Monthly Archives: January 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

The Miracles of Jesus (continued; part xxiv)

As we continue with our journey through the gospel’ writings about baptism, we should remember that there is little if any agreement on baptism between the various denominations and sects of the church. This should tell us that there is at the same time little real understanding of the words of the Master nor of the apostle writers of the gospels and the epistles on the subject. There are no defining terms regarding baptism except for the words of the gospels calling the baptism of John a “baptism of repentance” which name is then confirmed by the Apostle Paul in making reference to it and by the Apostle Peter in saying telling new believers that they should “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” There is never a statement regarding the ending of the practice of baptism as done by John the Baptist as some of the denominations claim. Their saying that this was no longer valid after the death of Christ and basing their idea on their reading of Acts 19:3-5 seems to us unfounded. Perhaps the confusion comes from the ideas set forth in the various sayings regarding baptism and the Holy Ghost.

There is a large disconnect here between the realities of what is occurring and the thoughts of those who interpret the scriptures into the various doctrines and dogmas of the church. Much of this centers on the performance of the ritual and the technicality of the words or lack of words. Many today believe, as above, that the baptism of John is over yet the same types of baptism are still performed on millions though perhaps with different words and while some baptize in the name of the Trinity others baptize in the name to Jesus alone; there are yet others that do not believe at all in the Trinity. Wikipedia gives this encyclopedic understanding of baptism in the church today which should serve to amplify what we have been saying regarding the multiplicity of views from a secular perspective: Today, some Christians, particularly Quakers and the Salvation Army, do not see baptism as necessary, and do not practice the rite. Among those that do, differences can be found in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite. Most Christians baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (following the Great Commission), but some baptize in Jesus’ name only. Most Christians baptize infants; many others hold that only believer’s baptism is true baptism. Some insist on submersion or at least partial immersion of the person who is baptized, others consider that any form of washing by water, as long as the water flows on the head, is sufficient⁹. Such is the situation with the ritual practice of the baptism which is likely not the intended focus from the beginning.

We see in the scriptures the same thoughts and words being used by both the Master and the Baptist regarding repentance, the Kingdom of God and how a man should act toward other men.

We also see the word baptize used by both and although in different contexts, likely with much the same intent. We should see here that there is no ending of one’s teaching and beginning of another; both, Jesus and the Baptist are saying essentially the same things.

Returning now to the Master’s use of the word baptism in His dialogue with the brothers Zebedee we should be able to see the same ideas flowing forth as we were able to see from the use of the word baptism by John and the Master’s reference to John. We should remember also that Vincent tells us that the use of the preposition that is translated as with in most all of the sayings could as well be translated as in and in the case of “with the Holy Ghost” that it is better translated as “in the Holy Ghost” and this because the article ‘the‘ is absent in the original text (see In the Words of Jesus part 210)⁴. This Greek preposition en can also be translated as by and it is the translators choice based on his idea of the intended usage. To be clear on this let us look at the King James Version (KJV) usage of the Greek preposition en; according to the lexicon it is used 2782 times in the New Testament and translated thus: in 1874, by 141, with 134, among 117, at 112, on 46, through 37, miscellaneous 321². The importance for us here is that we use the idea presented by in the Holy Ghost to help to support our interpretation of the thoughts we discussed yesterday regarding immersion as the defining term for baptism as regards the “baptism of repentance” and we seek here to carry this through to the Master’s words to John and James as well as His own comments and the comments of John the Baptist regarding the Holy Ghost. If the idea of in versus with works in the referenced setting of John 1:33, it should work in all similar usage.

