1 Corinthians 12:13 Commentary and Bible Study

At conversion you had the baptism of the Spirit, but that wasn't an entirely personal thing. It wasn't just for your benefit. It was so that you could function within the body. It was to enable you for fellowship and mutual cooperation, to make your contribution, and to receive ministry in various ways from others. Look at what Paul puts first, ‘whether we be Jews or Gentiles.’ Before conversion, these Gentiles didn't have anything to do with Jews. Jews and Gentiles looked at each other across smoking gun barrels. They didn't harmonise at all. But now they have been baptised into the church, where they are one family together, and they share together as though they are the same. ‘Whether we be bond or free.’ Before conversion, the freeman who had a station in life and a position, the Roman citizen, the member of the upper middle classes, didn't have anything to do with the working people and the slaves except to direct them. They were unfamiliar with them; they were not unfriendly with them. But after conversion they are brothers and sisters in the Lord. ‘Whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.’ This is not about water baptism. This is about the baptism of the Spirit, which takes place in every believer at conversion, when we are baptised by the Holy Spirit. We would not be converted at all unless the Holy Spirit came and illuminated our souls, and showed us our need of salvation, our sinfulness before God; unless he convicted us of our sin, showed us Christ from the word, showed us Calvary and his suffering and dying for sinners, and brought us to bow the knee before him. The Holy Spirit, in his wonderful regenerating work, puts life into the soul, and we come to Christ, and we repent, and we believe with all our hearts. Every human being has a spirit, and that spirit unifies the body and makes it work as a single entity. Christ has given us his Spirit to dwell in each one of us so that though we are many members, we can function a one. This is marvellous, for we are truly distinct persons, and yet we are brought into this close communion with one another, and have a common purpose to serve the Lord. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the characteristic of every true believer.Paul teaches these things in the context of the local church. When God brings us to himself – for the vast majority of his people this will be literally true – he also brings us into fellowship with a body of Christ, with his church. It isn’t just a good thing that Christian people have the facility of a church, a body of Christ’s people. It isn’t just a pleasant thing; it is our duty to see ourselves as part of a church. If we are saved, it is our duty to take up our role, to benefit from it, to depend upon the influence of other members upon us.‘And have been all made to drink into one Spirit.’ We depend upon that Spirit who unites us, for our sustenance, our spiritual happiness, assurance and strength. Somebody could be a marvellous preacher, the best preacher you can possibly imagine; and yet never move a single soul without the work of the Spirit. He desperately needs the Spirit; and so does every one of us. We have all be made to drink of, to depend upon, to draw from the same Holy Spirit. Christ has made us gloriously one, and that is the introduction.