BAPTISM (^aimaiM = ' the rite of Bai)tism,' always in NT distinguished from ^ajmafids, 'a washing,' Mk 7^ He 6- 9'" [but see Lightfoot, Com. on Colossians, p. 184] ; but this distinction is not maintained in Josephus [cf. Ant. XVIII. v. 2]; and in the Latin versions and Fathers baptisma and Impti^mus and even baptismum are used in- discriminately, see Plummer's art. 'Baptism' in Hastiiij;s' DB). — A rite wherein by immersion in water the participant symbolizes and signalizes his transition from an impure to a pure life, his death to a past he abandons, and his new birth to a future he desires.
Tlie i^)oints for consideration are (1) the Origin of Baptism, (2) its Mode, (3) John's Baptism of tiie people, (4) John's Baptism of Jesus, (5) Baptism by the disciples of Jesus.
1, The Origin of Baptism.— Haxitism, as we find it in the Gospels, may be traced to a threefold source, natural symbolism, the lustrations of the Mosaic Law, and the baptism of proselytes. In many of the appointments of non- Christian religions the cleansing of the .soul from sin is symbolized by the washing of the bodv (see the Vendidad, Fiirqard, ix. ; Williams, Religious Tlwught in I,ni;.,. .■;i7; Vei-il, .i:„r;,l, W. 72O; OviA, Fasti, V. CnI; mill .-!.. Mart ulloeh, Compar. Thcol.). X-. Ill oilur ivliui'iii-, Ml ill Israel washings were I 111' ineaiis aii|iuinted lor restoring the person \sh.i liad incurred ceremonial defilement to his I hue among the worshipping congregation. The Mn^aic Law prescribed certain regulations for the ' iiinval of uncleanness by washing with water; l.v 155. 8. 13. 16 (Xoyo-erat iiSari irdv ri cuiixa. aiVoC) I Ii-'- ■-=*• etc. But if the Jew himself needed almost I tily washing (' JudiEUS quotidie lavat, quia quo- tidic inquinatur,' Tertull. de Baptismo, \v.), much more was the bath of i)urification necessary for the Gentile who desired to pass into Judaism. For the proselyte this baptism (nVnp) seemed the appro- priate initiation. ' Whensoever any heathen will betake himself and be joined to the covenant of Israel, and place himself under the wings of the Divine Majesty, and take the yoke of the Law upon him, voluntary circumcision, baptism, and oblation are required.' (See this and other pas- sages in Lightfoot, IIoicb Heb. on Mt 3" ; SchUrer, J{J1' g 31 ; and Edersheim's Life and Timfis of
BAPTISM
BAPTISM
Je-iKs, Appendix xii. on 'Baptism of Proselytes.' The question whether the baptism of proselytes was in vogue as early as the time of tlic liaptist has been laid to rest by Edersheim and Schiirer). It may almost be said, tlien, that when John baptized the people, he meant to impress them with the idea tliat they must be re-born before they could enter the kingdom. He, as it were, excommunicated them, and by requiring them to submit to Baptism, declared that their natural birth as Jews was insufficient for participation in the Messianic blessings. No doubt also he believed himself to be fultilling the predictions of Zee 13', Ezk 36'-'*, as well as the craving expressed in Ps 51'.
2. The Mode, nf Baptism.—That the normal mode was by immersion of the whole body may be in- ferred' (a) from the meaning of /SairT/fu, which is the intensive or frequentative form of /Sdirrw, ' I dip,' and denotes to immerse or submerge. In Poly- bius, iii. 72, it is used of soldiers wading through a flooded river, 'immersed' to their breast (?us twv imarCiv oi TTffol §aivTi^6ixevoi.). It is used also of sinking ships (in i. 51, the Carthaginians sank many of the Koman ships, iroXXa tuv aKaipCiv i^air- Tifoi'). [Many examples are given in Stephanus, and esp. in Classic Baptism: An cnqnirij into the meaning of the word pairTiSa, by James W. Dale, 4th ed. Philadelphia, 1872]. The point is that 'dip' or 'immerse' is the primary, 'wash' the secondary meaning of pd-KToi and ^airTli-oi. (b) The same inference may be drawn from the law laid down regarding the baptism of proselytes : ' As soon as he grows whole of the wound of circum- cision, they bring him to Baptism, and being placed in the water, they again instruct him in some weightier and in some lighter commands of the Law. 'Which being heard, he plunges himself and comes up, and behold, he is an Israelite in all things' (See Lightfoot, ^.c). To use Pauline language, his old man is dead and buried in the water, and he rises from this cleansing grave a new man. The full significance of the rite would have been lost had innnersiun not been practised. Again, it was required in jiroselyte baptism that 'eveiy person baptized must dip his whole liody, now stripped and made naked, at one dipping. And wheresoever in the Law washing of the body or garments i.s mentioned, it means nothing else than the washing of the whole body.' (c) That immersion was the mode of Baptism adopted by John is the natural conclusion from his choosing the neighbourhood of the Jordan as the scene of his labours ; and from the statement of Jn 3'-^ that he was baptizing in /Enon ' because there was much water there.' (d) That this form was continued into the Christian Church appears from the e-\- Ijressiou Xovrpof TtaXivyivialas (Tit 3^), and from the use made by St. Paul in Ro 6 of the .symbolism. This is well jjut by Bingham (Antiq. xi. 11) : ' The ancients thought that immersion, or burying under water, did more likely represent the death and burial and resurrection of Christ as well as our own death unto sin and rising again unto righteousness : and the divesting or unclothing the person to be baptized did also represent the l)uttmg off the body of .sin in order to put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness. For which reason they observed the way of baptizing all persons naked and divested, by a_ total immersion under water, excejit in some particular cases of great exigence, wherein they allow of sprinkling, as in the ca.se of clinic Bap- tism, or where there is a scarcity of water.' This statement exactly reflects the ideas of the Pauline Epistles and the Didache. This early document enjoins that Baptism be performed in running water ; but if that is not to be had, then in other