Commentators have been puzzled by the plural in Heb. 6.2.
The author refers to βαπτισομαι διδαχης επιθεσις τε χειρων. Gräßer rightly
rejects the view that the author is referring to Jewish rites and suggests in
view of the close connection between baptism and laying on of hands the
following: "Es kann sich dann nur um einen uns nicht mehr näher bekannten
Initiationsritus handeln, der möglicherweise aus wiederholtem Untertauchen und
der Handauflegung bestand". [RB: It can then only be an initiation rite
that we no longer know in detail, which may have consisted of repeated
immersion and the laying on of hands] But Weiß believes that one cannot
exclude the idea that "unter den Adressaten des Hebr die akute Gefahr
bestand, die Taufe mehrfach zu vollziehen bzw. an sich vollziehen zu
lassen". [RB: There was an acute danger among the addressees of Hebrews
that they would perform baptism several times or have it performed on
themselves] If the reference is to repeated baptism, it is striking that
the author does not condemn such practices but rather encourages the addressees
to move on to spiritual maturity! The idea of a repeated baptism, although
it would be highly problematic for Paul, does not seem to be so great a problem
for the author of Hebrews. Indeed it could cohere with his view of how
the believer is related to Christ. A repeated baptism could fit in with the
author's mythical view of identical repetition. There is a once-for-all
sacrifice but there can be repeated baptisms. I suggest that baptism in
Hebrews does not have the fundamental existential role it had in Paul. It seems
likely that if the author did not have the idea of an existential displacement
through the death of Christ, neither would he have it in regard to baptism. (Richard
H. Bell, Deliver Us from Evil Interpreting the Redemption from the Power of
Satan in New Testament Theology [Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen
Testament 216; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007], 316-17, emphasis in bold added)
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