Part 10

Can You Receive the Holy Spirit Through Baptism?

1 Peter 3:18–22 (NET) — Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit. In it he went and preached to the spirits in prison, after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water. And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you—not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to him.

The Need To Be United to Christ

Last month my article focused on the basic truth that both faith and the indwelling Holy Spirit must come from outside of us. If we could only create saving faith in our hearts all by ourselves, then we could make ourselves worthy to receive the Holy Spirit. Regrettably we can’t do that, because without the Holy Spirit the natural man cannot even comprehend the things of God (1 Cor 2:14), let alone believe them. Prior to salvation, our conscience is unrighteous and defiled. We’re not capable of attracting the Holy Spirit to us or rightly trusting Him. On the contrary, apart from Christ, our unforgiven sin is alienating to Him (Isaiah 63:10).

The state of mankind (under its own power) looks like a tragic downward spiral. Jesus grabs us from that dark and downward trajectory and rescues us.

Ephesians 2:5–6 (ESV) — [God], even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Notice though, that in that text that our salvation is described in terms that go beyond calling us “purified” and “forgiven.” When we are saved, not only are we washed, made holy and made righteous (1 Corinthians 6:11), we’re also united with Jesus (Romans 6:5) and “seated together with Him” (Ephesians 2:6). This “unity” with Christ is an essential feature of our salvation.

We’re saved because our identity is hidden with Christ (Colossians 3:3). He shelters us in Himself, clothing us with His robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10, Revelation 7:9). This robe is righteous because it’s been cleaned by His shed blood (Revelation 7:14).

Baptism Unites Us To Christ

Scripture testifies to us that this unity with Christ, which is an essential feature and blessing of our salvation, is given through Baptism.

Galatians 3:27 (ESV) — For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

The main thrust of Paul’s argument in Galatians is actually that the indwelling Holy Spirit and saving faith come through hearing the Word of God and the faith it creates and maintains (not through works of the law). In short, the Word of God is the means that God uses to create faith and give the gift of the Holy Spirit. The central argument in Galatians is that the Word saves and gives the indwelling Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:2). Here though, (in Galatians 3:27) the Holy Spirit powerfully reminds us that anyone who has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) has been positioned “in Christ” and has “put on Christ.” Baptism, like the Word, is a means of grace. We know this because the Word promises us that it is. Really then, Christian baptism is an extension of God’s Word.

A Closer Look at Galatians 3:27

A few pedantic things need to be said about this verse in Galatians though. Baptism is widely misunderstood in American Christianity, and with a heavy heart, it has to be admitted that it is often taught with little regard to what the Scriptures actually say about it.

The word “baptized” is passive voice, as it almost always is in the New Testament. Paul’s use of the passive voice instead of the active means Paul was, once again, showing that baptism is something that people receive. Christians are not and cannot be the primary actor in their baptism. Since many places in Scripture equate baptism with salvation (Galatians 3:27 being one of them), any type of teaching or insistence that people “earn” or “be qualified” for baptism is actually an attack on salvation by grace alone.

It’s unfortunately common for writers of systematic theology textbooks to take the passive verb of “be baptized” and turn it into an active idea. The doctrine of “believer’s baptism” is a result of this sadly common error.

Churches that adhere to “believer’s baptism” only baptize adults upon their public profession of faith. This practice, like all church practices, teaches something. Many will explicitly say it in their doctrinal statements while others will not, but what is really being taught by “believer’s baptism” is that baptism is nothing more than a public act of obedience that functions as a public profession of faith. The central actor in a “believer’s baptism” is the believer.

The central actor in a biblical baptism is Jesus. His Word promises salvation through baptism (1 Peter 3:21). His Holy Spirit is given and received through baptism (Acts 2:38). We are promised that Christ Himself has been “put on” us if we are baptized (Galatians 3:27).

Interestingly enough though, even though our English translations of Galatians 3:27 make the verb “put on” active, the underlying Greek that Paul wrote was not active. Greek has a “middle” voice that is neither “active” nor “passive”. Instead of saying “The bat hit the ball” (active) or “The ball was hit by the bat” (passive), the middle abstains from commenting on who did the doing. The point of the middle is simply to emphasize that an event has happened.

Now, in this specific instance, the “middle” voice is also reflexive, meaning it was an action that they both did and received unto themselves. Again though, when we think about how to translate this, we need to somehow acknowledge that even though Paul could have made this active voice (i.e. “You grabbed Christ and put Christ on yourself”), Paul’s use of the middle voice instead of the active voice shows that at least to some degree, their “putting on of Christ” was something done to them, while they also participated in and cooperated with (and did not successfully resist) the “putting on” of Christ.

Ok, all that pedantic talk aside, here’s what Galatians 3:27 says- Jesus grabs us from our dark and downward spiral and then unites us to Himself, and He does it through baptism.

The “putting on” of Jesus is a spiritual thing, not a physical. This means that physical sensation will not inform you if you “have Christ on” in the same way that physical sensation can tell if you have a coat on. This is one of the reasons the biblical promises attached to baptism are such an incredible gift. Baptism is the promises of God being attached to a physical means so that you can know that you have put on Christ. Salvation is not earned through our works (Ephesians 2:8, 2 Corinthians 3:5, Romans 11:6), so therefore works are no solid basis for judging or having assurance of your salvation. Baptism gives a tangible sign to you, from God, that His promises (which are given in His Word) have been applied directly to you.

If you have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then you can know that you’ve “put on Christ” and you are now “hidden in Him” (Colossians 3:3) and “united with Him” (Romans 6:5). Those are all quotes, from the Bible, about what Christian baptism accomplishes. Christian baptism is Jesus claiming, marking, and regenerating people into salvation in His name.

