1 year, 10 months ago
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When I look up "baptism" in the dictionary it refers me to the religious ritual, so what does the ritual actually signify?
I could find no reference in the Old Testament to this ritual, so I am curious why John the Baptist started it. Defining the word by itself does not seem helpful.
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M$1 Answer
The New Testament was written in Greek. The word that is translated as "baptism" in the ancient Greek means to dip or immerse in water.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew so no word is found that can be translated as "baptism." But in the Torah, there are several laws requiring ritual washing with water. Some laws related to ritual hand washing. Some laws required a person to immerse themselves in a "mikva" for ritual cleansing. This ritual bathtub were located at the Temple and later at places of assembly. Men were required to use the mikva before the Sabbath and high holy days. (The traditional Saturday bath?) Women we required to use their mikva each month to purify themselves.
Immersion in water signified an action of purification. Following Paul's writing, the Christian community was the immersion as symbolic of death and resurrection. A person went under the water's surface which would lead to death. But was raised up victoriously from beneath the water..
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew so no word is found that can be translated as "baptism." But in the Torah, there are several laws requiring ritual washing with water. Some laws related to ritual hand washing. Some laws required a person to immerse themselves in a "mikva" for ritual cleansing. This ritual bathtub were located at the Temple and later at places of assembly. Men were required to use the mikva before the Sabbath and high holy days. (The traditional Saturday bath?) Women we required to use their mikva each month to purify themselves.
Immersion in water signified an action of purification. Following Paul's writing, the Christian community was the immersion as symbolic of death and resurrection. A person went under the water's surface which would lead to death. But was raised up victoriously from beneath the water..
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M$
I just don't buy this answer. How could baptism in the new testament signify the death and resurrection of Jesus if all the people John baptized had it done years before the cruxifiction occurred? I also don't buy the purification regarding the old testament thing because the rituals as described in the old testament were so markedly different from a baptism. Your answers are the same stock answers any Christian book gives, which aren't really answers.
If a ritual is defined by itself - i.e. a Baptism is the dipping in water - then what significance does it have?
I have a question: everyone in the Bible baptized by John had it done years before the death and resurrection of Jesus. Are you saying that they "knew" about it at the time and did it symbolically? I didn't see that in the gospel