by Grover Gunn
http://grovergunn.net/andrew/andrew.htm
Introduction
The Meaning of Baptizo
The Symbolism of Water Baptism
New Testament Circumstantial Evidence
New Testament Commentary on Two Old Testament Baptisms
Appendix A: Early Christian Pictorial Representations of Baptism
Appendix B: Early Baptismal Fonts
Footnotes
To determine the proper mode of baptism, one needs to study the meaning of the Greek word baptizo, the symbolism of baptism, and the circumstances surrounding baptisms recorded in the New Testament. Through the study of the Greek word baptizo I hope to show that the word is often used without any reference to dipping, and that the immersion aspect of the word is satisfied in Christian baptism by something other than the mode of baptism. Through the study of the symbolism of Christian baptism, I hope to show that the proper mode of Christian baptism is the application of water from above as in either sprinkling or pouring. Through the study of the circumstances of some New Testament baptisms, I hope to show the improbability that those baptisms were by a total body immersion. In addition, I want to look at the New Testament commentary on two events which the New Testament classifies as baptisms: the Red Sea crossing and the flood.
The Greek word baptizo in ancient Greek literature most frequently and most literally refers to immersion in a liquid. A common error of those who use this fact to argue the immersionist position regarding baptism is that they assume baptizo also necessarily includes the idea of dipping, which involves plunging down under liquid and then lifting up out of liquid. This is not the case. Baptizo is an amodal word. It refers to the accomplishment of immersion with no implicit indication in the word as to how this occurs. The immersion can be through various and sundry modes: liquid coming down from above,1 liquid rising to cover,2 wading into liquid,3 dropping into liquid,4 sinking permanently below a liquid,5 or any other way. All that matters is that the object is somehow put under liquid. The Greek word baptizo is much like the English word bury, which means to encase in some solid substance regardless of how this is accomplished. For example, if a house is buried in falling snow, then the house has been buried by sprinkling. If a house is buried by an avalanche, then it has been buried by pouring. Something is buried when it is encased in some substance regardless of the mode of accomplishment. In like manner, one is baptized in the most concrete sense of the word when one is covered by a liquid regardless of how this was accomplished.
The Greek word baptizo also does not contain within itself the idea of the immersed object's coming up from under liquid. If that occurs, it must be learned from the larger context. Several of the word's more concrete usages refer to shipwrecks and drownings where the immersion is more or less permanent.6 A few even refer to the soul as baptized in the body.7
The Greek word which often means dipping into and out of liquid is bapto. Unlike baptizo, bapto often refers to contexts where there is no full immersion.8 Bapto often refers to dipping without immersion, whereas baptizo often refers to immersion without dipping. In a study of 175 uses of baptizo in ancient Greek writings, the Baptist Dr. T.J. Conant translates baptizo with some form of the English word dip only ten times.9
A second common error of those who use the word baptizo to argue for the immersionist position is that they assume the baptismal immersion must be an immersion into a literal liquid. Baptizo can refer to immersion into a state such as drunkenness 10 or a drunken sleep 11 or a drug induced stupor. 12 There are examples in Greek literature of a difficult question's baptizing a person into perplexity,13 of midnight's baptizing a city in sleep,14 of a military leader's baptizing Asia through a triumphant victory,15 of calamity's baptizing a person in grief,16 and so on.
In ancient Jewish Greek literature, baptizo is used to refer to the Jewish ceremonial washings, many of which were by sprinkling. Here the immersion is not into a literal liquid but into a state of ceremonial purity. For example, in Ecclesiasticus, also called Wisdom of Sirach, baptizo refers to the cleansing ritual whereby someone who is ceremonially defiled from contact with a corpse is made ceremonially clean:
Ecclesiasticus 34:25 (English Bible reference)Here are B.B. Warfield's comments on this Apocryphal statement:
"If a man washes (baptizo) after touching a dead body, and touches it again, what has he gained by his washing (loutron)?" (RSV)In the Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, xxxiv. (xxxi) 25 (30), there is a warning against playing fast and loose with the laws of purification. When one becomes unclean by contact with a dead body, it was provided that he should be sprinkled with "the waters of separation" on the third and on the seventh day, whereafter he should "wash his clothes and bathe himself with water" (Num. xix.11,19). Apparently the sprinkling with the "water of separation" was to cleanse him from the pollution of the dead body, and the bath, to cleanse him from the uncleanness which the "water of separation" seems to have brought upon all who were concerned with it (Num. xix.1-22). Now what the Son of Sirach declares is that if anyone, after having had "the water of separation" sprinkled upon him, touches the corpse again, he cannot profit by the subsequent bath. This is the language in which he does this: "He that is baptized from a dead body and touches it again, what availeth the washing?" What, in other words, is the use of his proceeding to the bath, if he has defiled himself again after the sprinkling? The act of purification from the dead body, which was by sprinkling, is here distinguished, as a "baptism," from the subsequent bath, which is designated, in accordance with the usage of the Greek Old Testament, a "washing." "Baptism," of course, does not mean "sprinkling" here; but it is freely used of a purifying rite which was performed by "sprinkling." That is to say, it bears a sense wide enough to be used of all rites of purification, with entire indifference as to the mode of their performance ...17An examination of the original Greek supports Warfield's exegesis. The Greek noun loutron is used in Ecclesiasticus 34:25 to refer to the washing there declared useless after renewed contact with the dead. In Numbers 19:7,8 and 19, the related Greek verb louo is used to refer to the body washing required after exposure to the water of purification ("the water of separation" in the King James Version). Thus the washing in Ecclesiasticus 34:25 declared useless after renewed contact with the dead is the washing required after exposure to the waters of purification. The washing which Ecclesiasticus 34:25 describes using the word baptizo is the ritual for ceremonial cleansing after contact with the dead. According to Numbers 19:11-13, the sprinkling of the water of purification is the ritual which provides ceremonial cleansing after contact with the dead (cf. Hebrews 9:13).18 Thus Ecclesiasticus 34:25 uses the word baptizo to refer to a ritual whose mode was sprinkling. Baptizo is an appropriate word for this ritual administered through sprinkling because this and similar rituals immerse a person into a state of ceremonial purity.It is true that some of the Old Testament washings probably required the washing of the entire body (cf. John 13:9-10). Many of these had to do with the special purity responsibilities of the priesthood (Exodus 29:4-6; Leviticus 16:4,24;22:4-7) and the special exposure to defilement from administering certain cleansing rituals (Numbers 19:7-8,19,21). Some also had to do with special circumstances such as leprosy (Leviticus 14:1-9), meat eaten with the blood (Leviticus 17:15-16), and various human discharges (Leviticus 15:13,16,18,21-22,27). However, one must keep in mind that a command to wash does not necessitate immersion. People often wash their entire body without immersing their entire body. There is wording which clearly requires immersion, and this is used only in the case of the washing of inanimate objects made unclean by contact with something dead (Leviticus 11:32)19 Leviticus 11:32 is the one verse which specifies that the cleansing element is to be applied by immersion, as indicated by the Hebrew (bo' in Hophal), and also the one verse where the LXX translation uses bapto, the Greek word for dipping, to refer to the application of the cleansing element. None of these cleansing rituals, except for Leviticus 11:32, have any suggestion of an application by dipping. What dipping there is in other cleansing ceremonies is for purposes other than applying the cleansing element and is not total immersion dipping (Leviticus 14:6,16; Numbers 19:18).20 In some of these cleansing rituals, the cleansing element is applied by sprinkling (Leviticus 14:7; Numbers 19:13,18-21). If one classifies sprinkling with blood as an Old Testament baptism (cf. Hebrews 9:10 & 13), then there are a multitude of verses on Old Testament baptisms which involve sprinkling.
