Word Study: "Baptize" by Jeff Himmel

as originally published in LifeLines:

"Baptize" is a transliteration (not a translation) of the Greek word baptizo. It means to dip, immerse, submerge, plunge, sink, or drench (cf. Bauer, Thayer). Vine's Dictionary describes it as a process of "immersion, submersion, and emergence." The force of the word should be obvious. Early Latin translations of Scripture rendered it mergere, to plunge or immerse.

Yet there has been much disagreement about the acceptable "form" of baptism. Some have adopted sprinkling or pouring as a method more convenient than immersion. But look again at the definition: neither sprinkling nor pouring fits the meaning of the word! If a cooking recipe tells you to immerse a vegetable in vinegar, would you settle for sprinkling a little on it instead? If a dead body is to be buried ("immersed") in the ground, would merely tossing some dirt on it suffice? Bible narratives of baptism involve not only water (Acts 8:36), but going down into the water (v. 38) and coming up out of the water (v. 39). That would not be necessary except for immersion. Baptism is described as a burial in the likeness of Christ's death (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). That comparison is hardly sensible if a sprinkling or pouring is meant.

Most Bible scholars concede not only that "immerse" most accurately defines baptizo, but also that immersion was what first century folks did when they "baptized." Martin Luther sought unsuccessfully to restore immersion as the "proper form" of baptism. John Calvin endorsed sprinkling but noted that immersion was clearly the practice of the apostolic church. Commentator Adam Clarke argued for sprinkling or pouring as acceptable baptism, but still recognized immersion as the meaning of the New Testament term. (If immersion was so obviously the practice of the early church, why argue for something else?)

If Jesus and his apostles commanded that men be "immersed" (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38), then they should be. If first-century believers were "immersed" into Christ in the likeness of his death to receive the new life (Romans 6:3-5), then that is what will bring it to them today. If "immersion" saved men then (1 Peter 3:21), it will save them now.

Adam Clarke Baptism John Calvin Immersion Martin Luther Word Study Christian Christianity Church of Christ Church of Christ