Baptism: Immersion Only?
Although Latin-rite Catholics are usually baptized
by infusion (pouring), they know that immersion (dunking) and sprinkling
are also valid ways to baptize. Fundamentalists, however, regard only baptism
by immersion as true baptism, concluding that most Catholics are not validly
baptized at all.
Although the New Testament contains no explicit
instructions on how physically to administer the water of baptism, Fundamentalists
argue that the Greek word baptizo found in the New Testament means
"to immerse." They also maintain that only immersion reflects the symbolic
significance of being "buried" and "raised" with Christ (see Romans 6:3-4).
It is true that baptizo often means immersion.
For example, the Greek version of the Old Testament tells us that Naaman,
at Elisha’s direction, "went down and dipped himself [the Greek
word here is baptizo] seven times in the Jordan" (2 Kgs. 5:14, Septuagint,
emphasis added).
But immersion is not the only meaning of baptizo.
Sometimes it just means washing up. Thus Luke 11:38 reports that, when
Jesus ate at a Pharisee’s house, "[t]he Pharisee was astonished to see
that he did not first wash [baptizo] before dinner." They did not practice immersion before dinner, but, according to Mark, the Pharisees "do not eat
unless they wash [nipto] their hands, observing the tradition of
the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless
they wash themselves [baptizo]" (Mark 7:3–4a, emphasis added).
So baptizo can mean cleansing or ritual washing as well as immersion.
A similar range of meanings can be seen when baptizo
is used metaphorically. Sometimes a figurative "baptism" is a sort of "immersion";
but not always. For example, speaking of his future suffering and death,
Jesus said, "I have a baptism [baptisma] to be baptized [baptizo]
with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!" (Luke 12:50)
This might suggest that Christ would be "immersed" in suffering. On the
other hand, consider the case of being "baptized with the Holy Spirit."
In Acts 1:4–5 Jesus charged his disciples "not
to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which,
he said, ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many
days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’" Did this mean they would
be "immersed" in the Spirit? No: three times Acts 2 states that the Holy
Spirit was poured out on them when Pentecost came (2:17, 18, 33,
emphasis added). Later Peter referred to the Spirit falling upon
them, and also on others after Pentecost, explicitly identifying these
events with the promise of being "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts
11:15–17). These passages demonstrate that the meaning of baptizo
is broad enough to include "pouring."
Christian Baptism
The Fundamentalist contention that baptizo
always means immersion is an oversimplification. This is especially true
because in Christian usage the word had a highly particular meaning distinct
from the term’s ordinary, everyday usage.
The same principle can be seen with other special
Christian terms, such as "Trinity" and "agape" (divine love), that
were originally ordinary Greek words with no special religious significance.
The earliest evidence of anyone referring to God as a "Trinity" is a letter
by Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autolycum [A.D. 181]). Before
the Christian usage, a "trinity" (triad in Greek) was simply any
group of three things.
However, as Christians made theological use of
the term, it quickly gained a new, technical sense, referring specifically
to the three persons of the Godhead. When Christians professed that God
is a "Triad," they did not mean a group of three gods, but one God in three
persons. Here, an everyday word was being used in a special, theological
sense.
The same is true of agape, originally a
general term for any sort of "love" very much like the English word. But it quickly became used in Christian circles as the name of a common fellowship (love) meal among Christians (cf. Jude 12).
In the same way, baptizo acquired a specialized
Christian usage distinct from its original meaning. In fact, it already
had a complex history of specifically religious usages even before Christians
adopted it. Long before Jesus’ day, Gentile converts to Judaism were "baptized"
as well as circumcised. Then John the Baptist performed a "baptism of repentance"
for Jews as a dramatic prophetic gesture indicating that they were as much
in need of conversion as pagans. Through these usages baptizo acquired
associations of initiation, conversion, and repentance.
Given this history, it was natural for Jesus and
his followers to use the same word for Christian baptism, though it was
not identical either to the Jewish baptism or to that of John. But it is
completely misguided to try to determine the meaning of the word in its
Christian sense merely on the basis of ordinary secular usage. It would
be like thinking that the doctrine of the Trinity is polytheism or that
the New Testament exhortation to "love one another" means only to be fond
of each other. To understand what Christian baptism entailed, we must examine
not what the word meant in other contexts, but what it meant and how it
was practiced in a Christian context.
Inner and Outer Baptism
One important aspect of Christian baptism in the
New Testament is the clear relationship between being baptized with water
and being "baptized with the Holy Spirit", or "born again." This tract
is primarily concerned with the mode of baptism, not its effects
[Footnote: For more on the relationship between baptism and rebirth, see
John 3:5; Acts 2:38, 19:2–3, 22:16; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:11–12; Titus
3:5; and 1 Peter 3:21; and also the Catholic Answers tract Baptismal
Grace.]; but even non-Catholic Christians must admit that the New Testament
clearly associates water baptism with Spirit baptism and rebirth (even
if they do not interpret this relationship as cause and effect).
Right from the beginning, as soon as the Holy Spirit
was given on Pentecost, water and Spirit went hand in hand: "Repent, and
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts
2:38).
In Acts 10:44, the first Gentiles to whom Peter
preached received the Holy Spirit even before their water baptism. This
is always possible, for God is free to operate outside the sacraments as
well as within them. In this case it was fitting for the Spirit to be given
before baptism, in order to show God’s acceptance of believing Gentiles.
