Incorporation by water in the Second Testament

Mark 1:4-11: John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Acts 9:17-18: Ananias went his way and entered the house.  Putting his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you in the way as you came has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight, and arose, and was baptized.

Incorporation by blood in the Second Testament

Mark 10:35-40: And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Master, we would that you do for us whatever we desire.”  And he said to them, “What would you like me to do for you?”  They said unto him, “Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your right hand, and the other on your left hand, in your glory.”  But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.  Can ye (?)drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”  They said unto him, “We can.” And Jesus said unto them, “You shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.  But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, for it shall be given them for whom it is prepared.”

The Didache, a handbook of early Christian pastoral practice that dates from the end of the first century and is very close to the apostolic period, says this in Chapter 7:

Concerning baptism, baptize in this way: Having first said all these things [found in the first 6 chapters, regarding how Christians were to live], baptize into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in running water. But if you have no running water, baptize into other water.  If you cannot baptize in cold water, then use warm water.  And if you have either, pour water three times upon the head in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, before baptism, let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whoever else can. Either way, you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.

Tertullian was from North Africa and lived at the end of the 2nd century.  In one of his books, The Crown, in chapter 3, he defended a number of traditions handed down but not found in scripture that he believed were nevertheless authoritative or valid.  He describes some of these practices of Christian life from his day.  Here is an excerpt:

I shall begin with baptism. When we are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. Then when we are taken up (as new-born children) we taste first of all a mixture of milk and honey, and from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week. We take also, in congregations before daybreak, and from the hand of none but the presidents, the sacrament of the Eucharist, which the Lord both commanded to be eaten at meal-times, and enjoined to be taken by all alike, men and women, rich and poor.  As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honors. We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord’s Day to be unlawful. We rejoice in the same privilege also from Easter to Pentecost. We feel pained should any wine or bread, even though our own, be cast upon the ground.  At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign.

Excursus:  Canon 57 of the Council of Trullo, which followed up on the 6th Ecumenical Council of 682, centuries later explicitly forbid the use of milk and honey on the altar.

Baptism by blood meant martyrdom.  Martyrs were believed to have been baptized by their own blood.  The point of incorporation was entry into the eternal body of the church, and held in the memory of the living.  Ironically, then, they were incorporated in a new and deeper way into the body of Christ, which was also the church, precisely because they became absent in their physical body.

Origen was a contemporary of Tertullian at the end of the 2nd century who lived in Alexandria, in Egypt.  He is widely regarded as being one of the most important theologians in the life of the Christian movement throughout history.  In his Commentary on Genesis, “Book 3,” on Genesis 2:15 Origen writes: “Those who are being begotten again through divine baptism are placed in paradise, that is, the church.”

In his book Exhortation to Martyrdom, paragraph 30, Origen writes:  “Consider the baptism of martyrdom, that even as the Savior’s martyrdom brought purification to the world, martyrdom becomes a healing of the many who are being purified.”

Cyril of Jerusalem: In some places in the first centuries candidates for baptism were prepared by being anointed with oil, which was understood to be a sign of their repentance.  In others the anointing with olive oil (chrism) came after baptism, and was understood to be the “sealing” of the Spirit.  In the second half of the 4th century, Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, wrote down the lectures he gave to candidates preparing for baptism and church membership.  Cyril tells us about the anointing of oil both before and after water baptism.  Here are longer sections from his Catechetical Lecture XX in which he explains to those who had already undergone baptism by water what the meaning of the various parts of the service.  Note at the end of the passage that for Cyril, baptism does not just bring about remission of sins and incorporation into the body of the church; it also incorporates one into the sufferings of Christ.

1.  These daily introductions into the mysteries (μυσταγωγίαι.), and new instructions, which are the announcements of new truths, are profitable to … all to you who have been renewed from an old state to a new.  … The renunciation and the profession of faith were made in the outer chamber or vestibule of the baptistery.

2.  As soon, then, as you entered, you put off your tunic; and this was an image of putting off the old person with his or her deeds.  Having stripped yourselves, you were naked, imitating Christ who was stripped naked on the cross….

3.  After you were stripped, you were anointed from the very hairs of your head to your feet with exorcised oil, and were made partakers of the good olive tree, Jesus Christ.  For you were cut off from the wild olive tree and grafted into the good one, and were made to share the fatness of the true olive tree.  The exorcised oil therefore was a symbol of the participation of the fatness of Christ, being a charm to drive away every trace of hostile influence.  For as the breathing of the saints, and the invocation of the name of God, like fiercest flame, scorch and drive out evil spirits, so also this exorcised oil receives such virtue by the invocation of God and by prayer, not only to burn and cleanse away the traces of sins, but also to chase away all the invisible powers of the evil one.

4.  After these things, you were led to the holy pool of divine baptism, as Christ was carried from the Cross to the sepulchre which is before our eyes.  And each of you was asked whether he or she believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and you made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also hinting by a symbol at the three days burial of Christ

5.  Let no one then suppose that Baptism is merely the grace of remission of sins, or further, that of adoption, as John’s was a baptism conferring only remission of sins.  For we know full well, that as baptism purges our sins, and ministers to us the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is also the counterpart to the sufferings of Christ.  On this point Paul cried aloud and said, “Or are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into his death.”  These words [Paul] spoke to some who were disposed to think that baptism ministers to us the remission of sins and adoption, but does not further our fellowship, by representation, in Christ’s true sufferings.

In Lecture XXI Cyril continues:

1. Having been baptized into Christ, and put on Christ you have been made conformable to the Son of God; for God having foreordained us unto adoption as sons and daughters, made us to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory.  Having therefore become partakers of Christ you are properly called christs, and of you God said, “Touch not my Christs [anointed ones].  Now you have been made christs by receiving the antitype [ἀντίτυπον, “copy” or “figure”] of the Holy Spirit, and all things have been accomplished in you by imitation [εἰκονικῶς] because you are images of Christ.  He washed in the river Jordan, and having imparted the fragrance of his divinity to the waters, as he came up from them, the Holy Spirit in the fullness of his being lighted on him, like resting upon like.  And to you in a similar manner, after you came up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an anointing, which was the anti-type of that with which Christ was anointed.  This is the Holy Spirit of whom also the blessed Isaiah in his prophecy respecting him, said in the person of the Lord, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.  He has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor.”

The body into which the person was incorporated by water, oil and Spirit was represented or figured as a loaf of bread or a common cup of wine.

I Corinthians 10:16-17: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  For we being many are one loaf of bread, one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.

I Corinthians 11:23-26: For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Acts 2:42-47: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.  All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.  Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

The Didache, Chapter 9:  Now regarding the eucharist, give thanks in this way.  First concerning the cup:  “We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant.  To you belongs the glory for ever.”  And concerning the broken bread:  “We thank you, our Father, for the life and knowledge which you made known to us through Jesus your servant.  To you belongs the glory for ever.  As this broken bread was scattered over the mountains, and was brought together to become one, so let your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom, for the glory and the power are yours through Jesus Christ forever.”  But let none eat or drink of your eucharist except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord.  For concerning this the Lord said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs.”