The New Testament teaching concerning baptism gets in the way of some very popular theological theories, and for that reason the teaching is often neglected.  Nonetheless, baptism is important.  It is important because it occupies a crucial place in the New Testament with regards to conversion, and no serious Bible student should ignore it.

Every person that reads the New Testament encounters baptism again and again.   It sticks out as ancient bones stick out of the ground, which bear witness to earlier things; and many theologians stumble over these “bones.”

These notes have been written at the request of one of my grandsons, Ben Walker, who was seeking information about baptism from the Greek for a friend of his.

The method that I have used in preparing these notes has been to write out the relevant Greek verses and look at them carefully.  Sometimes I printed the verses out with the help of the “Quick Verse” computer program, which was graciously supplied to me by Dr. Harold Higginbottom.  At other times, I copied out the relevant passages by hand.   (I find that when a passage is written out on paper, it lies quietly before me and does not dance around, as it otherwise might.  This seems to help me catch the broader meaning of the passage, as well as some of its nuances.)

I want to state emphatically that the Greek word “baptizein” from which the English expression “to baptize” comes, means “to dip” or “to immerse” someone (or something) in water (or in some other liquid).  This word shows that baptism was originally performed by immersion, and there is no doubt about this.  If anyone has any doubts about it, let him look in any Greek lexicon under the word “baptizo,” and he will see that what I say is true.

The English clerics, who brought forth the King James Bible in 1611, could not bring themselves to translate “baptizein” as “to immerse,” because neither the English church nor the Roman church practiced baptism by immersion. The normal practice of both of these churches was (and still is) to sprinkle a little water on the head of a person brought to them for baptism.  Therefore, the clerics that prepared the King James Bible simply appropriated the Greek word and made an English word out of it.  The average person at that time was mostly in the dark as to the origin of the word “baptize,” and I fear that many people are still in the dark about it today.

The purpose of this study is to look at what the authors of the New Testament said about baptism.  I have used Roman letters in writing out Greek words, but readers acquainted the Greek language will have no difficulty identifying the Greek words.

The English quotations are from the New King James Version, Copyright * 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  I used the NKJV because its wording follows the Greek a little more closely than some of the other versions.

Richard Walker
Lubbock, Texas
October 14, 2004