Baptism

Baptism Many of today’s religious groups were founded upon various beliefs regarding baptism. This study allows the Scripture to speak for itself regarding the subject of baptism and will allow the reader to see for himself the great accuracy of the Word of God without the interpretational and doctrinal inconsistencies brought to the subject by man. Let us begin by examining the word “baptism,” and then continue by tracing the use of water in baptism from the Old Testament, as it related to the law, to the present. To discover the true meaning of “baptism,” we must search the Scriptures and observe its varied usages. Of course, “baptism” now is an English word; the Greek baptisma is directly transliterated into English. The root form of the word baptisma is baptō , which means “to dip.” Baptō is also part of the word translated “dippeth,” embaptō . From this root baptō arise four words: 1. Baptizō —to make things baptō , dipped. 2. Baptismos —the act of dipping or washing which is the act of baptizing; this does not occur in any Church epistle; the four occurrences of this word are in Mark 7:4; 7:8; Hebrews 6:2; 9:10. 3. Baptisma —the result of baptismos ; it is used twenty-two times in the Bible: thirteen refer to John’s baptism, five to the Lord’s baptism, three are found in Paul’s epistles, and the last is in Peter. Baptisma is in Matthew 3:7; 20:22, 23; 21:25; Mark 1:4; 10:38, 39; 11:30; Luke 3:3; 7:29; 12:50; 20:4; Acts 1:22; 10:37; 13:24; 18:25; 19:3, 4; Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:12; I Peter 3:21. 4. Baptistēs —the one who does the baptizing. There are only a few instances where these words are not directly transliterated into English as “baptize,” but are instead translated as follows: 1. Baptō is translated “dip” in the only three places where it is used. Luke 16:24: And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip [ baptō ] the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this