(!Tnurnr~iu
(UQtnlnguul flnut41y
Continuing
LEHRE UND VVEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LUTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. X August, 1939 No.8
CONTENTS
Page
The Mode of Baptism. Walter A. Baepler _______________________________ ____________ 561
Holy Scripture or Christ? Th_ Engeldcr __ __ __ _ _____ ___________________________ 571
The False Arguments for the Modern Theory of Open Questions
Walther-Guebert_____________________________________ __ ____ 587
Kleine Prophetenstudien. L_ Fuerbringer ________ ________________________ 595
Festival Address at Academic Service. Theo. Buenger _______ _____ 605
Predigtentwuerfe fuer die Evangelien der Thomasius-
Perikopenreihe __________________________________________________________ 614
Miscellanea _______________________________________________________ 622
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich -Zeitgeschichtliches ________ 625
Book Review. - Literatur ________________________________________________ 634
lCIn Predlger mUll! ntcht aDem wei-
dell, also dus er die Schafe unter-
weise. wle de rechte Cbrlsten IOllen
Ieln. IIOndem auch daneben den Woel-
ten weh"", dull de die Schafe n1cht
~lten und mit fal8cher Lehre ver-
tuebren und Irrtum elntuebren.
LutheT.
Ell tat teln Dlng. daI cUe Leute
mehr be! der Klrche behae1t denn
die gute PrecU&t. - Apologte. An. 14.
If the trumpet £lve an uneertaln
sound who IIhall prepare hlmHU to
the baWe? -1 eM. 14. t.
Published for the
BY. Luth. S)'DOd of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PlJBUSBING BOUSE, St. Louis, Mo.
ARCH IV
Concordia
Theological Monthly
Vol. X AUGUST, 1939 No.8
The Mode of Baptism
A striking diversity exists in the Christian Church with ref-
erence to the mode of administering the rite of Baptism. Broadly
speaking, the Eastern Church baptizes by immersion, the Western
Church by pouring or sprinkling.
In the Greek Orthodox Church baptism of infants or adults is
by trine immersion, "which is most essential in the administration
of Baptism," although in case of extreme weakness or morlal danger
a child may be baptized by affusion. 1) Among the other Oriental
communions the manner of applying water varies. The Nestorians,
for example, stand the candidate erect in water reaching to his neck
and dip the head three times. The Armenians first immerse the
child and then thrice pour a handful of water on its head. How-
ever, throughout the Oriental churches the basic thought of cover-
ing the entire body or parts of the body with water persists in
virtually all rituals, so that we may speak of immersion as the
distinctive Eastern mode of baptizing.2 )
The Western Church, if we ignore for the moment the Baptists
and other immersionists, considers the manner in which water is
applied in the rite of Baptism an adiaphoron. The major groups
employ affusion or sprinkling but do not condemn the practise of
immersion. In fact, the Roman Catholic ritual provides for im-
mersion as well as for affusion. A similar survival appears in the
Anglican Prayer-book. The Prayer-book of the Protestant Epis-
copal Church parallels the two modes, the rubric reading: "And
thus, naming it (the child) after them, he shall dip it in water
discreetly or else pour water upon it, saying," etc. The Presbyterian
Church ruled out immersion in 1644 but, like the Methodists, rec-
ognizes the baptism of those immersed. The Lutheran Church has
1) Klotsche, Christian Symbolics, 45.
2) For detailed information cf. Warfield, Studies in Theology, 345.
36
562 The Mode of Baptism
no formularies with provisions for immersion, and while it does
not consider a baptism by immersion invalid, it would hardly lend
itself to this mode of baptizing because of confessional and other
reasons.3 )
The Baptists and the other groups insisting upon immersion 4)
assert that such practise is essential to the validity of Baptism.
They appeal in support of their position to the significance of the
Greek word ~aJt"t(sElV and its Latin equivalents; to the circumstances
in which the baptisms of the New Testament were administered;
to the significance of the rite as a burial with Christ; and to the
concessions of those who, while practically rejecting immersion,
admit that it was practised by the apostles and the early churches.5)
These groups call immersion the "New Testament mode of baptism"
and until recently 6) were unanimous in affirming that immersion of
the believer is essential to real Christian baptism. It is the purpose
of this article to show that such a position has no Scriptural founda-
tion and that an objective study of the Scriptures and of the
literary and archeological evidence leads to the conclusion that
the mode of baptism is an adiaphoron.
