GALALATIANS 3:27, C. H. Cayce “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” To our mind this text represents our becoming in possession of eternal life as being baptized into Christ. To be born of God is to be baptized into Christ. To be baptized into Christ is to pass out of a state of death in sin into a state of life in Christ; is to be killed to the love of sin and made alive to the love of holiness. It is to be quickened into divine life; it is to be raised up together with Christ. It is also set forth in Scripture as a regeneration, being born again, born of God, begotten again, being translated; and other figures are used to represent the same thing.
This becoming in possession of eternal life is called being baptized into Christ, because a true baptism signifies that the one baptized is dead to sin, has become dead to sin, and is alive unto God. So, in becoming in possession of eternal life one dies and is made alive at the same time— they are become dead to sin and alive unto God at the same time. So, to be baptized into Christ is to be killed to sin, killed to the love of sin, and made alive to God, alive in Christ. It is to be raised up into a state of life in Christ. This baptism is not a water baptism. It is a baptism of the Holy Spirit. John, who baptized the Saviour and those in the region of Jordan, said of Jesus, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”
The Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. 12:13, says: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” To be baptized into one body is to be baptized into Christ; it is to be baptized into the body of Christ. The redeemed of the Lord are represented as being the body of Christ. To be baptized into the body of Christ, or into Christ, is to be brought into the family of the redeemed, or into the heavenly or spiritual family. This is not done by many preachers, but by one Spirit; it is a work of the Holy Spirit.
There is a washing in baptism. In water baptism there is an outward washing which is a symbol or figure of the inward washing by the Holy Spirit.
The baptism or washing of the Holy Spirit is an inward work, and it is the work which brings us into a saved state, or into Christ, or the body of Christ. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”— Tit. 3:5,6. In this text it is expressed as the “washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” It is a work of washing or cleansing by the Holy Ghost. So by one Spirit we are baptized into one body, baptized into Christ. In this work the Holy Spirit comes in direct touch or immediate contact with the heart. In water baptism, the outward washing, the water comes in direct touch or immediate contact with the body or person baptized. So in the inward washing or cleansing, the Holy Spirit comes in direct touch or immediate contact with the heart or soul.
These are some of our thoughts in connection with the text. We haven’t time to write more now. At some time in the future, perhaps, we will try to comply with Brother Morgan’s request to write some few thoughts on the other subject mentioned in his letter. If we overlook the matter he is at liberty to call our attention to it again. We trust the Lord may bless these thoughts given to his benefit, and we pray the Lord to bless him in his declining years. The Primitive Baptist, May 22, 1906