Noordzij — pneumatology
Noordzij argues that baptism extends beyond ritual: it concerns transformation through God’s Spirit. The Holy Spirit operates in three stages of baptism—water baptism as beginning, Spirit baptism as confirmation, and baptism into Christ as completion—where pneumatic influence and personal metamorphosis stand central.
Primary meaning of baptizo: Influence and transformation
The Greek word baptizo carries many nuances and appears in countless different contexts. Linguists agree that the term resists a simple definition due to its varied applications. Examples include: immersion, dipping, dyeing, coloring, squeezing, pouring, sprinkling, drowning, drinking, influencing, transforming, striking, and many others.
Noordzij references James W. Dale’s linguistic research into all occurrences of baptizo in classical Greek literature and the New Testament. Dale’s finding focuses on a transformative core:
Whatever thoroughly influences and transforms something or someone, ‘baptizes’ it. The primary meaning of baptizo is to act upon, influence, and transform.
This semantic layer supports Paul’s emphasis on pneumatic influence. Paul rarely discusses water baptism but stresses transformation by God’s Spirit—“the influence and transformation of the Spirit” enables spiritual maturity in Christ (Ephesians 4:12-13). This Spirit-baptism builds Christ’s body, where collective transformation continues through pneumatic working.
Water baptism as introduction to Spirit-baptism
First, water baptism serves as a symbolic act accompanying confession of sins, performed by human beings for repentance. This represents learning to “think differently”—to set the mind on “things above, not earthly things.”
Water baptism initiates a trajectory of thought-change. Yet the pneumatic phase proceeds from God’s own power:
Second, baptism by God’s Spirit and “fire” (purification) is carried out by the exalted Lord, who grants His power for ongoing transformation from “old” to “new.”
Here the Holy Spirit appears as the active agent of continuous change. Purification and transformation are pneumatic functions, not ritual actions. God’s Spirit grants power (Acts 1:8) and continuously refashions believers into Christ’s image (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Baptism into Christ: Pneumatic completion
Third, baptism into Christ Jesus takes place through the Holy Spirit—a transformative process toward spiritual maturity and God’s sonship, bringing the mortification of the “old self” and resurrection to “new life.”
This third phase concentrates all pneumatic workings. Paul frames this sacrament as dying and rising (Romans 6:3-5), where God’s Spirit executes both moments: killing the “old self” and raising to new life. This is not legal imputation but pneumatic death-and-resurrection cycle.
Three phases as completeness-cycle
Noordzij arranges the three baptisms as spiritual growth:
Water baptism begins the process; Spirit-baptism confirms it; baptism into Christ completes it. These three phases represent extensive spiritual development, with “three” symbolizing biblical completeness (as in Father-Son-Spirit or spirit-soul-body).
The completeness-cycle shows how the Holy Spirit progressively transforms—from consciousness-change (water baptism) through ongoing power-working (Spirit-baptism) to fundamental metamorphosis into Christ (baptism into Christ). Each phase is pneumatically grounded, ascending from human response to full divine working.
Sonship as pneumatic fruition
The ultimate destination of baptism is God’s sonship. Noordzij writes:
This threefold baptism forms a foundation for growth toward spiritual maturity and God’s sonship. The emphasis is not on the outward rite of water baptism, but on the inward transformation through the working of the Holy Spirit that forms believers into the image of Christ.
Sonship is not status alone but pneumatic formation: the Holy Spirit works inwardly to make believers into Christ’s image. This transformation is realized through continuous pneumatic influence, which Paul describes as the goal of Spirit-baptism and baptism into Christ. The three baptisms together compose one pneumatic process of conforming to mature sons of God.