Baptism in Water and Fire

Two baptisms announced

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

Then Jesus Himself was baptized, and both came together in Him: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him” (Matthew 3:16). Water first, then the Spirit, with the Father’s voice: “This is My beloved Son.”

The Greek word baptizō means to dip, immerse or plunge. It was used of dyeing cloth, of a ship sinking, and of someone being overwhelmed. To be baptized is to be plunged into something and come out changed: into water, or into the Spirit.

What water baptism means

John’s baptism

John preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). People confessed their sins and were baptized in the Jordan, preparing for the coming King. Jesus had no sin, but was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), identifying with sinners He came to save.

Christian baptism

After the resurrection, baptism takes on a fuller meaning:

• Dying and rising with Christ. “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too may walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12). Going under the water pictures burial; coming up pictures resurrection.
• Washing. “Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16).
• Belonging. Baptism is “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), as covered in the In Jesus’s Name study. “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
• A good conscience before God. Baptism is “not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
• Old Testament pictures. Noah’s family brought safely through the water (1 Peter 3:20–21) and Israel crossing the Red Sea, “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2), as in the Shadows and Substance study.

The difference between the two baptisms shows in Acts 19:1–5. Paul met disciples who had received only John’s baptism; when they heard about Jesus, “they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”

What the baptism of fire means

Fire in Scripture has several meanings, and all of them may be in view:

• Purifying. “He will be like a refiner’s fire… He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver” (Malachi 3:2–3). “When the Lord has washed away the filth… by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire” (Isaiah 4:4). Isaiah’s lips were touched with a burning coal: “your iniquity is removed” (Isaiah 6:6–7).
• God’s presence. The burning bush, the pillar of fire, and fire on Mount Sinai all marked God’s presence (Exodus 3:2; 13:21; 19:18).
• Power and boldness. At Pentecost, “they saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3–4). Jeremiah described God’s word as “a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:9).
• Judgment. John’s very next words were about fire as judgment: the chaff “He will burn up… with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:10–12).

Is water baptism required?

It is commanded and expected

• Jesus commanded it: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…” (Matthew 28:19).
• Peter’s first sermon: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
• Peter “ordered that they be baptized” (Acts 10:48).
• In Acts, people were baptized as soon as they believed, often the same day or hour: 3,000 at Pentecost (2:41), the Ethiopian official by the roadside (8:36–38), the Philippian jailer “without delay, he and all his household” (16:33). An unbaptized believer would have seemed strange to the early church.

But salvation is by faith

• The thief on the cross was never baptized, yet Jesus said, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
• Cornelius and his household received the Holy Spirit before they were baptized in water (Acts 10:44–48), showing God had already accepted them.
• “By grace you have been saved through faith… not by works” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
• Paul said, “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17), which would be odd if baptism itself were what saves.
• “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Condemnation is tied to unbelief, not to missing baptism. (This passage is also missing from the earliest manuscripts of Mark.)

How churches understand it

Churches also differ on who should be baptized (believers only, or also infants of believing families, as with whole “households” in Acts 16:15, 33) and how (immersion, which best fits the meaning of the word and Romans 6, or pouring and sprinkling).

How to receive the baptism of the Spirit

Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Spirit: “The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). Scripture tells us how we receive:

• Repent and believe. “Repent and be baptized… and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off” (Acts 2:38–39).
• Ask. “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). The verbs in Luke 11:9 mean “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.”
• Come thirsty. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me… ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’ He was speaking about the Spirit” (John 7:37–39).
• Receive by faith. “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:2, 14).
• Obey. “The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Acts 5:32).
• Laying on of hands. Sometimes the Spirit came through others praying with laid hands (Acts 8:17; 9:17; 19:6).

No single pattern in Acts

The order varies because God is not bound to a formula. The constants are Jesus as the baptizer, faith, and the Spirit as a gift.

Once, and again

The same disciples filled at Pentecost were “all filled with the Holy Spirit” again after praying in Acts 4:31. Paul tells believers to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), a present-tense command meaning “keep on being filled.” Whether you see the baptism of the Spirit as a second experience after conversion (the Pentecostal view) or as received at conversion (the Reformed and Baptist view), both agree that believers should keep seeking to be filled. The Healing study covers these views in more detail.

Must you be Spirit-baptized to heal?

One detail in the Gospels answers much of this question: the disciples healed the sick and cast out demons before Pentecost.

• “Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and power to cure diseases… So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere” (Luke 9:1–6).
• The seventy-two were told, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you,’” and returned saying, “Even the demons submit to us in Your name!” (Luke 10:9, 17).

Their power came from Jesus’s commission and His name, before the Spirit was poured out. After Pentecost, healing is described as a work of the Spirit: “to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:9).

“Wait for power from on high”

“And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Did they need it?

Clearly yes. These same men had run away when Jesus was arrested, and Peter had denied Him three times. After Pentecost, Peter preached boldly to thousands (Acts 2:14–41), and the authorities “saw the boldness of Peter and John… and took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Even Jesus did not begin His ministry until the Spirit came upon Him; He returned from the wilderness “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14, 18; Acts 10:38).

Do we need it too?

Yes, we need the same power. Ministry without the Spirit is human effort: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD” (Zechariah 4:6). Jesus said, “apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Paul prayed that believers would be strengthened “with power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16).

But do we need to wait the way they did? Christians answer differently:

Both agree on the essentials: we need the Spirit’s power, it is given by Jesus, it is received by faith and asking, and we should keep being filled. The disciples’ ten days of waiting were spent in prayer and unity (Acts 1:14; 2:1). That is still the best way to seek the Spirit’s fullness: not by striving, but by asking, believing and making room for Him.

Summary

• John baptized with water for repentance; Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). Both came together on Jesus at His baptism (3:16).
• Water baptism pictures repentance, washing, and dying and rising with Christ.
• The fire pictures purifying, God’s presence and power, and for the unrepentant, judgment.
• Water baptism is commanded and was the normal first step for every believer. Churches differ on whether it is necessary for salvation, but agree believers should be baptized.
• The Spirit is received from Jesus by repenting, believing, asking, and obeying, sometimes through laying on of hands. Acts shows no fixed order.
• The disciples healed in Jesus’s name before Pentecost. Every believer may pray for the sick; gifts of healing are given to some as the Spirit wills.
• We need the same power the disciples waited for. It has now been poured out; we receive it by faith and keep being filled.

“This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:39)