There is a baptism with the Holy Spirit. There also is a baptism with fire. The saint is to be baptized both with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The baptism with fire is, as the context suggests, the cutting down of every tree that does not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness and the casting of the barren tree into the fires of Divine judgment. It is the fanning of God’s threshing floor in order to separate the wheat from the chaff, and the burning of the chaff with fire that cannot be extinguished. It is the purifying fire of judgment that reconciles the saint to God.
