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BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT*
A popularly used phrase, which never occurs as such in the Bible. The NT always uses the verbal phrase “baptize [or baptized] in the Spirit.” That gives it a dynamic character that the noun phrase cannot fully convey.
The phrase seems to have been coined by John the Baptist: “I baptize you with water; but he [the One who is to come] will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire” (Mt 3:11; Lk 3:16; but Mk 1:8 and Jn 1:33 omit the words “and fire”). The phrase is clearly a metaphor: it stands in contrast to and as the fulfillment of John’s water baptism. It is a metaphor of judgment, as the context in Matthew and Luke makes clear. Purification or destruction in a river of fire, by a spirit of cleansing, in the fiery breath of God (“breath” and “spirit” are the same word in Hebrew), was familiar imagery in Jewish thought (Is 4:4; 30:27-28; Dn 7:10). It is also a metaphor of mercy, since the purification cleanses; after winnowing, the grain would be gathered into the barn (Mt 3:11-12). And, finally, it is a metaphor of initiation—John the Baptist’s variation on “the messianic woes,” the expectation that the messianic age would be introduced only through suffering and tribulation (e.g., Dn 7:19-22; 12:1; Zec 14:12-15; also the pseudepigraphal 1 Enoch 100:1-3).
In the book of Acts the metaphor retains the initiatory significance given it by John the Baptist. Acts 2:4 fulfills the promise of Acts 1:5. Since the outpouring of the Spirit was seen as the mark of “the last days” (Is 44:3; Ez 39:29; Jl 2:28-29), it was by being thus baptized in Spirit that the disciples began to experience the last days for themselves (Acts 2:1-7, 18). Acts 11:17 speaks of Pentecost as the occasion when they came to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. Similarly the apostle Paul sees the gift of the Spirit as the beginning of Christian experience (2 Cor 1:22; Gal 3:3), so that “having the Spirit of Christ” is the defining mark of the Christian (Rom 8:9). By being baptized in the Spirit, Cornelius and his friends received the forgiveness and salvation that Peter promised them (Acts 10:43-45; 11:13-18). “Baptized in Spirit” is there synonymous with “granted repentance unto life” (11:18) and “cleansed their hearts by faith” (15:8-9). See Baptism; Baptism of Fire; Spiritual Gifts.