The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
🔎 By Bible Researcher Eli Kittim 🎓
In discussing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I’m not referring to the Christian doctrine which holds that salvation is related to the act of water baptism. Rather, I’m referring to a Spirit baptism or a “conversion experience” where an individual has a personal encounter with the power of God (cf. John 3.3) in the Wesleyan sense. Many denominations——especially fundamentalist, evangelical, and pentecostal Christians——emphasize that without such a “born-again” experience no one can be saved.
From the outset, scripture emphasizes the need for a baptism of the Spirit. In Matthew 3:11 (NKJV), John the Baptist says:
I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance, but He who is coming after me
is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not
worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and fire.
In Mark 16.16-17, it’s not merely by faith alone, but by spirit “baptism” that salvation is accomplished! Given that the born-again Christians “will speak with new tongues,” it’s clear that the text is not referring to an immersion in water but rather to a baptism of the Holy Spirit:
He who believes and is baptized will be
saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned. And these signs will follow
those who believe: In My name they will
cast out demons; they will speak with new
tongues.
According to some of the Church Fathers, such as Cyril of Jerusalem and St. John Chrysostom, baptism was considered to symbolically represent a form of rebirth——“of water and the Spirit” (John 3.5). Although Baptism is defined as a sacrament or a rite of admission into Christianity——typically by immersing in water——this ritual is symbolic of being cleansed from sin (1 John 1.7), and it also represents the death of the old self and the beginning of a new life! Similarly, 1 Peter 3.20-21 says that the salvation by water is not a baptism of the flesh that cleanses our filth but symbolic of a good conscience.
In Romans 6.3-4, Paul talks of a baptism Into Jesus’ death! It’s a believer’s participation in the death of Christ to allow them to “walk in newness of life”:
do you not know that as many of us as
were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? Therefore we were
buried with Him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life.
Similarly, in reference to his crucifixion and death, Jesus says in Luke 12.50 (cf. Mark 10.38–39):
I have a baptism to be baptized with,
and how distressed I am till it is
accomplished!
In this context, the term “baptism” obviously doesn’t refer to water but to death, which will be eventually followed by resurrection and rebirth. It is, in fact, part of the same regeneration process which comprises the death of the old self and the rebirth of the new self (Ephesians 4.22-24). The best example of the baptism of the Spirit, as a requirement for spiritual growth, is in Acts 2.1-4:
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from
heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled the whole house where they were
sitting. Then there appeared to them
divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat
upon each of them. And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.
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