Baptisms
Okay, fasten your seat belts you ministers; we are going to take a ride, and I am going to take you to places you have never been. I am going to again show you how wrong traditional interpretations are, and how easy the truth is, once you see it. Baptisms is one of the easiest to understand yet God has hidden it from this present secular church, and has kept it for those who seek Him in truth; God has blinded them...that veil lies up their hearts.
I have written this many times, but I always come back and do it again because I always feel I can do it better. Here at the first, I am going to show you what the top people in the secular church suppose Baptism is (but notice Paul says the doctrine of Baptisms...plural), and you will realize that they do not have a handle on it as few of them agree, and that they have guessed just about every possible use of water as the mode of Baptism, yet they have missed it completely; and, if they cannot even come up with the proper way to get wet, how much less will they understand the spiritual application!? Above all, I want you to be impressed with the fact that these men, in all their learning, in all the letters, and who are held in such high esteem in the religious world, do not understand one of the simplest truths in God's Bible, insofar as the proper mode of baptism is.
This will be contrary to what you have learned, and as you listen to my lecture (when I put it up), I am going to make fun of, stomp on, and castigate the idea that 'immersion' is the proper mode of baptism. If you are a preacher, you will not want to teach it because you will not want to be chastised by your brethren, but if you cannot teach this, God will cease to teach you. I had one Pentecostal preacher who came to my meetings, and after I showed him the proper mode of Baptism; he said, 'Well, that's as easy as falling off a log', but he still would not teach it because he did not want the chiding of his peers. However, now that I have said that, I must also say that now is NOT the time show this to anyone other than to those who will receive it.
Following are eleven of the top authorities as you will recognize some of them; works of men such Thayer, Strong, and Vine are in every Bible college and seminary world over, but I want you to see how all their letters and that in all their greatness God has hidden from them this simple little ceremony, which is, by the way, the only ritual we are commanded to do, notwithstanding your 'Communion service' which I have already shown to you as foolishness. I want you to be instructed that the truth is not found by an academic exercise, because as I say, to understand the Word of God is a condition of the heart. This is going to be a test for you; if you are unwilling to confess the truth, you are unwilling to confess Jesus, because he is the Word of God. If you confess the truth, God will bless you and use you.
Thayers Greek/English Lexicon:
Under baptizo: to dip repeatedly, to immerge, to submerge, to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, Under baptisma: immersion, submersion. Under Baptismos: washing, purification effected by water. Under bapto: to dip, dip in, immerse, to dip into dye, to color.
Strongs Exhaustive Concordance:
Under baptizo: to whelm, i.e. fully wet; used only of ceremonial ablution. Under baptisma: to whelm, i.e. to cover wholly with water.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
The mode of using water, (1) immersion, (2) affusion, (ie. pouring water on the head).
Vines Expository Dictionary to the New Testament:
Under baptisma: immersion, submersion and emergence. Under baptismos: ceremonial washing of articles. Under baptizo: to baptize primarily a frequentive form of bapto, to dip. Under baptizo: as it is used in the New Testament, does not demand immersion, e.g. the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is also described as a "pouring out".
Peboubets Bible Dictionary:
The mode and subject of baptism being much controverted subject, each one can best study them in the works devoted to those questions.
The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Lutheran):
Page 91, 92: The rite of washing with water as a sign of religious purification. Christians have differed, even from early times, as to the mode of baptism. While the word is derived from the very BAPTIZO, which means etymologically, to immerse, this does not prove that immersion was the mode always practiced.
Davis Dictionary of the Bible:
Page 18: The rite of washing with water as a sign of religious purification and consecration; Christians have differed, even from early times, as to the mode of baptism and as to those who are entitled to this rite.
Youngs Analytical Concordance:
Page 70: BAPTISM (BAPTISMA), baptism: a state. BAPTISE, (BAPTIZO): to consecrate, by pouring out on, or putting into.
Berrys Interlinear Greek New Testament:
Page 17 in his lexicon: BAPTIZO, to bathe one's self, to immerse, submerge. BAPTISMOS, washings. BAPTO: to dip, to dye, to color.
