Jesus the Baptist - Baptism in the Spirit
John the Baptist baptised his followers with water, but he foresaw that the Messiah, Jesus, would baptise with the Spirit.
‘I baptise you with water…but He who is coming will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire’ Mt3v11
Still to this day, when the word ‘baptism’ is used, it conjures up images of babies or infants being Christened or of believers being submerged in water either in the sea, a river, or a tank in a church or elsewhere.
How strange! It’s as if John the Baptist’s prophetic announcement has gone unheard! Why is it that when we hear the word ‘baptism’, we don’t automatically think of the baptism in the Spirit, but rather to water baptism?
The New Testament records Jesus’s last instructions to his disciples.
‘Go…and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ Mt28v19
‘John truly baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit…(and) receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me…to the ends of the earth’ Acts1v4-8
It is easy to continue to practice outward forms or ceremonies like water baptism but miss the point. If we’ve been baptised in water (and maybe have a certificate to prove it!) but haven’t been baptised by Jesus in the Holy Spirit, something is not right.
The testimony of many Christians is that in becoming genuine believers, whoever taught them or preached to them rarely if ever spoke of the third person of the trinity – the Holy Spirit – and as a consequence had never realised that Christianity rests not on the outward ritual of water baptism but a baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Whilst it is true that the Greek word ‘bapteizo’ can mean a sprinkling – like standing in the rain or under a shower, its normal meaning is to be plunged into and under the water. John the Baptist often used the River Jordan. Many believers who are baptised in water are plunged under the water in a ‘baptistry’ or a tank, or outside in a swimming pool, a river, or the sea. What John the Baptist foresaw was that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit. He would take us and plunge us into the third person of the Trinity and to saturate us with the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the book of Acts, there are various descriptions of believers being baptised in the Spirit.
‘Suddenly there was a sound from heaven, like a rushing wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting, then divided tongues of fire sat on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages’ 2v1-4
‘When the apostles heard that the Samaritans had received the word of God…they…prayed for them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit because He had not fallen on them…they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus’ 8v15
(This is often the case in England and elsewhere when someone has become a genuine believer and been baptised in water, but not in the Holy Spirit)
‘While Peter was still speaking (to Gentiles)…the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word...those who had come with Peter were astonished because gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in other languages…then Peter…commanded them to be baptised (in water)’ 10v44-48
This also happens these days. Unbelievers, hearing the gospel receive the Spirit and are later baptised in water.
When Peter reported how the gift of the Spirit had been given to Gentiles to the church in Jerusalem, he said ‘Then I remembered the word of the Lord, ‘John indeed baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit’’ 11v16
And, when Peter preached to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost, he brought baptism in water and baptism in the Spirit together.
‘Then Peter said to them (the crowd that had gathered) ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus…and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’’ Acts 2v38
It’s important to note that each of these incidents recorded in Scripture, in Acts, is different. Divided flames were sitting on the believers on the day of Pentecost, but not in Samaria, for example. Some teach that the primary evidence of the baptism of the Spirit is ‘speaking in tongues’, ie, other languages. It is not surprising; all of the incidents recorded in Acts of the baptism in the Spirit involve speaking in tongues. The argument against that comes from 1Cor 12v30, the rhetorical question that asks, ‘do all speak in tongues?’ The answer being No.
Am I thirsty?
The real question with spiritual matters is not to become neutralised by debating fine doctrinal points, but to ask am I thirsty? Do we long for Jesus to baptise us in the Spirit? Or are we content to plough on within the confines of our rationality, our mental appreciation of doctrines of salvation? Neither of these is bad at all, but in comparison, they are like studying a car manual rather than turning the ignition on, firing up the engine, and driving.
All churches should be packed with the type of people that John the Baptist foresaw, a community of individuals who have been baptised in the Spirit, are walking in the Spirit, and the Spirit is leading.
Jesus also envisaged the same.
‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me as the scripture says, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’ By this he was speaking of the Holy Spirit…the Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified’ John 7 v 37-39
To finish, it should strike as odd that when we speak of baptism, our thoughts imagine we’re speaking of water, not the Holy Spirit.
The New Testament is clear. If someone has repented (changed their thinking about Jesus and the resurrection), they should be baptised in water and receive the Holy Spirit. In other words, a water baptism and a Holy Spirit baptism. (see above, Acts 2v38)
Which order these three events are experienced seems to matter less to God than it does to us. In Acts, the examples given above illustrate the point well enough…especially when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. They were baptised in the Spirit, then baptised in water, and repented and believed somewhere in the mix.