"There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).
"I baptize in water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry, He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into his barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:11ff).
The image of baptism is one of being overwhelmed, whether it is by water, fire or Spirit. Baptisma is a word used 22 times by the inspired writers of the New Testament to describe whole Christian baptism. It is interesting that baptisma was never found outside of the New Testament in ancient literature. Baptismos is a word used both in the N.T. and ancient literature to describe washings, ceremonial and otherwise, but it is not used to describe Christian baptism because it only focuses on the act. The ma suffix of baptisma indicates the state of mind that accompanies the act.
What baptisma describes is the surrender of our bodies to the engulfing, overwhelming water as a visual dramatization of our personal trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is also descriptive of our personal surrender of our spirit to the Holy Spirit that we might be led of the Spirit from that point on in newness of life.
Grace&Peace;
Tom
*I am indebted to Russell Boatman and Karl Ketcherside for drawing my attention to the distinction between baptisma & baptismos.
ADDENDUM
Noting the difference between baptisma and baptismos reveals the deficiency in the traditions that focus on the act of baptism, the traditions that focus on faith only and the traditions that see baptism in the Holy Spirit as a separate and distinct baptism apart from Christian baptism. I will be writing about that tomorrow, the Lord willing.
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2 comments:
I'm really interested in this distinguishing factor between baptisma and baptismos. What materials could you suggest to me that deal with this?
Thanks so much for writing about this.
Thanks for the comment, Dave. Even though I had 2 years of Greek in college, it wasn't until it was pointed out by Ketcherside in the Mission Messenger, and Boatman in What the Bible says about the Church that I began to understand and appreciate the difference.
Any good analytical Greek lexicon or analytical concordance will help you see the difference. Also, I have a copy of An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W.E. Vine that notes the difference too.
Our Father's Blessings,
Tom
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