Doctrines (posted Monday, January 29 2007)

Throughout the New Testament believers learn about baptism. Jesus Himself was baptized and many Christians, eager to follow Christ, also participate in a ritual of water baptism as a confession of faith. But this is not the only example given in the Bible.

What is baptism?

What does the word "baptism" mean?

The first important point about baptism is the word itself. "Baptism" comes from certain greek words, including baptizo and baptisma and unlike most words from the original texts of the Bible which are translated into our corresponding English, this word was transliterated into the a brand new English word "baptism". Therefore, we must look to the original meanings to discover a definition for this new English word.

According to linguistics studies, the root word is bapto which means to overwhelm or cover completely. A derived word baptizo means to affect a complete change without immersion. Therefore it is not without merit to define "baptism" as an act identifying someone with a complete change. This will be confirmed later on in this study.

Why is this important?

While baptism has come to be identified with water, it is not always the case in the Bible. Baptism was already being practiced by John the Baptist by the time Jesus Christ began His ministry on earth.

- Matthew 3:4-6 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. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

John and his contemporaries were already familiar with the practice of baptism as a form of ritual identification. This was a practice which came from Jewish Law.

- Hebrews 9:10,21-22 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings - external regulations applying until the time of the new order. (note that in this verse, "washings" is the Greek word baptismos)

When the Jews were coming to John to be baptized at the Jordan, they were ceremonially identifying themselves with his teachings about the coming Messiah. John said that he had need to be baptised, or identified, with Jesus instead of identifying Jesus with himself.

- Matthew 3:13-15 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

- Luke 7:29-30 (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

Thus, we may confidently define baptism as an act identifying someone with a complete change. It may seem unimportant to come up with a precise definition like this, but this is necessary to understand the truth in the Bible. Many people may think baptism just means being dunked in water, but this is far from the truth and a true student of the Word of God should always pursue the full knowledge of the truth.

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