fiaTrri£u), and their cognates, are used with such latitude of mean- ing, as to prove the assertion that the command to baptize is a command to immerse, to be utterly unauthorized and unreason- able.
Ever since the Reformation and the rise of the Baptists as a distinct denomination, who hold that " baptizing is dipping, and dipping is baptizing," the meaning of the Greek words in ques- tion has been a matter of dispute, on which hundreds of volumes have been written. It is evidently impossible to enter on that discussion in these pages. All that can be attempted is a brief statement of the conclusions believed to be established, while the proofs on which those conclusions rest must be sought in works devoted to the subject. As to the classic use of the words in question, it is clear that fid-uro) means (1.) To dip. (2.) To dye by dipping. (3.) To dye without regard to the mode in which it is done ; as a lake is said to be baptized (i. e., dyed) by the blood shed in it ; a garment is spoken of as baptized by colour- ing matter dropping on it. (4.) It also means to gild ; also to glaze, as when earthenware is covered with any vitreous matter. (5.) To wet, moisten, or wash. (6.) To temper, as hot iron is tempered ; this may be done by plunging or pouring. " Tem- pered, vtto cWou," does not mean plunged into oil. (7.) To im- bue. The mind is said to be baptized with fantasies; not plunged into them, for it is v7ro r&v ^avraa-tiov.1
A man is said to be " imbued with righteousness." This can- not mean " dipped." It is obvious, therefore, that a command to baptize, made in the use of the word fiaTrro), cannot be limited to a command to dip, plunge, or immerse.
As to the classic use of /?a7n-i£co, it means, (1.) To immerse, or submerge. It is very frequently used when ships are spoken of as sunk or buried in the sea. They are then said to be baptized. (2.) To overflow or to cover with water. The sea-shore is said to be baptized by the rising tide. (3.) To wet thoroughly, to moisten. (4.) To pour upon or drench. (5.) In any way to be overwhelmed or overpowered. Hence men are said to be baptized with wine (oi ^fiairTuxfievoL are the intoxicated), with opium, with debts, with puzzling questions. Wine is said to be baptized by having water poured into it.2
1 There are two recent American writers whose works contain all that most students would be disposed to read on this subject. The one is the Rev. Dr. Conant, in his book, Meaning and Use of the Word Baptizein, New York, 1868; and the other the Rev. James W. Dale, in his Classic Baptism ; Judaic Baptism / and Johannic Baptism / to be followed by Christian Baptism.
- Illustrations of some of these uses of the word may be found in Stephen's Thesaurus
528 PART m. Ch. XX. — the means of grace.
The word (5airrL&o, as Dr. Dale so strenuously argues, belongs to that class of words which indicate an effect to be produced without expressing the kind of action by which that effect is to be brought about. In this respect it is analogous to the word " to bury." A man may be buried by being covered up in the ground ; by being placed in an empty cave ; by being put into a sarcoph- agus ; or even, as among our Indians, by being placed upon a platform elevated above the ground. The command to bury, may be executed in any of these ways. So with regard to the word fi<nrT%u>, there is a given effect to be produced, without any specific injunction as to the manner ; whether by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling.
Use of the Words in the Septuagint and Apocrypha.
These words are of rare occurrence in the Greek version of the Old Testament. In the fifth chapter of Second Kings we have the history of Naaman the Syrian, who came to the prophet to be healed of his leprosy. And " Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times " (ver. 10). " Then went he down and dipped himself (c/3a7rTicraTo) seven times in Jordan " (ver. 14). The only special interest in this passage is the proof it affords that baptism and washing are identical. The command to wash was obeyed by baptizing him- self. The Vulgate does not change the words in the two passages, " Vade et lavare septies in Jordane " (ver. 10). "Descendit et lavit in Jordane septies " (ver. 14). The Septuagint has Aovcmi in verse 10, and e/3a7rrio-aTo in verse 14.
In Daniel iv. 33, it is said that the body of Nebuchadnezzar " was wet (baptized, eftd<t>ri, [LXX. ver. 30] ) with the dew of heaven." Here the idea of dipping is absolutely precluded.
The word ySaTrrw, when meaning to dip, does not necessarily include the idea of entire immersion. A mere touch or partial immersion is often all the word is intended to express ; as in Le- viticus iv. 17 : " The priest shall dip (/3ety€i) his finger in some of the blood." Leviticus xiv. 6 : " As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and shall dip (/Ja^ei) them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water." All these things could not be immersed in the blood of a bird. Boaz said to Ruth, at meal-time " dip (/Sotyeis) thy morsel in the vinegar." (Ruth ii. 14.) Joshua iii. 15 :
and Scapula's Lexicon, and of all in the works of Dr. Conant and Dr. Dale, who discuss the bearing of each on the matter in debate from their respective stand-points.