There is evidence that some of the Jews at the time of Christ went beyond the requirements of the Mosaic law and required full immersion in certain cases where the Old Testament merely required washing:
Of recent years the archaeological evidence shows that at least as early as the 1st century BC, Jews in Palestine practised ceremonial washings in cisterns called miqva'ot. A typical miqveh held 300 litres (66 imperial gallons) or water with a minimum depth of 1.2 metres (47 inches), was entered and exited by steps and was a feature of wealthy religious homes, and of synagogues.21We should remember that the Pharisees demonstrated legalistic excess in other religious matters and that Jesus did not respect these extra-biblical traditions.New Testament verses which use baptizo or its noun derivative baptismos to refer to the Old Testament and traditional Jewish cleansing rituals are Hebrews 9:10, Mark 7:4 and Luke 11:38.22 The passage in Hebrews refers to the Old Testament cleansing rituals as baptisms (9:10) and then proceeds to comment on some of these whose mode was sprinkling (verses 13, 19 and 21). Luke 11:38 says that a Pharisee marveled that Jesus had not first washed (baptizo) before dinner. Matthew 15:2 and Mark 7:2-5 speak of a "tradition of the elders" which required washing of the hands before eating. Also, rabbinic tradition as preserved in the Mishnah does not require a body immersion before eating.23 Luke 11:38 then most probably refers to a traditional Jewish baptism that was not a total body immersion. In fact, this hand washing before dinner was probably by pouring.24 Mark 7:4 also mentions the washings (baptismos) of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. This may have been done by immersion.25 The ritual cleansing of such inanimate objects when defiled by contact with the dead is the one Old Testament baptism where immersion into water is explicitly commanded (Leviticus 11:32). My point is not that no Old Testament baptism could ever involve immersion into water. My point is that the only immersion they all had in common was an immersion into ceremonial purity.
There is also an Old Testament prophecy which makes interesting use of the language of the cleansing rituals. Ezekiel 36:25 prophesied that in the New Covenant age of the Messiah, God will cleanse (Hebrew: taher; LXX: katharizo) His people by sprinkling clean water on them. Here Ezekiel describes God's New Covenant grace in terms of sprinkling but not with the blood of sacrificed animals nor with water containing the ashes of a red heifer, as was common under the old covenant. Perhaps in anticipation of Jesus' once-for-all finished sacrifice, the blood and ashes of sacrificed animals are not mentioned in this description of New Covenant grace. The relevant point to our discussion is that this prophecy speaks of a baptism into a state of ceremonial purity through sprinkling with water. The prophet envisioned a deliverance from all uncleannesses (v. 29) and a cleansing from all iniquities (v. 33) in terms not of a full body immersion but of a sprinkling with clean water.
Before going on, I want to discuss the use of baptizo in 2 Kings 5:14 in the LXX, a verse that is sometimes mistakenly understood to infer that the mode of baptism should be immersion in water by dipping:
"And Naaman went down and baptized himself (LXX: baptizo; Hebrew: tabal) in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of Elisha; and his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was made pure (LXX: katharizo; Hebrew: taher)."The Hebrew word here translated by the Greek baptizo is tabal. In the LXX, tabal is everywhere translated by bapto except here and in Genesis 37:31:So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and DIPPED the tunic in the blood.In Genesis 37:31, the LXX translator translated tabal with moluno, a word which includes the ideas of staining and defiling, sometimes specifically through contact with blood (cf. Isaiah 59:3; Lamentations 4:14 LXX). The translator interpretively communicated the defiling consequence of the dipping into blood rather than giving a literal translation of the Hebrew. There appears to be a similar interpretative translation in 2 Kings 5:14. Instead of translating this dipping literally with bapto, the LXX translator used baptizo because Namaan's washing in the Jordan resulted in his ceremonial cleansing. The translator chose the Greek word baptizo here to communicate a total immersion into a state of ceremonial purity. The purpose was not to communicate the mode of this baptism but its ceremonial consequence. The passage does not say whether Namaan dipped his whole body or only his localized leprosy.26 Also, the dipping was not specifically commanded by Elisha. He told Namaan to wash (Hebrew: rachats; LXX: louo) in the Jordan. Wash is an amodal word which allows for cleansing in many different ways. The dipping here has only an incidental relationship to the word baptizo, which here infers not a dipping into water but a lasting immersion into a state of ritual purity.The word baptizo is also used in the New Testament to communicate a religious state into which one is immersed. The baptism of the New Testament effects not a temporary dipping into and out of a religious state but a permanent immersion. One can see this by examining the New Testament's use of baptizo with the Greek preposition eis with the accusative, literally translated into. The Christian is baptized into Christ and His Body and His redemptive work. Here are some samples:27
Acts 2:38
Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for (eis) the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:3-4
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into (eis) Christ Jesus were baptized into (eis) His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into (eis) death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into (eis) one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
Galatians 3:27
For as many of you as were baptized into (eis) Christ have put on Christ.The Greek word baptizo is used for Christian baptism not because Christian baptism is through a dipping into and out of a total immersion in water. The Greek word baptizo is used to communicate a total immersion into Christ and His Body and His saving benefits through the work of the Holy Spirit. Baptism with water is a visual picture of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, who comes down upon a person from above.
