October 16, 2013
Four Forms of Baptism
Baptized in the Holy Spirit
Acts 9:10-19
10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” 13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus,who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.
How did Paul get baptized?
It was by the laying on of hands.
These Christians were called disciples and believers and those “belonging to the Way.” The word “saint” refers to those set apart by God and were used as servants. The layman or certain disciple named Ananias from Damascus was ready and available to be used by God. God sent him to Saul, who persecuted the Christians. Ananias was used by God because he was a chosen vessel of God to bear His name. So he baptized Saul ( Radmacher).
Ananias put his hand on Saul and that was the sign that those who believe shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Ananias was demonstrating that he is a disciple because he laid hands on the sick and they recovered (Mark 16:18). He called them “brother” because he was made a partaker by the grace of God. This same Jesus who convicted Saul of his sin of persecuting the Lord has now sent Ananias to Saul to comfort him. Ananias is telling Saul that “you will receive your sight for you were temporarily blinded but now you are recovered that you might see things in the new light” ( Abraham).
Paul’s conversion took three days. His initial baptism of the Holy Spirit is the evidence by the scales falling from his eyes and he could see after three days (Spirit Filled Life Bible).
You might see things in another way, have your sight restored and be filled with the Holy Spirit. This filling of the Holy Spirit is Paul’s baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was by way of a disciple from Damascus, chosen of God with the anointing to lay hands on the sick. So Ananias laid hands on Saul, not only so that Saul will receive his new sight when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit, but that the eyes of his soul can see with a new spirit. The infilling of the new spirit is “being born again.” Otherwise, he would not be able to see the kingdom of God ( Abraham).
Is speaking in tongues the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
Does Paul demonstrate his baptism in the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues?
Saul was on the road to Damascus when suddenly a great light from heaven shone on him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” It was Jesus speaking to Saul and Saul asked the question, “who are You, Lord?”
The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Saul was astonished and he trembled and asked the Lord what He wanted him to do. The Lord told him to go to the city and he will be told what to do. When Saul got up off the ground, he opened his eyes, but he could not see. And for three days, he was without sight. He neither ate nor drank.
Then God sent Ananias, a disciple from Damascus, to see Saul. Ananias was a little worried because he heard about Saul and how he persecuted those who called upon His name. The Lord gave Ananias a vision to arise and go to the street call Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. Jesus told Ananias that Saul is a vessel that He is going to use and that he will suffer many things for the name of Jesus. So Ananias went to the house where Saul was. He laid hands on him that he may received sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, he received his sight, he arose and was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Seeking the Spirit’s fullness should be centered around the Holy Spirit Himself and not on any external manifestation or evidence (Stamps). Ananias… put his hand on him and called him “brother Saul.” The word “brother” here means family. They are of the same family.
Why was Ananias apprehensive? Paul was persecuting the believers. He was a fearful man. After these three days, this Jewish believer, Ananias, addresses this threatening person as a believer. But the Lord already spoke to Saul earlier that this Ananias will come to see him. So the main purpose in this scene is that Saul and Ananias are really part of the same family and that Saul will be filled with the Holy Spirit and receive his sight. So Saul’s conversion process resulted in being blinded and then receiving his sight by Ananias’ laying on of hands. Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and became born again (King James Bible Commentary).
In summary, because the Lord chose Ananias to bear His name before the gentiles, He laid hands on Saul and Saul was baptised in the Holy Spirit and became born again. In this conversion process, he was blinded and then was cured from blindness. This had to happen to confirm his ministry calling. Paul was sent by God to minister to the Gentiles, preach the gospel which is to open man’s eyes and turn from them darkness. Paul had to experience this first so that his ministry is confirmed by him being the first convert. He himself had to turn from darkness to light before he could preach it to others. The purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to have the supernatural power to open blind eyes and turn them to the light. Paul’s baptism of the Holy Spirit was evident by the power to open blind eyes. He did not have to speak in tongues to prove that he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He was simply baptized by Ananias’ laying on of hands and the evidence of this baptism was the scales falling off of his eyes and his eyes opened. The scales falling off from his eyes is the evidence that he could see the kingdom of God and because of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the eyes of his soul was opened and he could see. The was further evidence. It was not by speaking in tongues because Paul never spoke in tongues( Dennis).
