Subject: Explanations of difficult verses |
Bible Note: Post #1 Meanings of the word baptizo Emmaus, This will have to come to you in two posts.I have read a few posts from you and realize you are catholic. The information you have supplied is interesting but to put your faith in writings that are not inspired and conflict with that which IS inspired IS very dangerous. "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 [Jesus] did not first wash [baptizo] before dinner." No one in ancient Israel practiced immersion before dinner, but 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. Luke 11:38 What is the setting? Jesus is having dinner with a Pharisee. Jesus does not wash prior to eating. Why? From what I have learned the Pharisee's (at least some) were so avid about washing that some would wash IN BETWEEN BITES! Jesus, as a means to show the blatant perversion of the law, proved to this Pharisee and others who may have been there that this behavior was wrong. "Pharisees were punctilious in observing the laws regarding ceremonial purity. For this reason, they could not purchase items of food or drink from a “sinner” for fear of ceremonial defilement. Nor could a Pharisee eat in the house of a sinner, although he might entertain the sinner in his own home. Under such circumstances, the Pharisee would provide the sinner with clothes to wear, for the sinner’s clothes might be ceremonially impure." After the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish rabbis began to make meticulous rules and regulations governing the daily life of th people. These were interpretations and applications of the law of Moses, handed down from generation to generation.(NIV footnote, Zondervan)." Pharisees were known to be "keepers of the law" yet they abhorred sinners, the very people they should have ministered to. Jesus taught the Pharisees many a lesson on many an occasion. In any case, the setting has a lot to do with the use of the word. Sometimes a figurative "baptism" is a sort of "immersion"; but not always. "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." " The key here is this is "figurative" language. The Holy Spirit could neither be poured nor sprinkled, and one could not "physically" be immersed into the Holy Spirit because its a spirit! The language is used here to denote an overwhelming presence felt by the apostles as though they were immersed in the Spirit of God. |