Jewish origins of Baptism

[Mungo]

Jewish Origins of Baptism
In my opinion Baptism is much misunderstood both as to its purpose and its origin. I want give my understanding of this. Jesus was a Jew, as were the apostles and the early Christians in Acts 2, so a Jewish understanding is important.

Baptise comes from the Greek word baptizo which means immerse or dip or plunge. However I think it is wrong to treat baptizo as simply a Greek word with various meanings. It is the name of a Jewish, and later Christian, ritual and therefore expresses the meaning of the ritual and not of all the Greek word possibilities.

The origins are the ritual purification of full body washing known in Hebrew as tevilah in a mikvah (ritual bath). Mikvah means a gathering of water and so a river is a mikvah. Since rivers were not commonly available it was any suitable pool of water, but not a free standing bath in the modern sense. It had to be dug into the ground, or built into the structure of a building and should contain rainwater with a minimum of 77 gallons. Bathing should be by total immersion and naked to ensure every part of the body was purified.

When the Jews and Evangelists wrote in Greek they avoided the Greek words for bathe and bath because of the sexual connotations. The Greek communal bathing was a place of gossip (often crude), communal nudity and homosexuality. So they used the word baptizo (and it’s derivatives) instead. The word therefore expresses this ritual purification in water. It is unnecessary to say “water baptism” as water was integral to the process, just as it was unnecessary to say a water mikvar or a water tevilah. That is what baptism was and is. There was no “dry” baptism.

Scripture doesn’t need to explicitly mention water but in many cases where baptism is mentioned it does either directly or indirectly
For example Stephen baptises the Ethiopian in water in Acts 8:36-38. Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that he was doing the same when he baptised the Samaritans earlier in the chapter
Peter refers to the waters for baptising in Acts 10:47, and he refers to Noah and his family be saved through water and says This prefigured baptism (2Pet 3:21).
Paul also refers to his baptism when he quotes Ananias saying have yourself baptised and your sins washed away (Acts 22:16)

The origins of this purification ritual go back to the book off Leviticus. There seem to be three occasions where a mikvar is required in Leviticus, those involving birth (including sex and menstruation), death (including skin diseases) and coming into the presence of God. They seem to be a reminder of our uncleanness and the need for purification. So the tevilar in a mikvar also became a symbol of repentance, of expressing faith that (spiritual) cleansing was available and of asking for it. Hence John the Baptist baptised in the Jordan as a baptism of repentance.

Many events/actions in the OT foreshadow something in the NT. The OT physical, the NT spiritual, though involving something physical..
Jesus didn't invent a new thing with baptism. He took this Jewish ritual and made it a Christian one (Mt 28:19 and Mk 16:16) but making the effects more powerful because it is Jesus who is the prime baptiser.
We can see the three purposes I noted above in Christian baptism.

Birth – we are born from above (born again) in baptism (Jn 3:5)

Death – Paul compares baptism to dying with Christ and rising to new life. There are two connotations here because entering a mikvar involved physical descent and coming out a physical ascent (rising), something Paul would be very aware of. (Rom 6:3-4 and Col 2:11-12). When Jews became Christians the public and private mikvahs became used for baptism instead.

Coming into the presence of God and forgiveness of sin – In baptism we are made children of God and our sins are forgiven (1Cor 12:12-13, Col 2:11-13, Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:16).

The Pharisees bathed daily for ritual cleansing and before entering the temple (coming into the presence of God). Excavations of the Temple Mount area have shown that there were 48 mikvahs for ritual bathing (hence why the apostles could baptise 3,000 at Pentecost).

There are two more uses of the mikvah that have some parallels in Christianity.
Firstly, when a Rabbi took a student as his disciple the Rabbi supervised the student taking a mikvar in his name .Thus you became cleansed from your old life (born again) with your Rabbi as your spiritual father, and you were to believe and observe everything he taught you, and obey his commands.
Thus in Christian baptism we become cleansed from our old life, with Jesus as our Rabbi, and we promise to believe and obey him. Also the reference to be baptised in the name of Jesus (Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48, Acts 19:5)

Secondly when a gentile because a Jew, he/she was taught the Jewish faith, and then with prayers took a mikvah, and men were circumcised. In Acts 15 circumcision was dispensed with. The mikvah was part of the initiation into Judaism just as baptism is a part of the initiation into Christianity.

Now this baptism was prophesied by Ezekial (Ez 36:25-27): I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you…. (RSV)

I will sprinkle clean water upon you – baptism with water

Pre-Christian baptism in the New Testament
John the baptiser appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk 1:4, RSV).

There was some expectation that the herald of the Messiah would baptise. “They [the Pharisees] asked him, ‘Why then are you baptising if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’” (Jn 1:25, RSV)

Then Jesus and the apostles themselves baptised in the river Jordan (Jn 3:22)

All of this was baptism in water. This is what the apostles understood by baptism.

 

[JohnDB]

Lots of great information here.
Definitely the roots of the practice were steeped in Old Testament Law and culture.

But where you are great at understanding the Jewish elements you are doing a disservice in not understanding the Greek word Baptizo...

Jesus surprised everyone when he used this Greek word instead of a Jewish/Aramaic word.

Where you do say the root of the meaning what you have not really grasped at is that this term was used most in reference to dyeing fabrics and thread and even ropes.