In conclusion, Paul was only baptized with the Holy Spirit and there was no mention of him being baptized in water.
Baptized in Water
How was the eunuch baptised?
Acts 8:26-40
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I understand, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
How was the eunuch baptised? Acts 8:26-40
He was baptized in water.
Philip was witnessing to this ethiopian about the Prophet Isaiah. God told Philip to overtake the chariot and start talking to him. He ask him if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch said, “how can I understand unless someone guides me?” So Philip gave him understanding of what he was reading and he got convicted. He was reading Isaiah 53:7-8. Philip was sent by God to explain to Philip what he was reading. They were riding down the road and saw water.
After Philip received understanding, he wanted to be baptized. He asked Philip, “what hinders me from being baptized?” Philip said, “if you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “ I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.” Then he commanded the chariot to stop. Philip and the eunuch went into the water and Philip baptized him.
Philip told the eunuch that the scripture preached Jesus. Philip administered the baptism and baptise him in water.
In conclusion, the eunuch was baptized in water only.
Baptize in the Word
Peter explains the Pentecost
Acts 2:38-41 (NKJV)
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
Peter is addressing the multitude of Jews. He was telling them to look to the house of Israel and to know that God has made this Jesus Lord and Christ. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They said to themselves, “what shall we do?”
Peter is addressing the multitude who has the conviction of the pentecost. He was telling them that they killed the Messiah. He explained to them what they did. They are now convicted and busted. Then Peter gives them a message of hope. He tells them, “Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,”
And what is the sin? It is the sin of killing the Lord. They got busted. They proclaimed, “we have killed the Savior, the Messiah.”
Then Peter gave them a message of hope and let every Jew be baptized for the cancellation of his sin which is the murder of the Lord and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit which is to sin no more. In addition, he is telling them to be saved from this generation, this generation that crucified the Lord.
How were these people attending this sermon baptized?
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
The Jews were baptized by His word because they had receive His word gladly.
In conclusion, Saul was baptized in the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands by Ananias, but not in water. The eunuch was baptized in water by Philip only but not in the Holy Spirit. But the Jews were baptized by the preaching of Peter’s Word, but not by the laying on of hands by Ananias, nor the emersion of water by Philip, but by the preaching of Peter’s sermon. And three thousand were baptised.
What about the baptism of fire?
Matthew 3:7-12
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 13:30 (NKJV)
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
So the baptism of fire that Matthew 3:11 talks about is the baptism of judgement. This is the judgement for Jesus that separates the sheep from the goats. This is the judgement of Jesus Christ. It has yet to come. This judgement separates the tares and the wheat. When that time comes, all the tares will be burnt up in fire. He will clean out his threshing floor, gather his wheat into his barn, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
The believers are wheat. Those who are not believers are the chaff and will be burnt up. The believers are gather together. This is the judgement, the second coming, the baptism of fire.
Jesus has already release the Holy Spirit. This is the promise of the Father. He will leave us the helper, the counselor, the Holy Spirit. The second baptism of Jesus Christ is yet to come.
So when you hear the false teachers say that they have the baptism of fire, they are preaching judgement to themselves. There is no special baptism called the baptism of fire. That is a judgement of Jesus Christ. You do not want to pray the baptism of fire unto yourself because you are praying judgement unto yourself.
The judgement of fire is judgement upon the tares, the unbelievers.
In conclusion, a person can be saved by any one (1) of the three baptisms: the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or the baptism of water, or the baptism of the Word. The only baptism that brings judgement is the baptism of fire.
After learning the three baptisms, what is the best baptism for you?
