1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Now if the above scripture would have been written like this instead...
1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses
..., then how many baptisms would you see? I would have assumed only 1 and that being in the red sea.
But because the original version shows that there were 2 baptisms, we can say that the baptism of Moses contains 2 baptisms. Similarily we can say that the baptism of Christ has 2 baptisms - 1 by water and 1 by Spirit - just llike the OT type and shadow of
1 Cor 10:1-2.
Therefore, when the Acts say something like they were "baptized" but doesn't say whether it was water or Spirit, it was probably BOTH.
Take for example the following scriptures...
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
How many baptisms do you see in
Acts 2:38? I see 2 - 1 of water and one of Spirit. Let's continue...
Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
They that gladly rec'd his word were baptized - is that water baptism, Spirit baptism or both? He just told them both in
Acts 2:38 and they glady rec'd his word and obeyed what he just told them. When you compare the conversion of the Jews here in
Acts 2 with the conversion of the Samaritans in
Acts 8, the Gentiles in
Acts 10, and John's disciples in
Acts 19 they all included both.
Another example is the Corinthian church...
Act 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
It doesn't say whether it was water or Spirit or both, but in the epistles to the Corinthians, we know that they spoke with other tongues, so they had to have received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in addition to being water baptized.
Another possible explanation is that a lot of them rec'd the baptism of the Holy Ghost when they came up out of the water during their water baptism in Jesus name; therefore they viewed it as the one baptism of Christ included water and Spirit.
Another possible explanation of
Eph 4:5 is that Jesus knew that the early Catholics would change NT water baptism to a "second" water baptism and therefore made it quite clear in scripture that there is only 1 valid water baptism.
In any event, God is not confused and does NOT contradict himself. When 2 scriptures seem to create an "apparent" contradiction, usually there are other scriptures that clarify it.
Hebrews makes it clear that baptisms - plural - was a foundational principle teaching of Jesus and when we look at the conversion of the Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles we see them all speaking, obeying, and receiving baptism in water and Spirit.
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