Baptism and Judaism

[danfreed]

A little personal background...
Getting baptized in the Jordan river was one the highlights of our 40th anniversary trip to Israel in 2025.
My 1st baptism was in Pennsylvania in 1977, with Bishop Aaron Shank wetting my hair at the Rush (later Danville) Mennonite Church.
2nd baptism May 1, 2025, in the Jordan River, just like Jesus. Messianic Rabbi Jason Sobel's prayer of blessing after the baptism was very meaningful. Perhaps now I am now a real "anabaptist" meaning "rebaptizer" (from Greek ana- "again" and baptizein "to baptize")

Both experiences were memorable, but I do not trust in Shank, Sobel, or a water experience for eternal life.
Jesus Christ is my Savior, and I receive eternal life from Him alone. He has baptized me with a greater baptism than water (see Matthew 3:11)
I received the Lord Jesus as my Savior in 1976, believing that what He did on the cross and His resurrection was enough for me and all my needs.
I believe He can do this for anyone, anywhere who will trust in Him.

I have learned much about Jewish baptism during 2025, and found this article by Dan Price interesting.

https://www.foi.org/2023/06/02/baptism-and-judaism/

Excerpts include....
"All of the disagreements the church has had over the centuries about baptism might have been fewer if we had allowed Jewish immersion practice to inform our understanding of what the New Testament calls us to do.
As we wrestle with our practice of our Christian faith in Messiah, we must not ignore the fact that the Bible is thoroughly Jewish, written by Jewish men who trusted the God of Israel, who ultimately sent His Son to purchase our redemption and draw us to Himself."

What are your thoughts after reading the article?
Do you think understanding Jewish baptism practice would help us be less disagreeable?

[JohnH]

Yes, a an understanding of 1st century Jewish baptism practices would teach us:

- Full immersion is not necessary. The present day legalists in Jewish circles think every hair must be fully in water to be acceptable to God. But we think of John the Baptist, standing in the River Jordan, pouring water over a supplicant’s head.

- The right age for baptism is age 12, which is traditionally when the first miqvah would occur. This is also the understanding of the onset of adulthood and responsibility for one’s own sin. Babies were never baptised, which one one reason it is the “chiefest and highest abomination of the pope”.

- For women, many baptisms were needed - such as after every menstrual cycle. Christians are set free with the “schoolmaster” of the old Law, but if we try to follow some of it, we are guilty of all of it. In Jesus’ new kingdom, there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, at the altar rail for baptism.

- Baptisms were conducted stark naked (which the early church copied for a while). Jewish baptisms were conducted in a sex segregated manner. Christian baptisms for women for a while were conducted under the new moon at night to avoid indecency, but eventually present practice was adopted which allows all the men and women of a congregation to attend.

- Baptisms were normally presided over by a rabbi or a female assistant. Hence why baptisms are performed by bishop or other minister typically today.

- A spoken baptismal “formula” doesn’t seem to be necessary, but is simply part of a church’s tradition.

[JayP]

If ever the reply was more absurd than the original position.

[ken_sylvania]

If ever the reply was more absurd than the original position.

What is it about this site???

[eccentric_rambler]

But we think of John the Baptist, standing in the River Jordan, pouring water over a supplicant’s head.

And the source for this is?

[JohnH]

But we think of John the Baptist, standing in the River Jordan, pouring water over a supplicant’s head.

And the source for this is?

Virtually every attention of historical miqvah and baptisms at the time period, including early religious art.

The custom of Jewish full immersion came about from a bizarre belief that every single millimetre of hair carries uncleanness, and this belief eventually migrated from body hair to the head. In Arabic-Muslim culture people remove as much body hair as possibly since they have to be ritually baptised if they are unclean before praying. Arabic Catholics of the Western rite don’t live under that sort of bondage and simply are poured upon for baptism. Eastern rites do a full immersion at baptism, being more influenced by this “need to wet all the body hair” stuff.

[Soloist]

Chapter 7. Concerning Baptism. And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whoever else can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.

Wife: This is from the Didache, which doesn’t mention if they were all naked or not and predates the other mentions of it, so I am fine ignoring that practice.

[JimFoxvog]

Wife: This is from the Didache, which doesn’t mention if they were all naked or not and predates the other mentions of it, so I am fine ignoring that practice.

While I wouldn't require this ancient practice either, I think we need to try to understand the deep symbolism it communicated in a culture where nakedness was not routinely sexualized.

This symbolized that the entire body, the entire self, was being given over to God. It symbolized our poverty before God, a giving up of everything. This was a sign of humility.

It symbolized the imitation of Christ, who died naked on the cross.

It symbolized our rebirth, as innocent as a newborn.

These lessons are still important, even if our culture requires a different method of communication. The Jewish Mikveh, while still requiring the complete removal of everything covering the body, is now done in private (or often just one witness of the same sex). Baptism, being public and witnessed by the church community, seems more important than upholding admittedly valuable ancient tradition. These days we'd need a Godly change of heart or some would look at it sexually.

[JohnH]

Or just conduct baptisms in the dead of night during a new moon, which is what the early church did.

[ohio jones]

"What the early church did" is about as helpful as saying "what Anabaptists do" as if there is universal agreement. A smaller brush would allow for more accurate nuance.