Baptism
Baptism is a Christian rite of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or immersing in water, traditionally three times for each person of the Trinity. It is also called christening, although this is typically reserved for the baptism of infants. Baptism is regarded as a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others, with the synoptic gospels recounting that John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
Baptism according to the Trinitarian formula, which is done in most mainstream Christian denominations, is seen as being a basis for Christian ecumenism, the concept of unity amongst Christians. In certain Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Assyrian Church of the East, and Lutheran Churches, baptism is the door to church membership, with candidates taking baptismal vows. It has also given its name to the Baptist churches and denominations.
Certain schools of Christian thought regard baptism as necessary for salvation, but some writers, such as Huldrych Zwingli, have denied its necessity. Though water baptism is extremely common among Christian denominations, some, such as Quakers and The Salvation Army, do not practice water baptism at all. Among denominations that practice baptism, differences occur in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite. Most Christians baptize using the Trinitarian formula "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit", but Oneness Pentecostals baptize using Jesus' name only. The majority of Christians baptize infants; many others, such as Baptist Churches, regard only believer's baptism as true baptism. In certain denominations, such as the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, the individual being baptized receives a cross necklace that is worn for the rest of their life, inspired by the Third Council of Constantinople.
Outside of Christianity, Mandaeans undergo repeated baptism for purification instead of initiation. They consider John the Baptist to be their greatest prophet and name all rivers yardena after the Jordan River.
The term baptism has also been used metaphorically to refer to any ceremony, trial, or experience by which a person is initiated, purified, or given a name. Martyrdom was identified early in Christian church history as "baptism by blood", enabling the salvation of martyrs who had not been baptized by water. Later, the Catholic Church identified a baptism of desire, by which those preparing for baptism who die before actually receiving the sacrament are considered saved. In the Methodist tradition, Baptism with the Holy Spirit, has referred to the second work of grace, entire sanctification; in Pentecostalism, the term Baptism with the Holy Spirit is identified with speaking in tongues.
Etymology
The English word baptism is derived indirectly through Latin from the neuter Greek concept noun , which is a neologism in the New Testament derived from the masculine Greek noun , a term for ritual washing in Greek language texts of Hellenistic Judaism during the Second Temple period, such as the Septuagint. Both of these nouns are derived from the verb , which is used in Jewish texts for ritual washing, and in the New Testament both for ritual washing and also for the apparently new rite of.The Greek verb ,, from which the verb is derived, is in turn hypothetically traced to a reconstructed Indo-European root *gʷabh-,.
The Greek words are used in a great variety of meanings. βάπτω and βαπτίζω in Hellenism had the general usage of "immersion", "going under" or "perishing", with the same double meanings as in English "to sink into" or "to be overwhelmed by", with bathing or washing only occasionally used and usually in sacral contexts.
History
The practice of baptism emerged from Jewish ritualistic practices during the Second Temple Period from which figures such as John the Baptist emerged. For example, various texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls corpus at Qumran describe ritual practices involving washing, bathing, sprinkling, and immersing. One example of such a text is a DSS known as the Rule of the Community, which says "And by the compliance of his soul with all the laws of God his flesh is cleansed by being sprinkled with cleansing waters and being made holy with the waters of repentance."The Mandaeans, who are followers of John the Baptist, practice frequent full immersion baptism as a ritual of purification. According to Mandaean sources, they left the Jordan Valley in the 1st century AD.
John the Baptist, who is considered a forerunner to Christianity, used baptism as the central sacrament of his messianic movement. The apostle Paul distinguished between the baptism of John, and baptism in the name of Jesus, and it is questionable whether Christian baptism was in some way linked with that of John. However, according to Mark 1:8, John seems to connect his water baptism as a type of the true, ultimate baptism of Jesus, which is by the Spirit. Christians consider Jesus to have instituted the sacrament of baptism.
Though some form of immersion was likely the most common method of baptism in the early church, many of the writings from the ancient church appeared to view this mode of baptism as inconsequential. The Didache 7.1–3 allowed for affusion practices in situations where immersion was not practical. Likewise, Tertullian allowed for varying approaches to baptism even if those practices did not conform to biblical or traditional mandates. Finally, Cyprian explicitly stated that the amount of water was inconsequential and defended immersion, affusion, and aspersion practices. As a result, there was no uniform or consistent mode of baptism in the ancient church prior to the fourth century.
By the third and fourth centuries, baptism involved catechetical instruction as well as chrismation, exorcisms, laying on of hands, and recitation of a creed.
In the Early Middle Ages infant baptism became common and the rite was significantly simplified and increasingly emphasized. In Western Europe Affusion became the normal mode of baptism between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, though immersion was still practiced into the sixteenth. In the medieval period, some radical Christians rejected the practice of baptism as a sacrament. Sects such as the Tondrakians, Cathars, Arnoldists, Petrobrusians, Henricans, Brethren of the Free Spirit and the Lollards were regarded as heretics by the Catholic Church. In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther retained baptism as a sacrament, but Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli considered baptism and the Lord's Supper to be symbolic. Anabaptists denied the validity of the practice of infant baptism, and rebaptized converts.
