Support
from Commentators for Interpreting 1 Corinthians 12:13
as
a Reference to the Church Ordinances
Many Biblical commentators, both Baptist and
non-Baptist, have viewed 1 Corinthians 12:13 as a reference to baptism in water
and the Lord’s Supper. Of course,
many other commentators have adopted a large variety of alternative
positions. The view that the first
half of the verse is a reference to water baptism is somewhat more widespread
than the position that the second half refers to communion—some commentators
hold that baptism in water is spoken of in the first half of 1 Corinthians
12:13 while positing that the second half refers to something else. Almost all, on the other hand, who view
the second half of 1 Corinthians 12:13 as a reference to communion likewise see
water baptism in the first half of the verse. Some examples are worthy of citation.
A. T. Robertson affirmed that the baptism of 1
Corinthians 12:13 is water baptism, “a reference to a definite past event with
each of them of different races, nations, classes, when each of them put on the
outward badge of service to Christ, the symbol of the inward changes already
wrought in them by the Holy Spirit.”[i] Albert Barnes stated that “Many suppose
that there is reference here to the ordinance of baptism by water. . . .
[including] Bloomfield, Calvin, Doddridge, etc.”[ii] John Wesley saw water baptism in 1
Corinthians 12:13,[iii] as did G.
W. H. Lampe, evaluating both the New Testament and patristic doctrine.[iv] Henry Alford, in his classic Alford’s
Greek Testament,[v]
states the verse speaks of “the water of baptism . . . so (understanding the
whole verse of baptism) Chry[sostom] Theophyl[act], Oec[olampadius]
Rückert, Meyer, De Witt.” Alford
also declares that “Luther, Beza, Calv[in] Estius, Grot[ius], al., refer the
latter half to the Lord’s Supper.”
The Expositor’s Greek Testament edited by W. Robertson Nicoll[vi]
states that “Paul refers to actual Christian baptism” in 1 Corinthians 12:13,
and further indicates that “Aug[ustine] C[alvin], Est[ius etc. understand] the poterion of the Lord’s supper (10:16, 11:25),[vii]
as though kai coupled the two
sacraments.” John Calvin,
commenting on 1 Corinthians 12:8-13, wrote, “‘We are,’ says [Paul], ‘engrafted
by baptism into Christ’s body[.] . . . He speaks . . . of the baptism of
believers . . . Hence, with
respect to God, this invariably holds good—that baptism is an engrafting into
the body of Christ[.] . . . The Apostle, also, observes here a most admirable
medium, in teaching that the nature of baptism is—to connect us with Christ’s
body. . . . We have drunk into one Spirit . . . [Paul refers] to the Supper, as
he makes mention of drinking . .
. Now, though the cup forms but the half of the Supper, there is no difficulty
arising from that, for it is a common thing in Scripture to speak of the
sacraments by synecdoche. Thus he
mentioned above in the tenth chapter . . . simply the bread, making no mention of the cup. . . . He teaches,
therefore, that believers, so soon as they are initiated by the baptism of Christ,
are already imbued with a desire of cultivating mutual unity, and then
afterwards, when they receive the sacred Supper, they are again conducted by
degrees to the same unity, as they are all refreshed at the same time with the
same drink.”[viii] The Jamison, Faucett, and Brown
commentary,[ix]
commenting on “drink into one Spirit,” affirms, “There is an indirect allusion
to the Lord’s Supper, as there is a direct allusion to baptism in the beginning
of the verse.” Matthew Poole,
commenting on “drink into one Spirit,” stated that “many others choose rather
to interpret drinking in this place, of drinking at the table of the Lord,
partaking of that whole action being set out here by one particular act there
performed. This is probable, considering that the apostle, in the former part
of the verse, had been speaking of the other sacrament of the gospel, and that
he, speaking of the Lord’s supper, 1 Cor 10:17, had used this expression: For
we being many, are one bread, and one body.”[x] Albert Barnes commented on the second
half of 1 Corinthians 12:13, “This probably refers to their partaking together
of the cup in the Lord’s Supper.
