Baptism, an Exploration: Part 1 (Introduction, Review, Old Testament Roots)

A few weeks ago, I started this “The Man or the Plan” series, and I got distracted by a bunch of other things — on the blog and elsewhere. I promised to eventually get to baptism, and “eventually” is now. But first we have to review.

[By the way, rather than calling this “The Fork in the Road: The Man or the Plan: Baptism, Part 1,” I’ve decided to go with the simpler “Baptism, an Exploration.” But this is a continuation of the series nonetheless. I add “an ExploratIon” to make clear that I don’t know where I’m headed with this. I’m just going to pick up baptism passages and try to figure out what they mean as we go. And then we wind up where we wind up, wherever that may be. (Therefore, don’t get bent out of shape based on “where this might be heading.” It’s heading to the next verse.)]

Review

If you don’t recall the earlier posts, go back and read them. The discussion on baptism won’t make much sense except in light of what went before. You see, in the posts, I argued that God’s requirement that we have faith in Jesus to be saved is not arbitrary but makes perfect sense. It makes sense because God’s purpose is to undo the Curse of Gen 3 and restore us to the right relationship with each other and to God, the relationship pictured in Eden and in Gen 1.

What we found is that God is faithful.

(1Co 1:9 ESV) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

(2Co 1:18 ESV) As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.

(1Th 5:24 ESV) He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

“Faithful” in each case is pistos, the very same word used in —

(John 20:27 ESV) Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

(Act 16:1 ESV) Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

(2Co 6:15 ESV) What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

The same word is used of the Christian with faith as of God himself. To have faith is to be like God — and this is a step toward being restored to his image. We cannot be like God unless we are faithful.

Now, “faithful” has a double meaning. It means keeping your promises and it means having faith in the more traditional sense. Just so, “faith” (pistis) can refer to loyalty and faithfulness, itself. Indeed, Jesus himself is said to have faith (pistis) because his work is the means by which God kept his promises to Abraham and through the Prophets.

Therefore, God, Jesus, and each Christian must have pistis and be pistos. We are to be true to the image of God in which we’ve been re-made by imitating God in his faithfulness.

(Rom 8:29 ESV) 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

(1Co 15:49 ESV) Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

(2Co 3:18 ESV) And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

and

(Eph 5:1 ESV) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Faith, therefore, makes sense in terms of our relationship with God and his desire to restore us to his image.

It also makes sense because God most perfectly reveals himself through Jesus. If we don’t believe in Jesus (if we can’t be faithful to Jesus), we can’t believe in/be faithful to God. We might believe in something that’s like God, but if we don’t see God in Jesus, we don’t see God at all.

And faith makes sense because it’s the nature of God’s covenant with Abraham, which God honors in Christ.

Faith, as Paul so often argues, also makes sense because it’s something we can measure up to. We can’t be justified by works, because we are just too broken and flawed to meet such a standard. But we can get faith right. Not perfect, of course, but right.

Faith makes sense at the deepest levels of the scriptures and theology.

But baptism, well, it’s harder to see how baptism fits into the story of God and man. I mean, there’s no baptism in the Creation or Eden. God has never been baptized — except in the form of Jesus. Baptism is obviously important, as Jesus himself submitted to John’s baptism. But baptism doesn’t take us back to Abraham. Baptism isn’t essential to have faith — or else Abraham would have been baptized. No, baptism isn’t at the same level as faith. It’s important, but it’s not a reflection of the character of God, of the covenant with Abraham, the story of God’s redemptive mission, and so on.

In fact, you’d have trouble reading the Old Testament and expecting to find baptism in the New Covenant. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the others paint a clear picture of much of Christianity, but not baptism.

So this is not to dismiss baptism, but just to wonder: where does baptism come from?

(The following discussion relies heavily on the work of G. R. Beasley-Murray in Baptism in the New Testament.)

Old Testament roots

While there is nothing in the Abrahamic covenant to bring baptism to mind, the Law of Moses has a number of washings to make the person ceremonially clean. For example, the high priest is required to washed in water before the Day of Atonement —

(Lev 16:1 ESV)  3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.

Regarding Israelites in general, they are required to undergo a bathing to be cleansed following birth, sex, sickness, or contact with a dead body. There is reason to believe that at least some of these washings were for the purpose of protection against disease.

(Lev 15:3-12 ESV)  3 And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness.  4 Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean.  5 And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.  6 And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.  7 And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.  8 And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.  9 And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean.  10 And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.  11 Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.  12 And an earthenware vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

And so the Law of Moses presents bathing as a way to remove ceremonial uncleanness, but it’s largely a matter of sanitation except in the case of the Day of Atonement, where the idea seems to be a matter of holiness. Then again, the Law often associates physical cleanliness with holiness. For example,

(Deu 23:12-14 ESV) 12 “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it.  13 And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement.  14 Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.”

Removing human excrement from the camp was necessary so that the camp would be “holy.” Therefore, cleanliness really was associated with Godliness!

But it wouldn’t be fair to text to argue that the washings under the Law were symbolic of forgiveness of sin or receipt of the Spirit.