Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

c. He Will Baptize in Spirit and Fire
THE MISSION OF JESUS §11.4
There can be little doubt that the same tone of judgment is present in the other image
which intervenes between the image of ruthless pruning and the image of the
threshing floor — 'he will baptize in Spirit and fire' (Q 3.16). It combines three
powerful images. (1) The river or flood as a metaphor for being overwhelmed by
calamity. 129 (2) The word-play behind pneuma (Hebrew/Aramaic ruah), 'wind/
spirit/Spirit', denoting judgment as well as blessing. 130 (3) Fire was the most obviously
judgmental image, 131 as we can see from the way it was picked up at
Qumran and in apocalyptic literature. 132 Particularly striking is the triple reference
to fire in three successive verses of Q — most clear now in Matt. 3.10-12.
More powerful still was the combination of the images: fire and water as the
medium of purification (Num. 31.23), Spirit imaged with water metaphors, 133 the
spirit of burning as a means of cleansing, 134 but especially the river of fire that
burns and destroys, probably in dependence on the vision of Dan. 7.10. 135 The
most striking precedent combines all three images in a way which eerily foreshadows
John's imagery and may even provide the source for it — Isa. 30.27-28: 136
129. Pss. 18.4, 16; 32.6; 42.8; 69.2, 15; 88.7; 124.4-5; 144.7; Isa. 8.7-8; 43.2a; Jonah 2.5.
130. Isa. 4.4; Jer. 4.11-12; lQ28b (lQSb) 5.24-25. The insertiorröf 'Holy' (Holy Spirit),
in Q as well as Mark, presumably indicates the remembering of the Baptist's words within a
Christian perspective. Webb, John the Baptizer 272-77, argues that 'Holy Spirit and fire' was
original, but ignores the range of usage possible for ruah and the significance of the composite
image of 'immerse in . . .'. Meier, Marginal Jew 2.35-39 argues that Mark 1.8 is original (no
'and fire'), but ignores the background and imagery indicated in the following paragraphs
(above) and fails to note the relevance of Mark 10.38-39/Luke 12.50. Becker is confident in the
'broad agreement' that the original spoke only of a baptism in fire (no 'Holy Spirit and'), since
reference to the Spirit 'makes immediate sense only as a Christian expression' (Jesus of Nazareth
45 and n. 14; similarly Catchpole, Quest 7-12; Reiser, Jesus and Judgment 169-70, 185)!
Theissen and Merz point out the paradox that a purely destructive baptism in fire would be inferior
(in salvific effect) to the baptism of John {Historical Jesus 204). For earlier discussion see
J. D. G. Dunn, 'Spirit-and-Fire Baptism', NovT 14 (1972) 81-92, reprinted in The Christ and
the Spirit. Vol. 2: Pneumatology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 93-102.
131. Isa. 10.17; 29.6; 47.14; 66.15-16; Jer. 21.12; Ezek. 22.31; 30.16; Joel 2.3; Amos
7.4;Obad. 18; Nah. 1.6; Zeph. 3.8; Mai. 4.1; Pss. Sol. 15.4. See further Reiser, Jesus and Judgment
172-73.
132. 1QS 4.13; 1QH 14(=6).18-19; 1 En. 90.24-28; 100.9; 102.1; Sib. Or. 3.542-44;
4.176-78; 2 Bar. 48.39, 43.
133. Isa. 32.15; 44.3; Ezek. 39.29; Joel 2.28-29; Jub. 1.23; 1QS 4.21.
134. Isa. 4.4; also 29.6; 66.15.
135. 1QH ll(=3).29-33; 1 En. 14.19; 67.13; Sib. Or. 2.196-97, 203-205, 252-54; 3.54,
84-87; 4 Ezra 13.10-11.
136. As indicated in my 'John the Baptist's Use of Scripture', in C. A. Evans and W. R.
Stegner, eds„ The Gospels and the Scriptures of Israel (JSNTS 104; Sheffield: Sheffield Aca-
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