A Bible History of Baptism
The same figure is fully developed in the prophecy of Ezekiel (xxxvii, 1-14), of the valley of dry bones. “There were very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry.” At the divine command, Ezekiel prophesied to them, – “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live… And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind… Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them and they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” The vision is interpreted to the prophet. “These bones are the whole house of Israel… Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you and ye shall live.” Ezek. xxxvii, 1-14. Throughout this passage, the words, “wind,” “breath” and “Spirit,” are in the original the same (Hebrew, ruāgh, Greek, pneuma), and the word, “breathe,” – “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain,” – is the same that describes the action of the Lord Jesus, just referred to. If now, in the light of these illustrations, we return to the account of the Pentecostal scene, we read that “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of an outbreathed, mighty breath, and it filled all the house where they were sitting… And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Thus was signified the Spirit of Christ, as the breath of His life, by Him breathed into His disciples. So distinctly and profoundly was this idea impressed on the mind of the primitive church, that it became the occasion of one of the unwarranted forms which were at an early age added to the Scriptural rite of baptism. After the interrogation and immediately before the baptism, there was an exorcism, with an insufflation or breathing in the face of the person baptized; which Augustine calls a most ancient tradition of the church.85 It was meant to signify the expelling of the evil spirit, and the breathing in of the good Spirit of God.
In the outbreathing of Pentecost we have the only phenomenon of the day, that was expressive of the actual performance of the baptism by the Lord Jesus. It was the specific symbol of the manner of it. Comparing it with the various other statements above quoted, it appears that of that baptism, the element was the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; the administrator was Jesus seated on the throne of glory; the manner of it was an outbreathing from him; its coming was by descent, – a shedding down from the height of his throne to his disciples in Jerusalem; in its reception, it was a falling upon them; and the result was that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, as the breath of their lives. For, in the symbol as described, they were surrounded as it were with an atmosphere of the Spirit. “It filled all the house where they were sitting;” so that they could breathe no other breath.
In this account, the chief interest centers on the source of the outpouring. And, in fact, the very purpose of the forms of expression used and of the sensible phenomena which they describe was to direct the attention of all, upward to that source. To the same effect, was the whole argument of Peter’s discourse to the multitude. Each position in it, has this as the end. – “Ye men of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth ye know, for him ye crucified. Him God raised from the dead and exalted to his own right hand, and gave the Spirit in all fullness to him. That Spirit hath he shed down upon us, as ye now see and hear, and thus is shown his exaltation and power. Therefore let all the house of Israel know, assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ, – both sovereign over all and that Anointed One who was promised to David, and heralded by all the prophets, as he that should sit on David’s conquering throne.”
We have seen how Paul labors to exalt our imaginations to some proportionate conceptions of the unapproachable height of the throne of Christ’s glory. And now, in our times, from the day of Pentecost unto the end, it is signalized in the exercise by him of that highest prerogative of God, the sending forth of the infinite Spirit. It is shed down by him from yonder height to this low earth, – down to us worms in the abyss where we lay, strown in the upas valley of death, to breathe life into the dead and give salvation to the lost. And to signalize that height of his exaltation, the depth of his condescension, and the measureless immensity of his matchless love, the Baptism of Pentecost was given, its miracles were wrought, and its myriad trophies of salvation gathered. All these point upward and cry, – “Behold! on high! Far above all powers and dominions, Jesus fills the throne! Thence he breathes forth the Spirit of God! Thence he sheds down salvation!”
Section LXVII. —The New Spirit Imparted on Pentecost
The previous announcements which heralded the baptism of Pentecost, and all the attendant facts and statements unite to indicate that in the very nature of the gift then conferred there was something essentially new and different from any previous endowments bestowed on the church, – something by which peculiar honor was reflected on the baptizing office of the Lord Jesus, upon this its first assumption and exercise. It is a question to be considered, – What were the new characteristics of grace now first imparted to the church?
