Baptism With Fire

"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt. 3:11).

Question: "Could you explain what it means that Jesus Christ will baptize with fire?"

The words of John the Baptist quoted above are a kind of figure of speech called a hendiadys. Such a figure of speech is very common in Scripture—and, for that matter, in our own daily conversation. We may say, for example, "I am going to go to the store and buy a loaf of bread." We do not mean that we are now going to do two unrelated and completely separate things: go to the store and, in addition to going to the store, we will also, somewhere, buy a loaf of bread.

The meaning is, as we all know: "I will go to the store to buy a loaf of bread." In other words, we combine two words or thoughts with the word "and," and thus mean only one thing.

A familiar hendiadys in Scripture is our Lord’s words: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). The Lord does not mean that He is three separate and unrelated entities. He means: "I am the way because I am the truth. And I am the way and the truth because I am the life."

The Lord means the same thing in His words: "I am the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25). His meaning, obviously, is, "I am the resurrection because I am the life."

The Old Testament also frequently uses this figure. God told Eve in Paradise after she ate of the forbidden tree, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception" (Gen. 3:16). The Lord means that He would multiply the sorrow of Eve’s conception of children. The words "sorrow" and "conception" are one idea, not two separate ideas.

The same figure of speech is used in Matthew 3:11. By saying that Christ’s baptism is "with the Holy Ghost, and with fire," John means to say Christ’s baptism is with the Holy Ghost who comes with fire. This was literally fulfilled at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out by Christ and tongues of fire appeared along with the other signs.

But this necessary introduction does not yet answer the question.

Fire is a picture of judgment in Scripture. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24). Fire burnt up Nadab and Abihu when they offered "strange fire" at the tabernacle (Lev. 10:1-2). The giving of the law from Sinai was accompanied by fire (Ex. 19:18). The final judgment on this earth will come with a great fire that shall consume all the creation (II Peter 3:7, 10-12).

Baptism is with both water and fire, according to John the Baptist. The reference is not, of course, literal; when the minister performs the rite of baptism he does not use fire. But what is signified and sealed in the sacrament of baptism is signified and sealed by the terms "water" and "fire."

The water of baptism signifies the washing away of sin. As water cleanses the filth of the body, so does the water of baptism cleanse the filth of the soul.

This must not be understood, however, as if the outward administration of baptism cleanses the soul. This is the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church with its doctrine of baptismal regeneration. The sprinkling with water pictures in the sacrament the blood of Christ. So, as water washes the body from dirt, the blood of Christ washes the soul from sin.

But when John says "with the Holy Ghost and with fire," the reference is somewhat broader. Fire is destructive. Fire is the destruction that comes with judgment. Baptism is therefore a sacrament that signifies judgment, a point not to be forgotten.

The flood that came in Noah’s day was both the judgment and destruction of the world and the salvation of the church. The church is delivered at the end of time by fire that destroys this wicked world and cursed creation, and by it the church is saved from the world.

There are statements to that effect throughout Scripture. Isaiah, in predicting the captivity, says, "Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness" (Isa. 1:27). Peter speaks of the faith of believers as being purified with fire as gold is purified with fire (I Peter 1:7). In the same epistle, Peter speaks of judgments from God that "begin at the house of God;" and he says that this is necessary for "the righteous scarcely be saved;" that is, saved with great difficulty and only by means of judgment (4:17-18).

That judgment that baptism signifies is the judgment of the world that is present in our own flesh. Our flesh must be destroyed in order for us to be saved. Sanctification comes through destruction of the old and the birth of the new. Holiness comes only through burning that which is corrupt so that that which is pure may be saved. We are baptized into Christ’s death and buried with Him in order that we may rise with Him unto newness of life (Rom. 6:1-10).

When John speaks of baptism by the Holy Ghost and by fire, he means that this wonder work of God, this reality of which baptism is a sign and seal, is performed only by the work of the Holy Spirit of Christ. Christ, in His death, destroyed sin and corruption by His obedience in suffering the punishment of God for sin. He was perfected through fire—the fire of hell—and in this way He rose to newness of life. He sends forth His Spirit into the hearts of His people that their old man may be burned to make room for the new man that is holy as Christ is.

There is an antithesis in our salvation: Redemption through judgment; cleansing through fire; a new creature through destruction. It is a wonder. It is the wisdom and greatness of God.