Chapter 18
Three Kinds of Baptisms
The
New Testament mentions three baptisms:
Baptism
in water (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38, Matthew 3:16-17, Romans 6:3-4)
Baptism
into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13-14, 15-31)
Baptism
in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5-8, Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16, John 1:32-34)
Acts
1:5-8 says:
“For
John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked
Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father
has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus
is the One who baptizes born again believers in the Holy Ghost and the fire of God.
John
1:32-34 says:
And
John bare record, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove,
and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending,
and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I
saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
John
the Baptist declared in Matthew 3:11:
“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.”
Greek
words and definitions of “baptize”:
1.
NT:907 baptizo.
Literally,
to dip repeatedly, to immerge, submerge.
To
cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water.
metaphorically,
to overwhelm or “to be identified with”.
2.
NT:908 baptisma, baptismatos.
immersion,
submersion.
We
can see by these Greek definitions that New Testament baptism was administered
by complete immersion, rather than sprinkling.
When
Jesus was baptized in water by John the Baptist, He was completely submerged
under the water and then rose up out of the water.
Water
baptism by immersion signifies identifying with Christ’s death, burial and
resurrection. Your old self has been buried with Christ and your new self has
risen up to newness of life.
Romans
6:4 says, “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.”
When
the Holy Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost in the Upper Room where the 120
were gathered, the Holy Spirit totally overwhelmed them, and there appeared to
be flames of fire (they were baptized or immersed in the fire of God).
When
believers are spiritually baptized into the Body of Christ, that means they are
immersed or saturated into the Body of Christ. They become one with each other
(in spirit) in Christ.