The Symbolism of Water Baptism
The next major issue in determining the proper mode of baptism is the Scriptural symbolism of water baptism. Immersionists argue that water baptism symbolizes the Christian's union with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as spoken of in Romans 6:3-6 and Colossians 2:12. Is immersion by dipping an adequate symbol of the death of Christ on a Roman cross and His burial in a grave hewn out of rock that was entered horizontally and not vertically? How does dipping the upper part of the body symbolize death on a cross? How does dipping the upper part of the body symbolize a body's being carried horizontally into a sepulcher? And isn't this a bit redundant? Christ's death is already symbolized by the Lord's Supper where the wine signifies the blood of the new covenant and where the bread we break signifies His body that was broken on our behalf. Christ's resurrection is remembered by our worshipping together on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, the day upon which our Lord arose from the grave. And as to the burial of Christ in a sepulcher, we regard the burial as the proof that He died and the preparation for His resurrection, and so the burial is remembered when we remember our Lord's death and when we remember our Lord's resurrection. Unlike the church under Moses, the New Testament church has very few signs and rituals. Does it not seem a bit strange that these few rituals would duplicate each other? And does it not seem a bit strange that if the burial theory is correct, then there is no ritual in the church to symbolize the mighty work of the Holy Spirit at our conversion?
If someone had no preconceived notion as to what baptism symbolized and was going to begin a Bible study to try to figure this one out, where logically should he begin his search? Should he begin looking in the doctrinal writings of Paul which were written some twenty or so years after the beginning of the Christian church? Or should he first look at the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist where baptism in the New Testament first began to be administered? I would look at the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist, and that is indeed where we find our understanding of the symbolism of water baptism.
At the beginning of his baptismal ministry, John the Baptist said:
I baptize with water but one comes after me who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.Here the baptism with water is put in a parallel relationship with baptism with the Holy Spirit. That makes sense because water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and His saving work (Isaiah 44:3; John 7:38-39). In Acts 10, Cornelius the Roman centurion received the baptism with the Spirit, and then Peter said:Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?In other words, Peter was asking, How can we forbid the symbol (that is, water baptism), to someone who has already received the thing symbolized (the baptism with the Holy Spirit)? How can we refuse water baptism to Cornelius, even if he is an uncircumcised Gentile, if God has chosen to baptize him with the Holy Spirit? Here is Peter's own explanation as given in Acts 11:15-17:And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, "John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I then that I could withstand God?Now we can see the relationship of baptism and our union with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as spoken of in Romans 6. The baptism with the Spirit puts us into mystical union with Christ. Because we are in Christ, we are one with all His redemptive works. We are one with His life of perfect obedience, we are one with His death, we are one with His burial, we are one with His resurrection from the dead, and we are one with His ascension, having been seated with Him in the heavenlies. Water baptism was not meant to symbolize all these results of the baptism with the Holy Spirit into union with Christ but rather the baptism with the Spirit itself.
If baptism with water does indeed symbolize baptism with the Spirit, then what does that tell us about how we should administer water baptism? Let's look at Scripture's description of baptism with the Spirit and see:
Acts 2:16-17 at Pentecost:The mode of the baptism with the Spirit is not dipping but pouring. The spiritual washing (loutron) of regeneration and renewal is through the Holy Spirit, whom God poured out abundantly (Titus 3:5-6). The new birth from above (John 3:3, margin) is symbolized by the application of some cleansing and life-giving water from above. Acts 2:2 does say that something filled the whole house where the apostles were that day, and some argue that here is immersion in the Holy Spirit. The fallacy in that argument is that what filled the house that day was not the Holy Spirit but the sound as of a mighty wind. Yet this is about as close to baptism by dipping into the Holy Spirit that one can get from the Scriptural data on Pentecost.
"... in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh."
Acts 2:33:
"Jesus ... having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, ... poured out this which you now see and hear."
Acts 10:45:
"... on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Titus 3:6:
"... The Holy Spirit whom (God) poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior."
Isaiah 44:3:
"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and My blessings upon your offspring."If baptism with water means immersion into water, then baptism with the Holy Spirit should mean immersion into the Holy Spirit. According to Scripture, baptism with the Holy Spirit does not immerse us into the Holy Spirit but into Christ. The Spirit is the personal agent of spiritual baptism, not its receiving element. Spiritual baptism as symbolized by water baptism immerses us into union with Christ (Romans 6), into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), into a state of repentance (Matthew 3:11), into the new birth (Titus 3:5), and into a state of forgiveness (Acts 2:38).
In a secondary sense, baptism symbolizes a spiritual washing (cf. John 13:10; Acts 22:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5-6; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 3:21; 2 Peter 2:22). Washing, however, does not necessitate immersion. In fact, Titus 3:5-6 closely associates washing and pouring. Washing is a secondary symbolism because this washing is effected through our baptism into a spiritual union with Christ and all His benefits, which is the primary symbolism.
