Baptism: Its Meaning and Purpose

(this is a paper that I had to do for Liberty University in Theology 350)

What does baptism mean?  What, by definition, is the correct form of baptism?  These are a few of the questions that come up while talking about the word baptism.  The word baptism has many different uses.  There are different forms of baptism as well.  So what is the correct use of the word when used in a Biblical context?

One of the most common ways to define and exercise baptism amongst believers is the act of bring submersed into water as an outward sign of their profession of faith.  Even the use of this definition can lead to confusion.  “The six-year-old grandson of Ruth Kirby told his mother that he had been baptized.  His mom knew that he hadn’t been formally baptized, so she probed further into the issue.  She asked him to explain what he meant by ‘baptized.’  Little Blake then enlightened his mom, ‘Last night in the bathtub I put my face under the water and thought about Jesus.’”  Certainly this is only in the mind of a child.  But, is it really only in the mind of a child.  The debate about baptism has been going on for centuries and between adults not children.  It seems by this little story that it would be more simple if left up to children.

Back to the questions that were asked about baptism.  To answer them one must go to the source of the word baptism.  The word has its origins in the language that the New Testament was written in.  That language was the common language for that day, Koine (common) Greek.  Much like the how most of the world knows english or desires to know English, so it was with Koine Greek.  It was the trade language of the ancient world.  It was Alexander the Great who was responsible for uniting all the dialects of Greek into one uniform language.  This is where the word baptism comes from.

The word had various forms and uses.  One of the uses was battizo.  The use of the word in this form is to “cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; as, to whelm a person or a company in the seas; to whelm a caravan in sand or dust.”  This is the first definition that is listed for the word baptizo.  It is very clear that one needs to be completely covered with water to be baptized.  This would explain how the concept that is common today came to be used.  Many churches have baptismal pools at the front of the church so that one can be fully submersed into the water.  The rest of the definitions for this word follow suit and convey the same idea to completely cover, to dip, or to immerse.

However, there is a second application of the word baptizo.  It conveys the idea of a general act of washing or purification by water.  This changes the picture of immersion.  With this application something could be partially dirty and only be in need of partial cleaning.  The whole would not need to be immersed and washed.  Instead only the part that is dirty would be in need of washing or being hosed down or rinsed off.

Two other words that are translated to baptism are baptisma and baptismos.  These two words are the root of the English word baptism.  These two words have a definition that describes washing.  This is not a complete washing of the whole, but a general washing, much like the second application of baptizo.  According to the definition here washing ones face could be considered baptism.  Every time someone washes their hands, they baptize their hands, according to this definition.

There is still one more form of the word that must be examined.  The word is bapto.  This word means to cover wholly with a fluid.  It also means “(literally) to moisten (a part of one’s person), or (by implication) to stain (as with dye): – dip.”  Now that brings a new meaning to baptism.  This word was used “in the first century for immersing a garment first into bleach and then into dye, both cleansing and changing the color of the cloth.”  But the definition mentions to dip and a part of one’s person.  This leaves it open for sticking a foot into the water and calling it baptism.  Also one could be fully covered by water by pouting buckets of water over their head.  Think of the Superbowl.  The winning teams usually dumps the Gatorade cooler over the head of the coach.  He is fully covered by the drink of choice.  One thing that is solved here is that to stay true to the origin of the word baptism, sprinkling is out.

Still the questions are not answered.  The definitions to the words associated with the word baptism is not enough to determine a proper way to baptize someone.  The best way now to understand the proper way to baptize is to look to the Bible to see how the words were used and how baptism was preformed in the Bible.  By doing this, an accurate conclusion of how the word is intended to be used and what is the proper method of baptism.

In the Bible the word forms of baptize are sued in a way to set one apart or to be associated with a group or and individual.  By being baptized by one person an individual would be associated with that person from that point forward.  Those whom John the Baptizer baptized were associated with John from that point of time when they were baptized by him.  This is true for Jesus.  Those that were baptized by his disciples were then associated with Jesus.  This is why people are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This brings association to God family, Christ Jesus as Savior, and the Holy Spirit as guide.  This is more than an initiation act.  Baptism was a way to be publicly associated with a certain person or group of people (God in three persons).  Still, is there a need to be fully immersed in water or just for water to be poured over ones head?  This use of the word only implies the outward act with the purpose of recognition and association.  This could be done by pouring water over the head of an individual.

Pressing on, the words of John the Baptizer give more clues to the proper way for baptism to be conducted.  He spoke of Jesus as the one who was to come after him.  John said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  There goes the whole idea of water.  Jesus would not even use it.  Jesus’ baptism would be different.  John used baptism when he called eh people to repentance.  They were to repent and be baptized.  “Those who obeyed came ‘confessing their sins,’ thus acknowledging their unfitness to be in the Messiah’s coming kingdom.”  This represented their position before God.  But, now there was a new use of a familiar word.  It was being used in connection to God and fire.  This would have been revolutionary to the audience who was there being baptized with water.

