Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:3-6

I blew it.

Two days ago when I wrote about baptism, I let my own experience with my baptism color my comments on baptism in general and ended up supporting the exact opposite conclusion than the one the passage above is teaching.

These verses are all about unity. They are about the unifying aspect of our faith and how the oneness that our faith creates makes us one despite all the things that are different about us. The body of Christ is all about how we are many, and yet we are one. Many experiences, many ethnicities, many races, many colors, many traditions, many denominations, and no denomination, many gifts, many varieties of worship, many ways of being baptized, but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. And this is true whether you were sprinkled, dunked, splashed, drizzled, or poured on. It doesn’t matter; it’s all one baptism. We have all been placed into Christ through His death, burial and resurrection.

I have my baptism story, you have yours (Marti was baptized in the Jordan River), but we have all been placed into Jesus Christ — our sins were buried with Him and we have been resurrected to new life in the Spirit. This is what this “one baptism” is all about. It’s not about how you were baptized; it’s about that you were baptized (placed into) the body of Christ. And this happens the minute you believe. You may not have even received your physical baptism yet, but you have still been baptized into the body of Christ by your belief.

People are crying out for unity today and the Holy Spirit is what makes us one. The body of Christ is one body full of diversity. No one claims Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit, making all who have the Holy Spirit a part of me and a part of you, and that includes all of our differences. Our oneness is not because we look alike, or think alike, but because we all have the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God and Father of all, and, yes … the same baptism.