When Christ instituted Baptism, He did not specify any par-
ticular mode to be used. The word which He employed to desig-
nate the Baptism of the New Testament was not a new word which
He coined for this specific purpose, but one which was in common
use and whose meaning can, therefore, be determined. BaJt"tlsELv
had heen long in use among the Jews to express religious washings
of all kinds. Thus Luke records that the Pharisee marveled that
Jesus had not first washed (E~!J.Jt"tiGll1J) before dinner (Luke 11: 38);
and Mark speaks of the washings (~aJt"tLGrWU,) by the Jews of cups
and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables, Mark 7: 4. These religious
washings are called by the writer to the Hebrews l\ul!poQoL ~!J.Jt"tLGJ.Loi
(Heb.9:10) and refer to the purifications (xallaQLGrwi) of the Old
Testament. They formed a part of the Ceremonial Law and in-
cluded such items as the purifying of the Levites, the priests, per-
sons and things defiled, lepers, sacred objects, etc.
While the ~!J.Jt·MJ.Loi of the Old Testament had nothing to do
with the Baptism of the New Testament, the Septuagint designates
the performing of one of the prescribed ceremonial ablutions as
~!J.Jt"tiSELV, Ecclus. 34: 25, * and the manner in which these ~aJt"tLG[toi
were performed indicates the meaning which the Jews associated
3) Fritz, Pastoral Theology, 104; Stump, The Christian Faith, 333.
4) The immersionist groups are listed in Popular Symbolics, 427.
5) Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia, sub Baptists.
6) McNutt, Polity and Practise in Baptist Churches, 127.
* The Septuagint is quoted according to the Stuttgart edition of
A. Rahlfs.
The Mode of Baptism 563
with the word [:\am(~ELv and its derivatives. Thus we read of the
cleansing of the Levites, Num. 8: 6,7: "Take the Levites from
among the children of Israel and cleanse them. And this shalt
thou do unto them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation
on them." Of the purifying of the priests Ex. 29: 4,21, states:
"And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the
Tabernacle of the congregation and shalt wash them with water.
And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar and of
the anointing oil and sprinkle it upon Aaron and upon his gar-
ments." The Mosaic regulations regarding persons and things
defiled specified: "Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man
that is dead and purifieth not himself, defileth the Tabernacle of
the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the
water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be un-
clean; his uncleanness is yet upon him," Num. 19: 13. Of the un-
clean tent and vessels and persons we are told, Num. 19: 18, 19:
"And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water and
sprinkle it upon the tent and upon all the vessels and upon the
persons that were there and upon him that touched a bone or one
slain or one dead or a grave. And the clean person shall sprinkle
upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and
on the seventh day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes
and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even." With
reference to the lepers we read, Lev. 14:7-9: "And he [the priest]
shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean." And as to the
cleansing of sacred objects we note, Lev. 16: 14-19, that the mercy-
seat and the altar were to be purified by the sprinkling of blood
on them and before them. These were some of the Ihuq>oQOL
f:\mt'tLcrJ10L mentioned Heb. 9: 10. They are called "divers washings"
not only because they referred to divers objects, but also because
they were performed in various ways. God Himself prescribed the
mode to be used, and, to say the least, it is significant that the
usual mode was not immersion but sprinkling.
The f:\amLcrJ10L of the Old Testament did not limit the meaning
of [:\Ult'tLcr!-LOO:; to a specific mode of applying water. Neither does the
word f:\a.i't'tL~ELV vi vocis. Balt'tL~ELV and its root word [:\M'tEIN are not
modal verbs. They are factitive verbs and express the fact of
wetting without implying or specifying the mode to be employed.
This is true of f:\uJt'tELV as well as of f:\aJt'tL~ELV. Dan. 4: 33 we read:
"The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and
he was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen, and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven." The Septuagint has it:
%ui. MO 'tYjo:; llQocrou 'tou oUQavou 'to crooJ1a au'tou sf:\uq>'ll' Here f:\M'tELV
evidently cannot mean to dip or immerse. It states merely the fact
564 The Mode of Baptism
that Nebuchadnezzar's body was wet. BaJt1;L~ELV is used in a similar
manner in the Septuagint. Naeman was told by Elisha, 2 Kings
5:10: "Go and wash in Jordan seven times," etc. From v.14 we
learn xo.t Xo.TE~1'] N aL~o.v xo.t E~aJt'tLOo.TO EV T0 IOQllo.v'[] x. T. A. Did
Naeman immerse himself? He was told to wash (AOUOaL, v. 10),
and he obeyed that direction. If nothing else, ~aJt'tL~ELV here is used
as synonymous with AOUELV, which is a generic term, signifying to
wash without reference to mode. It is also significant that Jerome
translates this passage "Descendit et lavit in Iordane," using for
E~aJt'tLOo.TO lavit, again a generic term, meaning to wash. Of Judith
we are told, Judith 12: 7: xul E;E,WQEUETO Xo.Ta. vux'to. cL£" TnV cpuQo.yyo.
