Oh no, not another “immersion only” conspiracy theorist. Christians don't have be baptized by immersion.
There are six passages in the New Testament in which (1) the word "baptizo" used (2) water is applied to the human body and (3) contextually it cannot be immersion.
To be sure, classical pagan Greek "baptizo" does mean "immersion." This is the way Aristotle and Plato understood the term.
However before the NT was written, a cultural phenomenon called Hellenism had a lasting impact on Judaism and the Jewish people. Hellenism was a synthesis of the Greek language with the native cultures all around the Near East. Israel as not an exception. The LXX was written Greek around 250 B.C. Hellenistic Greek now starts making incursions into the Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Greek words begin to migrate into the Hebrew and Aramaic and take on new meanings.
Before the NT was written, the Jews first took the Hellenistic word “baptism”
out of its original Greek context and used it for the practice of general ceremonial hand washing. We have two examples of this in the NT.
- Luke 11:37-38 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that Jesus had not first ceremonially washed (ἐβαπτίσθη) before the meal.
- Mark 7:3-4 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they wash (βαπτίσωνται) themselves.
In Luke 11:38, the Pharisee was astonished that Jesus didn’t ceremonially baptize his hands before dinner. And Jesus certainly didn’t fully immerse himself in water as in taking a bath, but rather the usage of water was just enough to fulfill the Jewish custom such as sprinkling and pouring would suffice.
In Mark, the disciples were criticized for not ceremonially baptizing their hands after buying food at the market. No bath here.
In Luke and Mark, both Jesus and the disciples were criticized for not washing their hands as this new meaning of the word “baptism” allows. We see similar usage of “washing” substituted for “immersion” in Hebrews 9:10.
The Jews changed the word baptizo from “immersion” to “wash ceremonially” and contextually allowed for sprinkling or pouring. In other words, change in meaning occurred at the time of the NT from baptism being some
act of submersion to simply any
application of water to the human body.
THE BAPTISM OF PAUL (Acts 9): Paul is blinded by Jesus and taken to Damascus. The Lord told Ananias to go the the house of Judas to meet Paul. So he went to the house of Judas. Notice Judas’ house is mentioned twice. Paul hadn’t eaten for three days.
- Acts 9:18 And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he stood up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.
Paul was baptized in a standing position in a house. The "not eating" before his baptism and "eating of food" after his baptism, are the contextual bookends that this all happened in the same location and in short time. Ananias' command is not a call for Paul to get-up-and-go-someplace to be baptized, rather Ananias is ordering a more suitable posture for baptism than reclining in the room where they met.
Furthermore, as Paul retells this story in Acts 22:16 he uses the same language. "
STAND UP and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name." Same Greek for for "stand up" in both passages.
So we have two passages of Scripture, talking about the same event (Paul’s baptism), both mentioning the administration of baptism, AND CONTEXTUALLY IT IS NOT IMMERSION. This is the plain reading of the text.
THE USAGE OF TYPE AND ANTITYPE CONCERNING BAPTISM. A “TYPE” is a person, thing or event in the Old Testament that foreshadows an “ANTI-TYPE” of a person, thing or event in the New Testament. In other words, an element found in the Old Testament is seen to prefigure one found in the New Testament. The Antitype is always seen as greater.
The are two examples of type/antitype of Baptizó in the New Testament. In I Peter 3:20-21 the Genesis flood was a type of Baptism. “
the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water Corresponding to that (ἀντίτυπον, antitypon),
baptism (Baptizó)
now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience.
The flood saved eight people without immersing them.
I Corinthians 10.1, 2 is another such passage:
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized (Baptizó) unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea."
No immersion here, just dry feet. The Egyptians were immersed but not baptized. The Israelites were baptized but not immersed.
Both of these types are true Christian baptisms because they are quoted in the NT as such. The antitype of the NT is always greater.
