40 Mt 3.11, Two peoples, two baptisms
Matthew 3:11-12 (ESV)
^11 “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.
^12 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.”
Parallel passages: Mk 1.8 and Lk 3.16.
Two peoples, two baptisms: Holy Spirit baptism for believers, and fire/judgment/destruction baptism for unbelievers. This fits the context of the preceding and succeeding verses.
The parallelism of Vs 12 is this:
- Gather his wheat into the barn = baptise with the Holy Spirit.
- Burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire = baptise with fire.
The "fire baptism" does not refer to Pentecost, as some say, because the "fire" at Pentecost was not actual fire but tongues that looked like fire.
In Ac 1.5 Jesus indicated the baptism of/by the Holy Spirit would soon occur. In Ac 11.16 Peter interpreted the first part, that the baptism with/by the Holy Spirit meant the indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit within each believer beginning at Pentecost.
Those in agreement include John MacArthur and John William McGarvey.