BaLTUAOUo. xo.t E{3o.n'tL~ETo EV 'ttl no.QE~~OAtl Ent Tii£" n1']Yii£" TOU Ul\o.'tO£".
Here we have a baptism which the language employed and the
attending circumstances prove not to have been an immersion.
Judith "baptized" or washed herself not into or in but at CEnt)
a spring. She was in the military camp of Holophernes, where
regard to decency would forbid her immersing herself. Finally
we read Ecclus. 34: 25: {3o.nTL~O~EVO£" MO VEXQOU xo.l nUALv &nTo~Evo~
mhou, TL WCPEA1']OEV EV TiQ AOUTQiQ o.UTOU; The reference here is to
Num.19: 20 ff., where the law relative to the ceremonial cleansing
from touching the dead is recorded. The Mosaic regulations
specified sprinkling as the most important feature of this rite of
purification, so that in this passage ~o.n'tL~ELv virtually means
sprinkling. We note again, as in 2 Kings 5: 10,14, that {3o.mL~ELV and
AOUTQOV are synonymous in thought.
Turning to the New Testament, we find ~aJtTL~ELV and its deriva-
tives ~o.nTLO~O£", {3umLo~o., ~aJt'tLO'tl]£" used 122 times, and in every
instance they refer to a ritual or religious act. Never do these
words vi vocis imply a washing by immersion. On the contrary,
in a number of passages the conception of immersion is excluded.
Thus Mark 7: 4: "And when they come from the market, except
they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be which
they have received to hold, as the washings" (~aJtTLO!-LOU£") "of cups,
brazen vessels, and of tables" (xALviiiv, couches). For these cere-
monial washings (xa.fro.QLO~OL) the Jews had jars of water, John 2: 6.
The cups and pots and brazen vessels might have been immersed,
though there are no cogent reasons to assume that this was done;
but to suppose that the tables, rather couches, were immersed in
water is unreasonable and certainly out of question. Again, the
Pharisee, Luke 11: 38, marveled that Jesus did not wash (E~aJtTLOfr1'])
before eating. The parallel passage is found Matt. 15: 2, where
instead of {3o.n'tL~ELv, VLn'tOV'taL Ta.£" XELQU£" is used as a synonym. And
in Mark 7:4, where some versions have EUV ~n ~o.mLoillv'tm, the read-
ing Ea.V ~n Qo.V'tLOillV'taL also is found. The implications of these passages
are that the ceremonial ablutions before meals were performed not
The Mode of Baptism 565
by immersion but by pouring or sprinkling and that [3UJt'd~EL'V does
not and cannot mean immersion and immersion only. 1 Cor. 10: 2
Paul writes: "All" (the fathers) "were baptized (E[3um;[Ou.v,;o)
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Comments William
M. Taylor: "This first recorded baptism, so far as appears, was
not immersion. Sprinkled the tribes might be, as the clouds
poured down water or the spray was dashed upon them by the
fury of the wind; but their baptism in the sea was contemporaneous
with their 'walking upon dry land in the midst of it.' It is a very
small matter; but when esteemed brethren assure us that the word
'baptize' always and everywhere means immerse, it becomes im-
portant to remark that in the very earliest case in reference to
which the term is applied, it very evidently can have no such
significance. There was an immersion here, indeed, but it was
that of the Egyptians; and no one will be very eager to follow
their example." 7) Thus the use of f3C1.Jt';[~EL'V in the Septuagint
and in the New Testament clearly shows that it is not a modal
verb and that the Jews did not associate with this word a specific
method of applying water. Hence, the statement that f3um,[~ELv
signifies immersion, and immersion only, and thereby establishes
immersion as the New Testament mode of baptism is without
Scriptural foundation,
The New Testament records of the baptisms by John the
Baptist, the apostles, Philip, and Ananias do not offer sufficient
data to enable us to ascertain with absolute certainty how these
baptisms were administered. Yet these records do contain enough
hints and implications for us to infer how several of the recorded
baptisms were not performed, John told the multitude, Luke
3: 16: "I indeed baptize you with water, but One mightier than I
cometh ... ; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire." The fulfilment of these words occurred on the day of
Pentecost, Acts 2: 17, 18. This baptism with the Spirit and with
fire was performed not by immersion but by an outpouring (Et;EXEev,
Acts 2: 33) of the Spirit and by cloven tongues like as of fire that
sat upon each of them, The disciples were not carried or plunged
into the Spirit and into the fire, but the Spirit and the fire came
to them. That this Pentecostal baptism really was the baptism
predicted by John is explicitly stated by Peter, Acts 2: 33: "There-
fore, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He [Jesus] hath shed
forth (Et;f;.::EEV, cf. vv. 17, 18) this which ye now see and hear:'
Since, therefore, we find neither in the words of Peter nor in the
occurrences on Pentecost anything that would even faintly suggest
7) Taylor, Moses the Lawgiver, 119.