Jesus did baptize this way.  In the book of Acts one can read about what happened on the day of Pentecost.  It is recorded that the Holy Spirit came down as flames that rested on the apostles and the other believers.  When this happen there was not an outward covering, but an inward filling of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does not cover the believer wholly, but the Holy Spirit does wholly indwell the believer.  Again this is a new and radical approach to the word baptism.  All the definitions refer to an outward action not an inward one.

The Apostle Paul had something to say about baptism as well.  It is from Paul that the church got the “how-to’s” for Christian conduct.  Paul said, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  Paul said this in his epistles to the Romans.  Paul uses the word to make a connection to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  This brings a certain word picture to mind.  When one dies, they are laid down below the surface.  Then in resurrection, one rises up again from below the surface to above it.  Again Paul speaks of baptism the same way in his epistle to the church in Colossae.  He said, “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”  So the idea here is that death, burial, and resurrection effected the entire human body of Christ Jesus.

In Ephesians it is written that, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”7  Christ Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins.  There is cleansing by His blood.  It is by that shed blood that one’s sins are baptized, that is to say that they are covered by the blood and washed by the blood.  This is compared to the act of being completely covered by water that results in washing.

Compiling all of this together gives the proper method of baptism.  First by definition, baptism is to be used to cover a person with liquid.  In the case of believers baptism that would mean covering a person with water.  Also baptism is a way to cleanses and dye something.  Not that water baptism does this, but at the point of salvation scripture teaches that all of our sins are cover by the blood of Christ and washed away.  Then the believer is clothed in His righteousness.  This is that bleaching and dying process, done with the whole spirit of the person.  Then to represent the death, burial, and resurrection on the Lord Christ Jesus the believer then is immersed into the water, being buried in the water, then raised out of the water.  It is only the act of immersion that a person exemplifies all the aspects of baptism in definition, practice, and symbolism.

However, there is scriptural evidence for the use of pouring or sprinkling.  In Jewish tradition a part represents a whole.  When speaking with a pastor about the day of the week of Christ’s death, he said that the way that the Jewish people viewed things was that a part represented the whole.  Thus, if Christ died on Friday and was buried on Friday, to the Jews it would have been three complete days from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.  Take this Jewish understanding of the part represents the whole and apply it to a Greek word.  In the Old Testament blood was sprinkled over the people, over the alter, and over priests.  This was to purify them before the Lord.  Clearly the people did not step into a pool of blood and get totally covered in blood.  This shows that the act of baptism/physical purification is a representation of what has taken place on the inside of the person.  So again, letting scripture be the definitive answer, baptism could be by sprinkling or by pouring.  But, the best representation of the death, burial, and resurrection is by immersion.  Whenever possible this should be the way to baptize.

With all of that being said, who gets baptized?  Should we run around and baptize everyone?  Is baptism available to all?  Again it is needed to look at the definition and the practices of baptism.  The definitions alone are passive.  The person or item being baptized does not seem to have any active role in the process.  Being washed is passive.  So clearly there is no help there for the answer to who should be baptized.

It is scripture that we get guidelines for who should be able to exercise believers baptism.  The words repent and be baptized are repeated over and over in scripture.  Jesus and scripture make it clear that it is by grace through faith that one saved.  It is not by any works, even baptism, that one is saved.  So it is not the act of baptism that one receives forgiveness of their sins.  Jesus baptos the persons sins with his blood.  It is in response to this that one then practices believers baptism.  This is reserved to those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.  It is those who have done this that get to be baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus as Paul put it.  Believers baptism is reserved for believers.

This means that the act of baptizing babies in un-Biblical.  Babies are not able to exercise faith in Jesus.  They should not be baptized externally to represent and internal baptism that has not taken place.  Since baptism is not a requirement for salvation, this does not exclude babies that die from going to heaven.  The exercise of faith is on the individual and so is the decision to be baptized.

The word baptism in its various forms represents an external washing with a liquid.  It can be applied to a part or the whole.  It is in scripture that baptism is used for association to a group or to a person.  Also, scripture says that baptism is related to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  Jesus by His blood cleanse and washes the inner person.  So baptism is an outward representation of that.  It is to be by immersion when possible and to be only practiced by a professing Christian.  This excludes babies.  Baptism is not necessary for salvation.  Thus, even though a professing Christian does not get baptized does not mean that they do not get to go to heaven.  Also, on the flip side, just because someone or a baby is baptized does not mean that they are saved.