Friday | 21 November 2025
The sufferings that are associated with chastening as a son of God are painful. Sons of God need to be reminded that, through chastening, they are growing to know the Father as they are being received by Him. Furthermore, they are bringing forth fruit unto eternal life, for to know the Father is eternal life! Joh 17:3. As Paul noted, ‘Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’ Heb 12:11.
In addition to our immersion into the name of the Father, messengers of Christ are to explain to a son of God the need to be baptised into the Person of Christ. This is the initiative of the Father, who immerses a son of God into the Son and makes them a member in particular of the body of Christ. Outlining this dimension of baptism, Paul wrote, ‘For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. … But now God [the Father] has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.’ 1Co 12:13,18.
Emphasising that it is the Father who immerses a son of God into the Person of the Son, Jesus said, ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.’ Joh 6:44‑45.
Significantly, coming to the Son through the initiative of the Father is the demonstration of a believer’s faith. Their faith is drawn from the hope of the resurrection. Evidently, the implication of baptism into the Son is that the believer continues to receive, and to live by, the word of the Father that is proclaimed through the ministry of Christ’s messengers. Heb 12:25.
Further Study:
John 6
References:
Joh 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Heb 12:11
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
1Co 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free— and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:18
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
Joh 6:44-45
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
Heb 12:25
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.