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NASB | Matthew 3:11 ¶ "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 3:11 ¶ "As for me, I baptize you with water because of [your] repentance [that is, because you are willing to change your inner self--your old way of thinking, regret your sin and live a changed life], but He (the Messiah) who is coming after me is mightier [more powerful, more noble] than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to remove [even as His slave]; He will baptize you [who truly repent] with the Holy Spirit and [you who remain unrepentant] with fire (judgment). [Luke 3:16] |
Bible Question:
Per Matthew 3:11, what does it mean to be baptized by the Holy Spirit? Background: I am studying the passage of Matthew 3:5-12 and asked myself the following question (in regards to Matt 3:11-12): "John states that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, and then explains how Jesus will separate the saved from the unsaved. Is the baptism by the Holy Spirit for the saved, and the baptism by fire for the unsaved? If so, is the baptism by the Holy Spirit before or after a person dies?" |
Bible Answer: Justin, With regards to being baptized by fire. I am inclined to see a stronger parallel between verse eleven and twelve. The fire in verse twelve is clearly judgment. So in eleven we see baptisms of spirit and fire. And in twelve we see the gathering of the wheat and the burning of the chaff. Now this being said there is no doubt that I am in happy agreement with the fact that tongues of fire settled upon them at Pentecost and I am also in happy agreement that the Holy Spirit works mightly upon the souls of men and that sometimes a burning passion is a quite apt description of that. I just don't think that these things are what is being referred to in Matt 3:12. Likewise the other posters will agree that there is a judgment in which God will separate the wheat and the chaff and it will be a judgment of fire. So we have a pretty substantial agreement in doctrine, we just don't agree which is being referred to here. In Christ, Beja |