IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 210

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part xxii)

Understanding the meaning of the word baptize from the Greek word baptizo is an important part of understanding this aspect of Christianity. Baptism, as a ritual, is regarded by most denominations and sects as necessary to salvation and this understanding is likely more from the interpretations of the writings of Church Fathers  that from biblical sources.

Although the actual practice of baptism is in reality a ritual, it is one that is adhered to by the majority of Christian denominations and sects and is regarded by many as essential to salvation. In this way the use of baptism is a sort of initiation experience for both the baptism of infants and of believing adults. There is no mention of baptism in the Old Testament and the Septuagint uses the word in reference to ceremonial washing or cleansing; John the Baptist, in his baptizing of Jews before the arrival of the Christ, was performing this ceremonial washing as a way to cleanse one from sin. John’s baptism is to be tied to his words in that day: “And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3) which words should give to us the proper ideas on baptism; that it was not the ritual of the ceremonial cleansing only but the act of repentance, of change. We can see that this idea of repentance, of change from one’s old ways, is entirely missing in infant baptism and is missing as well in many an adult version as well; this except where it is entered into voluntarily which should include the ideas of the Baptist from the perspective of the volunteer.

Much of the infant baptism is directed at the abolition of ‘original sin’ which in and of itself is an arbitrary doctrine tied to a few cryptic scriptures and is a subject on which the Master says nothing. Other ideas on infant baptism base it on the purported direction of the Lord who says to the disciples in our subject saying below as the Quote of the Day that they should baptize all and this without any indication of age. To this we can add also their reliance of the final and disputed part of the sixteenth chapter of Mark (In the Words of Jesus part 207 discussion on the Quote of the Day) which says in part that “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Other ideas on infant baptism include it as a replacement for the rite of circumcision based mostly on one’s reading of the Apostle Paul’s writing to the Colossians saying: “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12). For us however this term “Buried with him in baptism” should the more mean that a man is one with Christ  when we consider not the ritual itself but the meaning of the ritual especially in conjunction with the ideas of the Baptist; that one is purified and cleansed through repentance and on the Path through following Him. Much of the reliance on scripture for infant baptism is archaic and relies on the writings of Church Fathers such as, Irenaeus,  Origen , Cyprian, and Augustine, who all spoke of infant baptism as accepted custom (though Tertullian disagreed with it)*** and it is men such as these that have given all types of baptism their overall place in the church, a place that has not waned  much throughout history.

There is not much in the Gospels, aside from the acts of John the Baptist, that speaks of baptism as it is practiced today, either infant or adult, with the exception again of that where it is voluntary and for the purpose of a symbol of union with God through repentance. Let us look here at some of what the gospels say:

• “As it is written in the prophets, Behold , I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:2-5). We see here that the Baptist’s mission is to do as he did; as was “written in the prophets” he preached the “baptism of repentance“. The use water and the word baptize are to signify the cleansing, the ritual cleansing as known by the Jews, but the emphasis here is on what the cleansing is and that is repentance which we know is, in this context, that commitment to change from one’s old ways and sins. We should also see the idea of remission as  forgiveness which includes self forgiveness; as the lexicon tells us remission is: release from bondage or imprisonment; forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty².
• “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1-6). Here is the same dynamic in a different form of words; the baptist is preaching “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and from his preaching people “went out to him” to be “baptized of him in Jordan“, to be cleansed through this ritual.
• “And as the people were in expectation , and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh , the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:15-17). This is said a bit differently in John’s Gospel and without the reference to baptism by Christ: “And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying , I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:25-27). Here we find the transition from the baptism of John to a baptism into the thoughts and the ideas of the Master; for us this is that cleansing from within by the Soul, the Christ Within and the Spirit of God, the God Within.
• “And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost” (John 1:33). This is a harder saying and when combined with the previous citation from Luke, it is difficult to imagine the process by its comparison to the use of water. Vincent tells us of this entry better as Rev. Holy Spirit. The preposition in (Rev., in marg.), often has the instrumental force, with. Here, however, it would seem to signify the element of the new life, as in water, signifies the element of the symbolic baptism, and might better be rendered in. The absence of the article from Holy Spirit falls in with this, as indicating the spiritual influence of the divine Agent rather than His personality⁴. Vincent’s point appears to be that in the Holy Spirit is a more understandable saying as one is then baptized into a spiritual influence and not some pseudo anointing with a personality of God.

We should see here that the entire idea of baptizing, from the Baptist’s perspective, was about to change and we should see here also that with the exception of one reference by the Apostle John that may allude to the actual act as the Baptist performed it, there is no further reference to this type of baptism at all. In John’s Gospel we find: “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee” (John 4:1-3). This is not an explained passage and we do not even know if the Master and His group were near water. We do know that the Master was thought to have “made and baptized more disciples” which can easily be understood as they created followers who were keeping His words and who were cleansed or repented. Now the idea in this verse may well be John metaphorically speaking of baptized as to tell us that these new disciples were cleansed and pure much as the Master tends to use the word baptizo elsewhere in the gospels.

