Dear Mark,
Your opinion of the KJV is certainly accepted in my viewpoint. It seems illogical to me to have different Bibles as well as having different rulebooks in an athletic contest. The one thing that the KJV says that no other English translation does, is to "Study..." (2 Timothy 2:15.) Part of our study is to "rightly divide," indicating that we can "wrongly" divide.
John 3:5 is interpreted in John 3:6, dividing the flesh and the Spirit. Nothing is mentioned about an ordinance that some sinful individual can perform.
Your will note John's water baptism (which had nothing to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ) and Jesus's two "dry" baptisms in Matthew 3:11. Paul spoke of those who were "baptized unto Moses" (1 Cor. 10:2) obviously not a water baptism because everyone who got wet died in the Red Sea. Peter mentioned the same type in 1 Peter 3:21, (referencing Noah's flood)where we know that everyone who got wet died.
As we see, there are many different baptisms. Only the one performed in the Spirit (Ephesians 4:4)by God Himself will have any effect upon us spiritually.
Have a good day.
Leland Maples |
