Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 04 October 2009, 17July 2016
A story is told about a time when three pastors got together for a prayer meeting. Present were a Charismatic pastor, a Baptist pastor, and a Presbyterian pastor. Well, at some point during their prayer meeting, the building they were in caught fire. As the flames blazed up, each pastor blurted out the first thing on his mind:
Different Christians approach the subject of baptism with different assumptions that lead to different conclusions in practice. And often the differences are based on valid concerns:
Over the last 10 years, we have looked at a number of scripture passages like Galatians 3, Colossians 2, 1 Corinthians 10, and 1 Peter 3, which address key points in the baptism debate. Last February, I gave a Biblical basis for tolerating a range of baptismal practice, giving some theological reasons why I believe that infant baptism is a reasonably-Biblical practice. In that sermon we looked at every baptism in the New Testament, and I observed that unless you start with an assumption that “baptism” means “immersion,” you couldn’t necessarily reach the conclusion that “baptism” always meant “immersion” by the plain text of the New Testament. In that sermon, I didn’t have time to address the subject of the actual meaning of the word “baptize” in the Bible, so that’s what I want to do now. My method is going to be comparing scripture with scripture to come up with a range of meaning; I’m not going to go to the dictionaries and lexicons, just the Bible, where there are clear parallel passages that explain one another. And as we do that, I hope you will be thrilled with the riches of meaning that come forth so that you will praise God for the riches of His salvation. I believe that baptism is indeed a symbol of salvation, and it is on that salvation that I want to help you meditate.
Now, just as there were several different kinds of sacrifices which highlighted different aspects of God’s salvation of His people in the Levitical temple worship, so there appear to be several different kinds of baptisms in the Old Testament which also highlight various aspects of God’s salvation. That’s what it says in Hebrews 9:9-11 “…gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect, being only (with meats and drinks and various baptisms) carnal ordinances, imposed until the time of … Christ…”
The word most-frequently translated “baptize” in Greek is the Hebrew word “tabal.” Here are all the instances in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word “tabal” was translated “baptize” in the Septuagint:
· JOB 9:28-31 “I know that you will not hold me innocent… If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands ever so clean; Yet will you PLUNGE me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall abhor me.”
o In what many believe to be the oldest book of the Bible, we see God’s holy nature contrasted with human attempts at goodness.
o Job recognizes that he cannot make himself clean enough to meet God’s approval; God doesn’t even consider Job – a great man of God – to be innocent of sin. Even Job deserved to be cast into the pit of hell for his sin.
o Yet even then, Job knew that God would send a “redeemer” (19:25) whom we know was named Jesus, and he would “take His stand upon the earth” and enable Job to “see God!”
o If this passage tells anything about baptism, it is that our own attempts to wash ourselves clean from wrongdoing will not save us; we cannot get clean without God’s help.
o In the next instances of this Old Testament synonym for baptism, we see an instrument dipped into blood so that it can sprinkle or smear that blood upon a place or person, symbolizing God’s way of atoning for sin – the death of a substitute, applied to the believer.
· Exodus 12:22 “take a bunch of hyssop, and DIP in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin”
o In the Passover, we see a picture of God’s nature and His work with mankind
o God punishes sin with death.
o God provides for a substitute to die
o The head of the house slaughters the animal and applies its blood to the doorframe.
o Both Gentiles and Jews that did not seek to be saved through God’s provision were visited with God’s curse of death, but there was salvation from the wrath of God in every house that sought to be saved God’s way.
o “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed” (I Cor. 5:7)
· GUILT OFFERINGS FOR HIGH PRIEST AND PEOPLE OF ISRAEL: Leviticus 4:6, 17 “And the priest shall DIP his finger in the blood, and sprinkle the blood seven times before the LORD”
o Sin – even accidental or unintentional violations – bring guilt and separation from God
o God provides the way of atonement through a substitutionary death
o Blood is presented before God by the priest as a representative, and the people are purified.
o also GUILT OFFERING FOR HIGH PRIEST AND SONS Leviticus 9:9 “And the sons of Aaron brought the blood to him: and he DIPPED his finger in the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar”
o Exodus 24:8 “Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words.’”
o Hebrews 9 clearly relates this to the work of Christ, referring to the fact that both the Old Testament sacrifices and the death of Jesus involved the shedding of blood and the “sprinkling” of that blood to atone for sin, the former Mosaic sacrifices being a “pattern” and a “figure” for the latter sacrifice of Jesus. It should come as no surprise therefore, that the Bible speaks of Jesus “sprinkling” people with His blood,
§ in Isaiah 52:14-15 “behold my Servant… His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men, so shall He sprinkle many nations”
§ and then in the New Testament, Hebrews 12:24 “and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling...”