So Baptism Saves?

Baptism is primarily an act of God whereby God imparts a spiritual salvation to those who receive it. First Peter 3:18-22 quite literally says this.

There are a lot of systematic theologies that comment on this verse and twist the meaning or miss the point entirely (Wayne Grudem, Millard Erickson, others). The Holy Spirit, through Peter, so clearly explains that Christian baptism is a means through which God saves that they have to twist the meaning of this verse in order to continue defending “believer’s baptism.” Tragically, the doctrines of “salvation by grace alone” and “scripture alone” are also wrecked through their twisting. Grudem, for example, does not deny that the salvation in view is a spiritual one, but credits the saving power to an “inward spiritual state.” He desires so much to tear down any notion that baptism is a physical ceremony that magically saves (which we also would deny) that Grudem credits someone’s “inward spirituality” for their salvation (Systematic Theology, Grudem, 1994 p.974).

If your inward spirituality were capable of saving you, you would not need saving. If you teach that your inward spiritual state can save you, you are teaching salvation by works. Yet the irrationality and doctrinal incoherence of his argument are not its worst features. Grudem’s lax and creative exegesis of the text is.

His failure lies in his treatment of the Greek word ἐπερώτημα. The word in question is translated “appeal” by the ESV, but translated as “pledge” (which I prefer and so used above) by the NET and the NIV and a few others. If it’s an “appeal”, then baptism sounds like something that an already saved soul would do. After all, to receive salvation is to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Without The Holy Spirit we cannot comprehend the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14), and so would be incapable of “appealing” to Him. If someone has the Holy Spirit and can understand the things of God well enough to “appeal” to God, what “saving” is left to be done? If the “appeal” in 1 Peter 3:21 is done by a heart with a proper “inward spiritual state,” why would they need saving? If Grudem’s view is correct, Peter is talking nonsense.

The Greek word ἐπερώτημα in 1 Peter 3:21 is much better translated as “pledge” than appeal. Even better yet would be “authoritative pronouncement” or “legal pronouncement.” A deep dive into the lexicons (nerds: see LSJ) reveals that this word, when used in the ancient Greek, was almost always used to describe a pronouncement from a powerful person to someone underneath them. Some examples used it in a courtroom setting while others used it to describe a letter from a King to someone underneath him. Usually, it’s a communication from authority or power downward.

So the ”pledge” made in 1 Peter 3:21 is not from us to God. The “pledge” or “pronouncement” is from God to us, and it’s a pronouncement of a “good conscience toward God,” which is a description of righteousness. More literally what 1 Peter 3:21 says is that baptism is not a washing off of dirt but is a pronouncement of a clear conscience. We’re passive in our baptism, so God must be the actor. In baptism He’s not washing dirt off us, He’s giving us a clean record in the spiritual courtroom.

Peter’s point is that baptism gives us a spiritual salvation, not a physical one. If you narrowly focus on verse 21 and you narrowly translate the Greek word as “appeal” instead of “pledge”, you might be able to miss this. But everything the Holy Spirit has written for us in verses 18-20 make it clear that Peter is giving an explanation of spiritual salvation. Just as the ark was the means of salvation that God used to save Noah and his crew from physical death, Christian baptism is the means that God employs to deliver spiritual salvation to Christians. Verse 18 literally says that Christ “brought us to God” and that this corresponds to Noah and his crew being “brought safely through water.” The water we were brought through in our baptism is the water of God’s righteous wrath against sin.

Baptism saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21). This is a simple and undeniable scriptural truth.

Can Baptism Give The Holy Spirit Then?

There are a multitude of doctrinal issues about baptism that are important to address, and this newsletter article will not be able to address them all. For this month, we will have to settle with simply posing the questions: “Is it right to say that baptism saves?” and “Is it even possible that the Holy Spirit could be given in baptism?”

First Peter 3:21 demands that we acknowledge the saving power of baptism, so we’ll leave that at that. Note also though Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12 which add depth to that doctrine.

Can baptism give the Holy Spirit? Well, logic would seem to demand that since the Holy Spirit is given to the saved, and since Christian baptism is a means that God uses to save (1 Peter 3:21), then it would necessarily follow that receiving Christian baptism would also entail receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Logic, however, is never as foolproof as it may seem. Whenever systematic theology is done or taught using exclusively logic to come to it’s conclusions, it is immediately suspect. Logic is always subject to the limitations and potential errors of the one doing the reasoning.

So we shouldn’t trust logic alone to tell us that baptism imparts the Holy Spirit, though logically speaking, we would expect that to be the case. If we are to claim that the Holy Spirit is given in baptism, we must have some special revelation from God to make that claim.

Enter this- Acts 2:38–39 (ESV) — And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Remember how I said that baptism is really an extension of the promises given to us in Scripture? Right there in Acts 2:38 is our promise that baptism imparts the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Peter even called it a promise. Furthermore, Peter preached that this promise is to be offered to everyone.

Not only is it possible that the gift of the Holy Spirit could be given in Christian baptism, Peter promises it to all repentant believers in Christ.

Now there are many other important things to understand about this. We aren’t teaching that the water itself has some mystical or magical power to it. The power of all of this is the power of Jesus Christ which He is wielding through His Word.

Furthermore, none of these Scriptures are teaching that baptism replaces faith in Jesus. Lutherans are often accused of replacing faith with the act of baptism and therefore teaching a heretical doctrine that is something like “salvation by grace through baptism alone”. This is not a true representation of what we teach regarding baptism though. An in-depth dive into that will have to wait until next month however.

For this month, it is enough that we find comfort in the promises of Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38 and 1 Peter 3:21: if you have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit has been promised to you, and with it, the gift of faith.