Scott Goddard, 7/21/08

Water Baptism

Mt 3:1 (NIV) In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" 4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Mt 28:18 (NIV) Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Ac 2:37 (NIV) 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."

As a New Testament church, we seek to emulate the truths that God has placed there in His word and conform our lives to them rather than just following traditions which are handed down to us by men.

At the same time, we also need to recognize the richness of the heritage that is ours in Christ. As Christians, we have been grafted into the “olive tree” which is Israel. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in

Romans 11:17-18 (NIV)
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

We do not support the root, the root supports us. Jesus himself took part in many of the traditions that were common for the Jews in His day. The only time He had a problem with them seems to be when people nullified the commands of God for the sake of man made traditions.

At the time when Jesus was walking the earth, baptism was something that every Jew was familiar with. In the first 5 books of the bible, (the law or the Torah) the people of God had been instructed about baptisms, or what we now call ceremonial washings. The word we are used to hearing: “Baptism” is actually a Greek word which was transliterated into English by the translators working on the King James version.

Jim Garrett has a very good explanation of the meaning of this word, and it’s history. Jim says:

D.  In England, beginning in the 1500's, there was debate over whether or not sprinkling could be substituted for immersion. The various political tides of Catholic and Protestant Kings caused the debate to go back and forth. When James I became King of England in 1603, he inherited a divided country. He undertook measures to unite his kingdom. One of the things that divided England was religion. The various versions of the Bibles all contained footnotes, etc., that expressed various theological points of view. James commissioned a committee of scholars to produce a version of the Bible without any controversial material in it. This was the KJV of 1611. The translators came to the term, bapti>zw. They knew that if they translated the term, since it did mean, "immerse," those who favored sprinkling, due to Roman Catholic influence, would rebel. What were they to do. They decided to not translate it, but to anglicize it, therefore avoiding controversy. That has been one of the saddest mistakes in the history of the Church. It may have helped to avoid further division in King James' England but it also perpetuated the ambiguity of the words of Our Lord, who said, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit." Jesus did not say, "sprinkling them." On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the apostles did not sprinkle, but they, in obedience to Jesus' command, immersed.

The word that Jesus and the rest of the Jews used for performing the ritual of immersion and ceremonial washing was Mikvah.

According to Ceil Rosen, a Messianic Jewish writer, “The earliest Biblical uses of the word "mikveh" occur in I Kings 7:23ff. and its Parallel passage in 2nd Chronicles 4:2ff. These verses describe the huge, circular "Sea of Solomon," constructed along with the first Temple for the priests to carry out their ceremonial washing.”

Exodus 19:10 (NIV) And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

Lev 8:5 (NIV) Moses said to the assembly, "This is what the LORD has commanded to be done." 6 Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water.

The entire chapter 19 in the book of Numbers is about ceremonial washings or baptisms.

In order for us to understand what baptism actually is, we need to understand what Mikvah meant to John, to Jesus and the people of Israel during the first century.

Ceil Rosen, the writer I mentioned before wrote an article in 1983 which I found on the Jews for Jesus website. I want to read a portion of it. It includes several scriptures and a quote from a 12th century Rabbi by the name of

My- mon ah dees (Maimonadies), so I will say “end quote” when I am finished reading it. Before I do, I want to remind you that the Torah is the first 5 books of Scripture and that the Talmud is the oral tradition that has been passed down from the Rabbis.

Quote: Ceil Rosen

Along with the purposes already mentioned in the Torah, another use of symbolic purification by water became part of early Jewish tradition. This was immersion or baptism for Gentile converts to Judaism. Though the only Biblical requirement for entrance into the covenant was circumcision, baptism became an added requisite. No one knows exactly when or by whom the requirements were changed to include baptism, but it was before the time of Jesus.

We know this, because debates on the subject of proselyte baptism are recorded between rabbinic schools of Shammai and Hillel, both contemporaries of Jesus. Whereas the school of Shammai stressed circumcision as the point of transition, the Hillelites considered baptism most important because it portrayed spiritual cleansing and the beginning of a new life. Ultimately the Hillelite view prevailed, as is reflected in the Talmudic writings.

Maimonides, that greatly revered 12th century Jewish scholar, summed up all Talmudic tradition concerning converts to Judaism as follows.

"By three things did Israel enter into the Covenant: by circumcision, and baptism and sacrifice. Circumcision was in Egypt, as it is written:

Exodus 12:48 "An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it.

Baptism was in the wilderness, just before giving of the Law, as it is written:

(Exodus 19:10). 'Sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes'

And sacrifice, as it is said:

Ex 24:5 (NIV) Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

When a gentile is willing to enter the covenant…He must be circumcised and be baptized and bring a sacrifice…And at this time when there is no sacrifice, they must be circumcised and be baptized; and when the Temple shall be built, they are to bring a sacrifice…The gentile that is made a proselyte and the slave that is made free, behold he is like a child new born." (Maimonides)

To this day, Gentiles who would embrace Judaism must undergo baptism in a mikveh ritual. The purpose of this ceremonial immersion is to portray spiritual cleansing, as Maimonides concluded in his codification of the laws of mikveh:

"…uncleanness is not mud or filth which water can remove, but it is a matter of scriptural decree and dependent on the intention of the heart."

(end quote)

So the Talmud, which is the tradition of the Rabbis, teaches that it took three things for a person to enter the Mosaic covenant:

1.  He must be Circumcised

2.  He must be Baptized

3.  He must offer a proper sacrifice

The New Covenant requires the same things of a person who wants to enter into the New Covenant

1. Our circumcision is a circumcision done by Christ. Christ has broken the power of our sinful nature, setting us apart for His glory.

Col 2:10(NIV) and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,

2. We are baptized into Christ and raised with Him through faith

Col 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

3. We have received the benefit of an acceptable sacrifice: Christ’s own body!

Col 2: 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

When the first believers in Christ were baptized, they understood far more deeply the ramifications of being dunked in the water in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.

From their background in Judaism, they understood that they were to turn away from their sins to God. To have a change of mind about whom Christ was and how they should relate to Him.

John the Baptist had been baptizing people in the Jordan River for quite some time before Jesus began his ministry. John’s Baptism was a baptism of repentance, preparing God’s people, the Jews, for the coming of the Messiah, who would bring salvation to the Jews and to all people. John warned the people to leave behind their sins, to “Prepare the way for the Lord”.

By submitting to John’s baptism, they were admitting their own sins, and their desire to be ready for the Messiah when he came. Being baptized by John meant that they were willing to become affiliated and identified with John and with his message of repentance and preparation for Messiah.

That same understanding was fresh in the minds of the first people who came to faith in Christ. They knew that repentance was needed. They knew that you could not come to Messiah and keep holding on to your sin. They knew that there had to be a change of heart. By seeking Mikveh, the ceremonial cleansing, they were acknowledging their need to repent and be cleansed!

When Jesus was baptized by John, John tried to dissuade Jesus because John knew that as the lamb of God Jesus was spotless. Still Jesus persuaded John to Baptize Him.

Let’s look back at that scripture in Matthew 3

Mt 3:13 (NIV) Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."