This was all instilled in a time without computerized color matching formulas. Purple was a very expensive color to make dye. Usually made from sea urchins.
Lead compounds and other things were also used to make various colors as well.

But the main thing to understand is that one batch of dye was always different from another batch.

Which is exactly what John later referred to as "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" meaning that there is a unity of those of us in Christ Jesus...we have all been irrevocably stained/dyed/marked by the One batch of dye...the blood of Jesus.

So...where everything that you have referenced is true... about the Priesthood of every Believer, the ritual cleansing, the new heart; however the aspect of the Public Proclamation is something that you have kinda skidded around. (As well as the use of a Greek word itself very definitely pointed to the inclusion of the Gentiles)
You might want to include this in your thesis...it would make it more complete.

Otherwise it's a great job.

 

[Mungo]

Lots of great information here.
Definitely the roots of the practice were steeped in Old Testament Law and culture.

But where you are great at understanding the Jewish elements you are doing a disservice in not understanding the Greek word Baptizo...

Jesus surprised everyone when he used this Greek word instead of a Jewish/Aramaic word.

Where you do say the root of the meaning what you have not really grasped at is that this term was used most in reference to dyeing fabrics and thread and even ropes.

This was all instilled in a time without computerized color matching formulas. Purple was a very expensive color to make dye. Usually made from sea urchins.
Lead compounds and other things were also used to make various colors as well.

But the main thing to understand is that one batch of dye was always different from another batch.

Which is exactly what John later referred to as "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" meaning that there is a unity of those of us in Christ Jesus...we have all been irrevocably stained/dyed/marked by the One batch of dye...the blood of Jesus.

So...where everything that you have referenced is true... about the Priesthood of every Believer, the ritual cleansing, the new heart; however the aspect of the Public Proclamation is something that you have kinda skidded around. (As well as the use of a Greek word itself very definitely pointed to the inclusion of the Gentiles)
You might want to include this in your thesis...it would make it more complete.

Otherwise it's a great job.

Why do you say Jesus surprised everyone by using the Greek word instead of a Jewish/Aramaic word? I understand that Jesus spoke Aramaic. Surely it was the gospel writers that translated Jesus' words into Greek.

A couple of questions:
If this was an unusual translation of the Aramaic or Hebrew what would the correct Greek word be?

If Jesus gave a special word for his type of baptism why was John's baptism given the same Greek word?

 

[JohnDB]

Why do you say Jesus surprised everyone by using the Greek word instead of a Jewish/Aramaic word? I understand that Jesus spoke Aramaic. Surely it was the gospel writers that translated Jesus' words into Greek.

A couple of questions:
If this was an unusual translation of the Aramaic or Hebrew what would the correct Greek word be?

If Jesus gave a special word for his type of baptism why was John's baptism given the same Greek word?

That's what I was saying. It's unique and different.
There are times that Jesus used Aramaic/Hebrew that doesn't come across very well. Sermon on the Mount is one of those times. In Greek it's a normal lesson...but when translated into Aramaic it's poetry...very beautiful poetry. The type that sticks in your head poetry.
In Mark, Peter related Jesus' exact words often..."talitha kouhm" is one such quote. (Little girl get up)

And one of the four synoptic gospels tells us this about Jesus calling it a baptism in an almost footnote fashion. (I'm sleepy and forgetting where....had to prepare the lesson for class this AM)

But the thing is that Jesus didn't really speak a lot of Greek to anyone. He spoke the local language of Aramaic and Hebrew...Romans spoke Greek. Jesus is seen speaking to Pilate. Luke never mentions an interpreter for the occasion so it's assumed there wasn't one.

You have covered all the Hebrew and Aramaic terms well...and the typology they represent. Nothing to be ashamed about in the least for your studies.
Check out for yourself with what I have stated and see for yourself. You seem perfectly capable. And I'd love it if you included this concepts in your dissertation the next time even if you never mention me whatsoever. (Actually prefer it that way)

 

[Prycejosh1987]

I dont think water baptism existed throughout the old testament, i guess that is why john the baptist was called the baptist. I think he was called the baptist, to also differentiate between himself and john the disciple. He (John the baptist) originated baptism, if i am wrong then please enlighten me.

 

[Mungo]

I dont think water baptism existed throughout the old testament, i guess that is why john the baptist was called the baptist. I think he was called the baptist, to also differentiate between himself and john the disciple. He (John the baptist) originated baptism, if i am wrong then please enlighten me.

The root word bapto is Greek meaning to dip or immerse. It was used in the Greek LXX to translate the Hebrew tevilah (which also means dip or immerse), which as I suggested above was done in a mikvah. The tevilah was a ritual purification expressing different things (see OP). So in Hebrew terminology John the Baptist (JtB) was carrying out a tevilah in a mikvah (the river Jordan).
In Greek that is baptising.
If JtB invented something new I doubt that Pharisees and Saducees, sticklers for the Law, would have come to him for baptism (Mt 3:7). The tevilar/baptising was a sign of repentance. the water symbolised their inner cleansing.
It was this Jewish ritual that Jesus took and made it a Christian one (Mt 28:19 and Mk 16:16) but making the effects more powerful because it is Jesus who is the prime baptiser.