Immediately after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostle John notes that as part of His sending of His apostles as the Father had sent Him, Jesus breathed into them the Holy Spirit by which they were born again of His immortal life. For that Spirit could not be given until He had been glorified (Joh 7:39). And just as Jesus was born of that Spirit into our world to save the world from its sins, they could not be sent as He was until they too were born again of that same Spirit of life to overcome death, for they were sent to walk in that same way of the cross; cf. 1Co 2:2, Gal 6:14. What does being born again of Jesus’ Spirit that has overcome death remind us about the nature of what it means to be born again, and the nature of what it means to be sent by Jesus as the Father sent Him? See Mat 16:24-26; cf. Rev 2:7,11,17,26, 3:5,12,21, 12:11, 21:6-7. Contrast Heb 10:38-39.
Whereas Jesus breathed into His disciples His Spirit immediately after His resurrection signifying their new birth in Christ, and in the days that followed that Spirit was stirred within them so that it began to bubble up like a fountain, the Holy Spirit was poured out from heaven upon them in power fifty days later on the day of Pentecost, when that Spirit began to break forth and overflow in rivers of life that would be for the salvation of the whole world. Just as the Spirit rushed mightily upon certain Old Testament saints to empower them for works of service, so did the Spirit come like a violent, rushing wind on all Christ’s followers (cf. Num 11:25-29) so that they might no longer be clothed in their own righteousness and strength, but in the power of the Spirit, just as God had intended for Man in the beginning before the Fall; Gen 2:25, 3:7.
Whereas Christian baptism seems to represent a new birth out of the waters of baptism after being united with Christ in His death (Rom 6:3-4) to possess the breath of eternal life the Spirit gives when one is born again, to what does a person’s initial belief seem to correspond in the natural realm? Is the conception of faith in Christ the same as the new birth? Or, as in the natural realm, does being born again typically require some period of development for that seed to mature that culminates in the new birth, which is then marked by Christian baptism? As Christian baptism also seems to mark one’s betrothal to Christ and entrance into the family of God in a covenantal relationship not unlike marriage (cf. 2Co 11:2, Col 2:11-12), which like all relationships, and like a child before birth, takes a certain amount of time to develop, should people who have no religious understanding be baptized immediately upon a profession of faith before they have been properly instructed and have a sound understanding about what such a profession actually means? Although in the Jewish understanding of marriage a betrothal is more binding than an engagement so that a couple at that time is already considered man and wife, is that betrothal the end-all of their marriage, any more than the birth of a child is the end-all of a pregnancy? In the same way, is water baptism into the Christian faith the end-all of one’s relationship with Christ? In the same way that a child matures to adulthood for a fruitful life as a tree of God’s field, and a betrothal matures to the consummation of the marriage, in what way ought one’s new birth mature to something more than being saved out of one’s sins? To what is one saved? See Joh 20:21, Eph 2:10. In this regard, in what way does one’s water baptism marking the new birth also foreshadow the baptism in/with/by the Holy Spirit in power for those works of service for which we are created in Christ Jesus, to be sent even as Jesus was sent?
The author of Hebrews speaks about the “doctrine of baptisms” (KJV) as one of the elementary or foundational teachings of the Christian faith; Heb 6:1-2. Apart from Paul’s mention of baptism for the dead in 1Co 15:29, which is of unknown meaning with over 200 different explanations, what four baptisms are mentioned in the New Testament? See Mar 1:4, Luk 7:29, Act 1:22, 10:37; Act 18:25, 19:3-5, Rom 6:3-4; Mat 3:11, Joh 1:33, Act 1:5; Mar 10:38, Luk 12:50. In what way was John’s baptism of repentance a fitting picture of the conception of the eternal life God was accomplishing for mankind in the revelation of the Gospel message that began with him? In what way is our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection a fitting picture of our new birth, being born again into that eternal life? As we grow up in that new life and the Spirit begins to stir within us, in what way is the baptism in the Holy Spirit when we are clothed with power from on high a fitting picture for how that life within us begins to overflow in rivers of life to others? In what way is the baptism with our own blood a fitting picture of that ultimate sacrifice by which we overcome as we take up our cross and follow Jesus in laying down our own lives in order that others may also come to know the truth of life through death ? See Joh 12:24-26, Rev 12:11. In what way do these four baptisms also seem to correspond to the four different types of soil in the parable of the Sower as things we must overcome in order to receive all of the promises Jesus gives for those who do overcome? See Mat 13:3-9,18-23 and think: Would we have the seed of life germinate in our hearts? Then we must repent to break up the hardened soil there. Would we be born again to breathe the airs of eternal life? Then we must attend to the rocky soil that begins in hope but is stillborn from times of trial. Would we have power for a fruitful life? Then our hearts must not be crowded with the worries of life and the deceitfulness of riches. Would we bear much fruit from a good and honest heart? Then we must take up our own cross and follow Jesus, allowing our own grain of wheat to fall into the earth and die.