Bro. Sam, I'm going to share some very important points here, tell me what you think...
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Originally Posted by Sam
from what I understand, the word "mikveh" means gathering as in gathering of waters and the word is found three times in the Hebrew Scriptures so that's where the threefold self-immersion comes from. It is a Jewish "cleansing ritual" which developed some time after the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity. It was practiced by the Essenes on a regular basis and it is believed that John the Baptist was part of the Essene community from his youth until he appeared "baptizing" people in the wilderness (ref Luke 1:80). |
We know that scholars believed that he Essenes practiced mikveh based on archeological evidence. However, when it comes to John the Baptist, where does it say that John was a member of the Essenes in the NT??? In fact, if you study what the Essenes believed you'll note that they believed in the coming of two Messiahs, NOT one. Would John have believed or associated himself with that? Also, the Essenes were heavily steeped in Jewish mysticism focusing on the "Sons of Light" teaching. It was essentially Jewish Gnosticism. The truth is, nowhere does the NT mention John as being a member of the Essenes. In fact, we do read about John's heritage in the NT...
Luke 1:5
THERE was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
John wasn't just a hillbilly who associated himself with the Essenes, John was of the priestly class. John's baptizing (baptizo or "washing") out in the wilderness speaks to the fact that he rejected the corrupt "religious" system of the Temple in his day. John clearly administered the Law to the people, as a priest would according to the Law, meaning he sprinkled or poured upon them.
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There is no Old Testament command for the mikveh/immersion. It is a Jewish tradition. Cleansing by water in the Old Testament were by pouring or sprinkling.
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Amen! Now we have to contend with the Words of Jesus...
Matthew 3:15
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Jewish traditions of men are not "righteousness". The are empty traditions. However, if Christ was fulfilling "all righteousness" we are forced to realize that in Christ's baptism the Law was fulfilled. What Law was that??? We read that the priests were consecrated via sprinkling of the waters of consecration at 30 years old (
Numbers 4:23). How old was Jesus? Thirty. John was of the Aaronic line, meaning if John baptized (consecrated Jesus as a priest), John effectively turned the priesthood over to Jesus making Jesus our priest and intercessor. And if that is the case... how was Jesus baptized? The Scriptures describe what must have been done...
Numbers 8:5-7
{8:5} And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, {8:6}
Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and
cleanse them. {8:7} And thus shalt thou do unto them, to
cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and
let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their
clothes, and [so] make themselves clean.
The word "Sprinkle" here is the Hebrew word "nazah" meaning to "spurt", "splash", "spatter", or "sprinkle". If Jesus was fulfilling all righteousness at 30 by becoming our priest and intercessor then John had to splash, spurt, or sprinkle water upon him.... not necessarily "dunk" him.
Also, rigid rules governed the mikveh. If John were to perform a mikveh on Jesus, Christ would have had to be unclothed and in a ritual bath fed by clean running water. The Jordan was muddy and unclean in regards to mikveh.
So if John performed mikveh on Jesus, what part of righteousness was filfilled at Christ's baptism? When did Christ legally assume the priesthood to become our intercessor according to the Law?
Upon close examination outside of religious tradition it becomes essential that John sprinkle or splash Jesus according to the Law.
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At the time John the Baptist was practicing his baptism/mikveh, it was a common experience among Jews. Some "holy" people practiced regular mikveh washings. A new convert was required to undergo circumcision, offer a sacrifice, and self-immerse as a convert to Judaism. John's baptism was a ritual cleansing for people to prepare for the Messiah. It made a statement that the people were not clean enough to welcome the Messiah --that like a gentile convert, they needed to wash in the mikveh.
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I think we're leaping by assuming John was practicing "his baptism/mikveh". Again, mikveh was performed in ceremonial pools that were ritually clean... and especially not in the Jordan. Yes, mikveh was especially popular among the Jews. But very rarely did Jesus applaud that which was religiously popular in his day... Jesus stuck to the Word.
Also, since you admit that mikveh isn't in Scripture, it is therefore unbiblical. Now, why would John use something unbiblical to prepare the people for Messiah??? It's more probable, seeing that John was of priestly heritage, that John was purifying the people according to the Law...
It is more likely that John's converts offered sacrifice at the temple and saught John for cleansing. John administered the Law to them according to the Word of God whereas the Pharisees were only steeped in man's traditions like mikveh.
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John's converts would self-immerse in the Jordan. Then when he pointed them to Jesus as the Lamb of God and Messiah they would follow Him.
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First that is conjecture. Second, the muddy Jordan wasn't suitable for a mikveh... especially if John was an Essene. However, if John was administering the Law, John wasn't bound by mikveh tradition. In fact John's baptism of Jesus at 30 consecrated Christ as priest and intercessor, hence John's pointing to Christ as the Lamb of God.
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Numbers 8:7
And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them:
Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.
Numbers 19:19
And the clean person shall
sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
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As far as we know, if they had been baptized by or under the supervision of John or "in his name" they did not get re-baptized by or under the supervision of Jesus or in His name when they began to follow him. But those who had not been previously baptized by John would self-immerse when they became followers of Jesus.
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Sam, all of that is guess work. Stick to the book. Where is all this immersion stuff in the OT?
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We don't know just when the threefold immersion became a single immersion. In the Didache, a book which may go back to as early as 60 AD or as late as 250 AD, baptism was stipulated to be a threefold immersion if enough water was available or if not, water was poured three times on the person's head. What we call the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve) is also called The Limuda and is included in at least one Bible translation as the letter from the elders in Jerusalem in Acts 15:25-29.
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Again, traditions of men. Stick to the book.
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