The "baptism of fire" refers to sinners being cast into the "lake of fire" on Judgment Day: Read GOD's Word
"If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire ." (Revelation 20:15)The "lake of fire" is never referred to as the "baptism of fire" in the New Testament, but it turns out that there is Scriptural evidence which supports the idea that the "baptism of fire" refers to the fire of judgment. To see why, let's look at the context in which John the Baptist mentioned the "baptism of fire":
Matthew 3:4: "John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey."Notice what this passage says in the context of the "baptism of fire." First we see one group of people who confessed their sins, and then we see another group of people whom John referred to as a "brood of vipers," so in John's audience there were two kinds of people (righteous people and unrighteous people). With that in mind, consider the parallelism in this passage. Notice that we see righteous people and then unrighteous people (verses 6-10), followed by descriptions of a baptism for righteous people and a baptism for unrighteous people (according to view #3) (verse 11), followed by the separation of righteous people and unrighteous people (verse 12), all in the same context. Based on this consistent parallelism between righteous people and unrighteous people, the most likely meaning of "baptism of fire" is that it refers to the fire of judgment for unrighteous people.
Now let's look at the word "fire" in the above passage. John specifically pointed out that every "tree" which does not produce "fruit in keeping with repentance" will be thrown into the fire. So here we have the fire of judgment (verse 10) followed by the "baptism of fire" (verse 11) followed by the unquenchable fire of judgment (verse 12), all in the same context. Again, this parallelism argues in favor of the "baptism of fire" being the fire of judgment. Since the word "fire" is used in the sense of judgment in verses 10 and 12, the most reasonable meaning of "fire" in verse 11 is for judgment as well. It would be unreasonable to suggest that the second occurrence of the word "fire" has a different meaning than the first and third occurrences without any clear explanation from John. In fact, in verse 12 John gave us an explanation of the word "fire," and he specifically said that it is the fire of judgment.
Some people argue that if the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a blessing, and the baptism of fire is a curse, then it is strange that John the Baptist changed course in the middle of his sentence when he said, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." However, the parallelism concerning righteous people and unrighteous people, plus the parallelism concerning the fire of judgment, demonstrates that John was not suddenly changing course in the middle of his sentence. Rather, he was simply being consistent in his use of these parallels. What would be strange is if John used the word "fire" in the sense of a curse in verse 10, and then he changed course and used the same word "fire" in the sense of a blessing in verse 11, and then he changed course again and used the same word "fire" in the sense of a curse in verse 12. This would not make sense. Therefore, if we interpret the baptism of fire as being a blessing then we are creating an inconsistency in John's use of the word "fire." This type of inconsistency in our interpretation of Scripture tends to happen when we are trying to force certain passages to fit our own preconceived ideas.
Now let's look at the "baptism of fire" in context again:
"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire . His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire ." (Matthew 3:11-12)We can see that John the Baptist was very careful to give us the exact meaning of the "fire" that he was referring to. In this context, fire is a reference to the judgment of sinners. In fact, John used the symbolism of sinners being burned up like "chaff" (such as straw or husks of grain), and notice that this very same symbolism is used in the Old Testament, as in these examples:
"Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames , so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 5:22-24)""Now will I arise," says the LORD. "Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. You conceive chaff , you give birth to straw ; your breath is a fire that consumes you. The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze ." You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power! The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire ? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning ?"" (Isaiah 33:10-14)
Again, John the Baptist used the word "fire" in reference to the judgment of sinners.
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