Jesus and the Spirit – Matthew 3:11-17

My senior year in high school was amazing from the standpoint of learning more about being a Christian. I was sharing my faith and people were responding with challenges to my theology. Can you really lose your salvation? Don’t you have to be baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues? What a great learning experience! But also an unsettling experience. What is this Spirit baptism thing? And what does it mean to be baptized in fire? That sounds strange.

“I baptize you with water for 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 fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:11-17 ESV)

The one whom John is not worthy to carry his sandals, who will both baptize with judgment (fire) for unbelievers and the Holy Spirit for believers, comes to John for baptism.  John tries to prevent this because his baptism is one of repentance in anticipation of Jesus’ coming.  He recognizes his inherent sinfulness and need of baptism by Jesus but submits to Jesus’ request as it “fulfills all righteousness.”  That is, it introduces God’s Messiah and His making of all things right through Him.  Jesus is the embodiment of the kingdom, its ruling king, its inaugurator, who must first go to the cross to purchase our way into his kingdom.

The Father acknowledges the Son’s unique relationship to Him by sending the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove to anoint him for ministry.  Each member of the Trinity is equally God, sharing the one, undivided essence of deity, and each in intimate relationship with the other without jealousy or conflict, with perfect love and unity.  But the Son has now taken on human nature in addition to his divine nature and is tasked with accomplishing redemption.  The Holy Spirit is tasked with applying that redemption to those who believe, being sent by the Son upon believers, baptizing them in the Spirit, to make them effective servants of Jesus.

The Scriptures make it clear that we have all been baptized in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13,14) and so introduced into all the ministries of the Spirit, including sealing (Ephesians 1:13), filling (Acts 2:4), gifting (1 Cor 12), and anointing (2 Corinthians 1:21,22).  We are marked out by the Father as belonging to Him and to the Son by the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in us.