BAPTISM AND COMMUNION: DUAL EXPRESSIONS OF ONE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE

March 2025

We normally think of Baptism and Communion as being separate Christian events. In reality, they are dual expressions of one consummate experience of the believer's identification with Christ. We should not receive one sacrament and neglect the other. Hear me carefully:

In Baptism we are put into the Body of Christ; in Communion, the Body of Christ is put into us. This dual-identification with Christ acknowledges us as being “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.” (Romans 8:17)

We have a parallel of this in salvation when the Holy Spirit puts Christ in us, and in spiritual-baptism when Jesus baptizes us into the Holy Spirit. Some may object to this language, but careful Bible study will reveal it is true. (Romans 6:3‑4, Galatians 3:26‑29, Acts 1:5)

In an identical way, Israel was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. In the first, the water of the cloud descended upon them; in the second, they descended into the water of the sea. (I Corinthians 10:2) This dual-baptism  is the ideal portrayal of Baptism in the Spirit and baptism in water. One is visible, the other invisible, but both are available to us. Peter is careful to explain that water-baptism does result in the “removal of the filth of the flesh,” or being born-again, but is the “answer of a good conscience towards God,” (1 Peter 3:21)

One of the medieval Christian fathers described the duality of our God-relationship  in this way: “Thou art in Christ and Christ in thee, knit together inseparably, so that one cannot be parted from the other ...” There is a unification of Old and New Testament truths in this Baptism/Communion example which we have never fathomed. The revelation is clearly laid before us in illustrations both of Moses and Christ.

David Rhea, the young man from Tennessee who traveled with me for many years, was baptized during the revival at Brownsville Assembly, Pensacola, Florida. Two pastors accompanied him into the pool, but in the moment he was immersed, the power of God hit the water like a lightening-bolt, knocked the pastors to the sides of the tank, left David electrified---comatose--- floating on the surface of the pool. Men watching from the sideline raced into the baptistry and carried him out. What happened? God attested the validity of the Baptism to the congregation and filled David afresh with the Holy Spirit. Similar events could be more commonplace when believers are “buried with Christ." If it isn’t happening, it is because the modern Church is giving converts less than Jesus provided.

Regarding our identification with Christ in baptism, Paul explained in Romans 6:1‑15, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” The Apostle enlarges this concept when he wrote the Galatians, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:26)

                                                                   COMMUNION

 Of Communion, Paul said, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26) In “proclaiming the Lord’s death,” we formally declare that we now share in the death He died for us. That is, we have been “crucified with Christ”, have expired to this life, been buried with Him in the grave of baptism, and raised again to “walk in newness of life”.  What He did in actuality, we receive in surrogate-adoption. In this understanding it is impossible to separate the unity of Baptism and Communion .

Paul’s writings regarding Communion fortify the statement of Jesus who said of the bread and wine,  “Take, eat, this is My body.” (Matthew 26:26) That is, in the analogy of His being the “Bread of Life," He is entering us. In Baptism we are entering Him. Baptism and Communion are both outward expressions of one inward experience. When combined, they provide a complete identification of the believer in his relationship of “Christ in him, and he in Christ”.

                                                        JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES

In Luke 22:14‑22 we read, "When the hour had come, Jesus sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;  for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves;  for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

Verse 19: And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in *remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.  But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"

*Do this in remembrance of Me.” anámnesis = To “recall” = to “recollect” in the sense to “call back”; “ana” = repeat, return, do again, more than mere remembrance but to actually “re-experience”. From NT:303 and NT:3403; to remind; (reflexively) to recollect: ‑ call to mind, (bring to, call to, put in), remember. “Memorial” recreates the event.  Much more is going on than "mental recall." (NT:364. 363 Luke 22:19)

The careless attitude typifying much of the Evangelical Church regarding both Baptism and Communion is staggering. We have demoted these holy observances to casual formalities. How dare we! How dare we make anything God provided in tribute to His Son as our perfunctory ceremony! How dare we insult the Cross and the grace that flows from it.!

We Protestants criticize Catholics for their ritual--while, instead–we should approach the Lord’s Table in the same fervent desire of which Jesus spoke, sliding on our faces, groaning in the awareness of our sin and at the same time bursting into inexpressible joy and celebration for His grace! An incredible chaos of emotions? Yes.

                                                                       BAPTISM

John 12:23-33: " ... Grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies ... Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? `Father save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name! ... And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."

Baptism in water is our public declaration, that, like the grain of wheat falling into the ground, its outer shell dying but its inner-life being freed to come forth. So we also have died to the self-life and its carnal ambitions, have been literally buried with Christ in a grave of water, and been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.  Above all else, baptism is a proclamation of our total surrender and submission to Jesus Christ. With Paul we may then say that "We have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet not ourselves, but Christ lives in us, and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself for us." Philippians 2:5-16 says: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus ..."

Baptism in water should be attended with miraculous signs, exorcisms of demons, fillings of the Holy Spirit, and other holy attestations. Tertullian, a.d.160-225, the greatest theologian of his day, in instructing new believers said they should rise from the water of baptism, praying, and expecting the charismatic gifts of the Spirit to come upon them.

One of my earliest Christian memories goes back to the time I was five years old, standing on the edge of Biscayne Bay, Coconut Grove, Florida, and watching the baptism of my mother and father. It was early Sunday morning, the sky was blue, the water calm, and mocking birds were singing in the palm trees that overhung the scene. While I possessed only the grace of childhood, I was touched with a sense of sacredness and  still remember the congregation gathered at the water’s edge, singing:

“On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye,

To Canaan’s fair and happy land where my possessions lie,

I am bound for the Promised Land ...” 

Years afterward, I remember my mother saying of that event, “When the pastor put me under the water, I thought I would sink out of sight — but when he raised me up, I felt like I would soar into the heavens.”

Rom 6:3‑4:

"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ  Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Gal 3:26‑29

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ  have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

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Irenaeus, c.130-200, Bishop of Lyons (France):  "We have heard of many of the brethren who have foreknowledgse of the future, visions and prophetic utterances; others, by laying on of hands, heal the sick and restore them to health ... We hear of many members of the church who have prophetic gifts, and, by the Spirit speak with all kinds of tongues, and bring men's secret thoughts to light for their own good, and expound the mysteries of God."  Irenaeus also spoke of people being raised from the dead.  He insisted that these gifts were not restricted to a local congregatin but were present throughout the universal church.

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, c.315-387, gave instructions to new Christians to expect to receive in baptism the same miraculous gifts given to the first apostles.  "If you believe," he wrote, "you will receive not just remission of sins, but also do things which pass man's power.  And may you be worthy of the gift of prophecy also! ... Prepare yourselves for the reception of the heavenly gifts."

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Looking back over a continuous ministry of 75 Years, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to all of you who shared my Vision and helped me fulfill it. It all began in 1947 when I was 17 years old, and this past December 25th, I celebrated my 75th Anniversary in Ministry! That was a long time ago!  While I will never quit ministering the Kingdom message and benefits, Heaven daily becomes more real.  Thanks for your wonderful support! 

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E-Mail: CarrinMin1@aol.com.

www.CharlesCarrin.com.