Cornelis Bennema, «Spirit-Baptism in the Fourth Gospel. A Messianic Reading of John 1,33», Vol. 84 (2003) 35-60

The various ways of understanding "baptism in the Holy Spirit" has caused much division in both academic scholarship and the church. Most theories have been based on the Synoptics and Acts, but the phrase o( bapti/zwn e)n pneu/mati a(gi/w| is also present in the Fourth Gospel (1,33). However, Johannine scholarship has hardly given attention to this concept. This paper will seek to establish that o( bapti/zwn e)n pneu/mati a(gi/w| is a programmatic statement for Jesus’ nexus of soteriological activities in relation to people by means of the Spirit. "To baptize with Holy Spirit" refers to Jesus’ programme of cleansing people through revelation by means of the Spirit. Moreover, this concept is rooted in Jewish messianic traditions, which were able to expect a messiah who would judge, restore and cleanse by means of his Spirit-imbued word.

baptizing with the Holy Spirit. Hence, I suggest that, according to the Fourth Evangelist, Jesus’ confronting of people with his Spirit-imbued revelatory life-giving teaching is essentially an actualization of Jesus’ baptizing with Holy Spirit. Spirit-baptism then denotes the concept of cleansing through revelation; through Jesus’ Spirit-imbued word/teaching, which reveals God, people are cleansed (cf. 13,10; 15,3; 17,17). All people who encounter Jesus’ teaching, then, undergo this baptism with the Holy Spirit, but the effect it has on people depends on one’s response towards Jesus; those who accept Jesus’ teaching experience the baptism as cleansing and salvific, whereas those who reject it experience this same baptism as causing judgement ⁴⁹.

        The Fourth Gospel envisages the time after Jesus’ departure to be in continuity with Jesus’ earthly ministry, in that there is a strong continuity between Jesus’ earthly mission and the mission of the Paraclete and the disciples. First, the Paraclete is modelled on Jesus and will take over Jesus’ functions after his departure (14,16) ⁵⁰. Second, as a revelatory Teacher, the Paraclete will enable the disciples to recall Jesus’ revelatory words/teaching and reveal to them their meaning and significance (14,26; 16,12-15), which will inform and prepare the disciples’ witness to the world (15,26-27) ⁵¹. Third, connecting 16,8-11 with 16,12-15, the Paraclete will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement precisely by revealing and teaching the significance of Jesus’ historical revelation to and through the disciples because the world cannot see or know the Paraclete (14,17) ⁵². The Paraclete’s conviction of the world, on the basis of the proclamation of Jesus’ words through the disciples, also results in either salvation or judgement, dependent on whether one accepts or rejects the correlated witness of the Paraclete and the disciples (15,18 – 16,4; 16,8-11; 17,14.20)⁵³. Fourth, Jesus’ mission is paradigmatic for the mission of the disciples (17,18; 20,21).

        This strong continuity between Jesus’ earthly ministry and the ministry of the Paraclete and the disciples invites the question of how the latter ministry may be related to Jesus’ Spirit-baptism, i.e., the