The following is a direct evolution of the previous entry in my search. I said I was going to touch on how baptism and circumcision are related, and I still plan to do so, but I have to take a quick detour. You'll find myself repeating things I wrote in the last entry, but it's worth repeating because the language I use and point I want to make is much stronger this time around.
Before I take that detour, let me clarify something that probably troubled a few of you have been reading this. I've been saying repeatedly that I do not believe that baptism is strictly a sign that I am saved, nor do I believe this idea is supported Biblically. What I haven't made clear is that I DO believe that baptism is a sign that I am connected to the family of God in some way here on Earth, whether that be through my personal salvation or through the sign that my parents gave to me that I am part of their family and they are part of God's family. It does not have anything to with my salvation.
Anyway, I'm going to say something here that is going to be incredibly unpopular but it needs to be said.
Baptism by dunking is in no way Biblically supported.
I'll let you gather the pieces of your exploded brain and calm yourself down by playing a few levels of Super Mario 3D Land. Let me know when you're ready to continue.
Good. Now, then, hear me out. The most popular defense of dunking baptism is the supposed meaning of the Greek word baptismo. I'm not a Greek scholar. I don't speak Greek. I don't have the luxury of knowing someone who is Greek so that I can just ask them. I have to go by the same tools that most English speaking Americans have to them: the Google. Now, simply using the Google command define: X where X is baptismo yields a whole bunch of worthless links. Luckily, I don't need to do that much work to define this word.
Baptismo as defined by John Piper and a lot of other people who are knowledgeable in this area means to immerse where the meaning for immerse means to dunk or to place beneath the surface of liquid. Just for ease of typing and reading, I will use dunk to mean place beneath the surface of liquid, even though that word does not strictly mean that either. Now, looking up the definition of English words may seem silly for a person who's first language is English, but you'd be amazed how many English words the average person actually does not know the true meaning of. I want to know if to immerse really means to dunk. So, lets use that command I mentioned above where X is immerse. The first definition is "Dip or submerge in a liquid". There's two words we need to look at now: dip and submerge. To dip means "Put or let something down quickly or briefly into liquid". I can dip my leg into water without my entire leg being paced beneath the surface of the water. Let's try the other word, submerge. The second definition of submerge is "to cover or overflow with water: immerse". Now, just because it's the second definition used does not mean it's less a definition than the first, just one of multiple possibilities and happens to be listed second by Websters (one of the sources for Google's results). When I'm in the shower, the water coming from the shower head has covered my body, yet I am not beneath the surface of a pool of liquid. So, by the very English definition that is given to the word baptismo by people who believe that dunking is the preferred or only proper way to be baptized, baptismo does not exclusively mean to dunk.
"But that's just you playing with words", you might be saying. "Everything in the Bible points to baptismo meaning to dunk." Wrong. If you look at Hebrews 9:10, the author is discussing a process of cleansing that the priest performed before entering the inner room. According to Strong's, the most widely used authority on definitions of Bibilical terms and language including translations, the English word that appears here, washing, is the Greek word baptismo. If you look at Numbers 8:7, which is where the process Hebrews is talking about is recorded, it says "Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves." (ESV) Here, the Greek writing author of the book of Hebrews uses the word baptismo to mean a Hebrew word found in Numbers that means to sprinkle. Here, we have the only instance I can find where baptismo is translated into English as anything other than baptize, which means that baptize does, in fact, mean to sprinkle.
Let us move onto the next most popular defense of dunking baptism being the only proper or the preferred mode of baptism. Paul says in Romans 6:4 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." So if we are buried with Christ in baptism, we have to be dunked because that is the best picture of a burial. But this assumes that Jesus was buried in the same manner that we are when we die. In American culture, when you die, a hole is dug, you are placed in it, and the hole is then filled again with the same ground that was dug up to form the hole in the first place. But, Jesus was not buried in this manner. According to Jewish custom, Jesus' body would have been wrapped in linens and then placed inside of a cave. A large stone would then be placed in front of the entrance to the cave. John 19:38-42 verifies that this is indeed what was done to the body of Christ once He was removed from the cross. So, Christ was not buried in a hole below the surface of the Earth and then had the ground placed back on top of Him, which the picture of dunking would resemble, but was, in fact, placed inside of cave. How does being dunked looked anything like that?
Most people would then move onto the passages where Scripture says that the one who was baptized went down into the water. I'm going to sound a little harsh but it must be said. This argument is just plain stupid and I'm embarrassed for those who insist on using this as "proof" of anything. The argument is stupid because each of those passages also says that the one performing the baptism went down into the water. Acts 8:38 says "Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him." So unless you're going to argue that the baptizer as well as the baptizee should be dunked, you're picking and choosing portions of those passages to defend your position instead of looking at the entire passage and it's context.
I believe I've made a sufficient case for why baptize does not exclusively mean to dunk. Now I'm going to argue why to dunk isn't even an accurate possible interpretation of what the ritual was in the Bible.
When you consider that, it also makes no sense at all that John would have dunked anyone. The picture he was given of cleansing, passed down from generations of Hebrews and Jews (keep in mind his father was a priest who would have no doubt seen to it that his son was well versed in the customs of their people), is a picture of sprinkling, Why would he suddenly start dunking without giving a reason to those he was serving? Why would the people around him, who grew up with the same traditions, so easily cast them aside for this ritual that would be so foreign to them?
There are no pictures of God dunking people in the Spirit. Acts 2:17 says "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." Christ cleanses us by the pouring of His blood. In Matthew 26:28, while giving the Lord's Supper, Christ says "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." I realize this isn't necessarily Biblical, but our own Christian language when talking about being cleansed by the blood of Christ is centered around the idea that it is poured out over us. There are literally zero metaphors of our salvation involving anything that resembles dunking until we start talking about what we think baptism looks like.
This last one isn't a Biblical example but it is a common sense example. When you mature into an adult and start bathing, or cleansing, yourself, do you sit in a pool of water, soap, and your own filth, or do you pour water over yourself so that the filth can be washed away down the drain? How can you expect to be cleansed by wading around in standing water? We take showers because baths do not get you clean.
To recap, baptismo does not exclusively mean to dunk, the Bible itself uses baptismo to mean to sprinkle, the metaphor of burial to dunking does not make any sense in the context of the Jewish custom of caring for a dead body, Jewish cleansing rituals recorded in the Bible and ordered by God are performed through sprinkling, and all of God's metaphors for how he grants us the Spirit or the cleansing blood of Christ are through pouring.
If you disagree, I would appreciate your CIVIL input backed up with Scripture. I've put a lot of thought, research, and prayerful consideration into this and I expect you to do that same.
No comments:
Post a Comment