First Century Baptism
It should now be clear that the baptisms conducted by the Jewish sects and by the Early Church were of believers, by voluntary choice, before witnesses, in sufficient quantities of water to accord with the traditions, in specially constructed mikva’ot or in running water and by total immersion. There is no evidence of any variation of this such as was developed by the church in later centuries in regard to the candidate, mode or meaning of the rite.
It would be helpful to consider further the link between Jewish proselyte baptism and Christian baptism. “The link is partly through circumcision, to which proselyte baptism had been added, and partly through the similarity of the two rites. The earliest Jewish references to proselyte baptism are “Greek Testament of Levi” (14:6) “The daughters of the gentiles shall ye take to wife, purifying them with lawful purifications”; “Sibylline Oracles” (4:165-67) “Bathe the whole body in ever-flowing streams, and reach your hands to heaven, praying forgiveness for these things that ye have done”; and Mishnah, Pesahim (8:8) “The school of Shammai say, If a man became a proselyte on the day before passover he may immerse himself and consume his passover offering in the evening; and the school of Hillel say, He that separates himself from his uncircumcision is as one that separates himself from a grave” (i.e. he remains unclean for a week). The most important facts to notice here are, first, that proselyte baptism is basically a lustration for the unclean; secondly, that since uncleanness may befall anybody, it is not just a religious duty of adult males, like so many of the religious duties of Judaism, but also of females; and thirdly, that it is spiritualised to refer to cleansing from moral impurity as well.” (“The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology”, Ed Colin Brown, Vol 1,p143-160).
These last three aspects were taken up in Christian baptism. Archaeological evidence to support this is found in the early Christian buildings where baptisteries for immersion are common. These baptisteries in early Christian churches in Israel, Turkey, Greece and Rome were built on the same principle as mikva’ot – small or large pools with steps down into which candidates could step to be immersed. At the corner of the old church of St John Lateran in Rome is a large baptismal pool.
The old church of St Mary in ancient Ephesus, and also the Church of St John, has a baptistery similar to a mikveh. An old Greek church in Thessalonica also has such a baptistery, as does a fourth century Church outside the old city walls at Philippi by the River Ganga where Paul baptised Lydia (Acts 16:13-15). I have measured these baptisteries and all conform to the requirements of mikva’ot and interestingly, a number have divided steps apparently used by the candidate who entered the water leaving behind his old clothes, and exited, rising into new life as symbolised by the new white clothes warn by catechumens. Note the baptismal suggestions of Paul to the Colossians: “Put off…put on….clothe yourselves…”(Col.3).
