Baptism with the Holy Spirit

Rev. Ronald Hanko

Rev. Hanko is a minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America and has authored a number of books, including (among others) the following: Doctrine According to Godliness: A Primer on Reformed Doctrine (2004), The Coming of Zion’s Redeemer: Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (2015). He was also the joint author of Saved by Grace: A Study of the Five Points of Calvinism (1995) and its accompanying study guide (all of which can be purchased at http://www.cprc.co.uk and http://www.rfpa.org).

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[Previous section: “Old Testament Prophecies of Baptisms”]

Both the Old Testament (Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 36:35; Joel 2:28-29) and the New Testament (Matt. 3:11; Mark. 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16; 2:3-4, 16-17) speak often of baptism in or with the Holy Spirit. There are, of course, many issues involved in understanding this concept, including the important question of whether or not this baptism with the Holy Spirit is a kind of “second blessing” of salvation.

      

Without entering into the whole controversy with the Charismatics and Pentecostals over the meaning of this baptism, we believe that the baptism in or with the Holy Spirit is “baptism”—that is, part of the washing away of sins by the Spirit of Christ—and that it refers to the spiritual reality of baptism of which the water is only a sign and symbol.

      

That water baptism is a picture of baptism with the Spirit is clear from 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.

John, by putting himself in the position of everyone who baptizes with water, reminds us that water baptism is only a picture of a spiritual reality performed, not by a man, but by Christ Himself.  Water baptism is a picture of baptism with the Spirit.

      

To understand this, we must remember that there are two parts to our salvation, though not two distinct stages (as those who believe in a “second blessing” teach).  The removal or washing away of our sins involves, first of all, our justification—the removal of the guilt of our sins, so that we are counted innocent by God Himself as Judge.  This aspect of the washing away of sins is accomplished by the blood of Christ, and the water of baptism is symbolic of that blood, first of all.

      

The washing away of our sins also includes our sanctification, however.  Sanctification is the washing away of the actual filth and presence of sin in our hearts and lives.  That work is accomplished by the Spirit of Christ, and He also is symbolized in the water of baptism.  This second aspect of the symbolism is often forgotten, even though Scripture speaks so often of baptism in or with the Holy Spirit.

      

The point that needs to be made here, however, is that the baptism in or with the Holy Spirit is always described in Scripture in terms of sprinkling or pouring.  We have already seen this in connection with the Old Testament prophecies that foretell the gift of the Spirit, but the New Testament passages leave us with the same testimony.

      

There is good reason for this.  That the Spirit is always “poured out” or “shed forth” or “sprinkled” upon believers is an important reminder in Scripture that He is the Spirit of God, sent from heaven above by God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and that He works the work of God according to the purpose of God.

      

That emphasis is especially important today, when it is so often apparently forgotten that the Holy Spirit is a person—the third person of the Trinity—and not some thing to be manipulated and given by mere men, who show themselves to be mere religious hucksters and tricksters.  Jesus Himself reminds us of this in John 3:3, 7, where He not only tells us that we must be born again but that we must be born from above (the word in John 3:3 and 7 can be translated as “from above” and should be translated that way, we believe, in light of the chapter’s emphasis on the sovereignty of the work of the Holy Spirit).

      

John, himself, compares his water baptism and the baptism with the Holy Spirit in Mark 1:8; “I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.”  There are other reasons why this passage is important, not the least that it establishes the identity of John’s baptism with Spirit baptism and therefore with all other New Testament baptisms.  As far as the mode of baptism is concerned, however, it seems strange, to say the least that John would have meant: “I indeed have immersed you in water, but he shall pour out upon you the Holy Ghost.”  At the very least, that would sever all meaningful connection between John’s baptism and Christ’s.

      

The identity of mode, both in the sign and in the reality, is one of the keys to a proper understanding of baptism.  The Baptist destroys this identity by insisting that the mode of the spiritual reality is very different from the mode of the sign.

[Next section: “Baptism into Christ”]