Remembering that much of what the gospels present to us is rather veiled and parabolic, can we see that these ideas on baptism could be couched this way as well. It is possible to see that the the whole of the baptism idea, from the perspective of the Baptist, is acted out with the medium of water for this same purpose, to veil the reality of what is happening. Perhaps it is even intentionally portrayed as the ritual with water as a tool for the remembrance of the actions and their meaning. We must remember also that in these times, 2000 years ago,  ritual and superstitious abounded and to address the people one had to use what they would understand. As we said, the Master uses the word baptizo in quite a different way in His speaking of things other than of the Baptist which we see below. Jesus last use of these words is in the Great Commission and the disputed part the Gospel of Mark plus a reference to a yet different baptism in the Book of Acts.

“And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared” (Mark 10:35-40). Here the Master is not speaking about the water baptism of John and there is no mention of the Holy Spirit either. He uses the word to define what it is that He is doing and from the ideas that surround the word in that day we can get the idea of cleansed to purity. One of the dictionary definitions from Webster’s 1913 version is to sanctify; to consecrate¹ and this may be helpful in understanding the meaning of this particular saying. 

Another saying by the Master in which He uses the word baptizo is similar to the exchange with the brothers Zebedee; in this the Master says: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). Vincent tells us that straitened should be understood as constrained⁴ and refers to the use of the word earlier by Luke where it is translated as taken (with fever); a footnote to the King James Bible says this word can be understood as pained; the more modern translations say it as distressed which may, with the idea of constrained added, give a good understanding of the Master’s intent. In both of these sayings we can be sure of just one thing and that is that this is not the baptism of John, not the baptism of repentance. Looking at the idea of baptism in Wikipedia we get this reference which can help us overall understand its usage: “Baptism” has also been used to refer to any ceremony, trial, or experience by which a person is initiated, purified, or given a name⁹. This idea plus what we get from our general reading in these posts gives us little understanding of the Master’s intent. It may be that the whole of Jesus use of baptizo is metaphorically, leaving us then to read into it what we can but even in this we should be able to find His intent.

In the rather lengthy reference from Vincent that we talked some on yesterday, there is this group of uses in Ancient Greek that may help us to understand the use of the word baptizo in that day; Vincent tells us that: In classical Greek the primary meaning is to merse. Thus Polybius (i, 51, 6), describing a naval battle of the Romans and Carthaginians, says, “they sank (baptizo) many of the ships.” Josephus (“Jewish war,” iv., 3,3), says of the crowds which flocked to Jerusalem at the time of the siege, “they overwhelmed (baptizo) the city.” In a metaphorical sense Plato uses it of drunkenness: drowned in drink (baptizo*, Symposium,” 176); of a youth overwhelmed (baptizo*) with the argument of his adversary (“Euthydemus,” 277)⁴.  Vincent tells us that the Septuagint uses baptizo also; he says that: the word occurs four times: Isa. xxi, 4, terror hath frighted me. Septuagint, Iniquity baptizes me (baptizo*); 2 Kings v. 15, of Naaman’s dipping himself in Jordan (baptizo*); Judith xii. 7, Judith washing herself (baptizo*) at the fountain; Sirach xxxi. 25, being baptized (baptizo*) from a dead body⁴. (Note: * refers to compound Greek words containing baptizo).

We see here a number of uses that are apart from our normal understanding and the clearer image comes to us of immersion, although not necessarily in water, and this despite Vincent’s telling us that its use could not therefore have been limited to the meaning immerse⁴. We will explore this further in our next post and will leave off today with some of the commentary regarding the Master’s use of this word baptizo in our subject verses regarding His own baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.

• John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible⁸ tells us this: are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? meaning his reproaches, sorrows, sufferings, and death; which because of the disagreeableness of them, he compares to a bitter cup of vengeance, wrath, fury, and indignation; and because they were appointed to him, and allotted for him, they were his portion, therefore he expresses them by a “cup”; and because they were so many and great, of such an overwhelming nature, that he seemed to be plunged into them, and covered with them, therefore he likens them to a “baptism” and which the ordinance of water baptism, performed by immersion, is a lively representation of. Now Christ suggests to these disciples, that instead of indulging their ambitious desires of worldly grandeur, that they would do well to consider what a bitter cup he had to drink of, and what a sea of sorrows and sufferings he was about to be plunged into, and drenched in; and whether they could think of enduring anything of the like kind, for his sake, which was most likely to be in a short time, what they would be called unto, and not to honours, ease, and pleasure; and what they must be sure, more or less, to undergo, before they entered the everlasting kingdom of glory:

• The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible⁸  say this: 38. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask–How gentle the reply to such a request, preferred at such a time, after the sad announcement just made! can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?–To “drink of a cup” is in Scripture a figure for getting one’s fill either of good ( Psalms 16:5 , 23:5 , 116:13 , Jeremiah 16:7 ) or of ill ( Psalms 75:8 , John 18:11 , Revelation 14:10 ). Here it is the cup of suffering. and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with–(Compare for the language, Psalms 42:7 ). The object of this question seems to have been to try how far those two men were capable of the dignity to which they aspired and this on the principle that he who is able to suffer most for His sake will be the nearest to Him in His kingdom.

In both of these commentaries the emphasis is put upon the suffering of the Master as that is what precedes these verses in both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. It is easy to make the point that these verses appear to be a separate part of the dialogue and unrelated to the Master’s foretelling of His fate especially seeing that Matthew tells us that the Zebedee’s mother approaches the Master on her sons’ behalf. Regardless of the connection however we are looking here at the Master’s use of the word baptizo and not at context in which the dialogue is placed. With this in mind we can see that Gill does recognize this as immersion albeit as immersion into the Master’s ‘sorrows’.

Note on the Quote of the Day