The best baptism for me is the baptism of the Word, not having someone lay hands on me or having someone submerge me in water. The baptism of the Word is the true baptism because Jesus is the Word for ” in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. “ (John 1:1) “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) (Miyagi)
10 instances
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
The word “baptize” according to the Hebrew Greek study Bible is defined as to dip, immerse, submerge for religious purposes, overwhelm, saturate, to ash, to cleanse, to bathe. . It marks the object and effect of baptism, especially into or unto baptize or to be baptize into anything, meaning into the belief, profession, or observance of anything. “Unto repentance” spoken of persons means to baptize or be baptized into a profession of faith or into anyone in sincere obedience “unto Christ,” It means to be identified with what that name stands for. (Zodhiates)
The word “baptize” means to be immerse, submerge and identified into.
Revelation 19:10 states “.....for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
The Holy Spirit was associated with both purification (thus baptism) and wisdom (prophecy). The emphasis was on the ability to prophesy (speak for God under His inspiration). Luke emphasized this aspect of the Spirit almost to the exclusion of the others. (Keener 324)
Therefore, the Holy Spirit has two aspects: Purification (baptism) which is to immerse, submerge, wash, bath, identify into and more) and wisdom (prophecy in segments of ancient Judaism) (Keener 324).
The Holy Spirit was associated with both purification (thus baptism, which is to immerse, submerge, identified into). The word “prophecy” is defined as particularly prediction, the foretelling of future events, including declaration, exhortation, warnings, utter by prophets while under divine influence. The divine influence of the prophecies of the Old Testament, the warning of the book of revelations is to refer to the prophetic revelation or direction of the Holy Spirit by the person designated as the officers or teachers in the church.
Prophecy means the prophetic office, the prophetic gift spoken in the New Testament of special spiritual gift, imparted to teachers of the early church. The acting of the ambassador of God and the interpreter of his mind and will, especially the exercise of the prophetic gift and the charisma of the church.
Although the spirit produces an assortment of effects, prophecy is the most pervasive of them. (Porter)
Acts 1:5
for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
What is the baptism of the Holy Ghost? Baptism in the Holy Spirit is usually associated with the purification process, but more importantly, it is associated with wisdom or prophecy.
Acts 2:38
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
“But if it is true that the gift of the Holy Spirit is contingent upon baptism, it is remarkable that there is such a varying relation in Acts of baptism to the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:38 baptism precedes the gift of the Holy Spirit, from which it could be argued that baptism is a prerequisite for receiving the Spirit. But in Acts 8:16 baptism and the coming of the Spirit are not connected, and in Acts 8:36–39 the Ethiopian eunuch is baptized without any mention of the Holy Spirit coming upon him (see also Acts 9:17–19; 16:14–17, 31–33; 18:8; but note the variant reading to Acts 8:39). In Acts 10:44 the Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his household before their baptism takes place, whereas in Acts 18:24–26 baptism appears to be an unnecessary or at least an unmentioned element in the instruction given to Apollos. Finally, in Acts 19:5–6 it appears that the Holy Spirit is not so much conferred upon those who believe by baptism as it is by the laying on of the apostle’s hands” (Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments).
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
(for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
Acts 8:36
And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
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.
And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 22:16
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Aldwin Naruse (Miyagi)
The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship
Makaha, HI USA
Work cited
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary New Testament. Downer’s Grove:InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Porter, Stanley E. and Craig A. Evans. Dictionary of New Testament Background: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship. electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Ed. Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids. electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
Zodhiates, Spiros, Hebrew Greek key word study bible, Chattanooga: ANG publishers, 2008.
Radmacher, Earl D., Nelsons NKJV Study Bible, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers 1997
Abraham, Kenneth A., The Matthew Henry Study Bible King James Version. Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1997
Stamps, Donald C., The Full Life Study Bible King James Version, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992
King James Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. 1999.
Dennis, Lane T., ESV Study Bible, Wheaton: Crossway, 2008.
Spirit Filled Life Bible New King James Version Ed. Jack W. Hayford Litt.D. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. 1991. Print.
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