The Holy Spirit was no novelty, now first bestowed. At the coming of Christ, the Jews were familiar with the doctrine of the personality and offices of the Third Person of the Godhead. Of this the evidence is conclusive, – in the story of John’s birth, – in the theme and style of John’s preaching, – in the facts stated as to the birth, anointing, and ministry of Christ, – in His manner of reference to the subject in his teaching, – and especially in his warning as to the sin against the Holy Ghost, which is only explicable upon the supposition that the doctrine of the Spirit was familiar to the Jews. The knowledge thus evinced had its source in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. So full are they on the subject that there is scarcely an aspect in which it appears in the New Testament which has not its counterpart in the Old. In them his agency is distinctly and fully recognized, both in the inspiration of the prophets, and in the gifts and graces which have been common to God’s people in all ages. See for example, Psa. li, 11-13; cxliii, 10; Isa. lxiii, 10, etc. The graces which Paul testifies to be the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. v, 22; Eph. v, 9), and which are in the above cited places, by the Old Testament writers referred to the same source, were abundantly displayed in the saints of the former dispensation, insomuch that Paul holds them up as ensamples to us. (Heb. xi and xii, 1.) The Psalms, which gave expression and nourishment to their graces, are never exhausted by the profoundest attainments of Christian experience. And with all the lamentable facts of unfaithfulness and apostasy which darken the pages of Israel’s history, there were periods of fidelity, in which the church shone in the beauty of holiness, fair and comely in the eyes of God. In fact, with all the disposition which we sometimes realize to dwell on the unbelief and apostasies of the twelve tribes, and lamentable as they were, it is certain that the New Testament church is in no condition to boast herself against Israel. If we survey the nominally Christian church, in its various sections – the communions of Rome and of the east, and of the various Protestant churches in Europe and America – a just judgment will pronounce them, on the whole, scarcely less unfaithful and surely more inexcusable than was Israel. Assuredly, there is no such difference in our favor as to indicate the absence of the Spirit from the latter, and his peculiar presence with the former.
In what then did the peculiarity of the day of Pentecost consist? To this question, Peter in his discourse on the occasion, gave an explicit answer. “This is that which is spoken by the prophet Joel: – And it shall come to pass, in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” – Acts ii, 16, 17. In this citation of prophecy, and in the discourse which followed, Peter defined the peculiarities of the occasion as consisting in three things: First, that the outpouring of that day was made by the Lord Jesus in person. Second, that the miraculous phenomena attending it were designed to attest the fact that He, being risen from the dead and exalted to God’s right hand, was endowed with supreme and universal authority. Third, that the gifts of salvation by him dispensed were adapted and designed not for Israel only but for “all flesh,” – for the world. Thus was implied a change in the whole aspect of grace, in the hearts of God’s people.
We have formerly seen that God’s entrance into covenant with Israel, at Sinai, implied a temporary withdrawal of his overtures from the nations, – “suffering them to walk in their own ways,” (Acts xiv, 16), but with a distinct assertion of a reserved right, inserted in the covenant itself, – “For, all the earth is mine.” So long as God “winked at” the wickedness of the Gentiles, the church had neither commission nor call to labor for their salvation, nor impulse of grace to look for it. The doors of salvation and of the church were held open to all, and the word and ordinances maintained in Zion were an invitation to the world to enter freely. But, beyond that Israel was not called to go. On the contrary, she was discouraged from all active or intimate contact or intercourse with the apostate nations. Her primary and paramount office and obligation it was to keep her own self pure, and to preserve and transmit the oracles and ordinances of God faithfully, until the time of the Messiah. In the meantime, since the operations and graces of the Spirit can not but be in harmony with the will and purpose of God, his influences in the hearts of Israel, corresponded with the purpose thus indicated concerning the nations. For, grace is nothing but harmony of affections and will with the character and will of God. Grace, in Israel, was therefore without disseminating zeal or power, as toward the Gentiles. It contained no impulse to seek their salvation. But, knowing them as apostate and enemies to God and to his people, and as the objects of his indignation and wrath, it concurred in that indignation, and at times gave expression to it, in forms which offend a shallow and unsanctified criticism. Yet are they no more incongruous to the active enjoyment and exercise of the profoundest and most abundant measure of the Spirit’s graces, than is the absence in heaven’s blest inhabitants of zeal for the welfare of Satan, and their adoring approval of God’s justice in his doom. All this was rather confirmed than modified by the fact that the Spirit of prophecy constantly indicated that a day was coming when all the ends of the earth should see and share in the salvation of God. The more distinctly it was revealed as the purpose of God for the future, the more clearly was it seen to be not of the present.
