“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)

The baptism ‘WITH’ the Spirit of Matt. 3:11 KJV (above) and the baptism “BY” the Spirit of 1 Cor. 12:13 KJV have nothing to do with each other. To combine them is to confuse the dispensational ages and that which applies to “the Church, the Body of Christ” with the Jewish Messianic Church as seen found in Acts chapter 2.

• Matt. 3:11: Here John the Baptist is prophetically speaking of Israel’s New Covenant age baptism “WITH” the Holy Spirit in early Acts 2 as the Spirit’s enduement with power coming upon the Twelve. This was for them to be able to powerfully proclaim Jesus’ “gospel of the Kingdom” with ‘signs and wonders; so that apostate Israel might believe and receive Jesus as King and His prophesied Messianic Kingdom. Of course, this has not yet happened, but it will at His 2^nd coming.
• 1Cor. 12:13: Here Paul, as “THE Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13), speaks of today’s Gentile grace age ‘Spirit baptism’ of believers being set into the body of Christ; that is, it is accomplished “BY” the One Holy Spirit placing us into “One Body (of Christ).”

These then are two differing baptisms pertaining to two differing dispensations for two different people groups.

If we combine Israel’s Prophecy program concerning the King and His Kingdom on earth with the heavenly Mystery program (Rom. 16:25) for “the body of Christ” we will have nothing but unanswerable confusion and seeming contradiction.

Attacking these seeming differences with Bible “re-translations” is not the answer. We must believe “the word of truth” is correct as written and approach it dispensationally. These two programs must be “rightly divided” and acknowledged in our approach to Bible Study. Thus, Paul wrote;

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)

We should always be suspicious of the Bible commentators who plays the role of Bible translators. The preacher or teacher is to use the Bible ‘as is.’ He can and should explain the text, but he oversteps his bounds when he adds to the Bible, subtracts from the Bible, or retranslates the Bible.

The English King James Bible is correct—whether they believe it or not, whether they agree with it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we agree with it or not. We are to be known as “people of the Book,” but that title is not appropriate if we vilify and correct the very book we proclaim to be “the infallible, inerrant Word of God?”

Rather than approaching the Bible dispensationally and thus appreciating its layout, people have been trained to panic and “smooth over” any seeming disparities in the Bible text. They are under the impression that there is only one audience and object in the Scripture. To them … there can be no nation Israel and the Body of Christ. There can be no prophetic program and different mystery (secret) program. There can be no Peter and Paul. To them there is only one group of believers of all ages. There is only one program in Scripture. They say Paul is an extension of Peter and that God never changes His dealings with man. They say All the promises in the Bible belong to us. These are the fundamental blunders, the outright lies, which have led to more Bible corruption, more denominations, and more confusion. We had better approach the Bible “rightly divided” (2 Timothy 2:15), or we will not be able to comprehend it.

In closing, let us repeat ourselves. The idea that Matthew 3:11 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 have the same Spirit baptism is all predicated on the erroneous notion that there is only one “church” in the Book of Acts. The Messianic Church and the Church the Body of Christ are different and not to be confused. Matthew 3:11 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

The book of Acts contains the details of the transition from Israel’s prophetic program due to its fall and failure (Rom. 11:10-11, 25) … and the rise of the Pauline Gentiles “body of Christ” (Eph. 3:1-5). Thus, these two baptisms were not the same baptism, they are still not the same baptism, and they will never be the same baptism.

It does not matter what any theologian says. Whether we agree with it or not, the King James Bible is still correct in saying “BY one Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 12:13. These words of God were here long before we were born and they will be here long after we are gone. What we had better do is believe it as it is written, and stop “correcting” (corrupting) it using our limited human understanding.