§ and 1 Peter 1:2 “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.”
§ So, the act of sprinkling in the Bible was used as a symbol of purifying God’s people with the blood of the Messiah and extending God’s holiness to them. Today, baptism symbolizes purifying God’s people by virtue of Jesus’ atonement and extending God’s holiness to believers.
§ Perhaps you could extend the image even further with immersion. Like the hyssop branch or the finger dipped in the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices, if you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, you become an instrument that is now set to sprinkle that blood on other people by spreading the gospel to them.
o These are some of the various baptisms of the Old Testament. I’ve mentioned dipping and sprinkling, but pouring was also used in the Old Testament sacrificial ceremonies as well as in Jesus’ death:
§ In Leviticus, the priests were repeatedly instructed after sprinkling blood on the altar to pour out the rest of the animal’s blood at the base of the altar.
§ Pouring is also used in the context of drink-offerings of wine poured out on top of a sacrifice to be burned up.
§ Jesus clearly saw Himself as the fulfillment of these things as He said in Luke 22:20, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you,” and in Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins” (cf. Mark 14:24). Here, pouring symbolizes the death of Jesus.
§ Let me get back to more Old Testament passages with the word “tabal” (dip)
· CLEANSING OF LEPERS: Leviticus 14:6-7 “As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall DIP them, and the living bird, in the blood of the bird killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field” Leviticus 14:16 “And the priest shall DIP his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD”
o I plan to get into this in depth next month, but leprosy symbolized the sin which has infected all of us. Much as the leper was ceremonially sprinkled and washed to signify that he was no longer leprous, we use baptism to signify cleansing from sin and connection with God’s people.
o Same basic thing was done in cleansing a house, only the bird and all was dipped in water instead of blood - Lev. 14:51
· CLEANSING FROM IMPURITY OF DEATH: Numbers 19:18 “And a clean person shall take hyssop, and DIP in the water, and sprinkle upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave”
o Ezekiel 36:25 explains that this sprinkling was not merely understood to represent cleansing from physical germs but also from spiritual impurity: “And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”
o The writer of Hebrews also supports this: “let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).
· I don’t want to spend as much time on the REST OF THE instances in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word “tabal” is translated with the Greek word for “baptize” because I don’t see as much correlation between them and salvation, but here they are:
o JACOB’S BLESSING: Deuteronomy 33:24 “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him DIP his foot in oil”
o CROSSING THE JORDAN: Joshua 3:15 “And as they that bore the ark had come to Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark were DIPPED in the brim of the water… the waters upstream stood and rose up in a heap”
o
EATING PRACTICES: Ruth 2:14
“And Boaz said to her, At meal-time come here, and eat of the bread, and DIP
your pieces in the vinegar…”
I Samuel 14:27 “But Jonathan did not hear
when his father charged the people with the oath: so he put forth the end of
the rod that was in his hand, and DIPPED it in a honey-comb, and put his hand
to his mouth”
o ASSASSINATION OF KING OF ASSYRIA: 2 Kings 8:15 Ben-Hadad, King of Syria had a servant named Hazael who assassinated him thus: “he took a thick cloth, and DIPPED it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died”
· So 2/3 of the times that the New Testament Greek word for “baptize” occurs in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is translated “tabal” or dip, but most of the time it is a prelude to sprinkling, and about ¾ of the time it is a partial and not a total immersion.