566 The Mode of Baptism
immersion, we conclude that, when John spoke of baptism with
the Holy Ghost and with fire, the term baptism did not signify to
him immersion but rather an outpouring. And is it not reasonable
to assume that a similar mode of applying water, viz., of pouring,
would suggest itself to John when he baptized? This assumption
is confirmed by the attending circumstances of his baptisms. If we
keep in mind the short duration of his ministry and the multitudes
that came to him to be baptized (Matt. 3: 5), it becomes apparent
that it would have been a physical impossibility for John to im-
merse all these people. Nor does the fact that John baptized UIlO:tL
and £'V Ma'n demand a baptism by immersion, for we have here
the instrumental use of the dative and of €V, indicating what John
used when he baptized. Regarding John's baptism the sainted
Dr. A. L. Graebner wrote: "The gospels say John baptized EV 'tiP
'IoQIlu.'V'[], Ill.\; 'to'V 'IoQIlu.v'Ij'V, {Jlla'tL, €V {Jlla'tL. All these expressions
do not necessitate the assumption of immersion. The number of
applicants being very great (Matt. 3: 5) and water being plentiful
(John 3: 23), the most decorous, expeditious, and cleanly way of
administering the sacred rite may have been this, that John stood
in the river, EV 1:0 , IOQM.vtl , the people, one by one, came near him,
also in the river, and the Baptist, lifting water from the river,
poured it upon the people before him, so that the water with which
he baptized (ul\a1:L, or €V Ul\cm) would run back again into the river,
d\; 'tov 'IoQIlu.v11V." 8) Hence, while we cannot definitely establish
the mode of John's baptism, the records contain enough informa-
tion to make pouring or sprinkling more than likely.
The account of the other baptisms of the New Testament leads
to the same conclusion. On the day of Pentecost three thousand
were baptized. "Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls," Acts 2:41. We ask, On which day were
these people "added unto them?" The record replies EV -en lj!,LllQQ.
EXELVtl, on that day on which they were baptized. To say, as some
exegetes do, e. g., Zahn, that these baptisms were performed at
a later time, transgresses the principles of true interpretation.
They received the Word, were baptized, and were added to the
Church the same day. Indeed, it was through Baptism that they
became members of the Church.9 ) That is what the text states.
How were they baptized? Three thousand by immersion? Such
a task would have surpassed the physical strength of the apostles.
Besides, where would they have found enough water for this
purpose? There are no rivers or streams in Jerusalem, and to
suggest the use of public pools disregards the fact that this mass
8) Theol. Quart., V: 5.
9) Stoeckhardt, Roemerbriej, 285.
The Mode of Baptism 567
baptism took place only fifty days after the Jews of Jerusalem had
put Jesus to death. We do not know how these three thousand
were baptized, but the circumstances warrant the assumption that
these baptisms were not administered by immersion. Again, Philip
baptized the eunuch of Ethiopia, who was traveling through a desert
country (Acts 8:26), where even today water is found in sparing
quantities. (The text has 1:L {JlIooQ.) Both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and both came up out of the water,
Xa.L xa.1:i~ll<1a.'V u[tCPU1:EQOL do; 1:0 {JlIooQ ••••