The Baptism of Water and Fire
Washed, buried, raised, and filled.
GateCity School of Discipleship · Matthew 3:11
The man who was called the Great Power
Simon had been the most impressive man in Samaria for years. When he worked his magic, crowds gathered. Small and great alike said the same thing about him:
"This man is the power of God that is called Great." (Acts 8:10)
He was used to being the one people stared at.
Then Philip came preaching Christ. People were healed. Unclean spirits came out shouting. The city filled with joy, and even Simon believed and was baptized. He followed Philip everywhere, amazed at the signs.
But it was what happened next that undid him.
Peter and John came down from Jerusalem. They prayed for the new believers and laid their hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came. Picture it. If it looked anything like what Scripture shows us elsewhere, people may have staggered as if they were drunk, the way the crowd described the disciples at Pentecost. Some began to speak in tongues. Some prophesied. Some simply lifted their voices declaring the mighty works of God. Farmers and shopkeepers, people Simon had once held in his spell, were now overflowing with a power he had never touched.
Simon knew power. He had built his life on it. And he knew, standing there, that this was something altogether different, greater than anything he had ever worked. So he reached for his money:
"Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." (Acts 8:19)
Peter's rebuke was swift, because the gift of God cannot be bought. But Simon's reaction tells us something important. Whatever came through the laying on of hands in Samaria was visible, undeniable, and powerful.
So what was it?
Two baptisms
John the Baptist answered that question before Jesus ever began His ministry:
"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." (Matthew 3:11)
John points to two baptisms. One is with water. The other comes from Jesus Himself.
Baptism in water: cleansing, death, and new life
Water baptism is a public confession, but it is more than a symbol. Scripture shows it in three ways.
First, it is cleansing. When Aaron and his sons were ordained as priests, they were washed with water (Exodus 29:4). Before they ministered, they washed at the bronze basin "so that they may not die" (Exodus 30:17–21). The high priest bathed before he entered the Most Holy Place (Leviticus 16:4). God promised a day when that washing would go deeper:
"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean." (Ezekiel 36:25)
John, himself the son of a priest, took that washing out of the temple and into the Jordan, offering "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" to anyone who would come (Mark 1:4). Later Ananias would tell Paul, "Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins" (Acts 22:16).
Second, it is death.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. (Romans 6:3–4)
Paul calls it a circumcision made without hands, the putting off of the flesh (Colossians 2:11–12). Going under the water is a burial. The old self does not get improved. It gets buried.
Third, it is resurrection. We are buried
in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
We come up out of the water having "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27), like a priest stepping into clean garments. We are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Baptism in the Spirit: power for the work
If water baptism speaks of new birth, the baptism Jesus gives speaks of empowerment:
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses." (Acts 1:8)
These are not the same experience. On the evening of His resurrection, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). That is very likely when they were born again. Yet weeks later He told those same disciples to wait in Jerusalem, because they would "be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). At Pentecost they were filled, and they spoke in other tongues (Acts 2:4).
The Samaritans in Simon's city tell the same story. They believed and were baptized in water, yet the Spirit "had not yet fallen on any of them" until Peter and John laid hands on them (Acts 8:16–17).
It is possible to be truly born again and not yet filled with the Spirit.
No formula, two ways
The book of Acts refuses to give us a rigid order. Sometimes the Spirit comes through the laying on of hands: in Samaria, through Ananias praying for Saul (Acts 9:17), and in Ephesus, where Paul baptized about twelve disciples in the name of Jesus and laid his hands on them:
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Acts 19:6)
Other times the Spirit simply falls. In Caesarea, while Peter was still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on everyone listening in Cornelius's house. They spoke in tongues and extolled God, and only afterward were they baptized in water (Acts 10:44–48). Some call it the Gentile Pentecost.
Water then Spirit. Spirit then water. Hands laid on, or no hands at all. God is not bound to a sequence. What stays consistent is that the filling is real, it is noticeable, and it is often accompanied by the gifts of the Spirit.
Keep on being filled
This is not a one-time event you either got or missed. The same disciples filled at Pentecost were filled again in Acts 4:31 when they prayed, and they spoke the word with boldness.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)
The Greek verb plērousthe is a present imperative, which carries the sense of "keep on being filled." It is passive, meaning it is something we receive, not something we manufacture. It is plural, a command to the whole church together. And the comparison to wine is intentional. Just as someone can stay under the influence of wine, we are called to live continually under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Simon saw that power and tried to buy it. We are invited to receive it freely, again and again.
Your next step
If you have never been baptized in water, take that step of cleansing, burial, and new life. If you have been born again but have never been filled with the Spirit, ask. Jesus said the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13). And if you have been filled before, ask again. There is always more.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.