What does it mean that Jesus wants to “baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire?” What does the bible really say about the baptism of the Holy Spirit? If you want to know the answers, we invite you to stay with us. John the Baptist baptized for the forgiveness of sins, but he also proclaimed that Jesus would come with a baptism that would be much greater and deeper. “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. “(Matthew 3, 11). Let’s see what the Bible says about this controversial topic.
What is the baptism of the Spirit?
Baptism in the Spirit is “immersion in the Spirit.” When you are baptized with the Spirit, you receive the strength, power, and assurance from God to do your job and overcome sin in your own life.
You know when you have experienced the baptism of the Spirit. The disciples at Pentecost knew this too. Surely they had already imagined what it would be like to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and you, dear reader, have not yet been baptized with the Spirit, but you really long for it and wonder what it is like. The experience can be described in many ways. But many people who have been baptized with the Spirit will be able to relate what we write here:
- Your life suddenly changes. Often the strength of God flows through your body like a powerful current and fills you with endless joy and happiness. The disciples were so overjoyed that the others thought they were drunk after drinking new wine.
Some people are so gracious that they receive the baptism of the Spirit immediately after repenting and sometimes are even given the gift of speaking in tongues.
Sometimes it happens when a revival occurs somewhere. However, this is not necessarily the case for all who repent. Some people have to go through a “dry period” before being baptized with the Spirit. But, of course, there is no fixed time line that determines when you will receive this blessed baptism of the Spirit.
- Many Christians have misconceptions about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.: They think that you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit if you have not received the gift of speaking in tongues. This gift often manifests later, with many not receiving it until after awakening, and others even receiving completely different gifts.
Why do I need the baptism of the Spirit?
If you feel that your life is meaningless and a burden, pray for the baptism of the Spirit. Because you really need it if you have a deep desire to overcome jealousy, anger, etc.
It is written in the scriptures that the Spirit is given to those who obey him. It is not good to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you continue to relax and continue to sin as if you were not converted.
No, read the Bible even if it seems complicated and resist the urge to get angry or irritated, for example. One day you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit! You who were bound by the honor of men, gain confidence, like Peter on the day of Pentecost. A new day dawns.
Bible verses that hitherto made no sense suddenly come to life through the revelation of the Spirit, and you can receive help from God’s Word when faced with challenges or difficult situations. Why? Because you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
But the point is not that we stay with this great experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that we go no further. The power that the baptism of the Spirit has given us, that has made us so happy, must be used to do good, so that we can be collaborators with God on earth.
Jesus wanted to baptize us with the Holy Spirit
Jesus wanted to baptize us with the Holy Spirit but also with fire. By following the Spirit’s commands, we must suffer, and that is what Jesus meant by fire. These are the sufferings we encounter when we do good.
Just like when the disciples were instructed to make disciples of all nations. It meant that they had to leave their comfort zone and start a journey, get to places they didn’t want to go, and it also included tribulation (fire).
They were not allowed to sit still and think about what they had experienced on the day of Pentecost. No, they had to get to work! The same happens with those of us who live today and have received the strength of the Spirit within us.
And although we have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, we are in constant need of renewal in our spirit. Even if you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, you can easily be taken away by the world we live in and lose some of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. That is why we can read among other things in the Scriptures:
- “On the contrary, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) And this is what will happen if we sincerely pray for renewal and practice what we have read in the Bible.
What does the baptism with the Holy Spirit mean?
Baptism in the Holy Spirit can be defined as the work by which God brings the believer into communion with Christ and with other believers in the body of Christ at the moment of salvation.
Here you can learn about:
The baptism with the Holy Spirit was announced by John the Baptist (Mark 1:8) and by Jesus before his Ascension:
- “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1.5)
This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2,1-4): for the first time the Holy Spirit came to dwell permanently in men and thus the Church was born.
1 Corinthians 12.12-13 is one of the key biblical passages to understand the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit: “Indeed, whether we are Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we have all been baptized in one Spirit to form one body and we have all drunk of one Spirit.
It is important to note that “everybody“We have been baptized with the Spirit; it is a baptism that all believers have received, which goes hand in hand with salvation, and not an experience reserved for some.
The position of the believer before the baptism of the Holy Spirit
Yes ok Romans 6:1-4 does not directly mention the Spirit of God, it describes the position of believers before God in a similar way to 1 Corinthians: “What, then, shall we say? Will we persist in sin so that grace may multiply?
Certainly not, we who died for sin, how could we continue to live in sin? Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore, by baptism into his death, we were buried with him so that, as Christ was raised by the glory of the Father, so we too can live a new life.”
Important points about the baptism of the Holy Spirit
The following points are important to strengthen our understanding of Spirit baptism.
- First, it makes it clear that we have all been baptized and watered with the Spirit (when the Spirit came to indwell us).
- Second, nowhere do the Scriptures call believers to be baptized in, in, or by the Spirit, or to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit in any way, showing that all believers have already done this experiment.
- Finally, Ephesians 4:5 seems to refer to Spirit baptism. If so, it is a reality common to all believers, just like “one faith” and “one Father.”
In conclusion, the baptism of the Holy Spirit has a double effect:
- Grafts us into the body of Christ,
- Actualize our association in the crucifixion with Christ.
Being part of his body means that we rise with him to a new life (Romans 6.4). Therefore, we must exercise our spiritual gifts to assist in the functioning of your body, as it unfolds in the context of 1 Corinthians 12:13.
The experience of the baptism of the Spirit is the foundation of the unity of the Church, as the context of Ephesians 4.5. Our association with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection is the basis for our separation from the indwelling power of sin and our walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-10, Colossians 2:12).
What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit like?
Sometimes you may hear about a wonderful second experience you once had as a Christian. The baptism of the Holy Spirit would make us another Christian, a spiritual Christian. But what do the Scriptures say about the baptism in the Holy Spirit?
We all know and understand what water baptism is, but what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Let’s see what the Bible says about it:
1 ° The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the experience of Pentecost.
John the Baptist said in the Gospel of Mark: “I baptized you in water; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:8 And Jesus took this very word after his resurrection. We read it in the first chapter of Acts, Jesus was before his disciples and told them: “John baptized with water, but you, in a few days, will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus was talking about a future event that would soon occur. And indeed, ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, when 120 disciples were gathered in the upper room:
Acts 2.
- 1 “On the day of Pentecost they were all together in one place.
- 2 Suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind that filled the whole house where they were sitting.
- 3 Tongues appeared to them like tongues of fire, separated from each other, and rested on each one.
- 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them expression. “
So, the baptism of the Holy Spirit took place for the church of Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost. The Greek term is “baptism” and means:
- Submerge, submerged, immersion. So the 120 disciples were submerged, submerged, immersed in or by the Holy Spirit.
If once in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit rested on believers, everything changed on the day of Pentecost. It is said, for example, that the Lord took the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the 70 elders of Israel to help them carry the load. Numbers 11:17 Then the Spirit rested on the Old Testament believers.
But the Holy Spirit has now come to dwell IN the believer to dwell there. And when a person receives it, it is a baptism, he is immersed in the Holy Spirit.
pentecost day
The day of Pentecost in Acts 2 is a turning point in the biblical story. It is the transition from the old covenant to the new. Things completely change.
This means that before this day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus had not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit rested on them, like Moses or Abraham, but it was not yet in them. Although the Spirit could occasionally “fill” them as it sometimes did with the prophets of the
Old Testament, they were not sealed with the Spirit. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples. and we read in John 20:22
- “After these words, Jesus breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.
It’s a very…