Our interpretation is then the same across the uses of the word baptism and that is that it is an immersion; again not in water or any vehicle as that is just the outer ritual effect. When the idea is the “baptism of repentance” we see this as the immersion of the consciousness into the changes that are required by one who is seeking the spiritual Life, who comes to the Lord for cleansing or remission and for repentance or change. In so coming to the baptism it is understood that the voluntary immersion into the necessary changes is the objective. This is true then with persons coming to the Baptist as they would have gone before to the priest; this was their way of approach to God and we must believe that they came in sincerity and understood the ideas behind the word baptizo. The changes from the teaching of John the Baptist to the Master should be recognized in His teaching and in the teaching of His disciples which is that a person no longer needs to go to the priest but is free to approach God on his own and to do so in sincerity. The ritual was of no real use in the Baptist’s day other than to carry over the custom of the ritual itself, it is the sincerity of the person and his willingness to be immersed in the necessary changes that made one what we now commonly call baptized. The same is true today; the variety of rituals throughout the churches are just that, rituals and it is only the person who is sincere in making the necessary changes, sincere in repentance, that is Truly baptized for he is immersed then in the change.

Carrying these thoughts forward to our subject dialogue with James and John we find the Master speaking about His own baptism, His own immersion and asking them if they too could handle this same baptism, this same immersion. Jesus says: “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Matthew 20:22). We discussed the ideas put forth by the cup in the last post and should be able to see the relevance of this part of the Master’s question to be one of asking if they, James and John, can, as men, stand up to the trials and the tribulations that are forthcoming; He is asking if they can be strong enough to deflect the wiles of the flesh and remain in the spiritual perspective that will be required. The rest of the question is one of immersion and for the proper context we must look at the nature of the Christ. As Jesus, in the form of man on the Earth, we know that:

• “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1).
• “Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour” (John 4:6).
• “And, behold , there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep” (Matthew 8:24).
• “Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered” (Matthew 21:18).
• “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:38-39)

We see here our regular human nature, He was tempted, He got weary and He slept, He had hunger and thirst and He grieved about His fate. At the same time however, we must also see that the Master was able to overcome this all:

• “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
• “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross“(Philippians 2:6-8).
• “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

He was “without sin” and “obedient to the death”, obeying the dictates of the Father, His own Spirit, and He was able to say near the end that “ I have overcome the world“. This is the challenge to James and John and likely to them all; could they live in the world as men and yet “overcome the world”? Could they be so immersed in the Spirit as He was that they could, again, deflect the wiles of the flesh and remain in the spiritual perspective that will be required. Note here how the actions are the same in drinking from the Master’s cup and enduring His baptism, His total immersion in the Spirit. And this is the essence of our interpretation of these sayings that the Master was totally immersed and this is the challenge to His disciples then and to His disciples now. All of our terms are here united; this immersion is being in His Kingdom and in His Presence; it is being accounted worthy and it is to be totally focused on the spiritual Life and the Christ Within, the Soul, it is being immersed. This all starts with the baptism of John, the “baptism of repentance for the remission of sin” as a conscious man sincerely wanting to lead a spiritual life.

We need to see the same ideas in this other saying by the Master: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). Much like the thoughts above regarding the Greek preposition en we have in this saying the Greek word deuteronomy which is a conjunction that can be translated in a number of ways depending on the usage and the translator. The lexicon tells us that it is translated as: but 1237, and 934, now 166, then 132, also 18, yet 16, yea 13, so 13, moreover 13, nevertheless 11, for 4, even 3, miscellaneous 10, not translated 300². Beginning this saying with and or moreover or nonetheless gives to it a different feel and better separates it from the previous thoughts. In this light we can see the greater relevance of our interpretation of immersion as well and here we should be able to see a kind of combination here of the ideas above regarding the cup and the baptism. Remembering Vincent’s thoughts on straitened in this verse as being better as constrained⁴ and the KJV use of  pained in its footnote plus the idea of distressed from other translations, we can see that the Master speaks here of His total reliance on His immersion in the Spirit to quell the anxieties that His fate has placed upon Him as a man in form.

We have come quite far now in our look at the idea of baptism as it is used in the gospels and to some degree in the epistles but we are not yet finished. Although we have touched upon it, we have yet to see the Baptist’s and the Master’s intent in speaking of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the additional ideas concerning fire. We will get to these things in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day