· The other 33% of the times that the Greek word for “baptize” is found in the Septuagint O.T., it is a translation of one of the following 6 other Hebrew words which we must also consider as synonyms that explain what it meant to baptize:
First, Elisha tells Naaman (by way of his servant) to “wash” in the Jordan seven times (v.10). This is to be expected because Levitical law required the leper had to be sprinkled seven times to be cleansed. As Naaman deliberated with his servants, they used the same word “wash,” to describe what he should do (v. 12, 13). Finally Naaman did it in v.14 – he went down to the Jordan, and “dipped” himself in the water. This word for “dip” in v.14 is the Hebrew word “tabal” that I mentioned earlier and is translated “baptizw” in the Septuagint Greek. But this passage gives us another synonym, and that is the word “wash,” which Naaman obviously equated with “baptize.”
In Hebrew, the word for “wash” is “rakhatz.” It is often used regarding cleaning the feet as an act of hospitality. Instances of washing the feet of guests are Abraham (Gen. 18:4), Lot (Gen. 19:2), Rebecca (Gen. 24:32), Abigail (I Sam. 25), and presumably Bathsheba (2 Sam 11). This practice continued into the New Testament, where Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and told them to wash other’s feet (John 13), and it is found among the criteria for widows to be eligible to receive financial aid from the church - whether they “washed the feet of the saints” (1 Tim. 5:10).
In addition to showing hospitality in washing off physical dirt, this word rachatz is also used to symbolize innocence from sin.
o When someone was killed and no one knew what had happened, the Old Testament elders had to sacrifice a heifer and then wash their hands to show their innocence (Deut. 21:6).
o In the Psalms, David speaks of washing his hands to show he is innocent of sin before coming close to the altar in worship (Psalm 26:6),
o but the book of Job makes it clear that no amount of washing hands can really make one innocent of sin (9:30).
o The outer washing symbolized inner cleansing from sin, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil” (Isa. 1:16 ).
o Pontius Pilate also followed this practice when he washed his hands after condemning Jesus.
o How was this hand-washing done? The only clue I can find is in 2 Kings 3:11, where it says, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” Here we see an explicit description of how at least some ceremonial washings were performed: water was poured over the hands. That’s pretty much how we wash our hands today too, except we use electric pumps and water towers instead of servants to make the water run in our sinks.
This Hebrew synonym for baptism (rachatz) found in the account of Naaman’s cleansing is translated into Greek with the word “louw.” The Greek word louw also has to do both with physical washing from dirt and spiritual cleansing:
· Eph. 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the WASHING of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
· Tit. 3:4-7 “But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and His love toward man, appeared - not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy - He saved us, through the WASHING of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (cf. Heb. 10:22-23, Rev. 1:5)
This use of the Greek word “louw” is closely linked to the ceremonial sprinklings, pourings, and washings outlined earlier to signify purification from sin. The fulfillment of all these ceremonial washings is in the work of Jesus, who applied His own blood to us, sprinkled our hearts to cleanse us, washed us with His word, gave us a new birth, and poured out His Spirit on us.
The next word for “baptize” in the Old Testament is:
“My heart panted, fearfulness OVERWHELMED me: the night of my pleasure He has turned into fear”
The word for “overwhelmed” is the Hebrew (ba'at), which Brown, Driver and Briggs define as “terrify, startle, fall upon, dismay, be overtaken by sudden terror.” The Septuagint translates this word “baptizw.” So here we have another synonym for the Greek word for “baptize,” a word which speaks of being overwhelmed mentally. There is a sense in which baptism represents our being mentally overwhelmed - gripped with conviction over our sins, terror of God’s judgment, and surrender to His Spirit. I could see either immersion or pouring water over the head imaging being overwhelmed by our need for salvation and overwhelmed by the power of God saving us.
This word for the turbans is a noun form of the Hebrew word “tabal” which we’ve seen before as a word meaning “to dip,” although as a noun, it is translated “wrapped” (BDB) or “color-dyed.” The Septuagint translates this into Greek as “parabapta” - so this synonym supports the meaning of dipping something in a dye to change its color as a meaning of the Greek word for “baptize.” The focus is not so much on the immersion of the garment but rather on the garment’s acquisition of a color. This seems to resonate with the New Testament teachings on baptism that focus – not on how the person was baptized, but rather – upon the fact that this person took on Christ and became a disciple of Christ.
