Robert J asked:
Why the emphasis on baptism as the deciding factor for the benefits that Paul promised his followers?
Because the reception of the Holy Spirit through baptism is what separates being in Christ from not being in Christ, and being in Christ is the necessary prerequisite for salvation (i.e., receiving an undying spiritual body at the eschaton).
I was presuming the work of E.P. Sanders on participation in Christ (beginning with Paul & Palestinian Judaism 1978), generally known as the New Perspective on Paul since James Dunn in 1983.
Sure, it seems clear that Paul established some sort of baptism for his congregations as an initiation ritual (1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27, and Romans 6:3-4). But it’s not entirely unlike a New Year’s resolution --- it’s the follow-thru, the implementation that’s the most important.
First, while I would agree that baptism is an initiation ritual, it is not a ritual in the sense of being a symbolic public acknowledgment of something that was actually accomplished elsewhere, like being handed a diploma at a graduation ceremony. In baptism, the initiate dies and is resurrected with Christ and becomes part of the body of Christ (i.e., they have the spirit of Christ dwelling in their bodies). I'll discuss the passages that establish this below.
Second, I think that classifying the follow thru as more important than the initiation neglects an important aspect of the distinction between “getting in and staying in” (to use Sanders' terms). One enters the body of Christ by receiving the spirit of Christ in baptism, but then one must maintain that status by acting appropriately. That is Paul's point in 1 Cor. 6.20, and arguably the central theme of the entire epistle. I would hesitate to say whether getting in or staying in is the more important because both are necessary, but getting in by dying and rising with Christ and receiving the spirt through baptism is logically prior. Also, one may slip up in his or her personal conduct occasionally and still be saved, but one cannot omit to receive the spirit through baptism .
Paul even downplayed the importance of the baptism ritual as opposed to his more important proclamation of his gospel, his announcement of good news –
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel … (1 Corinthians 1:17)
Paul minimized the number of baptisms he performed personally, as opposed to those performed by others, in backing up his claim that he had not baptized in his own name and in the larger context of his plea for the church of Corinth not to be divided into factions (1 Cor. 1.10-17). He did not downplay the importance of the reception of the spirit of Christ in baptism as the thing that separates being in Christ from not being in Christ nor did he deny that one needs to be in Christ to receive an undying body on the Day of the Lord (i.e., “be saved”).
The heart of Paul’s gospel was faith, believing in his story of his salvific anointed savior, his Jesus Christ. The clearly stated pathways and the defining factors in order to obtain justification, the promise of the spirit, and the righteousness of God were faith and believing (Galatians 3:14, Romans 3:22, Romans 5:1, and others).
Trying to identify one particular concept as opposed to another as the heart or center of Paul's gospel is generally fruitless because the various concepts present in the system cannot be disentangled clearly. You could say that it is faith, or grace, or eschatology, or salvation, or Christ, or just God. But all those concepts are defined in relation to each other.
Believing in the story of Jesus Christ is not sufficient to obtain salvation for Paul. Participating in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection through baptism is what is necessary, though I suppose participants also believe the story and that they get baptized because they believe the story. (Well, I suspect many of them got baptized because the head of their household believed the story and told them they had to be baptized. It was almost certainly not up to each individual).
My proof texts:
First, Christians (a non-Pauline term) have the spirit of Christ or Holy Spirit living in their bodies. Their members are members of Christ and they collectively comprise the body of Christ. Their bodies are temples because the Holy Spirit dwells within them just as the spirit of God dwells in the temple in Jerusalem. Also, you shouldn't fornicate with prostitutes because the member that gets inserted into the prostitute is part of the body of Christ. (I am assuming Paul is talking at least predominantly about men here).
1 Corinthians 6.15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” 17 But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Second, this indwelling of the Holy Spirit came about through baptism.
1Cor. 12.12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit
Paul himself, though he currently has a living body of flesh, is a different person from the pre-Christian Paul, who died. That person was crucified with Christ, and now Christ lives in his body of flesh.
Gal 2.19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith [in/of] the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
When exactly was Paul crucified? Paul suffered crucifixion and died in the same way other Christians did, through baptism. (I suspect that first century Christians practiced total immersion baptism, and maybe even held the initiate under for a bit to capture that feeling of participation in Christ).
Romans 6.3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In baptism, the old self dies with Christ. And it is the fact that the baptized person has died with Christ that permits the expectation that they will be also resurrected in the same manner he was, a concept so important that Pauls says it three times in the passage.
Best,
Ken