P4 The Importance of the Trinity - The Holy Spirit & Life Applications

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”


Review from yesterday
As we saw yesterday, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand in bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. We have thus far looked at the first major truth comprising the doctrine of the Trinity: namely that God is One God (Monotheism) Who is the Father. We have also considered the second major truth that functions alongside the truth of Monotheism in the Biblical revelation of God: namely the Deity of Jesus Christ.


The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
 
As we already mentioned, three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity. I will list them for the reader's convenience and then we will consider the third and final truth in today's post: The Personality of the Holy Spirit.
 
1. God is One God (Monotheism)
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit


The Personality of the Holy Spirit
Jesus tells us about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13 - “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."   Notice how often Jesus uses the personal pronoun "He" in reference to the Holy Spirit.  Clearly the Spirit of God is not an "it", nor a "force", but a genuine Personality.  We first meet the Holy Spirit back in Genesis 1:2, wherein we see Him hovering over the face of the deep at creation.  We discover that the Bible describes the Holy Spirit as being God (Acts 5:3-4) who has the ability to communicate (John 16:13). 

The Personality of the Holy Spirit is the third plank of the doctrine of the Trinity.  Just like Jesus Christ, He too shares in Divine nature.  In fact, when Jesus states in John 14:16 that "another comforter" will be sent after He ascends into heaven, that term "another" means "of the same kind".  Thus The Holy Spirit is God, just as Jesus Christ is God, just as the Father is God.  God is "One what" and "Three Whos" - One God, who is identified as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Summing up what we said
As we saw today the doctrine of the Trinity is undoubtedly the Biblical teaching about the nature and identity of God. The term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand for bringing together three fundamental ideas that the Bible teaches about the nature of God.  First, Monotheism or the idea that there is only One God. This One God is identified early in the scripture as the Father to His people Who is All-powerful, knowing, everywhere present and their Redeemer. Second, when we came especially to the New Testament, we saw the immediate identification of Jesus The Son as being fully Divine, sharing in the same Divine nature as the Father. Jesus the Son would come to earth through the virgin birth to share in our human nature, die on the cross, be raised again and ascend back to heaven wherefrom He will return to earth in His second coming. Then finally, we looked at the third truth of the Personality of the Holy Spirit and how He is equal to the Son and the Father with regards to His Divine Nature. The Holy Spirit convicts men of sin and strengthens believers in this current age.  

Applications for your life
Now how does knowing this about the God of Divine revelation help you out in everyday life? For one thing, God is by nature The Relational God. There is no doubt that He created marriage, the family and the church to be each a reflection of something that is true about Himself, namely a unity with a diversity of persons flourishing in love and trust. Without the Triune understanding of God, we would have no basis for the most fundamental aspects of marriage, family and the church – namely unity of love among diversity of persons.

Secondly, to say God is the God of love demands Him to Be The Trinity. How? One writer has noted that in the context of love you need three essential ingredients: A lover, one receiving love and love itself. With God we see the Father Who loves, The Son receiving the Love and the Spirit being the Personification of the love between the Father and the Son.  Without the Trinity, we would have no basis for understanding the nature of love itself.


Then finally, the plan of salvation itself entails the activity of the Trinity. Passages such as Ephesians 1:1-14 and others reveal that the Father planned salvation for His people Whom He knew about beforehand in the Son in eternity, the Son then came to purchase such salvation that is sufficient to save the entire world but will only be applied to all who believe. The Spirit agreed to apply salvation to all whom He would convict and who in turn would believe.

These are but a sample of the many applications for understanding why the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity is important to the Christian life. In short, without God we have nothing.

P3 The Importance of the Trinity - The Deity of the Son

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”


Review from yesterday
As we have seen from the past couple of posts, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand in bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. Think of the term as being composed of two words: "Tri" meaning "three" and "unity" meaning one. We looked at the first major truth comprising the doctrine of the Trinity: namely that God is One God (Monotheism) Who is the Father. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

As we already mentioned, three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity. I will list them for the reader's convenience and then we will consider the second major truth in today's post: The Deity of the Son.

