Baptism, whether by immersion or sprinkling, is a very old religious ritual of many religions. It has never been an exclusively Christian ritual. Hindus have been practicing baptism for 4000 years. As part of their religious purification rites they are immersed in a river or sprinkled with water. Babylonian, Egyptian and Roman religions also practiced ritual purification ceremonies as is proved by both archaeology and ancient literature. Apuleius, a Roman writer who lived in the 2nd century, wrote of: “the ancient Roman initiation that was preceded by a normal bath and then a ceremonial sprinkling by the priest of Isis.” He said that the ritual of sprinkling and cleansing with water in ancient times was: “a kind of voluntary death and salvation through divine grace.” (Apuleius 120-180 AD, Metamorphosis, Book 11, 21).
More importantly, Judaism had a number of cleansing and purification rites including baptism (called tevilah in Hebrew). Water played an important role in their ceremonies and regulations, including immersion in water and sprinkling with water (Ex. 29:4; Lev. 15:13; 16:24; 17:15,16; Num. 8:7; 19:7,8; Deut. 23:11). John’s baptism was nothing new to the Pharisees or to the Jews. They were very familiar with what we call “baptism”. In their religion full body immersion (tevilah) had to be done in the running water of a river (called “living water”) or in a mikveh (baptismal pool of rain water in the temple). It was not a bath for washing in, it was seen as a symbolic immersion for spiritual cleansing, conversion and renewal. All Gentiles who wanted to become Jews had to go through tevilah/baptism. To this day converts to Judaism are still required to be baptized in a “mikveh”.
By the 2nd century the “church fathers” believed and taught that you were not saved unless you were baptized with water:
“The prescript is laid down that ‘without baptism, salvation is attainable by none’ chiefly on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, ‘Unless one be born of water, he hath not life.'” (Tertullian 140-230AD, On Baptism, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, pg. 674-675).
In other words, the church was necessary for salvation! Baptism was put in the place of Christ, because salvation was viewed as being brought about by water baptism (a work of man) rather than only by faith and trust in Jesus and what He has done. They simply replaced the rituals and laws of the Old Testament with a set of their own:
“But when the time began to draw near… that the Prophet should appear, of whom he had foretold that He should warn them by the mercy of God to cease from sacrificing; lest haply they might suppose that on the cessation of sacrifice there was no remission of sins for them He instituted baptism by water amongst them, in which they might be absolved from all their sins on the invocation of His name.” (Clement, “Recognitions of Clement,” Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, pg. 88, emphasis mine).
Due to this belief that being baptized was necessary for salvation, it was a logical conclusion that the earlier you were baptized, and therefore saved, the better – and so infant baptism was introduced. Infant baptism (christening) had been a practice of pagan religions for a long time before it was practiced in the church; sprinkling the baby in pagan religions was supposed to cleanse it from being born in sin and free it from the devil. Some claimed that:
“The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. For the apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of divine mysteries, knew that there is in everyone the innate stains of sin, which are washed away through water and the Spirit” (Origen 248AD, Commentaries on Romans 5:9).
But there is no mention whatsoever of infant baptism in the Scriptures. So where did these erroneous ideas come from? They were importing and mixing other religion’s beliefs and practices with their new religion of Christianity. Many things that are considered “important” in churches today were simply “imported” from pagan religions. Many churches today still teach that your sins are not forgiven unless you are baptized in water. They appear to have more faith in this religious ritual done by man, than in what God has done through Christ!
The Nicene Council in 325AD (attended by many religious leaders) was an attempt at creating a universal religion/church to help strengthen the Roman empire. Christ’s followers who did not accept the integration of pagan practices, including infant baptism, into Rome’s Christianity, were persecuted and often killed. “Christening” was believed to make one a “Christian” and in the year 416 infant baptism became a compulsory law for the entire Roman Empire. Those who did not agree with these baptisms could not call themselves Christians because they had not been christened into Christendom. They were often killed by the church for not conforming.
The history of the church is not good… And lest we proudly think that this applies only to the Roman Catholic Church, remember that Protestant evangelical churches are not much different. They have been born from Catholicism and most of the same traditions are still present in some form today. This issue of baptism is a case in point.
