01.01A. The Meaning of the Word “Baptism.”

A. The Meaning of the Word “Baptism.” The principle of biblical interpretation I will use to determine the exact meaning of the word “baptism” first looks at the root meaning, then studies the word by comparing the various uses of the word in the New Testament itself, and thereby arrives at the correct definition. The Greek language has two verbs that mean “to baptize”: bapto, the common form, and baptizo, the intensified form. Bapto occurs in the New Testament three times and is translated “dip” (Luke 16:24; John 13:26; Revelation 19:13). The intensified form, baptizo, generally means “completely immersed.” Infrequently baptizo may mean a partial washing of the hands before meals, which was usually done by pouring water over the hands (Mark 7:4). It was used interchangeably with nipto, “wash” (Compare Mark 7:3 with Luke 11:38). The use of baptizo in the Septuagint was translated as “drenched” (Daniel 4:33), “dip” (Leviticus 14:6) and “wash” (2 Kings 5:10). Thus, the primary meaning of the word “baptism” is “to drench with or to immerse in water.” When the newly born believer is covered by the baptismal waters and then emerges, the Holy Spirit uses this to symbolize the believer’s sharing Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as Colossians 2:12 says, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him” (also see, Romans 6:4). By using the believer’s physical baptism to illustrate his partaking of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, the Scriptures imply that baptism has a spiritual significance far deeper than the physical event alone. The Bible speaks of his being baptized into the name of the Triune God, but the believer also receives the forgiveness of sins (“John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” Mark 1:4). Through baptism he has been buried with Christ (Romans 6:4) and enters into union with Him (“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God,” Colossians 3:3; also see Galatians 3:27), which signifies that the sinful nature’s way of living has come to an end and has been replaced with the new nature of life in Christ. To baptize with water is to submerge the Christian briefly then take him out; but when a believer is brought by the Spirit into the family of God, enjoys the forgiveness of sins and all that flows to him as a result of Christ’s substitutionary death, the change is permanent. In other words, when he becomes a part of Christ’s body, he is not left there for a little while and then taken out; but rather, he is put in to abide forever. For example, the intensive verb baptizo as used in “for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13) is in the simple past tense, indicative mood and passive voice. This indicates: one, the Holy Spirit was the One placing him into the body of Christ; two, that the act was not accomplished by either his own efforts or those of the church; and three, this placement into the body of Christ was permanent. The Spirit accomplishes all this simply by means of the faith the believer places in the Lord Jesus Christ. This God-given faith enables the believer to share with Christ the historical experience of His crucifixion (which gives him the forgiveness of sin), His death and burial (which frees him from the domination of sin), His resurrection (which allows him to partake of God’s own life), and His ascension to honor at the Father’s right hand (which guarantees his future glorification).