The word “baptism” is a transliteration and a technical
term. If you knew nothing else, just knowing these things should raise red
flags and questions.
(1) Why did the English translators choose to
not translate the Greek word?
(2) What were the technical requirements
connected to the word?
The
translation of the Greek word transliterated “baptism” is “immersed.” It requires something to be completely immersed beneath water. Why did the
English translators transliterate it "baptize" instead of translating it “immersion”?
Probably for two reasons – tradition and
because it is a theologically loaded word. Some argue that baptism requires
complete immersion, while others
argue that it only requires sprinkling. From
a translators point of view, the transliteration will be accepted by both
groups.
For
the technical information we will turn to the Encyclopedia Judaica, which provides the following information
(bold and highlighting have been added):
The term used in the Hebrew Bible for baptism
is usually translated as washing and the purpose is for purification. The person or article to be purified must
undergo total immersion in either mayim hayyim ("live
water"), i.e., a spring, river, or sea, or a mikveh, which is a
body of water of at least 40 se'ahs (approximately 120 gallons) brought
together by natural means, not drawn.
The person or article must be clean and have nothing adhering to him or
it, including clothing. Therefore the person is naked when immersed
so that the water comes in contacts with the entire area of the
surface. Immersions were required
especially of the priests since they had to be in a state of purity to
participate in the Temple service or eat of the `holy' things. Individuals had to be ritually pure before
they were allowed to enter the Temple.
It
is very important to understand that a
person immerses himself or herself beneath the water. They are not held
and lowered beneath the surface by a priest or anyone else. There is a huge
ritual immersion bath complex at the Temple that everyone entering the sacred
spaces had to go through before they would be admitted.
John’s
role in the immersion process was to witness that the person had gone
completely beneath the surface and water had covered every part of the body,
including the hairs on the head. Look at the earliest pictures of the immersion
of Jesus – notice that Jesus is nude and John is not in the water.
Why
did people immerse themselves? Once again we will turn to the Encyclopedia Judaica:
(1) A concept
that a person or object can be in a
state which, by religious law, prevents the person or object from having any
contact with the temple or its cult (members, objects and rituals).
(2) The state is transferable from object
to another in a variety of ways, such as touching the object or being
under one roof with it, and is independent of the actual physical
condition.
(3) The state of
impurity can be corrected by the
performance of specified rituals,
mainly including ablution, after
which the person or object becomes pure once more until impurity is again
contracted.
(4) The state of impurity is considered hateful
to God, and man is to take care in order not to find himself thus excluded from
His divine presence.
(5) Three main
causes of impurity are apparent: leprosy, issue from human sexual organs, and
the dead bodies of certain animals.
Later the concept was extended to the unrepentant sinner.
(6) Common to all purity rituals is the time
factor: until the evening for the lesser degrees of impurity (e.g., Lev.
11:24, 25, 27) and seven days for the greater degrees (e.g., Lev. 12:2); with
certain exceptions -- the purity of the leper is dependent on his complete
recovery).
(7) Bathing is common to all purity rituals,
even where it is not expressly specified.
(8) The terms `pure' and `impure' are also applied
in the Bible to serious transgressions,
especially sexual, which caused the land to become impure (Lev. 18:27-28
etc.). The prophets, especially Ezekiel,
stress the uncleanness caused to the land by idolatry and bloodshed, but it
seems that any sin is thought of as causing impurity and expressions taken from
the purity ritual passages serve figuratively in the Bible as symbols for
atonement and repentance (Ezek. 36:25; Psalm 51:4 et al.).
(9) The laws of impurity and purity have
no relevant consequences of any substance except for priests and the affairs of the Temple and its hallowed things. In Jerusalem precautions were taken to guard
the hallowed things and priests from impurity.
No burials were permitted there, and corpses were not allowed to be kept
there overnight. As a precaution against
impurity it was forbidden to maintain refuse heaps or rear chickens in
Jerusalem. Impure persons themselves
took care not to impart impurity to the people of Jerusalem.
John the
Immerser
preached a message of TESHUVAH
(repentance) and, after those accepting his message completed the requirements
for TESHUVAH (which may have required them to leave find the people they sinned
against, make restitution and receive forgiveness), they returned to have John
witness their immersions. I was motivated to write this after watching the
scene in CNN’s Finding Jesus in which
John dunked Jesus like the Baptist do today. Sorry CNN but you definitely blew that one!
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