After examining the clear Scriptural data on the symbolism of water baptism, one can only wonder how the idea that water baptism symbolizes burial and resurrection arose. Hughes Oliphant Old gives the following explanation:
In New Testament times baptism had been celebrated in a very simple and straightforward way. Then in the next three or four centuries of Christian history, the rite of baptism developed from a very simple performing of the baptismal washing into an elaborate mystery drama. This process reached its culmination in the elaborate paschal baptisms of the fourth and fifth centuries. The Christian literature of this period has preserved many records of these dramatic ceremonies. One cannot help but be impressed by the dramatic splendor of these liturgical dramas. They were designed to initiate into the Christian Church the pagan population of antiquity. This population was accustomed to the dramatic rites of the Hellenistic mystery religions. The Church sought to win over these pagans with Christian mysteries more splendid than the old pagan mysteries.
These Christian initiation rites typically began several weeks before Easter with a solemn enrolling of the candidates for baptism. This initial enrolling was followed by several weeks of catechetical instruction; this was a period of intensive teaching, in which the basic doctrines of the Church were explained. Each of these meetings for catechetical instruction was accompanied by special prayers, exorcisms, and other rites. Often the bishop himself preached at these services. On the morning before Easter, the candidates for baptism came to the church to recite the Creed; then that night the paschal vigil began. Toward dawn those who were to be baptized were taken into the baptistry, a building especially designed for baptism. The bishop consecrated the waters of the font with a long prayer which recounted the types of baptisms. The candidates disrobed, they were anointed with oil, and then, after renouncing the devil and all his works and confessing their faith in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they were immersed in the baptismal font. After the baptismal washing each one was anointed with chrism by the bishop and received the laying on of hands. The newly baptized were then clothed in white and led into the church to join with the congregation to celebrate the Easter Eucharist.28
If baptism by pouring was normal in the second century, how are we to explain that by the third and surely the fourth century immersion became the preferred mode? Once again, we would want to call to mind what was said about the desire of the late Classical Period to develop impressive Christian mysteries. When Christians began to see in baptism a dramatization of the death and resurrection of Christ, and began more and more to celebrate baptism at Easter, then the symbolic representation of the burial and resurrection became increasingly important. In this setting the dramatization of the burial and resurrection came to overshadow the sign of washing. It was the desire of the Church to make baptism a splendid Christian mystery which made immersion the general mode of baptism by the end of the fourth century. Immersion held sway for the next six to eight centuries.29
Andre Benoit has pointed out that in the second century we find no trace of the idea that baptism is a dramatization of the burial and resurrection of Christ. The idea seems to have first appeared as an interpretation of the sixth chapter of Romans influenced by the acquaintance of early Christians with the mystery religions.30
New Testament Circumstantial Evidence
The third point we need to consider are the circumstances surrounding the baptisms mentioned in the New Testament. We can begin with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Many people associate a baptism by dipping with the words, "Jesus came up straightway out of the water." This is a misunderstanding which can be cleared up by examining some of the words.
People assume the word "straightway" to refer to a person's coming up vertically out of the water after being dipped. The Greek adverb used here is not a spatial term but a chronological term. A better translation is "immediately," which is the word used here in the New King James Version, the New American Standard Version and the English Standard Version. If Jesus had been immersed by dipping, we would not need to be told that He came up out of the water immediately; He would have had to come up immediately in order to breathe! Yet if Jesus was baptized by pouring while standing in the Jordan, then He could have lingered there or left immediately. The Greek adverb tells us that He left immediately.
People also assume that the phrase "out of the water" implies dipping. Yet "out of the water" is not a good translation of the account here in Matthew. There is a Greek preposition which usually means out of the midst of something, and there is another Greek preposition which usually means away from something. Matthew 3:16 uses the Greek adverb which usually means away from something. The translation "from the water" is used in the New King James Version, the New American Standard Version and the English Standard Version. If the wording of this verse were intended to describe dipping, this is not the best choice for this preposition. The other preposition is used in Mark's account of Jesus' baptism, but its meaning there is satisfied if Jesus stepped out of the shallow water He was standing in when John the Baptist baptized Him.
We can get further insight by comparing a Greek verb in Matthew 3:16 with the use of the same Greek verb in the account of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. The same Greek word translated "came up" is used in both Matthew 3:16 and Acts 8:39. In Acts 8, both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and both came up out of the water. If the words here referred to dipping, only the eunuch would go down into the water and come up out of it. The phrases merely refer to stepping into and out of some shallow water where the baptism is performed. The wording does not refer to dipping and immersion.
There are a few more interesting points on the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch. The baptism occurred in a desert region where there are today no bodies of water large enough for immersion (Acts 8:26). They did come across some water at an opportune time, perhaps a desert wadi then flowing. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the source of water they came upon was so large that its presence was a miracle. Most probably, Philip and the eunuch descended from the chariot into a shallow desert wadi, and Philip baptized the eunuch while they both stood in the water. The passage of scripture they had been previously discussing contains the prophecy that the Messiah will "sprinkle many nations" (Isaiah 52:15), which is certainly relevant to the baptism of the foreign Ethiopian. If Jewish proselyte baptism was practiced that early in history, the eunuch would have noticed definite differences between that practice and Christian baptism. Jewish proselyte baptism is a self-administered immersion performed totally unclothed.
Another verse immersionists like to refer to is John 3:23, where we learn that John the Baptist "was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there." The argument is that Aenon must have been a place with a body of water large enough to use for immersions. What is more likely is that Aenon was a place with springs which provided the clean, running water which is ideally suited for Jewish purification rituals. The Greek phrase translated "much water" is literally "many waters." The identification of the "many waters" at Aenon can be deduced from the name Aenon, which comes from the Hebrew for spring or fountain. The use of river water in cleansing rituals was sometimes questioned in Rabbinical literature because river water can be contaminated with dirt particles (TDNT, 6:600). The baptisms at Aenon probably took place in the late spring, a time when the Jordan normally flooded (Joshua 3:15) and was probably somewhat muddied. Interestingly, while the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, some of his disciples got in a dispute with some Jews over purification (John 3:25).
