Quote:
Originally Posted by Pressing-On
I believe the idea comes from Luke 5:32- 39:
Gill puts it this way, and implies the thought of repentance: |
An "unclean temple" is simply one that has not been yielded to God. This is why baptism is "
so your sins may be forgiven". God forgives us at baptism, according to our repentance and faith, because it is there that we surrender the temple of our body to the one who purchased it with his own blood. No literal cleansing happens at baptism and that is why God can and chooses at times to fill people with the Spirit prior to baptism. Spirit baptism is when the real cleansing of the heart happens
by (
on account of) the blood of Christ. Probably in well over 90% of cases converts are baptized prior to receiving the Holy Ghost. That just makes sense. I've read of cases where people in remote frozen areas received the Holy Ghost but had to wait until the lakes thawed before they could get baptized. I simply do not believe any of those people would have gone to hell had they died before the lakes thawed.
I personally do not say that the Spirit baptism
remits sins. The word
remit simply means
to forgive as in
forgive a debt owed. I believe that part happens normatively at baptism. God forgives us
reckons us righteous based on the merits of Christ. Then at Spirit baptism he literally cleanses us from the effects of sin in our inner man, our conscience. Because he
reckoned us righteous when we were baptized by faith, he can then restore unto us that which Adam forfeited thus
making us (as opposed to
reckoning) righteous. He breathes into us that which was breathed into Adam and was later lost due to sin.
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