1. God is One God (Monotheism)
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit

The Deity of Jesus Christ

As we already mentioned, God is one in His being, a belief that is referred to as “mono-theism”. And now as we probe the text of scripture, we discover that in terms of His identity, God is not only revealed in the Person of the Father, but also in the Second Person – the Son. Old Testament passages such as Psalm 2:7 reveal the Eternal Pre-existence of the Person of the Son sharing in conversation with the Person of the Father. By referring to the Person of “The Son”, scripture is stating that whatever characteristics and qualities the Father has, the Son has in equal measure. When Jesus came to this world through the virgin birth, He revealed Himself to be God in human flesh. John 1:14 clearly states: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When Jesus walked on this earth, He lived as a man Who ever remained fully God. During His ministry Jesus made this statement in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.” After three and a half years of doing miracles, preaching sermons and developing relationships with people, Jesus would be arrested and then die on the cross as a man. Though fully man, Jesus as the Person of the Son demonstrated His willingness and Love as the fully Divine Redeemer. When He raised from the dead, the belief of Jesus being fully God in human flesh became fully solidified in the hearts and minds of His followers.  Thomas’ response to Jesus in one of His post-resurrection appearances proves this in John 20:28:  “My Lord and My God”.  

Later on Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:6 tells us - "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."  As you explore the New Testament, Jesus Christ is asserted many times in the New Testament as being God. In John 8:58 for example He uses the Divine Personal name from the Old Testament to identify Himself to his opponents: “before Abraham was, I AM.”  Not only is He the Creator, as revealed in this verse, but He is also the Savior of the world sent by the Father as spoken of in 1 John 4:14. 

Inasmuch as the New Testament continued to assert the first truth of God being one God, the reality of Christ’s full Deity was clearly revealed in the New Testament. Both truths led the combined witness of the New Testament to communicate the shared unity between the Father and the Son. Such a profound revelation would provide the cornerstone for getting the early followers of Jesus Christ to correctly interpret God’s Triune nature.

With the Oneness of God, or Monotheism still in place, as well as the uncontested Deity of Jesus Christ soundly affirmed in the New Testament, one more essential truth is needed to complete the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, which will look at tomorrow…

P2 The Importance of the Trinity - One God Who is The Father

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

Review from yesterday
As we saw yesterday, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand for bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”
 
Three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity:
 
1. God is One God (Monotheism)
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit


Today's post will feature the first of these truths.
 
1. God is one God
Deuteronomy 6:4 states - “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!"  Isaiah 43:10 tells us - "“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me." 


These two scriptures communicate the first fundamental assertion of the biblical view of God - that there is only One God. This belief in “One God” is what people call “Monotheism” (Mono = from the Greek word "mono" meaning "One" and theism = from the Greek word "theos" meaning "God").  Contrary to what some may think, the doctrine of the Trinity does not teach three Gods, but rather that The One God of the Bible is Three “Who’s”: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is One in terms of being and Three with regards to His identity. To say God is Personal literally is to say that God not only relates within as The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, but that the Father, through the efforts achieved by the Son, desires by His Spirit to have a relationship with you and me through saving faith.
 
From the very beginning of Genesis we come to understand that though God is singular in regards to His being, yet there is something plural about His identity. As early as Genesis 1:26 we see this statement: “let us make man in our image….” As you explore the revelation of God in the Old Testament, you discover that the First Divine Person Whom we are able to establish the identity of God is the Father. For example we read in Deuteronomy 32:6 “Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.” The revelation of God in the Old Testament progressively unfolds seeds of thought that later become fully mature oaks in the New Testament. Nearly ten times is Yahweh or God in the Old Testament identified in the Person known as “The Father”. Yahweh God is the Father Who called forth into being His people Israel from stock of an aged Abraham and barren Sarah. Other passages such as Psalm 139 described God in His being as all powerful, all knowing and everywhere present.  The Deity of the Father is so well attested that there is virtually no dispute over either the Deity of the Father nor the strong case made by the Bible for there only being One God. Contrary to critics, the doctrine of the Trinity begins with and presupposes Monotheism, the belief in One God, Who is revealed in the Person of The Father.


More tomorrow.... 