In Paul's baptism, Ananias came to the house in which Paul was staying and said, "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord." And Paul arose and was baptized (Acts 9:11,17-18; 22:16). Then Paul ate and was strengthened; he had not eaten for three days (Acts 9:9,19). If Paul's baptism was by immersion, it seems that Ananias would have said, "Arise and come with me to the nearest river or miqveh and be baptized." Instead Ananias talks as if there is no reason for delaying Paul's baptism. All Paul has to do is to arise and be baptized.
There is a similar circumstance in the baptism of the Philippian jailer and his family. The jailer's house appears to be connected to the inner prison where Paul and Silas were imprisoned. When the jailer awoke, he could see that the prison doors were open. Paul could see him draw his sword to kill himself (Acts 16:27). The jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house to eat, but it is questionable that Paul left the building. The next day when the magistrates sent the message that Paul was free to go, he responded, "They ... have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No, indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out." Paul and Silas may have experienced some freedom of movement within the prison building after the earthquake and the jailer's conversion, but his language does not sound like that of a man who had previously ventured out of the building. It is also very unlikely that the jailer would have left the building that night with no one watching the prisoners. These considerations raise the question of what facilities would be available in such a building for the total immersion of an adult.
The baptism of Cornelius also has an interesting point. After the Holy Spirit had fallen upon Cornelius and those with him, Peter asked the question, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" (Acts 10:47). This sounds like the language of someone bringing water to the person to be baptized. If Peter was thinking in terms of bringing the person to water, it seems he would have said something like, "Can anyone forbid their coming to water?" We have already noted how this passage closely relates baptism with water to baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Of course, no discussion on the mode of baptism would be complete without mentioning the difficulties of immersing three thousand converts on the day of Pentecost. Where were the facilities for this? How much time and energy would it have taken?
New Testament Commentary on Two Old Testament Baptisms
There are also two interesting commentaries in the New Testament on Old Testament baptisms where those baptized were not immersed into water and those not baptized were. The first of these is the baptism at the Red Sea mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:2: "all [our fathers] were baptized into (eis) Moses in (en) the cloud and in (en) the sea." Our fathers, the ones baptized, crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, and the Egyptians, the ones not baptized, were all immersed into the Red Sea (cf. Nehemiah 9:11). Before examining this verse, let me note that this verse could also be translated, "all were baptized into Moses by the cloud and by the sea." The Greek preposition en can refer to sphere or to instrument or agent, as in the following:
Matthew 12:28Here is James W. Dale's explanation of this baptism into Moses:
But if I cast out demons by (en) the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
1 Corinthians 12:13
For by (en) one Spirit we were all baptized into (eis) one body ...
Mark 1:8
I indeed baptized you with (en) water, but He will baptize you with (en) the Holy Spirit."The statement by Paul, "All our fathers were baptized into Moses by the cloud and by the sea" is evidently the statement of a result effected through the cloud and the sea. Moses, also, makes a statement of the result of the divine interposition through these great agencies. His language (Exod. 14:31) is this: "And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses."
...
Now, this Hebrew word [translated "believed"] evidently teaches us, that the Israelites having been wavering, unstable, and unreliable in their relations to Moses, were made (as a result of the miracles which they had witnessed) to trust, to confide in, to believe upon him, with a confidence second only to that cherished toward Jehovah himself, whose minister and representative they now fully believe him to be. In other words we are taught that the moral condition and relation of Israel toward Moses is radically changed, so that is influence over them is thoroughly controlling.
What, now, does the Greeks word teach us? Clearly this: the Israelites having been out of Moses through unbelief in his mission and thus beyond the control of his influence, they are (by the stupendous miracles wrought by Jehovah in attestation of that mission) thoroughly convinced of its divine origin and authority and submit themselves to it, passing from their outstanding position "into Moses," so coming, in the most strongly expressed terms, under his thoroughly controlling influence.
...
By the language of Moses, and by every other consideration, the conclusion is established, that the baptism of Israel into Moses expresses their FULL SUBJECTION to his controlling influence.31The other passage is 1 Peter 3:20-22:
.. the ark ..., in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us-- baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.Here are Jay Adams' comments on this passage:There, those who are "merged" or identified, with Noah in the ark are saved from destruction; those outside are drowned. ... the immersionist has quite a task in explaining why the wrong persons were immersed!32Noah and his house were "saved." Baptism, Peter says, saves us in like manner. But how? The answer is "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers subject to Him (I Peter 3:21-22). How does Holy Spirit baptism, corresponding to the salvation of Noah, now save through the resurrection of Christ? Being identified with Christ by baptism into Him, Christians are raised with Him "into heaven," above "angels, authorities, and powers," just as Noah and his house were raised above the world of lost humanity that perished in the very waters which buoyed him upwards to safety. As those who were identified with Noah were saved, so too, are those identified with Christ.33Appendix A: Early Christian Pictorial Representations of Baptism
The following is taken from The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the Sixteenth Century by Hughes Oliphant Old.
"All the early pictures of baptism show pouring. These pictorial representations of the sacrament invariably show the one being baptized standing naked in water about waist deep. The one performing the baptism is pouring water over the head of the one being baptized. The pouring is done simply with the hand. In most cases over this hand of the one baptizing there is a representation of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Anyone familiar with the art of the classical world and particularly with the beginnings of Christian art is aware of the way the pictures of this period evolved into stylized representations and the way, once these representations were established, they remained fixed for a long time. This belongs to the philosophy of art. In those days the artist strove not for originality but for fidelity. It was the job of the artist faithfully to reproduce the pattern of reality. To be sure, the ideas of Plato are behind this philosophy of art. Once a tradition has been established as to how a particular subject should be presented, it never changed."What seems to be the earliest pictorial representation of baptism which has come down to us is the picture of the baptism of Jesus found in the cemetery of Calixtos. The picture, which comes from the end of the second century, indicates pouring. There are a number of representations of baptism in the Catacombs from the third and fourth centuries. None of these show baptism by immersion.