The word “baptize” was not a religious word in the Greek; it simply meant to immerse, submerge, wash or overwhelm. “Baptize” is one of few words in the Bible that wasn’t translated into English from the Greek, it was imported directly from the Greek as a transliteration instead of a translation. So instead of saying “immerse”, “dip”, or “wash” the Greek word “baptize” was kept; presumably because the ritual and practice of baptism was already well established as part of church doctrine and religious culture. The Greek word baptizo means:
2) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe
3) to overwhelm
In a Greek recipe for pickles, the food was to be baptizo (submerged) in vinegar. Telling your child to go and be baptized meant for them to go and have a wash! There are a few instances where “baptize” was translated into English in the Bible, “But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised” (Luke 11:38). That word for “wash” is baptizo and yet has been translated as wash instead of baptize. Why? To distinguish baptism as a religious tradition of the church, even though these baptisms mentioned here were also religious traditions: “When they (the Jews) come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash (baptizo). And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing (baptismos) of cups, pitchers and kettles… For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, such as the washing (baptism) of pots and cups: and many other such things you do.” (Mark 7:4,8).
“Baptize” was a common Greek word used every day and did not exclusively mean a religious sacrament or rite like it does now.
Three translations of the Bible do sometimes translate “baptize” into English: “The Complete Jewish Bible”, “The Aramaic Bible in Plain English”, and the “International Standard Version”. Mark 1:8 in The Aramaic Bible reads: “I have immersed you in water, but He will immerse you in The Spirit of Holiness.” John was pointing away from the literal immersing and washing that he was doing in water, to the spiritual immersion and washing that only the Holy Spirit can do!
A lot of clarity can come when you simply translate the Greek word into its English meaning:
John immersed in water, but you shall be immersed in The Spirit of Holiness. (Acts 1:5)
Repent and be washed every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
We were therefore buried with Him through immersion into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Rom. 6:4)
All of you who were immersed into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Gal. 3:27).
Being immersed into Christ, being submerged in Him, is powerful language! To be immersed in Him is to be thoroughly absorbed with Him and covered by Him. We naturally think of water when we think of baptism, but who in the Bible claimed to be Living Water? Christ Himself. This is about being washed by Christ and immersed into Him as the Living Water and not about physical water at all. We tend to take things so literally… we are “saved by water”, but not by physical water here on earth, but by the heavenly Living Water who is Christ! How silly of us to think that we might be saved through being immersed or sprinkled with water here on earth; that would mean that we were saved by something man did here and not by God at all! Jesus in His talk with Nicodemus said, “unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Just as He didn’t mean being born again physically or literally, neither was the water physical and literal. Jesus was forever pointing away from the natural, to the spiritual; for those who had eyes to see…
Towards the end of his life Peter clearly saw this and wrote: “…in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an anti-type (analogy) which now saves us – washing (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” (1 Peter 3:20,21). Peter was really clear that he was NOT referring to literal water or a literal immersion that washes and saves us because he immediately qualified his statement with: “NOT the removal of the dirt of the body” he was not speaking literally about an external immersion of the body for cleansing in water, but spiritually about an internal one: “BUT an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.
Right throughout the Bible rivers and water are symbolic of the Holy Spirit (Ps. 46:4; 105:41; Eze. 47; John 7:38,39; Rev. 22:1) so being immersed in a river was a picture of being immersed in the Spirit. This should have been really clear to the Jews, they were very familiar with the symbolism of tevilah/immersion and the fact that it was done in what they called living (running) water. Jesus said He is the Living Water and we are now immersed in Him by His Spirit! John the Immerser himself declared this link, stating that although he was physically immersing people in water, Jesus would spiritually immerse people in His Spirit (Mark 1:8), Jesus also declared this in Acts 2:38. For us today, it simply makes sense that if you are immersed and submerged in Christ, you are also immersed in His Spirit; they are One and cannot be separated!
“There is one Body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one Hope of your calling; one Lord, one Faith, one Immersion; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph. 4:4-6). Since this “one Body” is clearly Christ, does it not follow that the rest of this list is applicable to Him also? Our Hope is in Him, our Lord is Him, our Faith is in Him, and our Immersion is in Him! “We were all washed/immersed by one Spirit into one Body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Cor. 12:13). Neither the water used to cleanse, nor the water of the Spirit we drink, are literal. They are spiritual. Why would anyone return to all the literal, physical requirements of the Law of Moses and ignore what Christ has accomplished? The Law was given until John (Luke 16:16)!
Jesus said, “You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings – all of which are offered according to the Law – He then went on to say, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuls the first (former) order as a means of expiating sin so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order. And in accordance with this will of God, we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ” (Heb. 10:8-10 Amp). The Greek word for “being made holy” in this verse, also means to be purified and cleansed – His offering is more than sufficient, there are no more rules, laws, baptisms or cleansing ceremonies required. He is All!