So, let's list the things they say baptism is:
Immerge;
Dip repeatedly;
Submerge;
Make clean with water;
Washing;
To dip;
To dye;
To color;
To whelm;
Ablution;
Cover wholly with water;
Fully wet;
Affusion;
Emergence;
Ceremonial washing of articles;
A sign of religious purification;
To consecrate;
Bath ones self.
So here are your top authorities; Thayer, Strong, Vine, but in all their letters and wisdom, God has not allow them to understand it, why? as I keep saying, their hearts are not right with God...yet this is easy as child's play.
But I wonder how it feels to be whelmed? or affused? or abluted? Sounds as though it might hurt (smile)! But, don't you love Peboubet's answer: 'The mode and subject of baptism being much controverted subject, each one can best study them in the works devoted to those questions'. He would not even commit himself, and further, he did not suggest going to the Bible to find the answer, but to the 'works devoted to those questions'. It does not even occur to these people to go to the Bible to find the answers.
However, this occurred to me: considering the above definitions of baptism, you ministers have a very useful instrument at your disposal here: you could stop proselyting once and for all; folks would not leave your church to go to another if you did this: because you have authority from these scholars we have listed, namely one of the definitions is to dye, you could put dye in your baptisteries! think about this: you Baptists could put green dye in your baptistery, you Pentecostals could put purple dye in your baptisteries, you Church of Christ people could put red dye in your baptisteries; consider: you Baptists would never have one of your green people go sit in Pentecostal congregation where everyone is purple; you Church of Christ ministers would never have one of your red people go sit in a Baptist congregation where everyone is green; don't you think that is a good idea?! Yes, I'm mocking you, because you don't have the faintest idea what Baptism is, and when you go to research it, you go to men, as these above; it never occurs to you to go to the Bible.
Once I knew a young man who was a graduate from Bob Jones University, and I told him that he should go study baptism and that he would be surprised what he found. But he made a face, and said in effect, 'I don't have time to go through all that research...' What I realized he meant was that, first, he was not all that interested in knowing the truth if it differed from his assumption that Baptism was anything but emersion, and then he said he didn't have the time to go research all those authorities; it didn't even come into his mind to go to the Bible to see what it said. Is it any wonder the secular church is in such a mess?!
The Proper Mode of Baptism
Alright, here we go, and you will quickly realize the proper mode of baptism is; here from the American Standard Version:
And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, 2 and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands. 3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the market-place, except they bathe[1] themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings[2] of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels. (Mk.7.1-4 ASV) [1] Gr. baptizo [2] Gr. baptismos
There you have it! washing the hands is the proper mode of baptism. Consider that we have three words to deal with in the Greek: baptizo a verb, and baptisma and baptismos are nouns. In verse 4 I have a footnote which says, Gr. baptizo; and the second word I have marked in verse 4 is Gr. baptismos; both these notes are in the margin of the ASV; but to find them in Young's concordance, you must use the KJV and run those words down:
Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. 2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 And when they come from the market, except they wash[1], they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing[2] of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.' (Mk.7.1-4 KJV) [1] baptizo [2]baptismos
and you may also find them on page 1034 in Young's concordance.
Now, you have to be blind not to realized what the proper mode of baptism is. It is simply to WASH THE HANDS! But I want you to consider this text from Hebrews 9, after Paul describes the Tabernacle and its furnishings:
..the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing; 9 which is a figure for the time present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect, 10 being only with meats and drinks and divers washings[3], carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation. (Heb.9.8-10) [3] Gr. baptismos
Again I have flagged washings in verse 10, and it is the Greek word baptismos which is the exact same word as in Mk.7.4, but there is yet one more place where baptismos is used, and it proves that it applies to us:
Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 of the teaching of baptisms[4], and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Heb.6.1,2) [4]Gr. baptismos
Surprise! Yes, this is the word translated here to baptisms and is plural. It cannot be denied that it pertains to us since it says baptisms is part of the Foundation.
So, why is it plural? Simple: the Jews were baptizing more than just themselves; they were baptizing their cooking utensils, their furniture, and even their houses. It is a CLEANSING process as you may realize as you go read again Mark 7.1-4. It is beyond contradiction that baptism is washing the hands.