Sat 7/19P1 The Importance of the Trinity

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”



Introduction:
So what kind of God is God
revealed to be in the Bible? Who is He? In today's post I want to consider a doctrine that is so fundamental to the Biblical understanding of God’s identity. What is this truth of which I speak? The Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. The Doctrine of the Trinity has been attacked over the centuries as being illogical and of no real consequence to the everyday concerns of the Christian life.  However today’s post will aim to show the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity.

 

So what does the Bible have to teach us about the doctrine of the Trinity? 

 

Immediately some people will note: "If the doctrine of the Trinity is as core to the Christian faith as you claim, then why is the word "Trinity" not found in the Bible?"  True, the word "Trinity" itself is not found in the Bible, but neither is the word "Bible". The term "Bible" comes from a Greek word "biblos" meaning book and is doctrinal shorthand for designating the 66 books of the Old and New Testament as "The Book" - i.e "Bible". 

 

Thus too, the term "Trinity" is doctrinal shorthand in bringing together the Bible’s revelation of God. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines the Trinity: “The eternal Triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

 

Three major truths comprise this very important Biblical teaching of God as Trinity. For now we will simply list them and begin looking at them more in detail tomorrow:

 

1. God is One God (Monotheism)



2. The Deity of Jesus Christ



3. The Personality of the Holy Spirit


More tomorrow....

Glorifying Jesus in the Gospel - An Overview of Paul's 3rd missionary journey

Acts 18:22-23  "When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch. 23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples."

Introduction:

Over the past few weeks I have been from time to time writing about the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. For sake of review, I will simply include the links to those posts and a brief summary of each.

1. http://pastormahlon.blogspot.com/2014/07/p1-declaring-and-defending-gospel-why.html

In this post we had explored Paul's first missionary journey in Acts 13-15. We discovered that the main point of that trip was to declare and defend the Gospel. Paul declared the Gospel and defended it during his journey through the Island of Cyprus and the Southern portions of Galatian and Pamphylia. When he returned to Jerusalem in Acts 15, he along with the other Apostles fleshed out how the Gospel was going to be preached among an increasingly Gentile audience. Despite the opposition from the Judaizers, the cardinal doctrine of Justification by Faith alone was upheld and soon thereafter Paul wrote his 1st epistle, Galatians, in the beginning portions of his second missionary in Acts 16. 

2. http://pastormahlon.blogspot.com/2014/07/christians-need-to-share-jesus-with-all.html
In this post we considered Paul's second missionary journey as recorded in Acts 15:36-18:21. Paul's point was to spread the Gospel Westward and heed the vision given by God to press into the regions of Macedonia.  During this time he wrote two more Epistles: 1 & 2 Thessalonians, from Corinth. This journey last for nearly two years, nearly twice as long as his first one.

With those reviews in mind, we now once again travel with Paul on what will be his third missionary journey in Acts 18:23-21:16. Again one of reasons we are doing these periodic studies is to understand the backgrounds to some of the other books of the New Testament. 

Paul's third missionary journey in a nutshell


Paul's third missionary journey was both similar and yet different from the prior two. The similarities lie in the fact that he started out encouraging the same set of churches he had ministered to in his first missionary journey (compare Acts 18:23). Upon meeting a scholarly Jew by the name of Apollos, Apollos' conversion led him to be sent onto Corinth while Paul made headway into the region of Ephesus and Asia Minor in Acts 18:24-28. Unlike his second missionary journey wherein he had been unable and prevented by the Holy Spirit from heading into Asia Minor and Ephesus (Acts 16:1-8), Paul was now given liberty by the Spirit to make Asia Minor his target in Acts 19:1-41 and 20:17-38. 

Out of all the places Paul would have the most fruitful ministry, none exceeded Ephesus. After two years of fruitful ministry, Paul left and then returned to Ephesus to say his final farewell in Acts 20. As Paul would sail to Macedonia once more, he would make several stops along the way in Acts 21:1-16. It would be during this time that Paul would compose three more letters: 1 & 2 Corinthians and then Romans.

