“Baptism” does not always imply “water” in the New Testament. Sometimes it has other meanings than being dipped or dunked or sprinkled or poured with water. Sometimes it is completely divorced from the notion of water. Let me give you a couple of examples. First of all, in*Mark 10:37-38, James and John come to Jesus and say, “’Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other on your left in your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?’” Well, this was long after Jesus experienced water baptism. What is he talking about? He is talking about his suffering. Jesus is talking about his own destruction, his own death, when he says, “Are you able to be baptized with the baptism I experience?” He is not even implying “water” in this context. Incidentally, he is talking about his death and he uses two sacraments and ordinances to symbolically represent his death -- “the cup I drink” (communion, the Lord’s Table), and “the baptism with which I am baptized.”
Another passage of the same vein that runs through this passage is*Luke 12:50: Jesus says, “’I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished!’” Again, water baptism is not in view here. Something else is in view and the context would demand that he is talking about his death. He is talking about his suffering. He is talking about his own destruction. He is talking about hanging on the cross and receiving the sentence of the world. That is the baptism he is talking about. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the term “baptism” is seen as not referring to water. In those other contexts it talks about Spirit baptism. We will slip in a couple of those.
In*Mark 1:8, John the Baptist says, “’I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” It is John the Baptist who first talks about water baptism, which is John’s ministry. Oh, but Jesus’ ministry is different. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Water is not in view here. A Spirit baptism is in view. This same notion is repeated in all the synoptic Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is also repeated in*Acts 1:5, right before the Spirit of God comes on Pentecost and the saints there, the community of believers, are baptized by the Spirit. They receive the Holy Spirit. He is poured out on them. It is also repeated later in the book of Acts, as looking back at what Jesus’ ministry was. He was going to baptize them with the Holy Spirit.
For any Bible church,*1 Corinthians 12draws the doctrine for Spirit baptism. It says this in verse 13: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.” All of us have been baptized in the Spirit. The Spirit has baptized us into one body. There are a couple of points of clarification, however. We believe that at conversion, the Spirit baptizes an individual. When you trust Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord, you receive the Holy Spirit -- as much of the Holy Spirit as you will ever receive -- at that moment of salvation. The Spirit of God comes to indwell the believer. He is “the seal, … the down payment of our inheritance,” according to*Ephesians 1. He comes to reside within the individual believer. We will never receive more of the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as a second baptism or a second blessing later on. Salvation is the point where we receive the Holy Spirit. We do not receive the Holy Spirit when we are baptized in water. There is no relationship between being baptized in water and being baptized by the Holy Spirit. A person is baptized by the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation.
https://bible.org/seriespage/1-baptism-flood-confusion
