Mateus 3

Mateus 3

Barclay - “Baptism was for sinners, and no Jew ever conceived of himself as a sinner shut out from God. Now for the first time in their national history the Jews realized their own sin and their own clamant need of God. Never before had there been such a unique national movement of penitence and of search for God.” (Matthew 3) Were being baptized (907)(baptizo from bapto = cover wholly with a fluid; stain or dip as with dye; used of the smith tempering the red-hot steel, used of dyeing the hair; of a ship that "dipped" = sank) has a literal and a figurative meaning in the NT. The literal meaning is to submerge, to dip or immerse as in water. A study of the 77 NT uses reveals that most of the uses of baptizo in the Gospels and Acts are associated with literal water baptism. Mark uses baptizo 4x in this section (Mk 1:4, 5, 8, 9 - twice in v8). All of Matthew's uses - Matt. 3:6; Matt. 3:11; Matt. 3:13; Matt. 3:14; Matt. 3:16; Matt. 28:19 The Greeks used baptizo to describe the dyeing of a garment, in which the whole material was plunged in and taken out from the element used. Baptizo was used of the act of sinking ships. Baptizo also meant to bathe of a boat which had been wrecked by being submerged and then stranded on the shore. Figuratively, baptizo pictures the introduction or placing of a person or thing into a new environment or into union with something else so as to alter its condition or its relationship to its previous environment or condition. In this sense baptizo means to be identified with. In some contexts baptizo meant to wash ceremonially for purpose of purification (washing of cups - Mk 7:4, Lk 11:38+ = This custom before meals, prescribed by the Pharisees, was not required by the original Mosaic law. See Ritual Washing in Judaism). Jesus used this verb figuratively to alert his disciples to a coming baptism of suffering ("They [disciples] said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized." (Mk 10:39+). This describes them in a sense as “immersed” or “covered over” with suffering (cf Lk 12:50+)! The baptism of John the Baptist was for repentance and was associated with John calling for the people to believe in Jesus (Acts 19:4+) (cf, Mt 3:6, Mk 1:4, 5). In Lk 7:29+ "When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John." This suggests that they were saved. Contrast those in Lk 7:30+ "But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected [atheteo] God’s purpose [boule] for themselves, not having been baptized [baptizo] by John." Note that it was not the fact that John baptized in water that they were saved but those who were in fact saved were saved based on their repentance and their belief in Jesus (Who was coming). Those who were genuinely saved exercised faith in the truth they knew of Messiah (before the Cross), which is how all Old Testament saints were saved. (See comments by Bock and MacArthur below) IDENTIFICATION - James Montgomery Boice helps understand this figurative meaning of baptizo writing that "The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptizing the vegetable, produces a permanent change. When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism... mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with Him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle!" (Bolding added) Warren