Wednesday Bible Study: The heat is on

Today we go to Luke 3:16- which is a bit earlier in the same story we had in Matthew.  John the Baptist is preaching, and Jesus has not yet entered the water.  The repentant have been asking John what they must do, and he has been answering; and by his great teaching, unknown in Israel for about 500 years, people are beginning to wonder if HE is the Christ, the messiah promised by Moses, promised since the Garden of Eden.  And John knows it.  A man NOT led by God might say, "Now here's my chance."  But John, in the spirit and power of the Prophet Elijah, said this instead:

Luk 3:16  John answered, saying to all, `I indeed with water do baptise you, but he cometh who is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his sandals--he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire; 

Now, for me the teaching moment is the phrase, "and fire".  What did he mean here?  This is a question that the commentators debated as well.

First thing I did was look into the word "fire".  The translation goes as follows:

A primary word; “fire” (literally or figuratively, specifically lightning): - fiery, fire.

And I wondered if there was a significance to the "lightning" aspect.  So I thought of the Biblical incidences of God's fire:  The flaming sword of the Cherubim at Eden, the covenant with Abraham, the destruction of Sodom, the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples, the aspect of Jesus who speaks to John in Revelation.  And I found nothing- the NT version was standard, the OT was much the same, without the lightning part.  The only one that was different- well, look at the list I gave you, and see if you catch which one was slightly different, and I'll bring it up at the end.  But basically, we don't gain new insight from translation.

So I next turn to logical thinking.  There are three ways one can take this, in my opinion.  The first is that it is referring to the ASPECT of the Spirit at their Spirit-baptism in Acts, when "like unto flames" settled on their heads.  In other words, he was prophesying the way the Spirit would baptize them.  I really don't think that is what this is.  For one thing, we don't see a whole lot of baptisms that feature the "like unto flame" anymore.  That was a special gift to the early believers for their encouragement, so I don't think John would focus on that.  Indeed, in the next verse, he uses a far different meaning for fire:

Luk 3:17  whose winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather the wheat to his storehouse, and the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.' 

Which leads me to a second interpretation.  Knowing that he had both "sheep and goats" in his audience, he was giving you TWO kinds of people getting two kinds of Baptism.  The repentant being baptized in the Spirit, and the evil being baptized in unquenchable flame.  Now there is a certain sense to that, but I don't think that John was heading there, either.  For one thing, a baptism is an immersion that one comes OUT of... and those John talked about in v17 weren't going to be coming out of anything.

And that brings us to the third, and I think John's meaning.  We all know the term that comes from this verse, "baptism of fire".  Which means you have to go through something bad to get to someplace better.  The gift of the Holy Spirit promised by John is not one of protection FROM trials- it is strength and comfort both given and learned THROUGH trials.  In fact, in Mark 10, Jesus addresses just that thing:

From the ERV:  Mar 10:28  Peter said to Jesus, "We left everything to follow you!" 

Mar 10:29  Jesus said, "I can promise that everyone who has left their home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farm for me and for the Good News about me 

Mar 10:30  will get a hundred times more than they left. Here in this world they will get more homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and farms. And with these things they will have persecutions. But in the world that is coming they will also get the reward of eternal life. 

And that is what we learn here- the same thing the Lord's brother James told us in his letter:

Jas 1:2  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 

Jas 1:3  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 

Jas 1:4  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

So you see, this is a very basic, easy- and a bit unpleasant- lesson.

Oh, and the different meaning?  That was the flaming sword from Genesis.  That definition could be poetically put as, "enwrapped in the supernatural."  Hmmm...