Throughout Israelite history there had always been a remnant that did not go the way of rebellion against God, but lived according to His Word and His will.

When John the Baptist came preaching and teaching about baptism, he was calling such a remnant to make a public declaration of their desire to follow God in righteousness and faithfulness. Those who came to be baptized by John publicly declared in front of the entire crowd that when they entered the water they were part of the corrupt Judaism, but when they came back up out of the water they no longer identified with the corrupt way of doing things, but were now part of the new order of God which would follow and obey Him in righteousness and justice.

Was John an Essene?

It is because of John’s message of baptism and separation from the corruption of Judaism that many scholars believe that John may have been part of a Jewish sect called the Essenes. The Essenes lived in the Judean desert wilderness, and they too believed that Judaism had become corrupt. To separate themselves from the corruption, they moved out into the wilderness to live, work, and worship in a holy community.

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Did you know there is such a thing as a “Jewish baptism”?

As with other religions, Judaism has various forms of washings and immersions in water. The priests often washed themselves in various ways before sacrifices and ceremonies in the Temple, and men and women had to undergo various ritual washings for other purposes.

Baptism for Converts to Judaism

One common form of baptism was for proselytes to Judaism. When a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, one of the rites of initiation was to undergo a ritual washing of purification called a Mikvah.

The Jewish Talmud, in the Mikva’ot tractate, states that when a Gentile wishes to become a Jew, he must be instructed according to the 613 commandments of the Torah, must be circumscribed, and must go through a Mikvah, that is, be baptized.

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Nearly all religions practice some form of baptism and ritual washing. The Egyptian and the Jewish tradition are good representatives of religious beliefs on baptism, and pave the way for helping us understand the cultural, historical, and religious background to Christian baptism. In this post we look briefly at Egyptian baptism, and tomorrow’s post will be about Jewish baptism.

First, a word about religious baptism in general.

Religious Baptism

For most religions, water baptism was a form of ritual washing and purification before a particular ceremony, sacrifice, or religious service. It was viewed as a way to cleanse oneself both physically and spiritually before meeting with that religion’s deity. In some religious circles, baptism was used as a rite of healing and exorcism. It was thought that if the water was blessed in a particular way by a priest, it had healing powers which could wash away the sickness or evil spirit.

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Forget the baptism debate about dunking, dipping, and sprinkling. Did you know there are forms of baptism that require no water whatsoever?

We looked at one yesterday, the baptism into Moses, although if you count the Red Sea, water was somewhat involved in that one, even though the only ones who got wet were the soldiers of the Egyptian army.

But there are other baptisms in Scripture which clearly do not involve any water of any kind. To some, these Scriptures are confusing because they think of “baptism” as dunking someone in a pool or sprinkling water on their head, and when you come at these Scriptures with that definition of baptism, you end up with a bunch of nonsense.

But when you recall that the word “baptism” means “immersion into” or “overwhelmed by” or “fully identified with” then these passages become much more clear.

The Baptism of the Cup

Jesus refers to a baptism of the cup of suffering in Matthew 20:22 and Luke 12:50. This baptism has nothing to do with water, but instead uses the word baptism with its basic meaning of complete immersion in or full identification with something else. The baptism into the cup of suffering means that Jesus would fully experience and immerse Himself into the sin, pain, and suffering of the world.
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The word “baptism” is not a translation of a Greek word, but is a transliteration of the Greek word baptizma. In other words, rather than translate the word into English, Bible translators just carried the Greek letters over into English, and left it at that.

This does not help us when we try to figure out what a Biblical author is talking about when he writes about “baptism.”

But when we recognize (as we saw in the post yesterday about the definition of baptism) that “baptism” means “immersion into” or “identification with” some of the tricky passages in Scripture become much more clear.

Baptized into Moses

Take, for example, 1 Corinthians 10:2 where Paul writes about the Israelites being “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

What does this mean?

If we think of baptism only as getting dunked under water, Paul’s statement is difficult to understand.

But when we understand the word baptism to mean an immersion or a complete identification with something else, the statement becomes clearer.

God protected the people of Israel by use of the pillar of cloud and fire, and God helped them escape through the sea to escape the Egyptian army. But both of these protective actions were mediated by Moses. Divine protection was sent from God in response to the prayer of Moses on behalf of the people (Exod 14:10-31).

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Many people wonder “What is Baptism?”

The wide variety of opinions on this question are revealed by the diversity of forms, methods, and teachings about baptism. Some groups baptize infants, while others baptize only adults. Some groups get baptized every year, while others will get baptized numerous times per week. There is even a group out there that gets baptized for dead people.

So it is no wonder that people are confused about what baptism is.

What is Baptism?

Much of this confusion can be clear up by simply defining baptism.

The first thing that we must realize about the word baptism is that, like many confusing words in Christianity, it is not a translation of a Greek word, but a transliteration. Since there is so much division and strife over what the word means, Bible translators have traditionally chosen to leave the word untranslated, and just change the Greek letters of the word into English, and leave it to the reader to figure out what the word means.

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The history of baptism does not actually begin with the New Testament and the baptism of John, but many thousands of years earlier.

Baptism Did not Originate with Christianity

Baptism is not a uniquely Christian rite. Early Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Eastern religions practiced various forms of baptism. A form of baptism is also a central religious rite in Hinduism, various Indigenous American religions, and of course, in Judaism. Other types of washings and purifications by water are practiced in nearly every other religion in the world, including Islam, Buddhism, and Shintoism.

In nearly every case, the washing with water represents purification and a movement toward holiness so that the individual worshipper may approach God to offer sacrifices or pray.

Of great interest to some historians is the fact that the ancient Sumerians, at their temple in the city of Eridu, worshipped the water god Ea. Astrological religions equate this deity with Capricorn, which is the sign of the zodiac that indicates winter solstice, the death of the previous year and the rebirth of the new year.

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Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with practicing baptism and communion (referred to as “the Lord’s Supper” in future posts). In the days which they were initiated and practiced, both were meaningful and helpful for the life and teaching of the apostles and early church. Both practices had deep and rich significance.

The Lord’s Supper

The genius of these ceremonies was that they taught the central beliefs and core doctrines of Christianity in forms that were commonly practiced in the culture of that day. As N. T. Wright has said, “When Jesus wanted to explain to his followers what he thought would be the meaning of his death, he did not give them a theory; he gave them a meal.” Yes, and at that time, the meal He gave them had inherent significance and meaning. He did not create or invent the meal and then explain the meaning to them. Instead, He took a meal that they were already eating on a regular basis, which was already full of symbolism and significance, and then pointed all of the symbols and meaning to Himself.

Baptism

The same is true of baptism. John the Baptist did not invent baptism, nor did Jesus and the early church. It was a practice which was already widely used among numerous groups in that day and culture, and which already had clear symbolism and significance. John the Baptist and the early church simply took a ceremony which was already in use by the culture and pointed the symbols and significance to Jesus.

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