But, now, the time had come. The Son of man, the Prince Messiah, to whom was reserved the ingathering of the Gentiles (Gen. xlix, 10), had assumed the scepter and received the Spirit of life for the nations. The sanctifying grace of that Spirit must be essentially the same in all ages and times. But there was now a change in its aspect to the Gentiles, coincident with the change of the divine attitude toward them. Instead of the old passive sentiment concerning the world’s ruin, – instead of the former ardor of indignation against its ungodliness, – the apostles and the church were now inspired with a divine pity and beneficent love, – with an active and aggressive zeal for the conversion of men. While the enclosed water of the laver at the tabernacle was the symbol of the Spirit’s influences, under the former dispensation, the increasing river of Ezekiel’s vision is their representative in the New Testament times. Flowing forth out of Zion, with a widening and deepening current, it pours its living waters into the dead sea of our apostate humanity, to the healing of the waters. This difference in the nature of the Spirit’s influences, now, and of old, is beautifully exhibited in two figures employed by our Savior, the distinctive features of which should not be overlooked because of the points of analogy. Speaking to the woman of Samaria of the personal blessings which the Spirit bestows, he tells her, – “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” – John iv, 14. A well, within; living, active, but confined. But, at Jerusalem, at the festival of the pouring of water, which anticipated the giving of salvation to the Gentiles, – “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” – John vii, 37, 38. “Out of his belly shall flow.” Here is grace, not enclosed and restricted in its sphere, but outflowing and aggressive, disseminating itself without stint or limit. Hence the explanation which the evangelist adds: – “This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” – Ib. vs. 39. Hence, also, the selection made by Peter, in explanation of the Pentecostal scene. Among the prophecies, there are many in which the outpouring of the Spirit is spoken of. But of them all the apostle selected that which, in the briefest and completest manner, indicates the breaking down of the wall of partition. “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” This he afterward explains. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” – vs. 39.
But there was another point, equally important, in the endowments bestowed on that memorable day. Heretofore, not only had commission to the Gentiles been withheld from the church, but gratuitous labors by her in that behalf would have been necessarily futile, for lack of power accompanying the word. But, said Jesus to the apostles, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” – Acts i, 8. What was the nature of the power thus given, Paul tells the church of Corinth. “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” – “And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” – 2 Cor. iv, 6, 7; 1 Cor. ii, 4, 5. This illuminating, convincing, and converting power of the Spirit of God attending the word, remains the perpetual endowment and authentication of the Christian ministry. In addition to the zeal and power thus conferred, the apostles were by this baptism invested with those gifts of courage, wisdom, inspiration, and miracles, which had been promised by the Savior, and were requisite to qualify them for their special office and to attest their ministry. (Mark xvi, 17, 18; Luke xxi, 15-19; John xiv, 26; xvi, 13-15.)
Such was the change wrought by the baptism of Pentecost; such the new gifts by it conferred. With the coming of God’s set time of mercy to the world, it awakened in the hearts of his people a zeal for souls of every class and nation. And it imparted to the word of the gospel a demonstration and power of converting grace, correspondent to the breadth of the new commission, and to the saving purposes of our blessed God, toward an apostate race. In proportion as we, in these latter days, have part in the baptism and Spirit of Pentecost, will we share in the same ardor of zeal for the spread of the gospel and the conquest of the nations to the banner of Christ.
Section LXVIII. —The Tongues like as of Fire
Jesus had foretold his disciples that miraculous signs and wonders should accompany and attest the word of the gospel published by them (Mark xvi, 17, 18), and the subsequent history gives abundant illustration of the fulfillment of this promise, in the healing of the sick, raising the dead and other miracles of power. But the only signs mentioned on the day of Pentecost are the “rushing mighty wind,” the “cloven tongues like as of fire,” and the gift of “other tongues.” The first of these has been already considered. We will now inquire into the “tongues like as of fire.” “There appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire; and it sat upon each of them.” Says Alexander, “Cloven should rather be, distributed, so that one sat on each of them. (Vulg. linguæ dispertitæ.) The common version, which implies that each tongue was divided into two or more, is at variance with the usage of the Greek verb (diamerizomenai), which sometimes denotes moral separation or estrangement (Luke xi, 17, 18; xii, 52, 53), but never, physical division. Its usual sense of distribution, or allotment, may be seen by a comparison of Matt, xxvii, 35; Mark xv, 24; Luke xxii, 17; xxiii, 34; and Acts ii, 45.”86 “There appeared unto them distributed tongues like as of fire, and one sat on each of them.” Such is the literal meaning of the evangelist. These tongues “appeared,” “like as of fire.” Not burning, but brightness or illumination was their