The Baptism of Fire and the Holy Ghost
2 Nephi 31
13
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son,
with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before
God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the
Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by
baptism--yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the
water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy
Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and
then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the
Holy One of Israel. [Also see Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16; 3 Nephi 9:20;
11:35; 12:1-2; 3 Nephi 19:13; Mormon 7:10; Ether 12:14; D&C 19:31;
20:41; 33:11; 39:6; Moses 6:66, 69]
Marion G. Romney
Statements
in the scriptures such as "the Holy Ghost fell on [him]" (Acts 11:15),
"filled with the Holy Ghost" (Luke 1:15), "the gift of the Holy Ghost"
(Acts 2:38), "receive … the Holy Ghost" (John 20:22), baptized by "fire
and the Holy Ghost" (D&C 20:41) do not always refer to his
person, but to his power, influence, and gifts. ("The Holy Ghost," Ensign,
May 1974, p. 90; emphasis added)
Bruce R. McConkie
- Fire is a cleansing agent.
Filth and disease die in its flames. The baptism of fire, which John
promised Christ would bring, means that when men receive the actual
companionship of the Holy Spirit, then evil and iniquity are burned out
of their souls as though by fire. The sanctifying power of that member
of the Godhead makes them clean. In similar imagery, all the fires on
all the altars of the past, as they burned the flesh of animals, were
signifying that spiritual purification would come by the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father would send because of the Son. On that first Pentecost
of the so-called Christian Era such fires would have performed their
purifying symbolism if the old order had still prevailed. How fitting
it was instead for the Lord to choose that very day to send living fire
from heaven, as it were, fire that would dwell in the hearts of men and
replace forever all the fires on all the altars of the past. And so it
was that "when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as
of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost." (Acts 2:1-4.) [The Promised Messiah, p.426]
- When John baptized for the remission of sins, he was ot
seeking disciples who would follow him, except as he guided them to the
one who should come after. Indeed, the very remission of sins that he
promised could not come until they received the Holy Ghost-the baptism
of fire-which burns sin and evil out of a human soul as though by fire.
(The Mortal Messiah, 1:438)
Loren C. Dunn
(of the Seventy)
The use of
the word fire suggests that those who receive this gift with the right
heart can expect something more than mere acceptance of certain
principles or even baptism by immersion. The use of this expression
elsewhere in scripture bears this out. ...
While
one definition of this expression refers to a cleansing by the Holy
Spirit as if by fire, still the scriptures and the writings of the
prophets indicate there is something more.
The new
convert who has accepted the gift of the Holy Ghost with the right
spirit will experience not only a cleansing but a feeling that will
give him a new heart and make of him a new person. Sometimes this
is immediate, and sometimes it happens over a period of time. But
always there is a change for the better. For the longer-standing member
of the Church who has become preoccupied with the world or in little
ways has allowed his religious life to be more procedural than of the
spirit, there is something to be rediscovered (and for some, discovered
for the first time) with the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. ("Fire
and the Holy Ghost," Ensign, June 1995, p. 22; emphasis added)