Mode and manner
Baptism is practiced in several different ways. Aspersion is the sprinkling of water on the head, and affusion is the pouring of water over the head. Traditionally, a person is sprinkled, poured, or immersed three times for each person of the Holy Trinity, with this ancient Christian practice called trine baptism or triune baptism. The Didache specifies:The word "immersion" is derived from late Latin immersio, a noun derived from the verb immergere. In relation to baptism, some use the term to refer to any form of dipping, whether the body is put completely under water or only partially dipped in water. They thus speak of immersion as being either total or partial. Others, particularly within the Anabaptist traditions, use "immersion" to refer exclusively to plunging someone entirely under the surface of the water. The term "immersion" is also used of a form of baptism in which water is poured over someone standing in water, without fully submerging the person. For the three different meanings of the word "immersion", see Immersion baptism.
When "immersion" is used in opposition to "submersion", it indicates the form of baptism in which the candidate stands or kneels in water and water is poured over the upper part of the body. Immersion in this sense has been employed in West and East since at least the 2nd century and is the form in which baptism is generally depicted in early Christian art. In the West, this method of baptism began to be replaced by affusion baptism from around the 8th century, but it continues in use in Eastern Christianity.
The word submersion comes from the late Latin and is also sometimes called "complete immersion". It is the form of baptism in which the water completely covers the candidate's body. Submersion is practiced in the Orthodox and several other Eastern Churches. In the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, baptism by submersion is used in the Ambrosian Rite and is one of the methods provided in the Roman Rite of the baptism of infants. It is seen as obligatory among some groups that have arisen since the Protestant Reformation, such as Baptists.
Meaning of the Greek verb ''baptizein''
The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott gives the primary meaning of the verb baptízein, from which the English verb "baptize" is derived, as "dip, plunge", and gives examples of plunging a sword into a throat or an embryo and for drawing wine by dipping a cup in the bowl; for New Testament usage it gives two meanings: "baptize", with which it associates the Septuagint mention of Naaman dipping himself in the Jordan River, and "perform ablutions", as in Luke 11:38.Although the Greek verb baptízein does not exclusively mean dip, plunge or immerse, lexical sources typically cite this as a meaning of the word in both the Septuagint and the New Testament.
A. N. S. Lane wrote "While it is true that the basic root meaning of the Greek words for baptize and baptism is immerse/immersion, it is not true that the words can simply be reduced to this meaning, as can be seen from Mark 10:38–39, Luke 12:50, Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16, and Corinthians 10:2."
Two passages in the Gospels indicate that the verb baptízein did not always indicate submersion. The first is Luke 11:38, which tells how a Pharisee, at whose house Jesus ate, "was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner". This is the passage that Liddell and Scott cites as an instance of the use of βαπτίζω to mean perform ablutions. Jesus' omission of this action is similar to that of his disciples: "Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread". The other Gospel passage pointed to is: "The Pharisees ... do not eat unless they wash their hands thoroughly, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they wash themselves ".
Scholars of various denominations claim that these two passages show that invited guests, or people returning from market, would not be expected to immerse themselves totally in water but only to practice the partial immersion of dipping their hands in water or to pour water over them, as is the only form admitted by present Jewish custom. In the second of the two passages, it is actually the hands that are specifically identified as "washed", not the entire person, for whom the verb used is baptízomai, literally "be baptized", "be immersed", a fact obscured by English versions that use "wash" as a translation of both verbs. Zodhiates concludes that the washing of the hands was done by immersing them. The Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek-English Lexicon cites the other passage as an instance of the use of the verb baptízein to mean "perform ablutions", not "submerge". References to the cleaning of vessels which use βαπτίζω also refer to immersion.
As already mentioned, the lexicographical work of Zodhiates says that, in the second of these two cases, the verb baptízein indicates that, after coming from the market, the Pharisees washed their hands by immersing them in collected water. Balz & Schneider understand the meaning of βαπτίζω, used in place of ῥαντίσωνται, to be the same as βάπτω, to dip or immerse, a verb used of the partial dipping of a morsel held in the hand into wine or of a finger into spilled blood.
A possible additional use of the verb baptízein to relate to ritual washing is suggested by Peter Leithart who suggests that Paul's phrase "Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead?" relates to Jewish ritual washing. In Jewish Greek the verb baptízein "baptized" has a wider reference than just "baptism" and in Jewish context primarily applies to the masculine noun baptismós "ritual washing"
The verb baptízein occurs four times in the Septuagint in the context of ritual washing, baptismós; Judith cleansing herself from menstrual impurity, Naaman washing seven times to be cleansed from leprosy, etc.
Additionally, in the New Testament only, the verb baptízein can also relate to the neuter noun báptisma "baptism" which is a neologism unknown in the Septuagint and other pre-Christian Jewish texts.
This broadness in the meaning of baptízein is reflected in English Bibles rendering "wash", where Jewish ritual washing is meant: for example Mark 7:4 states that the Pharisees "except they wash, they do not eat", and "baptize" where báptisma, the new Christian rite, is intended.