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The biblical account of Pentecost in the second chapter of the book of Acts describes the sound of a mighty rushing wind and "divided tongues like fire" coming to rest on the apostles. [46] The text further describes that "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages".
The term baptism with fire originated from the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11 (and the parallel passage in Luke 3:16).: [1]. Matthew 3:11 "I 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, and with fire" King James Version 1611
The flame is a reminder of Pentecost when witnesses were unified by the power of the Holy Spirit and saw "tongues, as of fire" . The two tongues of a single flame represent the two works of grace taught in Methodism: the (1) New Birth and (2) entire sanctification ; they may also be understood to represent the union of two denominations (the ...
The modern so-called gift of tongues, is unscriptural and cannot be taken as a sign of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Jesus said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." Therefore, to hold or teach that speaking in an unknown tongue is the evidence of a work of grace in the heart, is to Biblical for the following reasons:
There is a "mighty rushing wind" (wind is a common symbol for the Holy Spirit) [30] [31] and "tongues as of fire" appear. [32] The gathered disciples were "filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance". [33]
Clearly it is not a long step from this to the "Holy Spirit" of Christian theology, the "Lord and Giver of life", visibly manifested as tongues of fire at Pentecost and ever since associated – in the Christian as in the Stoic mind – with the ideas of vital fire and beneficent warmth. [14]
However, after the advent of Holiness Pentecostalism, the majority of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church embraced the Holiness Pentecostal position of the third work of grace being baptism of the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in tongues, while another part of the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church (now called the Bible Holiness Church) returned to ...
The book of Acts describes the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles at Pentecost in the form of a wind and tongues of fire resting over the apostles' heads. Based on that account, the Holy Spirit is sometimes symbolized by a flame. [4]