Please explain the “baptism of fire.”<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
The concept of a baptism of fire comes from a statement made by John the Baptist. “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. 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<\/em>” (Matthew 3:10-12 and also in Luke 3:16-17). This is the only time the concept of baptism is connected with fire.<\/p>\n From the full statement, we see that fire here deals with the separation of the just from the wicked and the eternal punishment of the wicked. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is for the just, but the baptism in fire is for the wicked. Basically John is stating that he, as a prophet of God, was given authority to convert people. But Jesus would be greater than he because Jesus has the authority to both convert people and to destroy the unconverted. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell<\/em>” (Matthew 10:28).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Please explain the “baptism of fire.” Thank you. Answer: The concept of a baptism of fire comes from a statement made by John the Baptist. “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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,410,76],"class_list":["post-13245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-judgment","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14284,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-was-johns-baptism-different-from-jesus-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":13245,"position":0},"title":"How was John’s baptism different from Jesus’ baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some questions about John's baptism. I've read about how it was a fulfillment of prophecy to prepare the way, but I'm really confused about what that really means and what the point of John's baptism was. I am curious about a few things: What does \"preparing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27015,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-i-receive-the-baptism-of-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":13245,"position":1},"title":"Did I receive the baptism of fire?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Last night my pastor opened an altar call for the baptism of fire. After I received the baptism I felt as if I had a sunburn coming from the inside out. Have you ever heard of this experience before, or was I just wanting a sign from God and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14999,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-baptism-is-referred-to-as-the-one-baptism-of-ephesians-45\/","url_meta":{"origin":13245,"position":2},"title":"Which Baptism Is Referred to as the One Baptism of Ephesians 4:5?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Adapted from an article by Clem Thurman in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 20, May 16, 2008. Question: Which baptism is referred to as the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5? Answer: Some people want to refer to this baptism as a spiritual baptism. I have never been able to understand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0006-10-300x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-receiving-the-holy-spirit-mean-baptism-in-water-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":13245,"position":3},"title":"Does receiving the Holy Spirit mean baptism in water is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have another friend that believes you don't need water baptism because once you believe that's when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and that's when you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. She gave me theses Scriptures: Acts 11:14-16, Acts 11:47-48, Matthew 3:11-15, Acts 10:44-48, Titus 3:5,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-know-of-the-baptism-of-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":13245,"position":4},"title":"Do you know of the baptism of fire?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you know of the baptism of fire? Answer: See:\u00a0Please explain the \"baptism of fire.\" Question: [unedited] So do you want to know how it is done?\u00a0 It has to do with following in the footsteps of Christ and the commitments you make along the way\u2026 for me I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-say-he-was-not-sent-to-baptize\/","url_meta":{"origin":13245,"position":5},"title":"Why did Paul say he was not sent to baptize?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, First, I would like to say thank you for your work and effort in spreading the gospel. I really enjoy reading things from your site. I'm writing about baptism. I once wrote a pastor about baptism. I was having difficulty believing it was necessary for salvation. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}