40 BAPTISM, The One, C. H. Cayce Brother Wesley Mainer, of Paris, Ark., requests us to explain Eph. 4:5 (the one baptism), in connection with Acts 18:24-25 (John’s baptism); Luke 12:50 (Christ’s baptism); Luke 1:8 (Spirit baptism); Matt. 28:19-20 (commission baptism); Matt. 3:11 (fire baptism). He says, “Please explain and say what one is to be used in this age.”
The baptism mentioned in Ephesians is the ONE baptism which puts one into Christ, or makes one a member of the mystical body of Christ. It makes one a child of God. It is done by one Spirit. See 1 Cor. 12:13. The baptism mentioned in Acts 18:24-25 is water baptism. That mentioned in Luke 12:50 was a baptism of suffering. Jesus was to be baptized or overwhelmed in suffering. None of His children ever endure such suffering as He did.
There is no baptism mentioned in Luke 1:8, but we suppose Mark 1:8 is the text referred to. This is a baptism of the Holy Spirit, and may have reference to the outpouring of the Spirit in a miraculous way, as on Pentecost. The baptism in Matt. 28:19-20 and Mark 16:16 is the same, and is water baptism. They were commanded to baptize in water. The baptism of fire, in Matt. 3:11, is a purifying, a purging or burning of evil. This is going on now and is by the Holy Spirit. “Our God is a consuming fire.” “He shall sit as a refiner’s fire.”
From the foregoing we have this conclusion: There is just one baptism which puts sinners into Christ, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit— not the work of the preacher, nor the preacher and the water. Then there is a baptism which is a symbol. It is an outward ordinance or washing, which represents the inward work of the Spirit. It represents the inward washing or cleansing which is performed by the Holy Spirit in the ONE baptism which puts the sinner in Christ. The Holy Spirit is carrying His work on now, and those who have thus been operated upon by the Holy Spirit should be baptized in water to show forth or declare the work of the Spirit in their hearts. The Primitive Baptist, November 4, 1913.