Part 13

Baptism Gives The Holy Spirit

Titus 3:5–6 (ESV) —  “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior”

In this month’s newsletter article we’re going to look at a few Bible verses that lay out the very simple and yet somehow controversial truth: “Baptism gives the Holy Spirit.” 

In January, our newsletter series ran down a Christmassy rabbit trail as we took a break from looking at how God uses the Means of Grace to give the Holy Spirit. Since it’s a prominent theme at Christmas, we took at quick look at how the Holy Spirit’s work of renewal and re-creation (which Christians usually call “regeneration” to avoid having it confused with the idolatrous idea of reincarnation) is similar to His work of creation and how both of those things are subsets of His overall mission: giving life. 

Before we ran down that side-road though, we had spent a few months exploring the idea that the Holy Spirit is given to believers through the Means of Grace. We haven’t even begun to explore His gracious presence in the Lord’s Supper, and we’ve only briefly hit on the Scriptural testimonies that lay out that the Holy Spirit is given through the preaching of the Gospel (example: Galatians 3:2-3). We have, however, spent quite a bit of time beginning to defend the claim that “Baptism gives the Holy Spirit.” 

Truthfully though, most of what we’ve done so far has been defending this claim from some of the more common attacks that are launched against it. So far, my articles on Baptism and the Holy Spirit have had to do a lot of “destroying arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Now that we’ve removed a few of the more common objections, it’s time to lay out the simple truth “Baptism gives the Holy Spirit” from the Scriptures that promise it. 

This article, then, will explore a few verses that do just that. We’ll examine in detail what they say and we’ll acknowledge also the boundaries of their meaning so we don’t add to them and pretend they say things that they actually don’t. 

Titus 3:5-6

I would argue that this verse is one of the most obvious testimonies in the Bible to the fact that Christian Baptism brings with it the gifts of the Holy Spirit (which it says are “poured out richly” onto the new believer) and rebirth (which ESV here has translated “regeneration”). That is why the headline verse for this article is Titus 3:5-6. In these two verses the Holy Spirit wrote for us an explanation that our salvation was accomplished by something done to us, not something done by us. Our salvation was accomplished by something the Holy Spirit did to us, and this saving was done “through the washing of regeneration.” Verse 6 goes on to say that the same Spirit who regenerates and renews us is also “richly poured upon us.” Though it uses slightly different words to say it, the message of these two verses is unmistakable. Through Christian Baptism, new believers receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is poured out richly upon them. 

That message should be unmistakable, but unfortunately is sometimes mistaken or twisted. 

Critics of this interpretation will point out that the word “baptize” does not literally appear in the text, therefore this text cannot be interpreted to be speaking of Christian baptism. This is a simplistic argument, but it's both common enough and potentially convincing (misleading?) enough that I have actually avoided using this verse as a prooftext in these articles. I didn’t want to throw it out there without dealing with the objections to it. 

The Greek word “baptizo”, which we translate “baptize”, means to dip, plunge, drench or even drown. In the classical use of the word, there was often a sense in which the thing “baptized” is overwhelmed. For example, some of the ancient uses of this word described men being drowned or ships being sunk. 

Christians use the word “baptize” in a technical sense though. In Christ, to “baptize” something isn’t only to immerse it (consider 1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Our use of the word “baptize” or “baptism” has an additional layer of meaning attached to it that goes beyond the ancient, classical sense. Christian baptism both entails the drowning of the old man (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12, Romans 7:9, Galatians 2:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17), and the washing of the new. Christian Baptism isn’t only physical immersion of the old man. Christian Baptism is primarily a Spiritual washing, bringing with it resurrection, renewal, and regeneration of the new, saved man (Romans 6:5). 

Colossians 2:12 (ESV) —  having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

So Christian Baptism is not only a drowning as the word “baptizo” might be thought of. For us, the word “baptize” is a technical term that includes both drowning the old and receiving the new. Often this “receiving the new” is described as including “washing away your sins”, because the new creation stands righteous before God (Romans 3:24, 4:5, 5:1, 8:30, 10:10, 1 Corinthians 6:11, etc.).

Acts 22:16 (ESV) —  And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

Acts 22:16 describes one event that had at least 2 effects. Paul’s old man was drowned and his sins were washed away. Titus 3:5-6 describes the same event and the same “washing” with more detail about the effects. In Baptism, your sins are spiritually washed away and you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Any argument that says Titus 3:5-6 is not talking about Christian Baptism is pedantic nit-picking and misses the broader connections. 

