The Original Meaning Of "Baptism In Holy Spirit"

I am still answering your mail where you quoted Matt. 3:11. I took up the first part of that verse yesterday.

The second part of the verse is an entirely different subject. John says it was Jesus himself who would baptize his converts with the Holy Ghost. So here are the elements in this part of the verse:

1. Jesus himself would do the baptizing. In other words, the baptism would be from heaven.

2. Jesus' baptism was "with [or 'in'] holy Spirit" as the medium.

3. Jesus' baptism was also "with [or 'in'] fire" as the medium.

Now we have to ask ourselves, When did that event happen? When were Jesus' converts actually baptized in both the Spirit and fire? Jesus himself told us that his followers would be baptized that way. He was speaking to them just before he returned to heaven:

Act 1:5 . . . ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

The disciples had been promised that if they waited in Jerusalem, they would eventually receive the necessary "power" to preach the message Jesus had spent three years teaching them. Here is the King James version of that event as it finally happened on the day of Pentecost. I will use emphasis:

Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Here then we see the holy Spirit coming out of heaven, and filling the room where the disciples were sitting. They were literally immersed in holy Spirit.

At the same time, they were filled with Spirit and they began to preach with power what the Lord had taught them. Some preached in the languages of the Jews who had come up to Jerusalem from other parts of the Roman Empire. That way everyone who was present for Pentecost would understand the message being preached by the church.

Now, there is only one other place in the New Testament where we are actually told that this kind of baptism was repeated. That was at the house of Cornelius. I believe that was a repetition of what happened only because we are specifically told that it was an identical event. When Peter later had to report what had happened at the house of Cornelius, he used the following words:

Act 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Act 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Act 11:17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as [he did] unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
This was an exceptional event. Never before or after that did an Apostle have to give account for his actions this way. Peter was literally called on the carpet.

There were many occasions after Pentecost where people were filled with the Spirit, but on none of them was the event so momentous that an Apostle would have to be judged that way.

This, then, was a repetition of the Pentecost event, the only repetition found in the entire New Testament.

But why did this baptism from heaven, in the holy Spirit, occur again? The answer is found in Peter's words above. When he was grilled, he said, "God gave them the like gift as [he did] to us." Who was "them" and who was "us". That is simple: "Us" means the original church as a group of Jewish converts. "Them" means the Gentiles. Jesus Christ had to repeat the baptism in holy Spirit so that the Gentile church would be included with the Jewish church.

That was the end of the matter. The baptism of the Spirit never had to be repeated again. The power to preach as Christ ordered had been poured out on the church, both Jew and Gentile, and from that point on, the Spirit has lived in the churches that remained faithful to Christ. On later occasions, any time the preaching started, the Spirit filled the speaker to the extent necessary to get the job done. And he filled the members in a way that would enlighten them to understand the message:

Act 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel. . . .