The Form of Baptism
We had a question in the Facebook group I moderate to the effect of the Bible word for Baptism always means full immersion in Baptism. This person added this little internet meme to accent his point:
My response was this:
Well, this meme here is overly simplistic as to the meaning in Greek.
The word, as many words do both now and back then, can have multiple
meanings depending on the usage. Yes, βαπτίζω can mean to
fully submerge. However, there are times in Ancient Greek in
non-Biblical sources where the word is clearly used in other ways.
The perfect example in Nicander, who was a
physician/poet/philosopher type around 200 BC. We still have some of
his works. Sadly, some of his writings have been lost to time, namely
the Heteroeumena. We sort of know a little about it as Ovid
references part of it in Metamorphoses, but that’s neither here nor
there. Nicander was, much like Aristotle, also a practical writer.
What’s most interesting about Nicander is we have his 2nd
century recipe for pickles. (Seriously, true story.)
How Nicander’s
recipe for pickles is of interest here is that he uses the Greek root
of βαπτίζω in two different ways in the same recipe. To make
a proper Greek pickle, one first has to dip (I’ll
transliterate-Bapto) the vegetable into boiling water and then dip
the vegetable (Baptizo) in the vinegar solution. We now call the fast
dipping of a vegetable into boiling water as blanching (the original
root coming from Greek root word bapto). So, basically, the word
depending on usage could mean to dip or to submerge entirely.
What’s interesting is that the word also has a third
meaning that many non-biblical writers in Ancient Greek also used.
βαπτίζω also has the negative connotation of drowning when
used metaphorically. Both Plutarch and Diodorus recount drownings at
sea by fated fleets or ships going to war or those cursed by the
gods. Even Josephus uses the term for people flooding into the city
of Jerusalem at the time of the Roman siege, the metaphor being they
are coming into the city to drown in the Roman onslaught that
ironically burned Jerusalem to the ground with Roman scorpions
(catapults)-literally Josephus uses is as a drowning in fire.
That’s the key that gets lost a lot in the discussions
of whether we fully immerse or dip. In one way, baptism is a death.
We are baptized into Christ’s death so that we can be resurrected
with Christ and the effects of original sin are removed. Any amount
of water can kill you. You don’t have to be fully submerged in
water to drown; you can drown in an inch of water. You can even drown
in your own internal body fluids if liquid builds up in you lungs for
that matter. That’s the major outward sign of Baptism, whether it’s
pouring, dunking, what have you.
It is the water
itself-not the amount of the water-that has the power to kill. Water
does not in itself have any other power. Water cannot bring back to
life someone who is dead. Only Jesus through His death and
resurrection has the power to do that. God uses the water for His
purposes of salvation, whether it is a small amount of water or a
large amount. God chooses to use the water in whatever amount for the
purposes of the sacrament of Baptism.
Baptism is not
magic. Magic is something that has power in itself to change the
physical world around hit by metaphyical or supernatural means. The
power of Baptism is in and through Christ. Without Christ, whether
you dip yourself or dunk yourself in a pseudo-magic rite has no
power. Christ gives the water the power to effect change. Baptism
does not save people by its own power or magic. Baptism is giving
it’s power to change the soul by Christ Himself. This is why as
Catholics we don’t get into a major snit over whether we dip or
dunk or sprinkle.
Christ can and does use any of these
means to effect change through Baptism. What we are sticklers about
is that the Baptism is done in the name of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. It is by invoking that name that Baptism is given its power.
It is not done in the name of Larry, Moe, and Curly or some other
cutesy formula. It is by invoking the Holy Name of the Trinity that
Baptism is given it’s power. It is the power of joining in Christ’s
death and Resurrection that gives Baptism its power. Without these
things, it is like giving a vaccine that has no antibodies. It is not
the amount of water that gives the sacrament it’s power, but rather
the power of Christ through the Church that does this.
Otherwise
it’s all just a pickle bath.
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