The only conception of Baptism at variance with Jewish ideas is displayed in the
declaration of John, that the one who would come after him would not baptize with
water, but with the Holy Ghost (Mark i. 8; John i. 27). Yet a faint resemblance to
the notion is displayed in the belief expressed in the Talmud that the Holy Spirit
could be drawn upon as water is drawn from a well (based upon Isa. xii. 3; Yer.
Suk. v. 1, 55a of Joshua b. Levi). And there is a somewhat Jewish tinge even to
the prophecy of the evangelists Matthew (iii. 11) and Luke (iii. 16), who declare
that Jesus will baptize with fire as well as with the Holy Ghost; for, according
to Abbahu, true Baptism is performed with fire (Sanh. 39a). Both the statement of
Abbahu and of the Evangelists must of course be taken metaphorically. The
expression that the person baptized is illuminated (φωτισθείς, Justin, "Apologiæ,"
i. 65) has the same significance as is implied in telling a proselyte to Judaism,
after his bath, that he now belongs to Israel, the people beloved of God (Yeb.
47a; Gerim i.).
The new significance that Christianity read into the word "Baptism," and the new
purpose with which it executed the act of Baptism, as well as the conception of
its magical effect, are all in the line of the natural development of
Christianity. The original form of Baptism—frequent bathing in cold water—remained
in use later among the sects that had a somewhat Jewish character, such as the
Ebionites, Baptists, and Hemerobaptists (compare Ber. iii. 6); and at the present
day the Sabeans and Mandeans deem frequent bathing a duty (compare Sibyllines, iv.
164, in which, even in Christian times, the heathens are invited to bathe in
streams).
The Baptism of the proselyte has for its purpose his cleansing from the impurity
of idolatry, and the restoration to the purity of a new-born man. This may be
learned from the Talmud (Soṭah 12b) in regard to Pharaoh's daughter, whose bathing
in the Nile is explained by Simon b. Yoḥai to have been for that purpose. The
bathing in the water is to constitute a rebirth, wherefore "the ger is like a
child just born" (Yeb. 48b); and he must bathe "in the name of God"—"leshem
shamayim"—that is, assume the yoke of Gcd's kingdom imposed upon him by the one
who leads him to Baptism ("maṭbil"), or else he is not admitted into Judaism
(Gerim. vii. 8). For this very reason the Israelites before the acceptance of the
Law had, according to Philo on the Decalogue ("De Decalogo," ii., xi.), as well as
according to rabbinical tradition, to undergo the rite of baptismal purification
(compare I Cor. x. 2, "They were baptized unto Moses [the Law] in the clouds and
in the sea").
The real significance of the rite of Baptism can not be derived from the Levitical
law; but it appears to have had its origin in Babylonian or ancient Semitic
practise. As it was the special service administered by Elisha, as prophetic
disciple to Elijah his master, to "pour out water upon his hands" (II Kings iii.
11), so did Elisha tell Naaman to bathe seven times in the Jordan, in order to
recover from his leprosy (II Kings v. 10). The powers ascribed to the waters of
the Jordan are expressly stated to be that they restore the unclean man to the
original state of a new-born "little child." This idea underlies the prophetic
hope of the fountain of purity, which is to cleanse Israel from the spirit of
impurity (Zech. xiii. 1; Ezek. xxxvi. 25; compare Isa. iv. 4). Thus it is
expressed in unmistakable terms in the Mandean writings and teachings (Brandt,
"Mandäische Religion," pp. 99 et seq., 204 et seq.) that the living water in which
man bathes is to cause his regeneration. For this reason does the writer of the
fourth of the Sibylline Oracles, lines 160-166, appeal to the heathen world,
saying, "Ye miserable mortals, repent; wash in living streams your entire frame
with its burden of sin; lift to heaven your hands in prayer for forgiveness and
cure yourselves of impiety by fear of God!" This is what John the Baptist preached
to the sinners that gathered around him on the Jordan; and herein lies the
significance of the bath of every proselyte. He was to be made "a new creature"
(Gen. R. xxxix). For the term φωτιςθεῖς (illuminated), compare Philo on Repentance
("De Pœnitentia," i.), "The proselyte comes from darkness to light." It is quite
possible that, like the initiates in the Orphic mysteries, the proselytes were, by
way of symbolism, suddenly brought from darkness into light. For the rites of
immersion, anointing, and the like, which the proselyte has or had to undergo.
Notwithstanding the baptism of pagans or others in a non scriptural formulas,
baptism in the name and power of Jesus was always the means and way of enterance
into salvation via biblical terms.