Dr. Harold Kime, a professor that I had in my Bible College days, wrote these words in his notes on 1 & 2 Corinthians: "Paul's travels between the writing of 1 & 2 Corinthians. After writing 1 Corinthians, Paul left Ephesus and sailed to Macedonia, stopping a while at Troas, and then moving onto Philippi. There he awaited the coming of Titus who had been sent to Corinth in his place." Many scholars believe that Paul would had written the Epistle to the Romans towards the tail end of his third missionary Journey. Much like Galatians functioned in summing up all that Paul did in his first missionary journey, Romans was written to spell out the Gospel on the Western-most frontier of the early church's westward push. Romans contains the finest and most comprehensive presentation of the Gospel found anywhere in the Bible. 

The following outline summarizes Paul's third missionary in Acts 18:22-21:17

1. Paul's journey through Galatia to Ephesus.  Acts 18:22-28

2. Paul's ministry at Ephesus (most likely wrote 1 Corinthians during this time). Acts 19:1-41

3. Paul's journey back to Macedonia through Greece to Miletus. Acts 20:1-16

4. Paul's final farewell to the Ephesians, back through Miletus to Caesarea to Jerusalem (this is where he most likely wrote Romans, 2 Corinthians). Acts 20:17-21:16 

Point of Application for Paul's third missionary journey in Acts 18:22-21:16
In comparing these chapters to what Paul ended up writing in Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, we can note that following main point of application: The more we let the Gospel transform us, the more effective we will be in glorifying Jesus Christ. 

Certainly Paul's great concern during his third missionary was about getting the Gospel right and letting it transform him, his companions and his hearers. If we were to locate a summary set of verses for this third journey, we would find them in Acts 20:25-32 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26 Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.


Closing thoughts
Today's main point of application was:  The more we let the Gospel transform us, the more effective we will be in glorifying Jesus Christ. We looked briefly at Paul's third missionary journey in Acts 18:22-21:17 and noted how during this trip Paul wrote three more letters: 1 & 2 Corinthians and Romans. May you and I be those who are being transformed by the Gospel and who are eager to tell the transforming Gospel to other people.

P2 of 2 God's Big Arrow of Believer's Baptism

Colossians 2:11-12 "and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."

Introduction:

Today's post is a continuation from yesterday. Like before, we aim to zero in on what exactly believer's baptism means. As we saw yesterday, dozens upon dozens of scriptures in the New Testament present and explain this important ordinance. If we were to classify the scriptures that present New Testament believer's baptism, we would note three basic types: First there are those that present the ceremony or act of Baptism itself, followed by those that feature it being commanded by Christ to His church, with a final set of scriptures giving the clear meaning. Today's focal text: Colossians 2:8-23, falls into the category of giving to us one of the clear meanings of baptism. 

Point of Application:

We will designate baptism as discussed here in Colossians 2:8-23 as God's Big Arrow of Believer's Baptism, being that it points us to an event, an experience and a calling. Yesterday we saw how baptism points to an event - the cross and to a needed experience - saving faith. We labored to show that to interpret baptism other than believer's baptism is to undo the argument of Paul here in Colossians 2. Contrary to what some well-meaning, Godly people may advocate, infant baptism is not the point of this text. Rather Paul is pointing his readers to the sufficiency of Jesus Christ by the big arrow of baptism. He needed to do this in lieu of the awful heresy plaguing the Colossian church.



Today we will conclude our study of God's big arrow of believer's baptism by noting one more important truth that it points to, namely....



The Calling to Sanctification. Colossians 2:16-18
As we already saw, baptism points to the cross as seen in Colossians 2:9 and 13-15 and also to saving faith in Colossians 2:10-12. But now Paul reveals something else baptism points to, not only what took place in the past, but also the present calling God has for every Christian. The calling to be progressively sanctified means that from conversion the Christian is called to be like Jesus in their thoughts, actions and attitudes. Oftentimes I will refer to baptism as the believer's first major step of Christian obedience. Other baptism texts bring out this meaning, such as Romans 6:4 "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." What Paul does is use this word picture to urge his readers to heed God's calling on their life to be sanctified and to walk out the Christian walk. 