"Perhaps the most remarkable picture of a baptism is in the ceiling of the Baptistry of the Orthodox at Ravenna. In this case the picture of John baptizing Jesus in the dome of the baptistry had by this time become a convention. By A.D. 450, when this mosaic was put into place, the philosophy of the icon was developing rapidly. Everything in the baptistry was built as the setting for the baptismal mysteries of the Christian Passover. Clearly the baptisms performed in this baptistry were immersions. In the center of the room was a large pool obviously built for immersions. How is it, then, that the picture of the baptism of Christ in the ceiling, put there to be seen by those being baptized as they were laid into the water, is a baptism not by immersion but by pouring? The answer is very simple. The traditional picture of baptism had evolved at a time when pouring was the normal way to baptize. The traditional icon must have evolved in the second century; by the third century we find traces of it all over the Empire. Here we have clear evidence that in the second century baptism was most often performed by pouring."34
Appendix B: Early Baptismal Fonts
The following is taken from Baptism in Scripture and History: A Fresh Study of the Meaning and Mode of Baptism by Rowland S. Ward.
"The archaeological evidence does suggest that the domestic bath was not uncommonly employed for baptism. The bath - in those houses that had one - was normally recessed into the floor of a separate room, and water was either poured by an attendant or discharged from a jet or fountain above and to one side - something like a modern shower.
"If the candidate was baptized indoors in a building designed for Christian use, the baptism took place in a separate room called the baptistry. ... The early fonts are too small in depth (and sometimes in width) to allow for total immersion. Rather, the candidate's head was dipped in a basin or laver as he stood in shallow water, or else the water was poured from the basin."35
"Nearly 400 examples of ecclesiastical fonts belonging to the period 230-680 A.D. have been located. ... Only a very few of the early fonts could have been used for total immersion even supposing they were filled to capacity. Most depths range from about 35 cm (14 inches) to a little over a metre (40 inches), but typically 60 cm (2 feet), half the depth commonly considered necessary for immersionists today."36"The fonts discovered show that the general practice was for the candidate to enter the bath by (usually) two steps, and stand in water up to his ankles, knees or loins. His head was then dipped in a basin arrangement called the laver, or else the water was simply poured. Drawings on the walls of the catacombs and elsewhere back into the second century show a similar mode. The illustration above is from the Catacomb of Callixtus dating from the third century and shows baptism at a stream administered in the way described.
"One might well ask how it is, if the mode described above was the customary mode in the early centuries, that writers of every school have generally held that total immersion was the baptismal practice, and that it was supplanted only gradually in the late Middle Ages by pouring? The answer lies in the fact that we were relying on written records belonging chiefly to the period 150 - 500 A.D. The centuries following this period were not marked by a great deal of literary activity and it was during this time that the common mode of baptism became total immersion, as will be shown. With the revival of learning in the 13th century and later, the literary works of the early period were read in the light of the mediaeval practice of submersion, and this interpretation found uncritical acceptance until recent times."37
1 All the following examples are taken from the Baptist work The Meaning and Use of BAPTIZEIN Philologically and Historically Investigated, for the American Bible Union by T.J. Conant, D.D. (New York: American Bible Union, 1877).
Example 19. The same writer [Josephus], Jewish War, book III. ch. 9,3. Describing the condition of the vessels in the port of Joppa, during a storm, he says: "And many [of the vessels], struggling against the opposing swell towards the open sea (for they feared the shore, being rocky, and the enemies upon it), the billow, rising high above, SUBMERGED (BAPTIZED)."
Conant, Ibid., page 9.2 Example 14. The same Work [Diodorus (the Sicilian), Historical Library], book I, ch. 36. Describing the effects of the rapid rise of the water during the annual inundation of the Nile, he says: "Most of the wild land animals are surrounded by the stream and perish, being SUBMERGED (BAPTIZED); but some, escaping to the high grounds, are saved."
Conant, Ibid., pages 7-8.Example 4. Aristotle, concerning Wonderful Reports, 136. Speaking of what the Phoenician colonists of Gadira (on the southern coast of Spain) were reported to have seen, when sailing beyond the Pillars of Hercules (westward of the strait of Gibraltar, he says: "They say that the Phoenicians who inhabit the so-called Gadira, sailing four days outside of the Pillars of Hercules with an east-wind, come to certain desert places full of rushes and sea-weed; which, when it is ebb-tide, are not IMMERSED (BAPTIZED), but when it is flood-tide are overflowed."
Conant, Ibid., pages 3-4.3 Example 7. The same Word [Polybius, History], book III. ch. 72,4. Speaking of the passage of the Roman army, under Consul Tiberius, through the river Tebia, which had been swollen by heavy rains, he says: "They passed through with difficulty, the foot-soldiers IMMERSED (BAPTIZED) as far as to the breasts."
Conant, Ibid., page 5.Example 38. Porphyry, Concerning the Styx. Describing the Lake of Probation, in India, and the use made of it by the Brahmins for testing the guilt or innocence of persons accused of crime, he says: "The depth is as far as to the knees; ... and when the accused comes to it, if he is guiltless he goes through without fear, having the water as far as the knees; but if guilty, after proceeding a little way, he is IMMERSED (BAPTIZED) unto the head."
Conant, Ibid., page 18.4 Example 2. The same Word [Polybius, History], book VIII., ch. 8,4. Describing the operations of the engines, which Archimedes constructed for the defense of Syracuse when besieged by the Romans, and with which he lifted the prows of the besieging vessels out of the water, so that they stood erect on the stern, and then let them fall, he says: "Which being done, some of the vessels fell on their side, and some were overturned; but most of them, when the prow was let fall from on high, BEING SUBMERGED (BAPTIZED), became filled with sea-water and confusion."
Conant, Ibid., page 2.Example 9. Strabo, Geography, book XII. ch. 2,4. Speaking of the underground channel, through which the waters of the Pyramus (a river of Cilicia in Asia Minor) forced their way, he says: "And to one who hurls down a dart, from above into the channel, the force of the water makes so much resistance, that it is hardly IMMERSED (BAPTIZED)."
Conant, Ibid., pages 5-6.5 Example 43. Suidas, Lexicon. "Desiring to swim through, they were IMMERSED (BAPTIZED) by their full armor."
Conant, Ibid., page 20.6 Example 13. Didorus (the Sicilian), Historical Library, book XVI. ch. 80. In his account of Timoleon's defeat of the Carthaginian army on the bank of the river Crimissus in Sicily, many of the fugitives perishing in the stream swollen by a violent storm, he says: "The river, rushing down with the current increased in violence, SUBMERGED (BAPTIZED) many, and destroyed them attempting to swim through with their armor."
Conant, Ibid., page 7. See also examples 16, 17, 37, 41, 43, 44, 51, 65.Example 21. The Same writer [Josephus], Life of himself, 3: "For our vessel having been SUBMERGED (BAPTIZED) in the midst of the Adriatic, being about six hundred in number, we swam through the whole night."
Conant, Ibid., page 10. See also examples 1, 2, 3, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40, 48, 49, 52, 55.7 Example 76. The same Work [Alexander of Aphrodisias, Medical and Physical Problems], I.28. In answering the question, why many foolish persons have offspring who are very wise, and vice versa, he says of the former: "They have the soul very much IMMERSED (BAPTIZED) in the body, and on this account the seminal germ, partaking in greatest measure of the rational and physical power, causes their offspring to be more wise."
Conant, Ibid., page 37. See also Examples 58 and 72.8 Exodus 12:22
And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ...Leviticus 14:6
As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.Leviticus 14:16
Then the priest shall DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand...Numbers 19:18
A clean person shall take hyssop and DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.Ruth 2:14
Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, "Come here, and eat of the bread, and DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) your piece of bread in the vinegar." ...Daniel 4:33
That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body WAS WET (LXX: bapto; Aramaic: tseba') with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws.Daniel 5:21
"Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body WAS WET (LXX: bapto; Aramaic: tseba') with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever HeJohn 13:26
Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have DIPPED (bapto) it." ...Revelation 19:13
He was clothed with a robe DIPPED (bapto) in blood, ...9 Conant, Ibid.
dip, un-dip, dip in a match 10 times imbath 2 times immerge 15 times immerse 43 times plunge, plunge in 17 times submerge 24 times whelm, overwhelm, unwhelm 64 times 10 Example 142. Philo, On a contemplative Life. "And I know some, who, when they become slightly intoxicated, before they are completely OVERWHELMED (BAPTIZED) provide, by contribution and tickets, a carousal for the morrow; regarding the hope of the future revel as part of the present festivity"
Conant, Ibid., page 68.
Example 143. Plutarch, Banquet, book III. Question 8. "For the slightly intoxicated only the intellect is disturbed; but the body is able to obey its impulses, being not yet OVERWHELMED (BAPTIZED)."
Conant, Ibid., pages 68-69.
Example 147. Philosopher's Banquet, book V, ch. 64. You seem to me, O guests, to be strangely flooded with vehement words, and WHELMED (BAPTIZED) with undiluted wine. 'For a man taking draughts of wine, as a horse does of water, talks like a Scythian, not knowing even koppa; and he lies speechless, plunged in the cask.'"
Conant, Ibid. page 70.
Example 149. Conon, Narration L. Describing how Thebe destroyed her husband (Alexander, tyrant of Pherae), to prevent his meditated murder of herself and her three brothers, he says: "And Thebe, learning the purpose [of Alexander], gave daggers to the brothers, and urged them to be ready for the slaughter; and having WHELMED (BAPTIZED) Alexander with much wine and put him to sleep, she sends out the guards of the bed-chamber, under pretense of taking a bath, and called the brothers to the deed."
Conant, Ibid., page 71.11 Example 118. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, x,9.4. Describing the murder of Gedaliah by his own guests at a banquet, after he had drunk to intoxication, he says: "Seeing him in this condition, and PLUNGED (BAPTIZED) by drunkenness into stupor and sleep, Ishmael leaping up, with his ten friends, slays Gedaliah and those reclining with him at the banquet."
Conant, Ibid., page 57.12 Example 163. The same Work [Achilles Tatius, Story of Leucippe and Clitophon], book II. ch. 31. "And Satyrus had a remnant of the drug, with which he had put Conops to sleep. Of this, while serving us, he covertly pours a part into the last cup which he brought to Panthia; and she rising went into her bedchamber, and immediately fell asleep. But Leucippe had another chamber-servant; whom having WHELMED (BAPTIZED) with the same drug, Satyrus .. comes to the third door, to the door-keeper; and him he laid prostrate with the same draught."
Conant, Ibid., pages 79-80.13 Example 135. Plato, Euthydemus, or the Disputer, ch. VII. Speaking of young Clinias, confounded with the sophistical questions and subtilities of the professional disputants, he says: "And I, perceiving that the youth was OVERWHELMED (BAPTIZED), wishing to give him a respite," etc.
Conant, Ibid., page 65.14 Example 121. Heliodorus, AEthiopics (Story of Theagenes and Chariclea), book IV. "When midnight had PLUNGED (BAPTIZED) the city in sleep, an armed band of revillers took possession of the dwelling of Chariclea."
Conant, Ibid., pages 58-59.15 Example 99. Himerius, Selection XV. 3. He says of Themistocles: "He was great at Salamis; for there, fighting, he WHELMED (BAPTIZED) all Asia."
Example 100. Libanius, Declamation XX. On the same subject (and apostrophizing Themistocles, in the speech represented as spoken by his father), he says: "The crowning achievement was Salamis; where thou didst WHELM (BAPTIZE) Asia."
Conant, Ibid., pages 49-50.16 Example 108. Heliodorus, Aethiopics (Story of Theagenes and Charilea), book II. ch. 3. "And Cnemon, perceiving that he was wholly absorbed in grief, and WHELMED (BAPTIZED) in the calamity, and fearing lest he may do himself some harm, secretly takes away the sword."
Conant, Ibid., page 53.17 John E. Meeter, Editor, Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield - II (Nutley, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1973), page 347.
18 In this ritual, the water of purification is sprinkled twice, once on the third day and once on the seventh day. Numbers 19:19 requires a self-administered washing (Hebrew: rachats; LXX: louo) on the seventh day after the second sprinkling. Some Baptists argue that this washing is an immersion, and this is why this ritual is called a baptism. A washing, however, is not necessarily an immersion (cf. Acts 16:33). Ask yourself when you last washed and when you were last immersed. Also, this washing in Numbers 19:19 is not the baptism for contact with the dead but instead the cleansing from contact with the water of purification. Every party in Numbers 19 who had any exposure to the water of purification had afterwards to wash his body and/or his clothes (Numbers 19:7-8,10,19,21). Hebrews 9:13 speaks only of the sprinkled water containing the ashes of a heifer as the agent of ceremonial cleansing: "the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, ... for the purifying of the flesh." Both Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, book iv, chapter 4, paragraph 6) and Philo (quoted on page 101 of Judaic Baptism by James W. Dale) comment on the ritual for cleansing from contact with the dead. Both mention only the sprinkling and not the seventh day washing.
19 Leviticus 11:32
Anything on which any of them falls, when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is any item of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever item it is, in which any work is done, it must be put (Hebrew: Bo' in Hophal; LXX: bapto) in water. And it shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean.
"Tabal means to dip or be moist with. In Leviticus 11:32 bapto translates the Hebrew word bo' and no doubt refers to immersion -- the articles concerned are put into water."
John Murray, Christian Baptism (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1974), page 10.20 Leviticus 14:6
As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.Leviticus 14:16
Then the priest shall DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand...Numbers 19:18
A clean person shall take hyssop and DIP (LXX: bapto; Hebrew: tabal) it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.For uses of tabal that do not involve total immersion, see quotations of Exodus 12:22; Leviticus 14:6,16; Numbers 19:18 and Ruth 2:14 in footnote 8. In all those verses, bapto in the LXX is a translation of the Hebrew tabal. Also, see Genesis 37:31; Joseph's coat of many colors could not be totally immersed in the blood of a kid. This verse has tabal in the Hebrew and moluno in the LXX translation.
21 Rowland S. Ward, Baptism in Scripture and History: A Fresh Study of the Meaning and Mode of Baptism(Victoria, Australia: Rowland S. Ward, 1991), pages 14-15.
22 Hebrews 9:10
... concerned only with foods and drinks, various WASHINGS, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.Mark 7:4
When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they WASH. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the WASHING of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.Luke 11:38
And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first WASHED before dinner."Jewish tradition, it is true, did prescribe immersion in certain cases of uncleanness. Seder Tohoroth in the Babylonian Talmud includes several tractates which evince these prescriptions, and the tractate Mikwaoth deals expressly with the bathing-pool which served these purposes. In this bathing-pool persons as well as vessels and other articles were immersed. But rabbinic tradition prescribed immersion not for the washing and purification which preceded eating, as in this case, but for the uncleanness contracted by such things as leprosy and various kinds of running issue."
John Murray, Ibid., page 17.24 Murray, Ibid., pages 15-17.
"There is good reason to believe that the 'baptisms of cups and pots and brasen vessels', referred to in Mark 7:4, refer to immersion (cf. the Talmudic tractate Kelim, Chapter XXV, Mishnah 3,5). ... All that is being maintained is that we are not justified in appealing to Mark 7:4b to show that baptismos cannot here imply immersion."
Murray, Ibid., page 19, footnote 11.26 1 Kings 5:11 implies that the leprosy was localized.
Also, 1 Kings 5:14 says that, after his washing, Namaan was clean (Hebrew: taher; LXX: katharizo). Leviticus 14:7, which is part of the description of the ritual for cleansing lepers, and Ezekiel 36:25 both speak of becoming clean (Hebrew: taher; LXX: katharizo) through sprinkling.27 The verses in the New Testament which use baptizo and eis to refer to baptism into someone or something are Matthew 3:11; 28:19; Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38; 8:16; 19:3; 19:5; Romans 6:3; 1 Corinthians 1:13; 1:15; 10:2; 12:13; and Galatians 3:27. Mark 1:9 at first appears to refer to baptism into the Jordan River:
It came to pass in those days that Jesus came (erxomai) from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in (eis) the Jordan.I would suggest that both the phrases "from Nazareth" and "into the Jordan" are connected with the verb erxomai. A second Greek verb can occur between erxomai and the eis prepositional phrase connected with it to identify the locality into which someone has come; see John 20:19 (literally, "Jesus came and stood into (eis) the midst ..."). Because the Jordan had two banks at places, one could come into the Jordan without going into the water (cf. 2 Kings 6:4). Mark 1:9 is then saying that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee into an area inside the outer banks of the Jordan and was there baptized by John. This understanding of Mark 1:9 harmonizes well with the parallel passage Matthew 3:13:Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.Another possibility is that eis is here being used for local en. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology says, "In Mk. 1:9 eis ton Iordanen may denote the element into which the baptizand was plunged, but more probably eis = local en (III.1209). "Of the NT writers, only Matthew seems never to confuse eis and local en ... Elsewhere, the exegete's presumption ought to be that, except for Luke (in the Third Gospel and Acts) and perhaps Mark, NT authors do not ordinarily use eis for en (III. 1186). "Only in Mk. and Lk.-Acts does this interchange occur with any frequency (III.1185).28 Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the Sixteenth Century (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992), pages 1-3.
29 Old, Ibid., page 272.
30 Old, Ibid., page 273, footnote 69.
31 James W. Dale, An Inquiry into the Usage of BAPTOZW, and the Nature of Christic and Patristic Baptism, as Exhibited in the Holy Scriptures and Patristic Writings (Philadelphia: W.M. Rutter & Co., 1874), pages 308-310.
32 Jay E. Adams, Meaning & Mode of Baptism (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1979), page 35.
33 Jay E. Adams, Ibid., page 37.
34 Old, Ibid., pages 271-272.
35 Rowland S. Ward, Baptism in Scripture and History: A Fresh Study of the Meaning and Mode of Baptism(Victoria, Australia: Rowland S. Ward, 1991), page 41.
36 Ward, Ibid., page 43.
37 Ward, Ibid., page 44.