Identifying the NT Church #15

A. In our last two lessons we discovered that Jesus and the apostles taught and practiced the doctrine called “baptism for the remission of sins.” It was one of the conditions necessary for salvation and being a Christian. Baptism is a part of the pattern given by God and followed by the 1st Century New Testament Church---the Church Christ Established on earth. It was the last step, or requirement, in God’s eternal purpose, by which man could enter covenant relationship with God and thus be saved from sin and receive the indwelling of the Holy spirit.
That baptism, was not only necessary, but it was singular in practice and uniqueness. There is only one baptism in it’s application and in it’s purpose. It was by immersion in water only, and it brought cleansing of sin and the reception of the Holy Spirit as our Covenant Seal. It was preceded by being taught the gospel; to create belief in Christ as God’s anointed Messiah; a resolute turning away form sin; Open confession of Christ with the mouth and lifestyle and being immersed in water for the remission of sins (cleansing of the new temple of God) so the new Christian could become the dwelling place of God.
But, in the last few hundred years, that pattern has been abandoned and replaced by man-made traditions and denominational doctrines. The result is three different practices called baptism. If there is as Paul says in, Eph. 4:5, “...One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism.” Why do we have three different kinds of baptism? The answer is found in History.
(A) The problem is in a concept known as “Translation failure.” And the failure is in
the difference between a Translation and a Transliteration. If sprinkling as
baptism is not a New Testament doctrine. And if it was neither taught nor
practiced by Christ, the apostles or the New Testament Church, where did we
get the word Baptism and what does it mean?
(1) We know the original Greek word Baptisma means to Immerse. But, what does the
English word BAPTISM mean? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines Baptism
as: "A sacrament of the Christian church, signalized by SPRINKLING with or
IMMERSION in water." This is the evolved modern?day meaning of the English
word Baptize. But it is not the meaning of the original Koine Greek word. Neither
is it the meaning of the modern classical Greek word. In the Greek language,
today or in any age, the word Baptisma still means IMMERSE. The English word
and the original Greek word sound alike but have different meanings. How can that
be?
(a) This is not hard to explain when you understand that our English word Baptism
is not a "Translation" of the Greek word "BAPTISMA." Instead of being a
translation, it is a "Transliteration" of the Greek word “Baptisma." There is a
great difference between a translation and a transliteration.
Translation: To explain, define, the meaning of a word in one language into the same meaning of the word in another language. It is to explain the word so it will mean exactly the same thing in both languages.

Transliteration: To write the phoenetic equivalent of another language's alphabet on the page instead of translating the word. Suppose I was translating a Greek text into the English language. And suppose I come to the Greek word "zoe." In Greek "zoe," means "life." I would not write in the English text, "...this is the only zoe I have." The correct translation would be, "...this is the only life I have." "Zoe" is a Transliteration of the Greek word. "Life" is the Translation of the word, into the English language. The meaning of the Greek word "zoe" cannot be translated into any language as anything except "LIFE."
The English word "Baptism" is not a translation. It is a Transliteration of the Greek word "baptisma." It is a word made by writing the English equivalent of the Greek alphabet----Beta, Alpha, Pi, Tau, Iota, Sigma, Mu, Alfa. The word is "baptisma." But with a transliteration we still do not know the TRUE meaning of the word. All we have done is create a new word in the English language with no meaning. All we have done is create a new English word pronounced Baptism. What is baptism? How do we define this new word baptism? It must be defined exactly like the word from which it was transliterated.(a) It MUST have the same meaning as the original language! And in the
same way, if you transliterate the Greek word "Baptisma" into the English
language it MUST have the same meaning in the English language as it had
in the Greek language. Therefore, "Baptism" must be understood to mean
"Immersion." It cannot be understood as sprinkling and still maintain the
original meaning, and intent of action, as the original.
An important history lesson. How did we end up with a transliteration instead of a translation? It happened in England during the reign of King James, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. In A.D. 1604, during a conference of the clergy and bishops of the Church of England, King James ordered the Scriptures to be translated into the English language. 47 men of special learning were chosen from churchmen, Puritans and scholars having no theological bias. In A.D. 16ll, these men produced what is called the "King James Version" of the Bible. In that version there appeared, for the first time, a new English word???"Baptism."
(B) This new word came into being because these 47 scholars faced a problem. In the Koine Greek manuscripts was this word Baptisma which meant "To Immerse." But King James was a member of the Church of England and this Anglican church did not immerse. Because of the Catholic departure, inherited by the Church of England when they broke with Catholicism in A.D. 1534, King James had never been Immersed in baptism, he had only been Sprinkled.
(1) These scholars would not sacrifice their scholastic integrity by saying the
word "Baptisma" meant "Sprinkle." That would make them the laughing stock of
the world. So they compromised. Instead of Translating the word, they
Transliterated the word by putting, in the text of the King James Bible, the English
equivalent of the Greek alphabet.
(a) Instead of the text reading, "...arise and be immersed..." they wrote, "...arise
and be baptized..." And they did that in every place where the word, or a
form of the word, Baptize appeared in the manuscripts.
That is how we got our English word Baptize and Baptism. The English word baptize is a Transliteration and not a Translation of the Greek word baptisma.

(2) Now, with that in mind Let the Scriptures speak. You do not have to know the original Greek language to understand the Bible. The Bible is self explanatory. Anyone can understand that baptism is an immersion in water just by reading the Bible. We must remember Jesus and His apostles never commanded anyone to be Sprinkled or Poured for the forgiveness of sins. You cannot sprinkle or pour a person without first reducing them to a liquid or granule form and that would kill them. But you can Immerse a person and that is exactly what Jesus commanded.
(1) Matt. 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38, "Repent and be immersed everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins..." Acts 8:36, 38?39, "...see, here is water; what hinders me being immersed?...and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he immersed him. And when they came up out of the water...." Jno. 3:23, "And John was immersing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and they came and were immersed." Rom. 6:3?4, "...do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Christ Jesus were immersed into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through immersion into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
(2) Please note the apolstolic warning in Gal. 1:6-8. (1 Tim.4:1-3; 2 Tim. 4:2-4;
2 Jno. 9-11). Since the baptism commanded and practiced by Jesus and His
apostles was always by Immersion, we must follow the same practice today.
This was the Covenant Command given by God. This practice allows baptism
to be exactly as Christ commanded it. And it truly symbolizes His death,
burial and resurrection as expressed in Rom. 6:3?6. (Jno. 12:48; 14:15). By
doing exactly what Christ commanded we can KNOW, without a doubt, that we
have fulfilled His commandment.
(3) Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep My commandments." When the New Testament Christians were baptized they were "immersed." They were immersed into Christ and into Covenant Fellowship with God. My friend, do you really love Jesus? Do you truly accept His authority and Lordship? Do you really honor, reverence and obey Him by keeping His commandments? Have you, without any doubt, been baptized the way Jesus commanded? When you were baptized did you obey Christ's Word or man?made tradition?
(4) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 08/11/2002 am