Some may object at this point because clearly there were physical, literal immersions and ceremonial cleansings performed by John the Baptizer, and also by the followers of Jesus (Acts 8:36; 10:47); and although Jesus Himself didn’t baptize anybody (John 4:2), He did go through this ritual Himself.
The Israelites had quite a few ceremonial cleansings, including priests being immersed before they could enter the temple and converts who had to be immersed to signify leaving their old religion for the new. Some of the immersions mentioned in the book of the Acts were clearly an act performed with water here on this earth. I believe the reason for this is that the first believers were still doing what they had grown up with in their religion: immersion in water. They still had faith in the external material things they they could see, feel and touch. They were still bound by their religious traditions of ceremonial washing, keeping the feasts, going to the temple etc, hence the need for Paul to write what he did to the Galatians, and to correct Peter, saying, “If we receive God’s approval by obeying these laws, then Christ’s death was pointless” (Gal. 2:21). They found it hard to let go of the physical external rituals and customs that had been such a vital part of their religion and their life. And people today still find it hard to let them go.
Anybody converting to Judaism had to (and still does) receive circumcision and baptism. Paul linked spiritual circumcision with baptism in Col. 2:11,12 because it was common knowledge that any Gentile who wanted to become a Jew had to be both circumcised and baptized. Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians because they were reverting to putting their trust in ceremonial acts (like circumcision) instead of trusting in Christ alone. Peter was confronted by Paul over this very thing (Gal. 2:11-21). For many Christians today, although circumcision may be viewed as not essential, baptism still is; many believe that you cannot be a child of God unless you have been baptized. Replacing “circumcision” with “baptism” (both Jewish religious rituals) gives an interesting (and yet I believe, valid) discourse from Paul on such a belief:
“So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles — free from those laws… So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on baptism to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being baptized, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being baptized or not being baptized. What is important is faith expressing itself in love…
“Those who are trying to force you to be baptized want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. And even those who advocate baptism don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be baptized so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples. As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been baptized or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.” (Gal. 4:9-12; 5:1-6; 6:12-15, words in bold have been changed).
Everything about the New Way of Life in Jesus is NEW: it is a complete and utter conversion from the symbolic external examples (Old Covenant: physical circumcision) to the true internal realities (New Covenant: spiritual circumcision). It is not a reversion, so to revert back to something symbolic, external, religious and ritualistic like a ceremony of water baptism that you must do, just does not fit with what Jesus and His followers preached. Paul said, “Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 Cor. 1:17). Paul could not have said that if baptism was an important ritual vital to salvation or if it had been a command of Jesus to immerse in water (going back to where we began with the debatable Matt. 28:19).
The first followers of Christ slowly learned to die to and let go of their Judaism. You see a steady progression of them giving up more and more of these religious acts and traditions as they learned to live under the New Deal that Christ had brought about. In the book of the Acts we can see that they were still learning to let go of their religious ways, then in the letter to the Hebrews you find that everything is now referring to the purely spiritual (Heb. 6:1,2; 8:13; 9:1,7-9,11-12,24) no more is it a physical temple they go to, but a spiritual Building they are part of. The revelation of Christ as All was not an instant thing, but a progression for the followers of Christ, so this issue with baptism was just part of their journey out of religion and into Christ.
Remember that these cleansings even extended to the utensils that they used: “they observe many other traditions, such as the washing (baptismos) of cups, pitchers and kettles…” (Mark 7:4). Jesus referred to this washing of cups in particular: “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that its outside may also be clean.” (Matt. 23:25,26). What requires the most cleaning in a cup? The inside. Yet these traditional immersions of theirs were only cleaning the outside and not the inside. Just clean the inside (be immersed and washed spiritually) and the outside will be acceptable. According to Luke, Jesus said these words in direct reference to a Pharisee who criticized Him for not having baptized (thus breaking one of the laws of Moses) before eating (Luke 11:38-40).
Paul referred to the exodus from Egypt into the Promised Land as an immersion also: “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that all our ancestors who left Egypt were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea. They were all united with Moses by baptism in the cloud and in the sea.” (1 Cor. 10:1,2). Even that wasn’t a literal baptism, because they weren’t immersed in either the cloud or the sea. They passed through on dry ground; it was symbolic of an immersion of death to Life in transferring from a land of death into a Promised Land of Life: Christ Himself.
Jesus referred to the spiritual immersion in His Spirit (Acts 2:38) and also spoke not of a literal immersion in water, but of an immersion into death (Matt. 20:22,23; Mark 10:38,39; Luke 12:50) “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3). Since we died with Him and were raised with Him, we were also immersed with and into Him; we ARE His Body.