The next Hebrew word which is translated “baptize” in the Greek Old Testament is:
If an unclean animal dies and falls upon “any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sack … it must be PUT into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; so it shall be cleansed”
· The Septuagint uses the word “baptw” once to translate the Hebrew word “ba” which simply means “to go.” Literally the Hebrew text reads “in water it shall go.”
· Here the whole object was dropped into a container of water and left submerged or floating until the next day. Here again, baptism is attached to the concept of cleansing.
The next word is more challenging to translate:
“But God will smite through the head of His enemies, The hairy scalp of whoever goes on still in his guiltiness… so that you may SMITE your foot in the blood of your enemies to the tongue of your dogs”
This verse is translated in several different ways. The original Hebrew word describing the action God does to the head of the enemies is the same word describing the action of the foot in the blood of the enemies – “machats,” which means to “smite,” “shatter,” or “wound.” The NASV is the only standard translation that uses the same word to translate them both. (It uses the word “shatter.”) Other versions use two different English words: KJV - “wound … be dipped,” NIV - “crush … plunge,” RSV - “shatter … bathe,” Contemporary English Version - “crush … stomp.” The Greek translation here is “sunthlao” (“crush together” or “dash to pieces”) … “baptw,” which brings us to another synonym for “baptize” – in this instance, the image is of the boot of a soldier splashing into a puddle of blood and that blood splashing onto the eager tongues of his dogs, so this use of the Greek word for “baptize” seems to be related to a splattering action.
· What does this tell us about God and His relationship with mankind?
· We see that God punishes sin with death. He will bring His enemies to justice. Jesus “will crush the head” of the serpent (Gen. 3) and of everyone else who rebels against Him.
· And we see that blood symbolizes death. If the atoning blood of the Messiah is not transferred to you, you will die in your own blood as His enemy. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22)
“The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and ate grass as oxen, and his body was WET with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles', and his nails like birds'.”
· Here is one last synonym where the Old Testament word describing the way the body of Nebuchadnezzar was made wet with dew is translated “bapto” by the Septuagint. Since Daniel lived in Babylon, he wrote his book in Aramaic, a language closely-related to Hebrew, and the word here in Aramaic is from “tseba`” - “to wet.”
· In the case of Nebuchadnezzar, this is sprinkling of dew from heaven. This word is also used in:
o Judges 5:30, to indicate color-dying,
o and in Jer. 12:9 to indicate multiple shades of color on a wild animal,
· The same Aramaic word “tseba`” is found earlier in Daniel 4 in the first of three iterations of Nebuchadnezzar’s punishment, but the Septuagint translates it the first time as “aulizomai” (v. 22) “to spend the night, camp, or live” – the idea being that he would be sleeping outdoors like an animal, but the second and third times the Aramaic word is used in this same chapter it is translated with the word “baptw.”
· What does this last synonym for “baptize” in the O.T. teach us about God and His ways with man?
o Once again, we see that God punishes sin – He hates pride and humbled King Nebuchadnezzar, one of the greatest kings who ever lived.
o We also see that God is merciful. He restored Nebuchadnezzar so he could give glory to God.
· From this overview of Old Testament occurrences of the Greek word for “baptize,” have you noticed some common threads about the character of God and His dealings with people?
o Sin – even an accidental or unintentional violation – brings guilt and separation from God.
o We cannot make ourselves clean enough – innocent enough – to meet God’s approval.
o God hates pride and He will bring His enemies to justice.
o God punishes sin with death. (Blood symbolizes death.)
o We deserve to be cast into the pit of hell for our sin.
o We should indeed be gripped with conviction over our sins, terror of God’s judgment, and surrender to His Spirit.
o God provides a way of atonement through substitutionary death
o Blood is presented before God by a representative, and the people are atoned for.
o Simply being related to God’s people doesn’t save; we are only saved when we follow God’s way of salvation.
o God is merciful and restores sinful people. This is out of His grace, not our own works.
o Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system. He is our redeemer!
o Jesus applied His own blood to us, sprinkled our hearts to cleanse us, washed us with His word, gave us a new birth, and poured out His Spirit on us to save us.
o Those who are thus saved may have confidence to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith.