Ezekiel 10:2

10:2 The Lord ¹  said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork ²  underneath the cherubim. ³  Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched.

Matthew 3:11

3:11 “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy ⁴  to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ⁵ 

Acts 2:3

2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire ⁶  appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.

Revelation 8:3-5

8:3 Another ⁷  angel holding ⁸  a golden censer ⁹  came and was stationed ¹⁰  at the altar. A ¹¹  large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne. 8:4 The ¹²  smoke coming from the incense, ¹³  along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 8:5 Then ¹⁴  the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, ¹⁵  flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).

³ tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum mss read plural “cherubim” while the MT is singular here, “cherub.” The plural ending was probably omitted in copying the MT due to the similar beginning of the next word.

⁴ tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

⁵ sn With the Holy Spirit and fire. There are differing interpretations for this phrase regarding the number of baptisms and their nature. (1) Some see one baptism here, and this can be divided further into two options. (a) The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire could refer to the cleansing, purifying work of the Spirit in the individual believer through salvation and sanctification, or (b) it could refer to two different results of Christ’s ministry: Some accept Christ and are baptized with the Holy Spirit, but some reject him and receive judgment. (2) Other interpreters see two baptisms here: The baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the salvation Jesus brings at his first advent, in which believers receive the Holy Spirit, and the baptism of fire refers to the judgment Jesus will bring upon the world at his second coming. One must take into account both the image of fire and whether individual or corporate baptism is in view. A decision is not easy on either issue. The image of fire is used to refer to both eternal judgment (e.g., Matt 25:41) and the power of the Lord’s presence to purge and cleanse his people (e.g., Isa 4:4-5). The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, a fulfillment of this prophecy no matter which interpretation is taken, had both individual and corporate dimensions. It is possible that since Holy Spirit and fire are governed by a single preposition in Greek, the one-baptism view may be more likely, but this is not certain. Simply put, there is no consensus view in scholarship at this time on the best interpretation of this passage.

⁶ tn Or “And divided tongues as of fire.” The precise meaning of διαμερίζομαι (diamerizomai) in Acts 2:3 is difficult to determine. The meaning could be “tongues as of fire dividing up one to each person,” but it is also possible that the individual tongues of fire were divided (“And divided tongues as of fire appeared”). The translation adopted in the text (“tongues spreading out like a fire”) attempts to be somewhat ambiguous.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁸ tn Grk “having.”

⁹ sn A golden censer was a bowl in which incense was burned. The imagery suggests the OT role of the priest.

¹⁰ tn The verb “to station” was used to translate ἑστάθη (Jestaqh) because it connotes the idea of purposeful arrangement in English, which seems to be the idea in the Greek.

¹¹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹³ tn The expression τῶν θυμιαμάτων (twn qumiamatwn) is taken as a “genitive of producer,” i.e., the noun in the genitive produces the head noun.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

¹⁵ tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”