Simply put, Titus 3:5-6 says that the Holy Spirit is spiritually poured onto people when the waters of Baptism are blessed by the triune name of our God and poured onto sinners in need of salvation. Baptism gives the Holy Spirit, so says the Holy Spirit in Titus 3:5-6. 

1 Peter 3:21

1 Peter 3:21 (NET) —  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

We’ve covered this verse extensively in prior articles, so I am not going to list popular objections we’ve dealt with before. Let’s simply note that this verse literally says that “baptism saves you” and it also explicitly clarifies that a spiritual, not physical, salvation is in view. 

This then necessitates that believers receive the Holy Spirit through Baptism. 

Romans 10:10 (ESV) —  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

1 Corinthians 12:2–3 (ESV) —  You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.  Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 

Baptism saves. The saved are able to believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. No one can confess with their mouth (nor believe in their heart, 1 Corinthians 2:10-14) that “Jesus is Lord” except by the power of the Holy Spirit. Basically, you cannot be in the state and category of “saved” without the gift of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to write “baptism saves” it was logically synonymous with saying “baptism gives the Holy Spirit.” 

The obvious pushback to this is that I am using a logical equation to come to this conclusion, and human logic is always suspect. I will grant that point. Logic is the blow-torch of theological tools. It seems like it should be easy to use, but it’s also pretty easy to misuse it and create all kinds of unintended problems. So we need to be careful with how boldly we argue our conclusions when we’ve had to assemble a bunch of human logic to get to them. Caveats aside though, I think the logic on this one is pretty tight. 

God wants us to see that His salvation is not a piecemeal deal. He saves, renews, justifies, washes, forgives, and gives the Holy Spirit all as a gift, and all as one gift: salvation. 

Acts 2:38

Acts 2:38 (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.

This is one of the verses that I have leaned on quite a bit as we’ve explored the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Baptism. It’s easy to see why. This verse includes an explicit promise that “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” What are the instructions Peter gives to the crowd? “Repent and be baptized.” 

Now, the astute observer will notice that it doesn’t only say “be baptized”, but instead says “repent and be baptized.” We’ve dealt with this somewhat in prior articles, so I won’t dive too far into it, but there are a few important caveats to add here. 

Baptism is not a magical rite. When the Church baptizes someone, we are not conjuring the Holy Spirit, nor are we bending Him to our will by chanting and throwing water. The fact that Peter puts the active imperative “repent!” right next to the passive imperative to “be baptized” shows us that Peter isn’t just telling them to “be baptized and you’ll be good.” Baptism is not a form of sorcery whereby we make something spiritual happen. It’s important that we remain clear on that. When we say “Baptism gives the Holy Spirit”, we aren’t saying that “baptism is the recipe you use to make the Holy Spirit save someone.” 

What we intend to communicate when we say “Baptism gives the Holy Spirit” is that Christian Baptism is the means through which God saves people and gives them the Holy Spirit. Baptism is not an alternative form of salvation that is an alternative to salvation by faith. Baptism is an integral part of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. This is why Peter sets the passive action of receiving Baptism right alongside the active action of repenting (which is living in faith). They are parts of the same salvation. 

Baptism isn’t something we do to direct the Holy Spirit. Baptism is something we do because He directs the Church. Baptism is His gracious work through us. Through Baptism, the gifts of salvation are given to lost sinners. These gifts include the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides and empowers our repentance (Galatians 5:16-25, 1 Corinthians 3:12-17, 6:12-20). 

You can lose the gift of salvation even after it’s given in Christian Baptism. If you resume living a faithless and unrepentant life, the Holy Spirit will eventually leave you and even turn and become your enemy (Isaiah 63:10, 1 Samuel 16:14). Peter is not calling the crowd to receive the rite of baptism and then keep on sinning as if nothing had happened. He’s calling them to receive the awesome gift of the Holy Spirit and new life and then to live out this gift they’ve been given (Romans 7:6, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 5:17, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:9-10, etc.) The need to continue in repentant faith is obvious. We don’t deny the need for faith and neither do we contradict it when we say “Baptism gives the Holy Spirit.” 

Everyone that has been baptized into the name of the Father, Son Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) has been given the Holy Spirit. Everyone who continues to live in repentant faith still has that gift. That gift unites us all and places us all, together, on the level ground at the foot of the cross. None of us earned it. We all just graciously received it. And we can all know with all the certainty of the Bible that we have received it, because the Bible promises that Christian Baptism gives it.

Next month we will look at how this gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit unites all Christians.