{"id":95,"date":"2014-06-18T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=95"},"modified":"2014-05-22T23:29:35","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T23:29:35","slug":"matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-symbolism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-symbolism.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Symbolism)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>John the Baptist identified three types of baptisms: By water, by the Holy Spirit, and by fire. But what do those mean?<\/p>\n<p>In John\u2019s use, water baptism was a symbol of repentance in the heart and mind of the person who was baptized. \u201cThe Jew who accepted baptism from John,\u201d explains one Bible scholar, \u201cconfessed his sins and expressed determination to live a righteous life.\u201d Christians later adapted John\u2019s symbolic practice of water baptism. \u201cRather than symbolize repentance, Christian baptism symbolizes the union of the believer with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to 1 Corinthians 12:13, Holy Spirit baptism is that unseen immersion that happens when a Christian is spiritually united with Jesus and, by extension, all others who have been united with Jesus through faith.<\/p>\n<p>Baptism by fire has been thought to signify two things. First is as a reference God\u2019s final, destructive judgment on those who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus (see Matthew 3:12). Second, for Christians, baptism by fire is seen as a symbolically purifying act whereby the Holy Spirit cleanses us from sin.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_287\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-287\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/371\/2014\/05\/Flag_of_John_the_Baptist.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-287\" title=\"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way\" alt=\"Flag of John the Baptist\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/371\/2014\/05\/Flag_of_John_the_Baptist.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-287\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flag of John the Baptist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\" target=\"_self\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[BAH, 267-68]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John the Baptist identified three types of baptisms: By water, by the Holy Spirit, and by fire. But what do those mean? In John\u2019s use, water baptism was a symbol of repentance in the heart and mind of the person who was baptized. \u201cThe Jew who accepted baptism from John,\u201d explains one Bible scholar, \u201cconfessed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,13],"tags":[63,16,62,302],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matthew","category-symbolism","tag-baptism","tag-jesus","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-matthew"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-symbolism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John the Baptist identified three types of baptisms: By water, by the Holy Spirit, and by fire. But what do those mean? In John\u2019s use, water baptism was a symbol of repentance in the heart and mind of the person who was baptized. \u201cThe Jew who accepted baptism from John,\u201d explains one Bible scholar, \u201cconfessed&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-symbolism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-18T12:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-22T23:29:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/files\/2014\/05\/Flag_of_John_the_Baptist.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/06\/matthew-31-12-john-the-baptist-prepares-the-way-symbolism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 3:1-12; John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Symbolism) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"John the Baptist identified three types of baptisms: By water, by the Holy Spirit, and by fire. 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He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. 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