Bible Verse Sunday #45

Today's Bible verse is from today's main service sermon, 1 Corinthians 12:13:

"For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

The ESV Study Bible has this to say about the verse:

"Since the Spirit is one, he unites peoples across lines of ethnicity and social class that would otherwise divide them. (See Rom. 10:12; Gal. 3:27-28; Col. 3:11.) in one Spirit we were all baptized. The same Greek construction (the verb baptizo plus en ["in"] plus the dative of pneuma, "Spirit") is used here as in the other six "baptism in the Holy Spirit" passages in the NT (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16), and here it seems clearly to refer to the cleansing and empowering work that the Holy Spirit does in a new convert at the point of conversion. Baptism is used metaphorically here to refer to the Spirit's work within the believer to united him or her to the body of Christ, which is also the corporate body of believers. Water baptism is an outward symbol of this reality (cf. Rom 6:4; Gal. 3:27). made to drink. Probably not a reference to the cup of the Lord's Supper but to the outpouring of God's Spirit on his people (cf. John 7:37-39; Rom. 5:5)."

Today's sermon in the main service was on how in Christ alone believers have solid ground, that spiritual growth occurs when you sink your heart and mind into Jesus. Also covered was how Jesus is fully God and has total authority; that believers are children of God with God's spiritual nature through faith in Christ alone; and how all believer's guilt is remove through faith alone in Christ's death on the cross. In the High School service, the youth pastor delivered a particularly powerful sermon on friendship, specifically on what makes a good friend. A good friend, said the pastor, is loyal, and in the same context loving, having the friend's best interests in mind, and that the two friends are accountable to one another. 

Today was largely uneventful, coming off of a busy week which is now being followed by a thankfully timely break from school. I hope to get some extra reading in in the coming week, both regular books, graphic novels, and internet articles. Also, chapter 7 of my fan fic The Misadventures of Nobody (and X-Ray) is up over at BZPower.com, in case you want to check it out.