Baptism points to our calling to be sanctified in the mind. Colossians 2:18  
We read in Colossians 2:18 "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind." The mind is the battleground of spiritual warfare that is to be waged with the weaponry of scripture and prayer. It is helpful sometimes to think about the day of your baptism, because you can simply ask yourself - why was I baptized? When you reflect on how you felt when you came up out of that tank, you realized more than ever that your calling was to walk forth in newness of life. The Spirit called you, transformed your heart and brought you to the point of saving faith prior to your baptism. You didn't get baptized to get changed, rather you got baptized to testify of having a prior change.  Baptism's message is not only about you testifying publically about your faith in Christ, but also the desire to walk forth in a growing relationship with Christ. Romans 12:2 reminds us to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind". Though this world may try to fill our minds with evil thoughts and others may try to delude our way of thinking, we are to take every though captive and bring it to the obedience of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). Notice how else baptism points the believer to God's present calling to be continually sanctified...

Baptism points to our calling to be sanctified with God's people. Colossians 2:19
Notice what Paul writes in Colossians 2:19 "and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God." In Baptist churches today we recognize that those who have been truly converted and scripturally baptized as believers by immersion are deemed members of that local church. Why? Because baptism is one's initiation into the membership of the local church. Acts 2:41 describes the first baptismal service in church history: "So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls." Those believers who were baptized were "added", that is to say, they were put on the membership rolls of the church at Jerusalem. 

Jesus gave baptism to his church as an ordinance that is to be practiced until His return in Matthew 28:18-20. Baptism does not merely speak about the individual new convert entering into the water, it also reminds the new Christian who is about to enter that they are getting ready to participate in the local day in, day out life of church membership. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 drives this point home: "Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper."

Christians need the local church to effectively heed the call of God to grow in sanctification. Hebrews 10:24-25 states - "and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." So baptism points to the calling God has to be sanctified in the mind and with His people, the local church. But notice one more thought...

Baptism points to our calling to be sanctified in the Word. Colossians 2:20-23
Paul writes in Colossians 2:20 "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as...".  What Paul then does is enumerate more of the false teachings being peddled by the heretics operating at Colossae. Why heed the traditions and empty teachings of men? If anything, baptism reminds the Christian that nothing else but the Word of God can cleanse the saint of God. Again many well-intentioned people will try to make baptism the cleansing agent of the believer's life. Yet once more I say: what does the scripture teach? Notice John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." Also Ephesians 5:26 "so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word." Then one more, 1 Peter 3:21 "Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." 

Why those three verses? Because those advocating some type of baptismal regeneration appeal to these texts. Yet the first two plainly tell the reader that it is the Word alone that cleanses. Then the 1 Peter 3:21 passage plainly tells us that the symbolism of the ark of Noah in the prior verse "corresponds" to the baptism that now saves you. Which baptism? The Spirit baptism at salvation (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) to which water baptism signifies. I always tell my baptismal regenerationist friends that the weight of the passage lies not at the first half, but at the second part - namely Peter tells us what water baptism "does not do" - wash away the dirt from the flesh." So then if water baptism is incapable of taking away sin, then what is its point? Notice again - the appeal of a good conscience to God. Only a true believer in Jesus Christ is fit to enter into the water, being that a converted human heart is interested in asking God to enable them to grow in the faith that they prior received before the water baptismal event.  

The only thing that can convert the soul of the sinner is the Word of God. (Psalm 19:7; 1 Peter 1:23) Likewise the only thing that can cleanse the soul of the Saint and strengthen them in their faith is the written Word of God preached and taught. (Psalm 19:8-14; Ephesians 5:26). Baptism pictures for us what the Word of God alone can do. Water does not cleanse. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse, and only the scriptures can continue to cleanse. (Hebrews 9:14-15)

Closing thoughts
These past two posts have aimed to specifically unpack the meaning of baptism in Colossians 2:8-23. To heed the immediate context of Paul's statements in the chapter, it has been contended that the only proper manner in interpreting the baptism of which he speaks is to understand it as believer's baptism. Baptism is Christ's ordinance to His church which functions as an arrow in pointing to an event - the cross; a necessary experience - saving faith and a present calling to all Christian - sanctified living.