In
a previous post, "Baptism being salvific: Thetypological evidence,” I quoted from a Church of Christ author, John M.
Hicks who discussed how baptism is the antitype of various aspects of Old
Testament worship and practices, and how such is tied into baptism being salvific. I recently
encountered another discussion on typology by a Catholic apologist, Jacob
Michaels, who used to be associated with Robert Sungenis who authored Not by Faith Alone (Queenship, 1997), a
wonderful book refuting sola fide. The article is entitled, "Baptism:
the Laver of Regeneration"; the relevant section reads as follows:
Jesus Himself gave us the example of
what baptism does, a living lesson in action:
"And Jesus being baptized,
forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to
him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and
coming upon him. And behold a voice from heaven saying: This is my belovedSon,
in whom I am well pleased." (Mt. 3:16-17)
In this passage, we see again those three connected
elements of receiving baptism: there is water, there is the Holy Ghost, and
there is sonship with God. Jesus passes through this rite both to sanctify the
waters of baptism with His presence, as well as to show us what is truly
happening at every baptism. As we come up out of the waters of baptism, we receive
the Holy Ghost, and are declared to be "children of God." No better
living picture-lesson could be expected than this one.
In fact, this event is foreshadowed
twice in Genesis, once in the initial creation story, and once in Noah's flood
(which St. Peter alluded to in the passage cited at the beginning of this
essay). The parallels between the Genesis narratives and baptism are clear: a
"new creation" rises up out of the water, and the Holy Ghost hovers
over the whole event, present at the moment of regeneration. The Spirit of God
hovered over the waters at creation. Noah sent out a dove (the symbol of the
Holy Spirit) to fly over the waters after the flood. All shadows of the real
thing.
It is here that we begin to get into
the more allegorical passages. Baptism in the New Covenant was prophesied by
the prophets, who spoke of the coming day when God would wash His people and
cleanse them from their sin. Ezekiel is one of the those prophets:
"And I will pour upon you clean
water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness,
and I will cleanse you from all your idols. And I will give you a new
heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I
will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my
commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezek. 36:25-27)
Although it is a prophecy, the meaning can hardly
be misunderstood. The imagery of water and cleansing is prominent, and it comes
hand-in-hand with a new heart and a new spirit. This corresponds perfectly to
all that the apostles claimed about baptism, that in that pouring out of water,
the sinner received a new heart, and a new spirit, the Spirit of God, came upon
him. This type of imagery is also used in Isaiah:
"Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and
extolled, and shall be exceeding high. As many have been astonished at thee, so
shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men. He
shall sprinklemany nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they
to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have
beheld." (Is. 52:13-15)
What would be the meaning of "he shall
sprinkle many nations," if it is not a reference to the New Covenant
baptism instituted by "my servant," Our Lord Himself?
We see another foreshadowing by way of
typology in the story of Naaman, the man stricken with leprosy who went to
Elisha for a cure. The prophet told him to dip in the Jordan river seven times,
and Naaman stormed off, angry and feeling like the object of a joke. We read:
"His servants came to him, and
said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely
thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash,
and thou shalt be clean? Then he went down, and washed in the
Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh
was restored, like the flesh of a little child: and he was made
clean." (2 Kings 5:13-14)
There are several things to be drawn out of this story, things which can
illuminate our understanding of baptism which has already been established by
the plain words of the apostles and Our Lord. The fact that Naaman dips seven
times is significant, for "seven" is a Hebrew word that also means
"to swear an oath," or "to make a covenant." Seven is used
as a symbol of covenant many times in Scripture (Gen. 2:2-3, Gen. 21:28-33,
Gen. 29:18, etc.), and baptism is the doorway into the New Covenant, just as
circumcision was for the Old (that is why St. Paul makes the comparison, among
other reasons). Also, it should be noted that Naaman's skin after washing is
described as being "like the flesh of a little child," which would
correspond to the idea of being "born again," or "born
anew" through baptism. There are also a few other similarities that could
be further developed, such as Elijah as a type of John the Baptist (2 Kg. 1:8,
Mal. 4:5, Mt. 11:14), whose successor (Elisha) would correspond to John the
Baptist's successor (Jesus). Elijah is last seen at the Jordan river (2 Kg.
2:7-14), whereas John the Baptist first appears at the Jordan river, doing -
what else? - baptizing repentant sinners. However, John's baptism cannot effect
what only Jesus' baptism can, and so it is appropriate that it is Jesus'
anti-type, Elisha, be the one to instruct Naaman to perform this typological
action at the Jordan river.
Another
relevant text would be 1 Pet 3:20-21 that is exegeted here.
The biblical (as well as patristic) evidence for baptism being salvific, not a
mere symbol, is overwhelming; Evangelical opponents of this doctrine are guilty
of preaching a false gospel as this touches upon, not a “minor point of
difference,” but salvation itself (cf. Gal 1:6-9).