But before we go to the next step, consider this from Lev. 15.11,12:
..and whomsoever he that hath the issue touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 12 And the earthen vessel, which he that hath the issue touches, shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water. (Lev. 15.11,12)
In context, this is speaking of a man who has become defiled with an issue of blood and how he is to go about cleansing himself, but notice that they cleansed not only themselves, but their clothes, and their cooking utensils in this context.
What we have here is a cleansing, a purifying from the Law of Moses, as we read from Heb.9; the above text is where they find their authority for washing their hands, but more: the word rinsed in both verses comes from the Hebrew word shataph which is otherwise translated to: overflow, drown, overwhelm, run (see pg. 45, top of 4th col. in the Index-lexicon), in other words, it had to be moving water.
Baptism is Purifying
First you have to understand the difference in the two baptisms; here John said this:
'I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I...he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire...' (Mt.3.11ff)
In the first case, the Baptism of water is to cleanse and purify the OUTER MAN; the Baptism of Holy Spirit cleanses you INWARDLY...and they both work at the same time; you cleanse you appetites by putting to death the old man (Rom.6), and you cleanse your thoughts by the washing of the water by the Word (Eph.5.26).
Before we show where these words are used elsewhere, consider this:
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him... (Jn.3.22-26)
Notice that it says there was a question about purifying, but when they asked John about it, they say baptize; purifying and baptism are used synonymously; they are one and the same.
This explains what the Jews were trying to do in Mark 7; they supposed they became defiled when they went out into public, so that before they dared eat anything, they would cleanse their hands by rinsing them in running water before they ate (and they still do this today). The way they did it was simple; someone met them at the door of their house and would pour water over their hands, thus baptizing them, i.e. purifying them, but also note that Jesus rebuked them for this tradition, which we will explain later.
But here; here is another place where we find them purifying themselves at the marriage at Cana:
Now there were six waterpots of stone set there after the Jews manner of purifying, containing two or three firkins apiece.' (Jn.2.6)
A firkin is anywhere from 18 to 22 gallons of water which these waterpots held; if baptism is emersion, then we have a problem: did these people come in, go to their locker room to change into baptismal robes, go squiggle down into the jars to immerse themselves, then go back into the locker room and change into their street clothes again? I don't think so. Not only that but a man weighing 180 pounds would displace 22 gallons of water (water weighs 8.23 pounds per gallon), so the water pots holding two firkins, or about 36 gallons, would have been half emptied by someone immersing themselves; this is a ridiculous supposition. Not only so, but did they go into a closet or some other room to disrobe to put on baptismal robes, then go immerse himself, then going back into the closet to dry and to put their clothing back on. I don't think so. The whole scenario is ridiculous and cannot be supported by any rational person.
Okay, let us proceed to the great text of Romans 6:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? 3 Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. (Rom.6.1-4)
So evangelicals use this as a picture of what happens to them when they are immersed: they go down into the water and come up as it were being raised from the dead; NOT SO. The above is NOT an analogy or a picture; it is EXACTLY what happens to us in the spirit; our old man, the fleshly man with his lusts and evil desires is put to death so that we may put on the new man, that after God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth (Eph.4.23,24).
See: this is a process; it does not happen instantly; as we learn from God and change according to the truth, we put on the new man, we put on Jesus and conform to him in all things; this is the cleansing, the purifying, the baptism we must go through; it is spiritual.
Jesus rebuked the Jews because they assumed they were made unclean by touching things in public, but he went on to say,
And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands? 6 And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, But their heart is far from me. 14 And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. 17 And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. 18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goes into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 because it goes not into his heart, but into his belly, and goes out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean. 20 And he said, That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: 23 all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man. (Mk.7.5-7; 14-23)
See: they were trying to clean the OUTSIDE whereas Jesus said they needed to cleanse the inside, as we read here:
Now as he spake, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. 38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first bathed[5] himself before dinner. 39 And the Lord said unto him, Now ye the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter; but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. 40 Ye foolish ones, did not he that made the outside make the inside also? (Lk.11.37-40) [5] Gr. baptizo
Alright, here is the same scenario, they were about to eat when they were amazed that Jesus did not first wash his hands; I have underlined another word, and you should know what it is by now; it is baptizo the same word as used in Mk.7, but more, it is the same word as used here:
And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized[6] every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2.38) [6]Gr. baptizo
But, if baptism is immersion, then we have the same problem as before: did they expect him to go put on his baptismal robe, immerse himself in one of those water pots, then go back and change into his street clothes again? Or, another possibility is that they didn't both changing clothes; they simply immersed themselves in the street clothes; no, I don't think so.
