Covenant Reformed News – October 2009 • Volume XII, Issue 18
This article defends Reformed doctrine on the unity of the church through the lens of Ephesians 4, arguing that there is one spiritual baptism (by the Spirit into Christ) and one water baptism (for believers and their covenant children). It critiques Pentecostal/Charismatic theology for teaching multiple spiritual baptisms and Anabaptist theology for rejecting infant baptism, contending that true church unity requires agreement on these foundational doctrines.
One Body Animated by One Spirit (3) The “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5 is the real, inner, spiritual baptism: “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” (I Cor. 12:13). This makes us living members of the “one body” of the church, enabling us to believe the “one faith” and subjecting us to our “one Lord” (Eph. 4:4-5). Some err by teaching two (or more) inner, spiritual...