14 Dimensions of Baptism
also significant that the reference to fire is itself metaphorical. John and
Jesus were not thinking of a literal judgment by fire, but were using a well-
known symbol of judgment to describe the affliction through which certain
people must pass.
This conclusion gives us a possible approach to the problem of 'baptism
with the Spirit'; if fire can be conceived as a liquid, can the Spirit also be
regarded as a liquid? At first sight this is unlikely, since the most adjacent
imagery for 'Spirit' is obviously that of 'wind'. Nevertheless, it has been
observed that in a number of places verbs appropriate in respect of liquids
are used to describe the Spirit. 'There are several Old Testament pas-
sages', writes W.F. Flemington, 'which...associate with "spirit" verbs
appropriate to the use of water.'^18 The same thought is taken up by other
writers.^19
Thus there are references to the pouring out of the Spirit from above like
rain to irrigate dry land and make it fruitful. Isaiah 32.15 tells how 'the
Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fruitful
field, and the fruitful field seems like a forest'. The metaphor finds clearer
expression in Isa. 44.3-4: 'For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and
streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your offspring, and my
blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.' The same terminology is used else-
where in a way that has become entirely metaphorical when the reference
is simply to the Spirit being poured out upon people. We find this usage in
Zech. 12.10 and Ezek. 39.29, but the most important passage is Joel 2.28-
- Here we have a prophecy which was seen to be fulfilled in the Pente-
costal reception of the Spirit: 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people...
Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in
those days.' A further important passage is Ezek. 36.25-27 where the
bestowal of the Spirit upon people is placed in parallel to the sprinkling of
cleansing water upon them: 'I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your
idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you...'
That this metaphor was a live one in the time of John is seen from its
recurrence in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the Manual of Discipline we are
told how 'God will refine, with his truth, all man's deeds, and will purify
for himself the configuration of man, ripping out all spirit of deceit from
the innermost part of his flesh, and cleansing him with the spirit of
- Flemington, Baptism, pp. 18-19.
- Dunn, Baptism, pp. 12-13; cf. Schweizer, TDNT, VI, p. 399.