Sermon Tone Analysis

*Baptism*

*From Cucumber to Pickles*

 

| Matt 3:11 |    | “I • baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

He will *baptize* you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

|

| Mark 1:8 |    | I have baptized you with water, but he will *baptize* you with the Holy Spirit.”

|

| Luke 3:16 |    | John answered them all, saying, “I • baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals • I am not worthy to untie.

He will *baptize* you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

|

* *

Acts 1:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, 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.

39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

*Baptism.*

Term generally meaning “to dip” or “immerse,” but representing a group of words employed to signify a religious rite for ritual cleansing

 

*/Old Testament Ritual./**

*

 

*Ablution—ceremonial cleansing by water and~/or blood—was an important part of the levitical system.

The following aspects might be noted: *

 

·         *Priests* (Ex 29:21; Lv 8:6) were washed and Levites (Nm 8:6–13) were sprinkled with water when initiated into their sacred offices.

·         *The priests ceremonially washed* their hands and feet in the bronze laver before performing the sacrifices (Ex 30:17–21).

·         *The high priest on the Day of Atonement had to bathe himself** *and clothe himself with “holy garments,” sprinkle the mercy seat with the blood of a bull offered for himself and his “house,” and then sprinkle it again with the blood of a goat offered for the people; finally, he had to shed his clothes and wash himself again after performing the ritual (Lv 16:1–28).

·         *Vessels, clothes, and peopl*e which had been defiled by contact with something considered unclean had to be washed in pure water (Lv 11:24–40).

·         *The ashes of a red heifer** *were mixed with water and then sprinkled to purify one who had contact with a corpse (Nm 19:11–22).

·         *Both sprinkling and bathing** *were elements of the ritual for leprosy (Lv 13, 14).

·         *After intercourse, menstruation, or birth a ritual bathing must occur* (Lv 12, 15).

Of course, there are significant differences between the ancient rites and the sacrament in the early church.

The latter practice was once-for-all rather than continual, a radical cleansing rather than a temporary measure.

However, a new baptism is promised in prophetic passages (Ez 36:25; Zec 13:1).

/ /

/Qumran Lustrations./

Qumran was the Dead Sea community of the sect of the Essenes.

It originated about 100 b.c.

from the priestly ranks and so stressed ritual and cultic cleansing.

/Proselyte Baptism./

Converts from pagan religions were admitted to Judaism only after fulfilling certain obligations, which included the study of the Torah, circumcision, and a ritual bath to wash away the impurities of the gentile background.

/The Mystery Religions./

There were many types of ceremonial washings in pagan religions.

*/The New Testament Development./*

/The Baptism of John./

John preached a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk 3:3).

*The genesis of his baptism may be found in the prophetic acted parable, which not only symbolized God’s message but also intended to bring it about.

John’s practice had several theological ramifications:** *

 

(1) It was intimately connected with radical repentance, not only of the Gentile but astoundingly (to his contemporaries) also of the Jew.

(2) It was eschatological at the core, preparing for the Messiah, who would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Mt 3:11), and therefore looked to the final separation between God’s people and the wicked at the Eschaton (i.e., “the End,” cf.

Mt 3:12).

(3) It symbolized moral purification and so prepared the people for the coming kingdom (Mt 3:2; Lk 3:7–14).

In spite of the obvious connection between John’s ceremony and the early church, we cannot posit absolute dependence.

In fact, it disappeared from Jesus ministry.

*At first, Jesus allowed his disciples to continue the rite (Jn 3:22), but later he seemingly discontinued the practice (Jn 4:1–3), probably for the following reasons:** *

* *

(1) John’s message was functional, while Jesus’ was personal~/ontological.

(2) John’s was forward-looking, expecting the coming kingdom, while Jesus’ was backward-looking, celebrating that event.

(3) John’s was an interim practice, while Jesus’ was sacramental.

Jesus’ ministry fulfilled John’s, so he severed himself from the latter’s modus operandi.

/ /

/The Baptism of Jesus./

This event has its genesis in a complex interplay of motives, divine and human, within the messianic consciousness of Jesus (see Mk 1:9–11 and parallels).

/Jesus’ *Resurrection Command.*/*

Here we find the true basis of the church’s practice (Mt 28:19).*

As already stated, the disciples stopped employing it, so it is here that we see the institution reconstituted as an ordinance based on the death and resurrection of Christ.

/Baptism in the Early Church./

Acts 2:38 shows that baptism was a sacral institution from the very beginning.

This takes it back to the earliest days of the church.

In the primitive church it was an important part of the salvation process (Acts 2:38, “repent and be baptized”) and was accomplished via confession and prayer “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5).

Probably there was a question-and-answer period in which the believer confessed his faith and dedicated himself to Christ.

The result was reception into and identification with the messianic community of the new covenant, signifying both forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18) and the reception of the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16; Acts 2:38, 41; 9:17; 10:47, 48; 11:16, 17; 19:5–7).

/ /

/The Baptismal Creeds./

A great deal of recent discussion has centered on the presence of credal material in the NT and its life-situation setting within the cultic worship of the church, especially in the eucharistic and baptismal rites.

The baptismal service emphasized “confession,” and so many of the credal confessions in the NT (e.g., Rom 10:9, 10; 1 Tm 6:12, 13; possibly Phil 2:6–11; Eph 4:4–6; Col 1:13–20) may have developed in the baptismal liturgy.

* *

* *

*bap•tize* /also/ *bap•tise* \bap-ˈtīz, ˈbap-ˌ, /esp Southern/ bab- /or/ ˈbab-\ vb

*bap•tized* /also/ *bap•tised;* *bap•tiz•ing* /also/ *bap•tis•ing* [ME, fr.

AF /baptiser,/ fr.

LL /baptizare,/ fr.

Gk /baptizein/ to dip, baptize, fr.

/baptein/ to dip, dye; akin to ON /kvefja/ to quench] /vt/ 13c

*1*           *: *to administer baptism to

     *a*      *: *to purify or cleanse spiritually esp.

by a purging experience or ordeal

     *b*      *: *initiate

*3*           *: *to give a name to (as at baptism) *: *christen /vi/ *: *to administer baptism — *bap•tiz•er*

 

*908 **βάπτισμα* [/baptisma/ ~/*bap*·tis·mah~/] n n.

From 907; TDNT 1:545; TDNTA 92; GK 967; 22 occurrences; AV translates as “baptism” 22 times.

*1* immersion, submersion.

1a of calamities and afflictions with which one is quite overwhelmed.

1b of John’s baptism, that purification rite

* *

*907 **βαπτίζω* [/baptizo/ ~/bap·*tid*·zo~/] verb.

From a derivative of 911; TDNT 1:529; TDNTA 92; GK 966; 80 occurrences; AV translates as “baptize” 76 times, “wash” twice, “baptist” once, and “baptized + 2258” once.

*1* to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk).

*2* to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe.

*3* to overwhelm.

/Additional Information:/ Not to be confused with 911, bapto.

*The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C.

It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words.

Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (bapto) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizo) in the vinegar solution.*

Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution.

But the first is temporary.

The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change.When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism.

e.g.

Mark 16:16.

‘He that believes and is baptised shall be saved’.

Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough.

There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle!

Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.

(3:11) *Baptism— Jesus and John*: the word baptism (/baptisei/ PWS: 266) means to dip, to immerse, to submerge, to place into.

John's baptism was with water, but Jesus' baptism was "in [/en/] the Spirit and fire."