When the Bible speaks of baptism, is it speaking of baptism of the Holy Spirit or of water baptism? In John 3:5, Jesus says, "..unless one is born of water and the Spirt he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." It is clear that everyone MUST be born of the water AND the Spirit to go to heaven. Rom 6:3-8 says when we're baptized, we're baptized into His death, and are to live in newness of life. When we are born of water, we are baptized of water. How are we born of the Spirit then? In Acts 2:38, Peter said, "Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the foregiveness of your sins; and you will recieve the gift of the Holy Spirit." The way to recieve the gift of the Holy Spirit is through baptism of water. In Titus 3:5, Paul talks about the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Pet 3:20,21 it talks about how Noah was saved through water, and corresponding to that, baptism now saves us! It was clearly speaking of water baptism.
When the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip about the Bible, Philip preached Jesus to him. The Bible doesn't say exactly what all Philip said, but the eunuch afterward asked what hindered him from being baptized. Obviously, baptism was taught to him. After the eunuch confessed, he was baptized into the water. It doesn't say he was baptized with the Spirit. Apparently, water baptism was important if Philip included it in his preaching. He was born of the water and the Spirit. The same thing happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. How can we go against the Bible? We must be baptized of the water(baptism) and the Holy Spirit.
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