Immersion Into Christ

There are some customs and ceremonies that still matter, says Lee Dunstan, even in an age of utility.

Events of significance—a birthday, granting of citizenship, completion of a course of study—are usually marked by a ceremony. Traditions hold an important place in our lives.

Some celebrations and ceremonies endure because they contain symbolism, special meaning and feelings that transcend the event itself. A marriage is like that. Most brides (and certainly, it seems, mothers-of-the-bride-to-be), crave the wedding ceremony with all its trappings: the bridal dress, the wedding cake, the exchange of rings and final pronouncements.

But for the most part, none of these actions are essential to being married. What really makes two persons married, whether they feel it makes a difference or not, is that they’ve made a public declaration of mutual commitment. This is formalised in the written, signed contract, witnessed and registered. This, as with any contract, carries specific obligations and rights on the part of its signatories.

Marriage. The Bible compares the relationship between Christ and His church—the people who comprise it—with marriage. Christ is depicted as the Bridegroom and the church as His bride (see Matthew 25; Revelation 22:17). And as with a marriage, when a person commits to Christ, promising a spiritual fidelity, Christ says they should do so in a public ceremony.

This ceremony is baptism, and it’s about formalising a relationship, and with it comes obligations in exchange for certain rights, foremost among them is eternal life with Him. (The agreement is what the Bible calls a “covenant.”) Finally, just as a bride will usually take on a new name, that of her husband, so the baptised wear the name of Christ—“Christian.”

Baptism for the Christian is much more than an important event; it is the most important. Jesus said, “The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16, NRSV). They’re strong words, but they’re His formula for salvation: B + B = 2B. That is “be-lieve,” “be-baptised” to “be-saved.”
That’s not to say one is “saved” only because they’re baptised—it isn’t some mystical rite, the water of baptism isn’t in some way holy or invested with some supernatural quality. Rather, one’s salvation is about a relationship with Christ, which leads to following His ways and being prepared to participate fully in this commitment, including baptism. The question becomes, Are you committed enough to Christ to take the step?

Christ says, “Everyone . . . who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father . . .” (Matthew 10:32, NRSV). If this were not the case, how could Christ have offered paradise to the thief nailed to the cross next to Him? That thief had no chance of the formal process of baptism, but he believed Christ was the Messiah and his Saviour, and so received Christ’s promise of salvation. In that sense he fulfilled the first part only of the formulae. If he had lived on would he have chosen to be baptised? Of course.

It was the apparent imperative to be baptised or “be damned”—the King James Version rendering of Mark 16:16—that possibly led the early Christian church into baptising infants. To a certain extent, this then led to a change in the way a person was baptised, diluting much of its symbolism in the process.

For centuries now, baptism has taken different forms in different denominations. Most denominations sprinkle or pour water on the head of participants (usually infants) and mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross. Even with adult baptism by immersion, there are various practices. One group practises a “trinity” baptism, baptising the new believer three times. Mostly, though, it’s a single immersion—face up as if laid in a coffin.

Those who believe in Christ as their Saviour will want to be baptised. Christ set the example in this. It was His first act of ministry in Palestine as He abandoned the life of a carpenter. The apostle Peter says everything Christ did was for an example to His followers. So if the first act of His new life was to be baptised, it should be ours too.

Interestingly, His last command to His disciples, as He was about to leave earth for heaven was to “go . . . and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, NRSV, emphasis added).

And that’s what they did. They began in the streets of Jerusalem, then Palestine and finally into the wider world among the Gentiles. And wherever they went, their message was the same: Accept Jesus and be baptised. The book of Acts of the Apostles tells many stories of conversion, each followed by baptism.

They baptised all sorts of people—Roman officers, civil servants, their jailers and persecutors—in addition Jews, God’s “chosen” people.

But, from history and archaeology, it appears that baptism, while not unknown, was not common until Christianity invoked it as the rite of entry into its ranks. It was largely reserved for Gentiles—non-Jewish persons—converting to Judaism, and for the ritual washing of priests. The biblical and archaeological evidence shows that such baptism was by complete immersion.

Deep beneath the ancient city of Jerusalem are many ornate examples of ritual washing baths or fonts dating from the time of Christ and the apostles. At the fascinating archaeological sites of Qumran and Masada, despite their location in the dry desert high above the Dead Sea, we find examples of such washing pools. The devoted Essene scribes of Qumran completely immersed themselves in deep baths before handling the sacred scrolls of Scripture.

At numerous sites of the early Christian church throughout the Middle East and Asia Minor (Turkey) and eastern Europe, there are baptismal pools or fonts large enough to accommodate one or more persons, and deep enough to completely immerse them. The font situated at the entrance to the museum in Constantinople probably came from coastal Turkey, and at the Church of St John, a few miles from Ephesus in Turkey, is another beautiful example.

The baptisms performed by John the Baptist were of a different nature. Rather than a ritual cleansing, his baptism was part of a call to his Jewish audience for repentance (see Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3 and John 1), that transcended their historical connection to Abraham.

We conclude from the Gospel of John that he baptised Jesus somewhere near “Bethany across the Jordan” (John 1:28, NRSV). While the actual location is in dispute, tradition suggests this was south-east of Jericho, probably near where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea and adjacent to the desert where Christ was tempted.

If so, it wasn’t far from where Israel, led by Joshua, passed through the flooded Jordan into Palestine. Going through the parted waters of the Jordan was not unlike a mass baptism, as was the parting of the Red Sea, as Israel fled Egyptian captivity (see 1 Corinthians 10:2).

Another suggested location is further north near Lake Galilee. The precise location doesn’t really matter, but the textual implication is that John was baptising in a place where there was enough water to completely immerse people.

Many Christians choose to be baptised in the Jordan and flock to a dedicated site a few hundred metres south of Galilee in order to follow Jesus’ example to the letter.

To follow His example calls for a baptism by total immersion—buried under the water. To use any other method loses much of the symbolic meaning.

Many make the assumption that sprinkling is the correct form of baptism because that’s the style used by the establishment churches. But this form of baptism has its origins somewhere around the fifth or sixth centuries.

Whether it was because of the lack of water in dry Eastern countries or convenience or a shift in doctrine isn’t clear, but in 550 AD the secular Roman leader Emperor Justinian is said to have issued a decree in favour of this form.
Cardinal Gibbons says in his book The Faith of Our Fathers, “For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity, baptism was usually conferred by immersion, but since the twelfth century, baptism by infusion [pouring] has prevailed in the Catholic Church, as this manner is attended with less inconvenience than baptism by immersion. . . . The church exercises her discretion in adapting the most convenient mode, according to the time and place.”

Old habits die hard. All over Italy, there’s evidence of baptism by immersion deep into the Middle Ages. In enlightened Florence is a large cathedral with an even older baptistery, famous for its great brass doors, furnished with a large font.

Near the famous Leaning Tower at Pisa is the church once attended by Galileo. In this church, in 1581, when a sermon got a little tedious, Galileo studied the physics of pendulum motion. The building right behind it, constructed around the 13th century, contains a baptistery containing a large font.

That baptism by complete immersion has fallen out of favour is obvious. However it continued to be practised by the Celtic Church in Great Britain until much later.
It was resurrected by the Anabaptists of central Europe, some of whom were mockingly martyred for holding firm to this doctrine (see “Liberty Is Their Monument,” Signs of the Times, September 2002), and it continues in many churches today.

Once a person sees the underlying reasons for a complete baptism, both immersing themselves totally in the water of baptism, having truly accepted Christ as their Saviour, and following His example, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

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