Quote:
Originally Posted by BadgerBoysMom
I have asked and asked this question and have yet to find any solid answer. I cannot find it in scripture ANYWHERE. Maybe I am missing it but I don't think so.
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The way I understand it.
-Quite a few people were baptized by John, or under John's baptism, or in the name of John.
-John was the forerunner, the Elijah, who came to prepare the way of YHWH/Yeshua. He emphasized that he could only baptize in/with water but the One coming after him, the One who was before him, would baptize in/with the Holy Spirit. (
John 1:29-34)
-Jesus was baptized by John, or under John's baptism, or in the name of John
-YHWH revealed to John that Yeshua was the coming One, the King, the One who would baptize in/with water, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.
-Two disciples (Andrew and John, brother of James) were pointed to Jesus and they began to follow Him. (
John 1:35-40)
_They brought others to Jesus like Peter (
John 40-42)
-Jesus called others to follow Him, like Philip (
John 1:43-44)
-Others brought others (
John 1:45-51)
The Scriptures do not say whether those who left John to follow Jesus were baptized by Jesus, or under Jesus' ministry, or in the name of Jesus.
We do find that Jesus and/or His disciples did baptize people (
John 3:22-36). Actually, it's not known how much of those verses are the words of John the Baptist and how much is commentary by John the Apostle who wrote that Gospel. It seems as though both Jesus and John continued to baptize until John was put in prison. (
John 4:1-2)
There are some things we just don't know. Some teach that Jesus rebaptized all who came to Him who were previously baptized by John. Some teach that the 12 Apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus and the rest of the 120 who were in the upper room (
Acts 1:15) were not rebaptized by Jesus but were baptized (by whom?) on the Day of Pentecost. I don't think we can say either of those two premises are true.
What do I believe? Well, that doesn't make a whole lot of difference. I personally believe that those who had been baptized by John were not rebaptized when they left John and followed Jesus. Those who had not been disciples of John, and therefore had not been baptized in his name, were baptized when they came to Jesus. This leaves some folks who were pioneers and foundational in the church not actually being baptized by Jesus, under His ministry, or in His name. That horrifies some folks. It doesn't bother me.
Water baptism in the couple of centuries before the birth of Jesus was common among Jews. It was called mikveh. Converts to Judaism self-immersed as part of the conversion process. Jews self-immersed at different times of their life. Some good Jews self-immersed each Friday afternoon in preparation for the sabbath. So, if the disciples of John and Jesus were baptized (or self-immersed) several times it would not surprise me and would fit in with the customs of the time. Therefore, they might have been baptized by John and subsequently baptized by Jesus.
There's just some things we don't know.
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