Scriptural Mode of Baptism

Chapter Six

IN SEARCH OF

SCIPTURAL MODE OF BAPTISM

Various churches employ various modes of baptism. These include:

Immersion, sprinkling, covering, calling under the flag. It is decided by the meaning and importance that each church attaches to the symbolism. In this article I pursue the matter to find the scripturally correct baptism, if it exist. .

Water was used in the church through the ages for baptism. This is carrying the Jewish tradition. Jews sprinkled and immersed for purification.

The mikvah must meet six special requirements as described in Oral Torah written down during the third to fifth centuaries A.D. There are several strains of traditions. But Mikvah requirements seems to be the same in all.

No other liquid but water may be used in the Mikvah, no coloring or chemicals, etc.
The Mikvah must be built into the ground, or be a part of a building attached to the ground. It cannot consist of any vessel that can be disconnected and carried away, such as a tub, vat, or barrel.
The water of a Mikvah cannot be running or flowing. The only exception to this rule is a natural spring, or a river whose water is derived mainly from springs.
The water of the Mikvah be brought together by natural means not drawn.
The water cannot be channeled to the Mikvah through anything that can become tomeh/unclean, such as pipes or channels made of metal, clay, or wood.
The Mikvah must contain no less than 40 Sa'ah of water, that is approximately 150 to 200 gallons.

Even when immersion was used it was never done by another. The person immersed themselves before at least three male witnesses.

The third centuary Judaism prescribed it as follows: " The person being immersed went into the water by himself, stretching out his arms, flexing his fingers, fluttering his eyelids he squats down into the water until he is completely covered by water. Flexing the fingers and toes, fluttering the eyelids was to insure that the water touched every part of the body. Normally a person would do this three times. The witness was the person that stood out of the water to make sure that the immersing person was completely covered by the water. " Whether this was the method at the time of Jesus cannot be ascertained.

The Brahminic method is as follows: "Step into the water halfway (abdomen level), pray looking towards north or east and dip the whole body under water once, rub the entire body clean with the palms and dip again twice."

However the baptism of John was not a proselysation but a ritual signifying repentance and return of a people who were already within the covenant. Scholars think that John and Jesus were both associated some how with the Qmran Community of Essenes. John’s baptism was therefore most probably a "pledge of allegiance and good conscience towards God". They were entering into a more holy life. Such baptisms were made standing erect. It was more of an anointing than ritual purification. In the same way Christian baptism is probably anointing someone into a Royal Priesthood . It is assumed that they are already believers and are in the Kingdom. The mode of John’s baptism and Baptism given by disciples and of the Christian baptism were the same. Since John and Jesus were connected with Essence Groups their Baptism was somehow connected to the expected "Righteous One".. There is a group of followers of John still in existence in Iran and Iraq who baptize in this manner. (A video of baptism by this group can be seen in the video series Legacy published by the Maryland and Public Television and central Independent Television program Iraq: "The cradle of civilization" is distributed by Ambrose Video Publishing. Inc.,1290 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2245, New York NY 10104 This is an educational video produced by the secular organization). If the Mandean Baptism is in any way a correct tradition of the Johannine baptism it was not by total immersion. The person goes into the water to his or her waist and the baptizer takes water with hand or with a small pitcher and pours it over the head. Probably this was handed over through generations, from John Historically therefore John's baptism was not by total immersion. It was a ceremonial washing. If we notice the ceremonial washing of Hindu Sanyasins (Holy Men – Ascetics) today in the river (Ganges), they follow a very similar procedure as part of ritual ablution.

It is also possible that there was a discontinuity in the baptismal procedures of John, Judaistic Proselysation and ritual purification proceedings with the Christian baptism after the resurrection of Jesus. Now baptism was into Christ and the procedures could have been changed accordingly. This is particularly true if Jesus did indeed instruct the Apostles as to the new form of baptism. Though we do not have any records for it, it is a possibility. I believe that the Johannanine baptism prophetically foreshadowed the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The Essene prophetic tradition had this strong component in place long before evern John.