Are We Baptized with Fire?
“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. 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 3:11-12 NKJV)
I have read what some believers wrote about the passage above, saying that we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. I imagine that many well-intentioned preachers are also preaching this passionately in a loud voice to their congregation.
They totally misunderstood what being baptized with fire means.
If you read the passage above carefully, you will notice that the sentence about the baptism of Holy Spirit and fire is parallel to the next sentence.
In the next sentence, the “Holy Spirit” is a parallel with God’s “wheat” being gathered into the barn, while “fire” is a parallel with the “chaff” being burnt up with unquenchable fire.
The baptism of fire is not a good thing to experience!
When we read the Amplified Bible translation of the passage, the meaning becomes very clear:
““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). His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat (believers) into His barn (kingdom), but He will burn up the chaff (the unrepentant) with unquenchable fire.”” (Matthew 3:11-12 AMP)
The word “baptize” means “to immerse”, like when you dive into a pool, you are immersed with water.
Believers are baptized with the Holy Spirit, whereas unbelievers will be baptized with the fires of Hell and the lake of fire.
The wages of sin is death, and sin has to be punished. Being burnt by the fires of Hell is the way which unbelievers have to pay for their sins, since they rejected the payment which Jesus made on their behalf; it is not set to their account. This fiery eternal torment is what being baptized with fire means.
Therefore a person cannot be baptized with both the Holy Spirit and with fire—it is only one or the other, depending on whether he receives or rejects Jesus as Lord.
So please, don’t tell believers that they have to be baptized with fire, for being burnt up like chaff in unquenchable fire is NOT their portion!
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