostles and prophets” if only Paul was given such insight?

There are many other such issues.

Bob DeWaay

To which I replied as follows:

Dear Bob-

Thanks for the reply and I’ll attempt to not be tedious. Of course you would never consider revising your article based on my request. In your affirmation was it necessary to malign saints with whom you’ll share a place at the Right Hand of God for eternity. None of the mid-Acts brethren that I have read have ever said that the teachings of Jesus are not authoritative FOR the Body of Christ. As to “Paul only” teachings and their promotion it’s in the language of the passage that you cited where we read:

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) (Eph. 3:1-4)

I would say that your reliance on verse 5 may be weak for a couple of reasons:

1) The Mystery was not made known in other generations (Matt. 1:1) as it is made known to mankind without distinction;

2) No “grace” teacher has denied that Paul communicated the gospel that he preached per the record of the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 and as recorded in the 2nd chapter of Galatians, BUT they learned the gospel committed to him from Paul. It wasn’t the other way around. Peter acknowledges that Paul’s epistles are Scripture and for The Diaspora as 12 tribes, hard to understand. A check of a concordance will indicate that besides The Twelve and The Apostle Paul there were other apostles and prophets than the 40 writers of Scripture.

In your close you indicate that there are many other issues, but of course no addressing of the matter I put forward in my post. Perhaps I was too long winded, but you still have bought into Ironsides and Ryrie’s assertions without an objective view. So be it. Based on your rigor in exposing truly false teaching I expected more from your ministry. I guess I was wrong.

I have received no reply.

Glen

Sorry, but Im not mixed up at all,Midacts, severly divides the Old testament saints from the Body of Christ, u stated correctly, one way to heaven, In heaven, there is no difference, the Old testament saints, are in the One Body, we are in, One Lord,One faith, ONE baptism for ALL. IT doesnt matter, which dispensation, one comes out of, that applies to all.
Yes there are midacts, who teach soul sleep, I sat under a pastor, who said, David and the Old Testament saints are NOT in heaven, using the verse, David did not ascend into heaven. I showed him that was wrong,but he chose not to hear, yes all of them dont state that, but some do.
Carnal Christian, a term badly slaughtered by the so called Church today, taking the man at Corinth, the fornicator and making him a carnal Christian, is utter nonsense, that man, was ( CALLED) a brother, the Life application bible, uses the word CLAIMER. The nonsense,I have heard on this, shames the Lord. NO fornicator was saved, that man, was PUT out of a CHURCH, not the BODY for he wasnt in it, PUT out INTO the world, to let the WORLD>> Satan, work him over, till he truly repented, then he would be saved, which the man did later. That Carnal Christian lie, is from Satan, not God. PAUL never said a fornicator was a carnal Christian,that is bad understanding of the text, AND it makes false converts.
Paul, is the APostle to the Gentiles yes, I understand his writings to the Body of Christ, I dont like any man made labels, such as MIDACTS, just Gods word. So, yes the so called MIDACTS, as well as other so called churches, have error in them. Pauls teachings and doctrines are to us, but I urge people not to fall into so called, SECTS< of any kind, and get TRAPPED into their thinking.
U wont see me post scripture to you, ANYONE< can take the word, and make it say what they want OR have been taught it says, that means nothing to me. Gods word alone, when read thru the Spirit, WILL wittness, thru the ONE SPIRIT< not mens added thinking.
As far as I know, Midacts, also teach, the BODY of CHrist, never comes down to earth for eternity, they stay in the heavens above, to rule and reign, at least ( again) that pastor,I spoke of before, did, again, that is severely separating, there will be no heaven above the 3rd heaven is temporary, and when Christ comes to the earth, with ( ALL) the saints, there is no longer need for it. THat pastor, said, the BODY is with CHRIST in the heavens, and Israel, is on the earth. Bad understanding again of text.
So Gary, while there may be many so called Midacts, people,I perfer to keep people out of SECTS with labels, for the devil comes as a angel of LIGHT to them all.
Thank you

We Us and Our is used here in Verses 1 through 6 only to show all people
That the Father still Loves and is giving restoration (Healing)even today

4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

(Yet) [adverb] used in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time;

Smitten by God, and afflicted
On the Cross of Jesus

But we considered him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted
The three expressions stricken (Hebrew “nagua”) refers to a loathsome disease such as leprosy: “smitten of God” a divine retribution for a heinous sin and “afflicted” as one might be afflicted by the punishment for one’s crime: all these describe the terrible consequence of sin
Jesus came to sent us free from all this.

