GordonMoyes.com

Traditionally many arguments of “Paedo-baptism” churches (those baptising children usually by sprinkling) against the practise of “Believers’ baptism” churches (those baptising only those professing personal belief usually by total immersion) have concerned the amount of water used in the first century church.

It was argued that in an extremely dry country like Israel, total immersion was [...]

Recent discoveries have dramatically increased our knowledge of the water storage capacity in Jerusalem, and other centres in Israel during the New Testament period, which impinge upon previously held ideas about Jewish libations. The most common form of water catchment and holding was the cistern. It was commonly a pear-shaped reservoir into which water could [...]

It was less than forty years ago that the first mikveh was found by an archaeologist, and it aroused a tremendous amount of emotion in Jewish quarters. In 1963 the top Israeli archaeologist, Yigael Yadin, commenced excavations on Herod’s fortress of Masada, on the west short of the Dead Sea. During these excavations he unearthed [...]

The Jewish separatist movement, perhaps the Essenes, at Qumran emphasised periodic cleansing in water as a means of receiving spiritual sanctification as outlined in “The Manual of Discipline” (III,4; IV,20). Two rock-hewn cisterns lined with a plaster coating were uncovered during excavations.

One of these was long and deep, having fourteen stone steps at one end [...]

Here we come to one of the most fascinating insights from contemporary archaeology. For centuries paedobaptists have argued that Jerusalem, on the top of Mount Zion, could not possess enough water for the immersion of 3000 people who obeyed Peter’s injunction on the day of Pentecost: “Repent and be baptised, everyone of you, in the [...]

We need to look at how this evidence effects our understanding of the person of John the Baptist and his mode of baptism. John is commonly credited with having introduced baptism as a rite of purification at the time of Jesus Christ, although any who knew contemporary Jewish rites would not make this claim.

John was [...]

Jesus was baptised Himself by John and immediately started gaining disciples and baptising them – although John’s Gospel points out that it was his disciples who had been baptised by John who baptised others. This lay conduct of baptism is in line with the practise of proselyte baptism which required a witness, but not necessarily [...]

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 [...]

One final point of note is of interest: the growing practise among Orthodox Jews to reinstate the Mikva’ot and the archaeological search near synagogues in a score of countries. In a striking co-incidence, I read in an American airport the following newspaper article: “The mikveh, or ritual bath of purification, is among the oldest of [...]