characteristic. They had thus the appearance of burning lamps, and seem evidently to have been symbols of that divine illumination which through the ministry of the gospel was about to be given to the Gentiles. In the tabernacle and temple stood the seven branched golden candlestick, with its seven lamps, which were by the priests daily replenished with oil, and kept burning continually. In the opening of the vision of the Apocalypse, John saw seven golden candlesticks, or lampstands, in the midst of which was one like the Son of man, in whose right hand were seven stars. These stars were the burning lamps of the lampstands. (Compare Rev. i, 12, 13, 16, 20; iii, 1; and iv, 5.) They were explained to him. The candlesticks were the seven churches of Asia, and the stars were the angels of the seven churches. There has been some question among expositors, as to the form of church government contemplated in this vision. But the most are agreed that, whatever was the form, the angels were the ministry, conceived as lamps of light upborne by the churches. By this interpretation, we are led to the same understanding as to the golden candlestick in the tabernacle and temple, since the scenery of the Revelation is a recognized transcript from the temple, which was a pattern of the heavenly things. The seven lamps shining as stars in the darkness of the sanctuary, through the continual supply of oil ministered by the priests, were a beautiful type of the ministry and ordinances of the church of God, shining amid the moral darkness of the world, through the gifts and graces of the Spirit poured upon them by Jesus, the great high Priest. The day of Pentecost had been predicted of old, as the time of the shedding of light upon the Gentiles by the awakened church. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” – Isa. lx, 1-3. By Zacharias, at the birth of John, and by Simeon, at the presentation of Jesus in the temple, He had been described in this character, – “The dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.” – Luke i, 78, 79. Says Simeon, “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, – a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” – Ib. ii, 30-32. John, in the beginning of his gospel speaks in the same manner, – “In him was life and the life was the Light of men, and the Light shineth in darkness.” – John i, 4, 5. Jesus had described the ministry of John, under this figure. “He was a burning and a shining light.” – John v, 35. He had distinctly foretold his disciples that they were ordained to be the light of the Gentiles. “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill can not be hid. Neither do men light a candle (luchnon, a lamp), and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” – Matt. v, 14-16. And now, upon them waiting and expectant, He sheds down the oil of the Spirit’s grace, kindles a light upon every brow, and inspires them to utter God’s praises in the tongues of every land; thus, to them signifying that the time was come to “Arise and shine,” and to others announcing that the Light of the Gentiles had risen upon the world.
Section LXIX. —The Gift of Other Tongues
The nature of this gift, and all the circumstances attending it unite in investing it with a character of peculiar impressiveness, significance and propriety among the miracles which attested the gospel. Devotional in its nature, and exercised in celebrating “the wonderful works of God,” it was an indication of the reception and enjoyment by those on whom it fell of a large measure of the sanctifying graces of the Spirit. The report of it, spreading over Jerusalem, was the attraction which assembled together that vast company, of whom three thousand were converted that day. The prophetic nature of the sign demonstrated the identity of the occasion with that predicted by Joel. And the significance of the scene, – God’s praises uttered in many languages, – as the anticipation of a world-wide acceptance of the gospel, – brings this sign into intimate accord with the new spirit of missionary zeal, and the tongues as of fire, which were the other principal phenomena of the day. It exhibited, in a figure, all the tribes and tongues of men, till then immersed in idolatry and darkness, uniting with sudden harmony in a glad burst of praise to God for the wonderful works of his grace.
The conspicuous position occupied by this gift amid the scenes of Pentecost and the relation which it sustained to the outpouring of the Spirit, as being the most observable gift thereby bestowed, occasioned a manner of expression on the subject in the book of the Acts, which has led to some misconception and error. It consists in the use of the name of the Holy Spirit, and of phrases respecting his falling on the disciples, being received by them, etc., when the subject spoken of is, not his renewing and invisible graces, but the sensible phenomena which attested the preaching of the apostles. Thus, Peter, on the day of Pentecost, having assured the multitude that what they saw and heard was the fulfillment of the promise, “I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy,” and explained that Jesus having received of the Father the promised Spirit, had shed forth this “which ye now see and hear;” exhorted his hearers to repent and be baptized, “and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise (by Joel), is to you and to your children (‘your sons and your daughters’), and to all that are afar off (‘all flesh’).” Here, the assurance of receiving the Holy Ghost, upon condition of repentance and baptism, as well as the quotation from Joel, shows that Peter did not speak of the renewing gift of the Spirit; which precedes and gives repentance, but of the miraculous gifts which followed, and which they saw and heard.