Daniel Seagraves, noted Oneness scholar, on the feeble attempt to match the temple to the New Birth experience.
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While the Tabernacle of old was definitely a figure (Greek parabole) (
Hebrews 9:9), no New Testament verse seeks to interpret the meaning of each item associated with Tabernacle worship. By necessity, then, much of the interpretation regarding the Tabernacle is speculative at best. What the New Testament does clearly indicate is that the essential purpose of the Tabernacle worship, as a whole, was to prefigure the coming Christ and His role as the final and only efficacious sacrifice (
Hebrews 9:8-14, 23-26; 10:1-21;
Colossians 2:16-17;
Galatians 3:24).
There are several reasons why the laver seems not to be an adequate type of water baptism:
1. Contrary to the author's assumption that the laver was "scheduled after the initial approach and sacrifice at the brazen altar and before entering the Holy Place," the laver was the first destination of the priest, even before approaching the brazen altar (
Exodus 30:20; 40:12, 30-32). If the brazen altar represents repentance and the laver water baptism, this would place baptism before repentance in typology.
2. While the New Testament does assign specific typological meaning to certain Old Testament events and practices, it nowhere specifies the laver as a type of water baptism.
3. The laver was not a place of immersion, but mere washing.
4. The priests had to wash at the laver repeatedly each time they planned to minister. Water baptism is a one-time event.
If the laver is typical of any New Testament truth, it would seem more appropriate to consider it to be typical of the daily washing of believers by the Word of God, as seen in
Ephesians 5:26: "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."
The laver would seem an appropriate symbol of this for the following reasons:
1. It was covered with mirrors, reflecting the approaching priest's image. The New Testament compares the Word of God to a mirror in which men behold themselves (
James 1:23).
2. The washing at the laver was a continual thing; the washing of water by the Word is a continuing process.
The author's discussion of circumcision as a type of water baptism was more satisfying and biblically based.
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