The Meaning of Baptism

John the Baptist baptized the people with water, but he said that the one who was to come after him would baptize with fire. What is the meaning of this, for in the material world, these two elements are contrary the one to the other, and then, if Christians take the water literally, they ought also to take the fire literally. The meaning is this: as everything in the material world has its beginning of life in water, so water is a type of the beginning of the spiritual life -- the new birth, which also John preached when he exhorted people to repent, and so their hearts were changed from material desires to a living faith in God. When the soul has begun this new life, then the fire of the love of God will purify them into a higher condition. (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, as recorded by the second party of American Baha'is to visit Akka, Palestine: Edward and Lua Getsinger, Arthur and Elizabeth Dodge and William and Anna Hoar; ‘Prayers, Tablets, Instructions and Miscellany’, Chicago: Adair Press, 1900. p. 52 )