Again, there is one more place we must cover which is misunderstood, and word games are made of it; here where Jesus is baptized by John:
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.. (Mt.3.16)
Two things: first, the word straightway has nothing to do with the position of Jesus body; the word means immediately. Second, the words out of is a mistranslation since they come from the Greek preposition apo, and when used in this context means away from; the Greek word, ek is the preposition which means out of and is not the word used here.
The Spiritual Application
Already you should have a good idea of the spiritual application of Baptism since Jesus spoke of it in Mark 7, when he said admonished his disciples in reference to the Jews washing their hands in a vain attempt to be purified:
And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goes into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 because it goes not into his heart, but into his belly, and goes out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean. 20 And he said, That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: 23 all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man. (Mk.7.18-23)
Baptism is to cleanse and purify the heart, the conscience, as James says:
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded. (Ja.4.8)
And also as Peter says:
..that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: 21 which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation (i.e. requirement) of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.. (1 Pet.3.21,22)
Not the washing the filth off your hands, but the requirement (from the Gr. eperotema: to ask, enquire, demand, desire, etc.) of a good conscience toward God.
Now, going back to Hebrews 9, we read this:
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb.9.13,14)
The blood of Christ cleanses your conscience, and herein is another mystery to the secular church, the blood of Christ.
So, I will show another truth, here:
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Rom.5.9,10)
I should not have to tell you as it is so obvious: he uses the blood and his life synonymously; when we live the life of Christ, we are being washed by his blood; we apply the Word of God to our inner man, being renewed in our minds (Eph.4.23; Rom. 12.1,2), which is putting to death the old man (Rom.6.1-4).
But the point he makes in Heb.9 is that Israel was worshiping under carnal laws, fleshly laws, which could not cleanse their conscience from evil thoughts, as Paul makes the point here:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds, 5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor.10.3-5)
The fight and war is right between our ears, not in the flesh else we would take up the spear and sword. Our enemy is in the spirit as Paul again so eloquently describes:
And you, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, 2 wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience; 3 among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:--but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus: 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: 8 for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, that no man should glory. (Eph.2.1-9)
Doing the desires of the flesh and the mind we were dead to God, being sons of disobedience. You need to get yourself in the same place, that is, in the past tense; you were dead. And since you know what Grace is, that it is the power of God, we receive as we learn from God (1 Pet.1.13), you know how to wash and cleanse yourself through your obedience to the Word of God.
Summary
Now, therefore, you have seen a very important step in your growing up spiritually; while this is still part of the milk of the word, you are head and shoulders ahead of those masses in the secular church.
First, you saw the simplest thing about Baptism, to rinse the hands, to wash them as the proper mode of Baptism; then you learned that we DO NOT wash the filth of the flesh from off our hands as were the Jews, but we are baptized as a confession of leaving this old world behind us, to be cleansed in the spirit, as James says,
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. (Ja.4.8)
It is a sign of the cleansing of our hearts by the blood of Christ as we change and conform to the Word of God by our obedience thereto.
The second lesson to be learned is the fact that all the scholars and those held in high esteem among the religious world have been blinded to the truth, and Paul says it is because their hearts are not right with God (2 Cor.4.14-16) as a veil lies upon the hearts of those whom God blinds because of their disobedience.
In 1 Jn.5.9, we read this:
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. (1 Jn.5.9)
In times past you have received the witness of these men concerning, not only Baptism, but concerning all things now you have learned to be very cautious, and you should withdraw from all those who do receive these men, for they are false teachers and lead a mighty host to destruction.
Amen
Laying of the hands next...