Baptize - How?

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 (All day)

How should you be baptized? Did you know that Jesus set the example. What was it?

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[Steve Myers] Have you ever baptized anything? I have and it was an interesting experience and I'll tell you about it in just a minute. But what does baptize really mean?

For someone, you say that it means to sprinkle or to others it means to pour as they make a commitment to God. But did you know that the word that baptize comes from in the Greek is not a word that means sprinkling or pouring? It means to immerse, completely immerse.

We had talked the other day about the example of Jesus Christ—that we need to be baptized following His example. And He set that example even in the way that He was baptized, in the method that He was baptized. We can read about that over in Matthew 3:16. It says, "When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water." So here was Jesus Christ, He was completely immersed. He was completely under the water. And that word in the Greek, baptizo , means to be immersed.

Now, one of the interesting things that I had happen to me was is I had some clothes baptized. Now, you might say, what in the world are you talking about? Well, I was washing some white clothes, trying to do a favor for some of the family members. And I had accidently got a red shirt in with the white clothes. And of course you wash those things on hot, you know what happened. Everything turned pink. Did you know, I baptized those white shirts, turning them pink. What do I mean by that? Part of the way that the Greeks use this word, baptizo, was to dye clothes. They would take some material, whether it be cloth or a shirt, or whatever, and they would dye it by totally immersing that garment or that piece of cloth in the dye, totally changing its color.

And so they couldn't just put a part of it in. They just couldn't pour the dye over the cloth. They had to totally immerse it. And there's a connection there in the way that word baptizo was used for the Greeks and the way that it's used in the Bible. We need to be totally immersed because we need to change who we are. And that has everything to do with the meaning and the method of baptism.

Now, there's a lot to talk about this subject and we'll get into this more in future BT Dailies . Thanks for joining us.

7 comments
Submitted on May 9, 2012, 1:28 pm

linda effenberger

linda effenberger's picture

Thank you, Mr. Myers! I never knew that the word for baptism was associated with dyeing cloth. This BT Daily was a great teaching lesson for me.



Submitted on May 12, 2012, 4:27 am

stylish

stylish's picture

Okay, if i go to the beach, and go ankle deep into the water, when i get out of the water, can I say, I came out of the water? Same if I am in knee deep, waist deep, chest high or completey immersed, in all cases the Term will used will be "Came out of the water".
In Scriptures, did the 3000 people rush to the waters to get baptised? Did the Jailor rush to a pond with his family? scripture does not tell us this, so why do we think what the scripture is not intending for us to think?



Submitted on May 15, 2012, 12:58 pm

Ivan Veller

Ivan Veller's picture

Hello Stylish, Paul compares baptism with burial (Romans 6:11) to indicate our lifelong commitment to leave our former way of conduct 'dead and buried' at baptism. We do not yield only parts of our lives--a limb or two--to God. Instead, through immersion we show our desire to place our entire being under God's guidance. Just as the waters wash away dirt from all parts of our bodies, the blood of Christ washes away sin from all parts of our lives. Likewise, bodily emergence from the waters signifies our commitment to the process of total spiritual transformation for the glory of God:

"Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God" (Romans 6:13, NLT 2007).

For more information, please consult:

http://www.ucg.org/booklet/road-eternal-life/water-baptism-and-laying-hands/

http://www.ucg.org/booklet/transforming-your-life-process-conversion/why-be-baptized/how-baptisms-meaning-and-method-ar/

http://www.ucg.org/booklet/fundamental-beliefs/water-baptism-and-laying-hands/



Submitted on Dec 19, 2012, 1:05 pm

irini_limaj

irini_limaj's picture

So I live thousands miles away and I have no one to baptize except for catholic or orthodox church and I don't think I should be baptized by them also cause for them it means that I agree with everything they say and that I will be part of the church afterwards...Now how can I get baptized? your church doesn't have any representatives here...any ideas?



Submitted on Dec 20, 2012, 4:35 pm

Sabrina Peabody

Sabrina Peabody's picture

Hi irini-limag,

I would go to "Contact" in the upper-right hand corner of the website, then "Find a Congregation" and then call the minister that is closest to your area. You can discuss options with him :)



Submitted on Dec 20, 2012, 8:22 pm

irini_limaj

irini_limaj's picture

thanks, they already sent me the email address of someone in a neighboring country. I will contact him soon. will see...



Submitted on Jan 16, 2013, 11:21 am

Apostle81

Apostle81's picture

Hi, What do you say when you immerse someone? Does it matter?

Thanks



Submitted on Jan 17, 2013, 7:21 am

Ivan Veller

Ivan Veller's picture

Hello Apostle81,

Part of the baptism ceremony is based on 1 Corinthians 12:27 and Ephesians 2:19-22: http://www.ucg.org/booklet/road-eternal-life/staying-course/were-baptize...



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