Did you know that Baptism was a part of the Jewish religion, that it was not a Christian invention?

Answer 1

Yes,Christianity gets its roots from Judaism. Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist.

Matthew 3:1-17
1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

5Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,

6And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Answer 2

Yes, I learned two things about the history of Christian baptism this past year.

One was from reading a book by Lauren Winner called Girl Meets God---its about a reformed Jew who becomes an orthodox jew, and then meets Jesus (in the context of Anglican Christianity.) Anyway, when she converted to Orthodox Judaism, she had to take a Mikvah bath. She had to be completely undressed ( a woman oversaw the operation, the male rabbi was not looking, it was all very decent) and couldn't have any scabs on her skin or food stuck to her teeth. Every single bit of her had to be able to touch the waters of the Mikvah, the ritual bath.

This came as no surprise because I'd known since early childhood that Jews were already baptizing at the time of Christ. After all, Jesus came (at the beginning of his own ministry) to John the Baptist, who was baptizing Jews, to be baptized. What was interesting to me though, was how much more baptism in the early Christian church resembled the mikvah than it does now.

That's right, in the early days of the Christian church, people were baptized in the nude. Those are the two things I learned about Christian baptism this year.

Answer 3

2 Kings 5:14 - Naaman dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, and his flesh was restored like that of a child. This foreshadows the regenerative function of baptism, by water and the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 44:3 - the Lord pours out His water and His Spirit. Water and the Spirit are linked to baptism. The Bible never separates them.

Ezek. 36:25-27 - the Lord promises He will sprinkle us with water to cleanse us from sin and give us a new heart and spirit. Paul refers to this verse in Heb. 10:22. The teaching of Ezekiel foreshadows the salvific nature of Christian baptism instituted by Jesus and taught in John 3:5, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 3:21 and Acts 22:16.

Gen. 17:12, Lev. 12:3 - these texts show the circumcision of eight-day old babies as the way of entering into the Old Covenant - Col 2:11-12 - however, baptism is the new "circumcision" for all people of the New Covenant. Therefore, baptism is for babies as well as adults. God did not make His new Covenant narrower than the old Covenant. To the contrary, He made it wider, for both Jews and Gentiles, infants and adults.

Answer 4

Did you know Jews today will be baptized in the Spirit or come up short?

Water baptism went down stream and gone.

You will be baptized in the spirit through the spiritual Christ to enter the New Spiritual Kingdom in the New Spiritual Jerusalem. Gal.3

Answer 5

Yha, remember Jesus was baptissed by John? Whoever said it was a Christian invention?

I think the Druids baptised too.

Answer 6

Yes. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were both Jews, by birth and it is written in the first book of John, chapter 4, verse 22 that "SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS".

Answer 7

Yep its a Mikvah. Thats pretty much why John the Baptist baptized. IF you know why they were done it makes Jesus' even more interesting.

Answer 8

Actually the Jews borrowed it from the Egyptians.

Answer 9

Jesus is the only christian invention.

Answer 10

You should have started your question with the words ...............
" NEWS FLASH " ,I may be wrong but I think that John the Baptist was a Jew , John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

Answer 11

Pagans do it too. Remember the story of Archiles?