This paper is to be yet another example of how religionist play fast and loose with the Scriptures, twisting, and altering them to fit their theology. In the course of this we will explain the difference between to New Testament uses of the same Greek word in the King James Bible and why it is so.

Are Matthew 3:11 and 1 Cor. 12:13 (below) speaking of the same ‘Spirit baptism’?

“I (John) indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you ‘WITH’ the Holy Ghost [Spirit], and with fire:” (Matthew 3:11 KJV, emphasis added)

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. ¹³For ‘BY’ one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1Corinthians 12:12-13 KJV, emphasis added)

Regardless of what any “scholar,” Pastor or Bible teacher may otherwise tell you, these two ‘Spirit baptisms’ are not referring to the same things at all!

Let’s look carefully at these verses above, noting how “with the Holy Ghost” as seen in Matt. 3:11, and “by on Spirit,” as seen in 1Cor. 12:13, are plainly different:

• It is absolutely erroneous to make Jesus Christ’s baptizing people “WITH” the Holy Ghost (Matt. 3:11) the same as…
• being baptized “BY” the Holy Spirit into “the Church, the Body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:13).

In these we have two baptizers (Jesus and The Holy Spirit) accomplishing two different baptisms entirely.

The Greek word ‘en’ is properly translated both “with” and “by” in these verses in the King James, based upon context and the application of the word.

Yet, since the two different prepositions “with” and “by,” properly translated from ‘the Greek ‘en’ in the English KJV Bible don’t support their pet doctrinal idea of many teachers say they are the same. These ‘theologians’ “run to the Greek” to try and find a way to retranslate what they assume the Bible writers meant in the original language. They adjust the Bible to make it fit their preconceived view, saying “by” in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is wrong because it has to agree with the “with” of Matthew 3:11. They simply do not understand that these are two very different Spirit baptisms.

Here again a ‘dispensational’ approach and understanding of the Bible is critical – we must recognize that God has more than one program. These two verses are from and refer to two different dispensational ages pertaining to two different people groups.

The significance of these differences will be fully explained in Part 2 of this paper. At the moment we are exposing and dealing with Bible mischief.

One mischievous theologian has gone so far as to state that the Bible never once refers to the Holy Spirit as the Person doing the baptizing. In fact, he claimed that Matthew 3:11 says Jesus always does the baptizing. However, if 1 Corinthians 12:13 is left alone as it appears in the King James Bible, then the theologian is clearly wrong; we see that the Holy Spirit is clearly the baptizer there!

Now we see why people are always trying to make their “helpful changes” to the KJV Authorized Bible Version. They are adjusting the Bible to fit their theology! They refer to the authority of the Scripture only when it supports their “pet” denominational theory. Otherwise, they “correct” the Bible to agree with their preferred view. In their minds any seeming Bible contradictions can be written off as “mistakes” or “mistranslations,” thus needing their correction. They don’t believe the Bible as written. This makes you wonder how they can say the Bible it is “the word of God.”

This is Bible mischief hiding under the guise of “scholarship” and “education.” This has led to countless such perversions and corruptions of core Bible doctrines for centuries upon centuries. Yet, these are the attitudes of most of the individuals leading today’s seminaries and teaching in our Bible colleges. Today you can find their students/graduates in myriads of pulpits and literature everywhere. They are the very people who sit on translation committees to publish the so-called newest, latest best Bible versions, whereby their confusion is passed on the poor, unsuspecting readers. Even if they mean well—and hopefully they do mean well—they nevertheless are not using Divine insight when handling God’s Word. Such shoddy Bible interpretation belongs with lost people but not among Christian people!

If we ignore the dispensational distinctions in the Bible – that is God’s differing programs in various Biblical ages, such as the dispensation of the ‘Law and works,’ versus the dispensation of the ‘grace’ of God (Rom. 6:14, 11:6) in Scripture. Only then can we make sense of or fully appreciate the Bible’s truths that apply to us today.

E.g., you cannot live under “the works of the Law” and “grace” simultaneously as these are the diametric opposites as seen here below.

“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Romans 11:6 (KJV)

The Bible’s truths mean little to nothing to us and they are lost if we go around “correcting” the Bible to our loss. Whatever light the Bible can give us can become obscured when we disbelieve it as written.