Ep. 219. Matthew 3 | John's Baptism
EPISODE 219
JOHN'S BAPTISM: MATTHEW 3, JOHN 1
I grew up believing that John's Baptism along the Jordan River was no different than Christian Baptism. In fact, I can still vividly remember the baptismal up at the front of our relatively large church in Midland Texas. I remember watching people get dunked up there. The front wall was partially made of glass. The pastor would stand there in the water with the person getting baptized. They would speak into the microphone and tell us all how they had put faith in Jesus, and the pastor would dunk them in the water, saying, "I baptize you, my brother/sister, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in death, raised to walk in newness of life." No doubt, drawing upon Matthew 28 and Romans 6. I remember being taught that since Jesus was baptized, we, too, should be baptized. "If it was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for me." That sort of mentality was usually the persuading argument. But I didn't need to be persuaded. I wanted to be baptized. In fact, I became a Christian at three years old, just a few months before my fourth birthday. I was ready to be baptized, but my pastor didn't think I was old enough to understand the decision I had made. Retrospectively, I can appreciate his caution. I was eventually baptized about 7 or 8 years old. But it would be another thirty years before I would consider that there was more than one kind of baptism represented in the Bible.
In our Western church culture there is really only one type of water baptism in view. We typically call it believer's baptism. That wasn't the case in the Bible. In the days of Jesus, people would be baptized into the teachings of whichever rabbi they followed. The Pharisees and Sadducees weren't the only religious organizations of the day, and the Jews loved their ceremonial washings (baptisms). In fact, there were so many regulations for cleansing and worship that fell under the heading of "baptism" that you would not have been able to discuss baptism without clarifying which one you meant.
John's baptism wasn't a baptism for Christians. John proclaimed that the "kingdom of heaven is at hand." Those people who believed him were baptized into his teaching. John baptized Jesus to fulfill a promise God had given to the forerunner of Christ. Jesus' disciples later baptized the followers of Christ, though we know most abandoned him in John 6. In Acts, after the Holy Spirit had been given, we see people baptized into Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit, the seal on ALL who believe. That is an entirely different sort of baptism than that of John or even what the disciples initially did in the gospels.
Most of us don't look any further into these things than the simple teachings handed down to us in relationship to the baptistry at the front of the church, but hundreds and thousands of pages have been written on the common baptismal practices of the Jews in the first century and the baptismal practices of the believers. I won't endeavor to give you all that information here. For now, ask yourself this question, "Is it possible I've missed out on the depth of the Jewish framework of baptism, and if so, has that poorly shaped my view of how the Bible teaches baptism." Or put another way, "Is there more I could learn about what the Bible means by 'baptism?'" Maybe if we start there, we will grow in wisdom.
ADDITIONAL READING: Isaiah 40:3; John 8:31-41; Ephesians 1:13; Romans 8:9; Galatians 5:22-23; Malachi 4:5-6