Even under these circumstances, however, the connection to water baptism
is still evident from Peter’s response: "Can anyone withhold the water
for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we
have?" (Acts 10:47).
Still later in Acts, when Paul found people who
did not have the Spirit, he immediately questioned whether they had received
Christian water baptism. Upon learning that they had not, he baptized them
and laid hands on them, and they received the Spirit (Acts 19:1–6).
These passages illustrate the connection between
water and Spirit first made by Jesus himself: "Unless a man is born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5).
Earlier we saw that the "baptism of the Holy Spirit"
was depicted as "pouring." But these passages show that the "baptism" or
"pouring" of the Spirit is itself closely related to water baptism.
This provides some balance to the Fundamentalist
argument that only baptism by immersion adequately symbolizes death and
resurrection with Jesus. It is true that immersion best represents
death and resurrection, bringing out more fully the meaning of the sacrament
than pouring or sprinkling (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church
1239). (Immersion is actually the usual mode of baptizing in the Catholic
Church’s Eastern rites.) On the other hand, pouring best represents
the infusion of the Holy Spirit also associated with water baptism.
And all three modes adequately suggest the sense of cleansing signified
by baptism. No one mode has exclusive symbolical validity over the others.
Physical Difficulties
After Peter’s first sermon, three thousand people
were baptized in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41). Archaeologists have demonstrated
there was no sufficient water supply for so many to have been immersed.
Even if there had been, the natives of Jerusalem would scarcely have let
their city’s water supply be polluted by three thousand unwashed bodies
plunging into it. These people must have been baptized by pouring or sprinkling.
Even today practical difficulties can render immersion
nearly or entirely impossible for some individuals: for example, people
with certain medical conditions—the bedridden; quadriplegics; individuals
with tracheotomies (an opening into the airway in the throat) or in negative
pressure ventilators (iron lungs). Again, those who have recently undergone
certain procedures (such as open-heart surgery) cannot be immersed, and
may not wish to defer baptism until their recovery (for example, if they
are to undergo further procedures).
Other difficulties arise in certain environments.
For example, immersion may be nearly or entirely impossible for desert
nomads or Eskimos. Or consider those in prison—not in America, where religious
freedom gives prisoners the right to be immersed if they desire—but in
a more hostile setting, such as a Muslim regime, where baptisms must be
done in secret, without adequate water for immersion.
What are we to do in these and similar cases? Shall
we deny people the sacrament because immersion is impractical or impossible
for them? Ironically, the Fundamentalist, who acknowledges that baptism
is commanded but thinks it isn’t essential for salvation, may make it impossible
for many people to be baptized at all in obedience to God’s command. The
Catholic, who believes baptism confers grace and is normatively necessary
for salvation, maintains that God wouldn’t require a form of baptism that,
for some people, is impossible.
Baptism in the Early Church
That the early Church permitted pouring instead
of immersion is demonstrated by the Didache, a Syrian liturgical
manual that was widely circulated among the churches in the first few centuries
of Christianity, perhaps the earliest Christian writing outside the New
Testament.
The Didache was written around A.D. 70 and,
though not inspired, is a strong witness to the sacramental practice of
Christians in the apostolic age. In its seventh chapter, the Didache
reads, "Concerning baptism, baptize in this manner: Having said all these
things beforehand, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit in living water [that is, in running water, as in a
river]. If there is no living water, baptize in other water; and, if you
are not able to use cold water, use warm. If you have neither, pour water
three times upon the head in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
These instructions were composed either while some of the apostles and
disciples were still alive or during the next generation of Christians,
and they represent an already established custom.
The testimony of the Didache is seconded
by other early Christian writings. Hippolytus of Rome said, "If water is
scarce, whether as a constant condition or on occasion, then use whatever
water is available" (The Apostolic Tradition, 21 [A.D. 215]). Pope
Cornelius I wrote that as Novatian was about to die, "he received baptism
in the bed where he lay, by pouring" (Letter to Fabius of Antioch
[A.D. 251]; cited in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6:4311).
Cyprian advised that no one should be "disturbed
because the sick are poured upon or sprinkled when they receive the Lord’s
grace" (Letter to a Certain Magnus 69:12 [A.D. 255]). Tertullian
described baptism by saying that it is done "with so great simplicity,
without pomp, without any considerable novelty of preparation, and finally,
without cost, a man is baptized in water, and amid the utterance of some
few words, is sprinkled, and then rises again, not much (or not at all)
the cleaner" (On Baptism, 2 [A.D. 203]). Obviously, Tertullian
did not consider baptism by immersion the only valid form, since he says
one is only sprinkled and thus comes up from the water "not much (or not
at all) the cleaner."
Ancient Christian Mosaics Show Pouring
Then there is the artistic evidence. Much of the
earliest Christian artwork depicts baptism—but not baptism by immersion!
If the recipient of the sacrament is in a river, he is shown standing
in the river while water is poured over his head from a cup or shell. Tile
mosaics in ancient churches and paintings in the catacombs depict
baptism by pouring. Baptisteries in early cemeteries are clear witnesses
to baptisms by infusion. The entire record of the early Church—as shown
in the New Testament, in other writings, and in monumental evidence—indicates
the mode of baptism was not restricted to immersion.
Other archaeological evidence confirms the same
thing. An early Christian baptistery was found in a church in Jesus’ hometown
of Nazareth, yet this baptistery, which dates from the second century,
was too small and narrow in which to immerse a person.
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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