The whole sacrificial system symbolizes substitution of the innocent for the guilty. No sacrificial animal, however perfect, could by itself make atonement for sin. In the last analysis the sacrifice was merely symbolic and pointed to the fact that he sinner deserved to die. And that it was the servant of God, who voluntarily took upon himself the sins of all men.

John 1.29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 3.18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

I’m not sure what you meant by your last statement, but let me address something that you wrote. You wrote that we have not because we ask not and that Jesus’ followers would do greater things than He did. We have to remember who Jesus is talking to-the nation of Israel. Jesus was their minister (Romans 15:8) and the supernatural signs and wonders, healings being one of them, were to convince unbelieving Israel (1 Corinthians 1:22) that their King was here and Jesus did and said everything with this Kingdom economy at the forefront of His ministry. Supernatural healings are a part of that (see Isaiah). The Apostles of Israel (Gal. 2:8)continued this Kingdom message through the first 8 chapters of Acts and we do see some “greater things” performed by the Aposltes of Israel (Gal. 2:8). But our instructions from Jesus through the Apostle Paul about prayer and healing is in Phillipians 4:6-7. There are no promises of healing “if we just ask.” “The peace of God” is our promise today. Again, I point to the Apostle Paul’s later ministry when He instructed Timothy to take some wine for a stomach ailment. Why didn’t he tell Timothy that he had not because he asked not? How about when Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus? Why didn’t Paul do a “greater thing” and heal him? Does God heal today? Of course He does, but it is according to His grace and purposes, not because of any promise to heal. We MUST separate the earthly walking, law keeping Jesus of Nazareth’s commands to Israel in the gospels with the Glorified Lord Jesus’ commands to the Body of Christ. Jesus now gives us our commands through the Apostle of the Gentiles-Paul. I, again, point to 2 Timothy 2:15 where Paul instructs us to “rightly divide the Word of truth” (KJV). Once we understand what that means, then the confusion about what “Jesus said” and to whom was it said will disappear.

Thanks for visiting this website and keep digging!

Paul Pedro

P.S. For more on the sign gifts to Israel, see the article on this website titled, “Understanding the Gift of Tongues”. I hope this helps. God bless.

I’m not sure what you are driving at in your comment about my article. I was raised with the idea that we, in the Body of Christ, are to claim physical healing because of the cross of Christ. This teaching was based on Isaiah 53 as well as the others listed in the article. If healing didn’t happen, I was taught that I didn’t have enough faith or I had some unconfessed sin.

After years of study, I found that teaching to be faulty. Like I said in the article, God can and does heal today, but there is no promise of that for us in this age of grace based on the cross, Isaiah 53 or any other Scripture. I refer to the Apostle Paul and ask why he didn’t heal Trophimus-2 Timothy 4:20? Why didn’t Paul heal Epaphroditus-Phil. 2:27? Why wasn’t Paul healed himself? Because, God’s grace is sufficient in this age of grace and we walk by faith and not by sight-2 Cor. 5:7. Are we to pray for healing? Absolutely! For Phil. 4:6-7 says to bring “ALL” our petitions to God. But, then note God’s promise to us. Does it say in Phil. 4:6-7 that he promises to heal us? No, the “peace of God” is the promise. God will eventually heal all of us totally-at the rapture, but until then, “…we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

Thanks for your comment and keep searching the Scriptures.

Paul Pedro