The sense is, that by their drinking of the same cup commemorating the
death of Christ, they had partaken of the same influences of the Holy Ghost,
which descend alike on all who observe that ordinance in a proper manner. They
had shown, also, that they belonged to the same body, and were all united
together; and that, however various might be their graces and endowments, yet
they all belonged to the same great family.”[xi] While it would be inaccurate to affirm
that viewing 1 Corinthians 12:13 as a reference to the two ordinances the Lord
Jesus gave His church is anything like the unanimous position among
commentators on the passage, the position is very widely represented. Indeed, within the wider world of
Christiandom “the most popular view of 1 Corinthians 12:13 is that Paul is
describing Christian water-baptism . . . which incorporates the baptisand into
the Body of Christ.”[xii] A reference in 1 Corinthians 12:13 to
immersion in water cannot be dismissed as a new and novel position, although
those who have only been exposed to heavy doses of universal church
dispensationalism might wrongly think it is. On the contrary, viewing 1 Corinthians 12:13 as a reference
to the church ordinances has been believed by many of the Lord’s churches and
people, as well as by many within Christendom generally, and deserves to be
evaluated sympathetically, and accepted on account of the strong exegetical
merits specified in previous posts.
Note that this complete study, with all it parts and with additional material not reproduced on this blog in this series, is available by clicking here.
[i] Word
Pictures in the New Testament, A.T. Robertson, comment on 1 Corinthians 12:13. Elec.
acc. Online Bible for Mac, Ken
Hamel. Oakhurst, NJ: Online Bible Software, 1996.
[iii]
Notes
on the Old and New Testaments, John
Wesley (orig. pub. 1767). Elec. acc. Online Bible for Mac. Comment on 1 Corinthians 12:13.
[iv]
The
Seal of the Spirit: A Study in the Doctrine of Baptism and Confirmation in the
New Testament and the Fathers, G. W.
H. Lampe, 2nd ed.
London: S. P. C. K., 1967, pgs. 56-7, 137.
[v]
Alford,
Henry, Alford’s Greek Testament
(rev. ed). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1980 (reprint ed). Comment on 1
Corinthians 12:13.
[vi]
Nicoll, W.
Robertson (ed.), The Expositor’s Greek Testament. Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 2002 (reprint ed.), comment on 1 Corinthians 12:13.
[viii]
John
Calvin, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, elec. acc. Christian Library Series, vol. 7, John
Calvin Collection. Rio, WI: AGES Software, 1998.
[ix]
R.
Jamieson, A. R. Faussett, and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and
Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (1871), elec. acc. Online Bible for Mac.
[xi]
Notes
on the New Testament, Albert Barnes.
Elec. acc. Online Bible for Mac.
The view that 1 Corinthians 12:13 refers to baptism in water and the Lord’s
supper is, naturally, also advocated in other theological works outside of
commentaries. For example, “[In] 1
Corinthians 12:13 . . . distinctions of Jew and Gentile, bond and free, are
abolished. By the grace of the same Spirit (or perhaps ‘in one spirit’ of
Christian love and fellowship) . . . all are joined in baptism to the one body
of Christ[.] . . . Possibly there is an allusion to both sacraments. . . . Both
our baptism and our partaking of the cup in the communion are tokens and pledges
of Christian unity. They mark our union with the one body of Christ”
(“Baptism,” in the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical
Literature, John McClintock &
James Strong. Elec. acc. Christian Library Series vol. 2. Albany, OR: AGES
Software, 2006. The author of the article in the encyclopedia, in common with
all the Protestant commentators cited above, believes in universal
ecclesiology, not the historic Baptist local-only position.).
[xii]
pg. 129, Baptism
in the Holy Spirit, James Dunn. Unfortunately, many of those who
advocate this position, confusing ecclesiology and soteriology, follow Cyprian
and affirm that the body of Christ is the universal realm of salvation, rather
than the local assembly of those previously born again. The wider world of Christiandom is
filled with heresy.
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