Which Baptism Did You Receive?

Jim Ladd

This is a critical question for you: Which baptism did you receive?

“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”     -‭‭Acts‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭

The baptism of John the Baptist was a call to repentance and a commitment to get back on the trail of serving God by obedience to the Law. He did this to call the Jews back to godly devotion and set the table for the coming of Jesus.

Baptism into the name of Jesus, however, is a baptism by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ, where you now abide in Him, participate in the divine nature, and live by the power of the Holy Spirit inside you. It is a supernatural reality, symbolized by being dipped under water, to join Jesus in His death and be raised up in His resurrection. 

In John’s baptism, you wash away sin and return to a law-abiding walk with God, seeking to glorify God with your obedience. 

In Jesus’ baptism, it is a joining in the death and resurrection of Jesus so as to live now in the power and righteousness of the One who died FOR you, that you might live miraculously IN Him, by His powerful, indwelling Presence. In Jesus’ baptism there is no Law, for the Law-giver lives in you and has satisfied all the requirements of the Law on your behalf. Life is no longer found in the Law, it is found in Jesus.

I have found that many, if not most, disciples live in the frustration and incompleteness of John’s baptism of repentance, rather than in the miraculous power and Presence of the Spirit in Jesus’ baptism.

How do you know which you live in?

If you spend all of your energy trying to live a legally-satisfying life, and assume that God is mad at you most of the time for your failure to do so, you are living in John’s baptism.

If, however, you enjoy freedom through the sufficiency of Jesus and all that He has done, and you enjoy the supernatural Presence of the Spirit and lean into His help every day, you are living in Jesus’ baptism. This is a baptism into Jesus and it is a supernatural miracle of the Holy Spirit’s work in us.

Is your relationship with God entirely a work of God by His grace through the sufficiency of Jesus, or is your relationship with God based on your own performance and repentance? One is the New Covenant and one is the Old Covenant. One is life and one is prison.

I urge you to choose life!