Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Robert P. Booth on βαπτιζω Denoting Bodily Immersion



And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. (Luke 11:38)

Commenting on the use of the verb βαπτιζω in this passage, Robert P. Booth wrote the following, showing how it is the accepted conclusion of most of scholarship that βαπτιζω, in both profane and sacred usages denotes immersion:

 . . .in Luke, the Pharisee is surprised that before the meal Jesus οὐ πρῶτον ἐβαπτίσθη. He aorist passive ἐβαπτίσθη literally means ‘was dipped (or immersed)’, which implies the whole body.

We think Luke means immersion of the whole body since he uses the verb βαπτιζω in describing John’s baptizing in his ch. 3, and John had adapted the Jewish ritual tebilah in which the body was immersed. The verb is an intensive or iterative form of the verb βαπτω both of which mean to dip or immerse (Bauer, s.v.). Thus at 2 Kings 5.14 (LXX) Naman ἐβαπτίσατο ἐν τῷ Ιορδάνῃ. A Luke 11:38 the verb implies the body and not the hands, since in the NT the verb νιπω is used for the washing of the hands (e.g. Mark 7.3; Mt. 15.2) and the face (Mt. 6.17), but not the body. (Robert P. Booth, Jesus and the Laws of Purity: Tradition History and Legal History in Mark 7 [Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 13; Sheffield: Sheffield University Press, 1986], 24)

The other instances of ἐβαπτίσθη as used elsewhere in the New Testament are used with respect to the ordinance of baptism:

And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized (ἐβαπτίσθη) of John in Jordan. (Mark 1:9)

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it has been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized (ἐβαπτίσθη). (Acts 9:18)

And when she was baptized (ἐβαπτίσθη), and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. (Acts 16:15)

And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed (λουω) their stripes; and was baptized (ἐβαπτίσθη), he and all his, straightway. (Acts 16:33)