Baptized in the Holy Ghost: A Meditation on Luke 3 for the 1st Sunday in Epiphany

And as the people were in expectation,

and all men mused in their hearts of John,

whether he were the Christ, or not;

John answered, saying unto them all,

I indeed baptize you with water;

but one mightier than I cometh,

the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose:

he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Whose fan is in his hand,

and he will thoroughly purge his floor,

and will gather the wheat into his garner;

but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

 

There may be few things that make Lutherans more uncomfortable than a topic framed up as Baptism in the Holy Ghost, but since John the Baptist under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said it about Jesus, we should take some time to understand it.  And like all things regarding Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we should keep our considerations rooted in Scripture rather than our own speculations… pious as they may be.

 

In the context of this passage, St. Luke is reminding us of just who John the Baptist was:  a prophet and forerunner of the Messiah, but not the Messiah himself.  John was clear in his teaching that he was to prepare the way of the Lord, to make His paths straight, as prophesied by Isaiah almost 600 years earlier.  When people asked him if he was the Messiah, he flatly told them no, but pointed them to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  While Jesus would declare that no prophet born of women was greater than John the Baptist, John was clear that the One who should really be the focus of their attention was Jesus.  He was the One who was coming to fulfill all the prophecies, to save Israel and the whole world from their sins, and to baptize the world with the Holy Ghost and with fire.  Jesus’ fan is in His hand (a tool used to separate wheat from chaff on the threshing floor) so that the wheat might be preserved, and the chaff be burned with unquenchable fire.

 

So the first thing we might want to separate is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire.  While Pentecost is described by Luke later in the Book of Acts as the Holy Spirit descending like tongues of flame upon the Apostles who then spoke with varied tongues to declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a multinational crowd, that is not the direct reference made here.  The baptism of the Holy Ghost would appear to correlate with the wheat which are preserved when the Lord returns in judgement, and the fire to correspond with the unquenchable flame which consumes the chaff.  While the first is an image of salvation in heaven and the resurrection to eternal life, the second is an image of condemnation in hell and the resurrection unto eternal perdition.  Jesus is at the center of that judgement as the One who both gives eternal life, and the One who says, depart from Me… I never knew you.  Thus the baptism of the Holy Ghost is to be baptized into Christ, just as He indicated at the end of Luke’s Gospel, and directly commanded at the end of Matthew’s Gospel.  Baptism in the Holy Ghost is the Baptism that Jesus instituted as He told His disciples to make more disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything Jesus had taught them, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and promising that He would abide with them unto the end of the age.  This would be water joined to the promise of Jesus’ Word which creates the faith that receives His grace so that, as John would record in His Gospel, Jesus’ disciples would be those who were born again—born from above—by water and Spirit.

 

Without having to wander into any peculiar theological speculations, we can see that Baptism in the Holy Ghost is Christian Baptism, the means established by Jesus for His disciples to be grafted into Him by grace through faith, and through which all His blessings, gifts, and empowerment to live in His grace are found.  It is not our action which does this, but the Holy Spirit working through the Word of Jesus accomplishes what it says, because the Word of the Lord always accomplishes what He sends it out to do.  And yet, not all who hear His Word accept, believe, or trust in it, and so the Word accomplishes its secondary mission, too:  it will harden the hearts of those who refuse to believe so that their judgement and condemnation are clear and just.  The Word of the Lord will always do its work of Law and Gospel as it calls all people to Faith and Repentance.  To those who believe repent, it is a Word of Gospel grace and everlasting life, but on those who reject Him, it is a Word of Law which burns with eternal fire.

 

The Season of Epiphany is a season of light and revelation, most especially the light and revelation of Jesus.  It is Jesus who came to us on that first Christmas morning so that He might come to us now in the fullness of His Word, giving to us life in never-ending abundance.  But neither should we be deceived into thinking that rejecting Him or His Word comes without consequence, for there is no other Name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, and no other Word by which we might be born again.  It is Jesus alone who calls to us that we might be Baptized into His Holy Spirit by grace through faith in Him alone, just as it is His Word which will judge the whole unbelieving world at the end of days.  Hear Him, repent, believe, and live, for:

 

He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

Whose fan is in his hand,

and he will thoroughly purge his floor,

and will gather the wheat into his garner;

but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

 

Amen.