The Naked Bible » The Biblical Teaching on Baptism, Part 1

The Naked Bible » The Biblical Teaching on Baptism, Part 1: ""

My comments, inspired by the discussion above:

One of the earliest practices established for the Jews was washing:

Exodus 30:
17 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.
19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:
20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:
21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

The priests did not approach God without washing. There are various ordinances, and various practices developed in the intertestamental years under rabbinic Judaism:

Mark 7:
1 ¶ Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

John's Mikveh (and you should read this if you are not familiar with this):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh

John's Mikveh had a new but apparently frequently adopted feature in that participation in the ritual cleansing was a rite of passage into a cult. People who were baptized became followers of the cult leader:

Acts 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

Matthew then says that the name that believers should be baptized into is the name of the father (God), the son (the cult leader) and the holy breath. Here is where their allegiance would be.

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in [EIS=into] the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Paul was sensitive to the issue:

1 Cor 1:
13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in [EIS=into] the name of Paul?
14 ¶ I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

1 Corinthians 10:2 And were all baptized **unto Moses** in the cloud and in the sea;

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all **baptized into one body**, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

If Jesus were not resurrected, then to be baptized into him would be to be baptized into a dead person, never to rise again.

1 Corinthians 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Now, I am of the opinion that the NT authors consciously commandeered as many Jewish themes as they could possibly think of for the new cult. In other words, Paul was of the mindset that if Jews had an intertestamental interest in joining a cult by identification with the person who baptized them, or into a cult, then by golly Christ will be the one in who's name, person and cult that the believers should be baptized.

In other words, Paul would co-opt this new-fangled, extra-biblical practice of his contemporaries because it was one more expedient way to harness Judaism's appeal and structure for the new religion. It was such a popular element of the Hellenistic Jewish landscape that you see all of the writers of the NT appropriating it in various ways.

But Paul was ignorant of Matthew's command to baptize. For him, like other religious practices of the Jews, he just wanted what he considered the nectar - he wanted them as symbols to describe "Christ." He said:

1 Cor 1:
16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17 ¶ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Matthew wanted to make "disciples" but Paul wanted to make "believers."