Total water submersion baptism or sprinkle? Does it really make any difference?

Question

Cant figure this one out.

Answer 1

You know what makes a difference? Where you heart is when it happens.... do you know what you are doing? Do you understand the significance? Are you truly making the public committment signified by baptism? Christ was blessed as a child in the temple... but His public committment to His ministry came at his baptism. My personal feeling is that the how is not as important as the why.

So many times we will quote biblical scriptures to "prove" our point... yet we'll ignore other biblical scriptures that tell us to do something we don't want to do.... or to stop doing something we DO want to do (grin).

I love the visual picture of baptising someone using a canteen of water.... I think that is powerful and that the soldier receiving the blessing got it in full.... regardless of the fact that there was not a body of water in which to baptize him by total immersion, I bet God saw his heart and blessed him anyway!!!!

Answer 2

Complete Immersion. From the definition of baptism as stated earlier, it is clear that baptism is complete immersion or submersion in water, not a mere pouring or sprinkling. The Bible examples of baptism corroborate this fact. Jesus was baptized in a sizable river, the Jordan, and after being baptized he came “up out of the water.” (Mr 1:10; Mt 3:13, 16) John selected a location in the Jordan Valley near Salim to baptize, “because there was a great quantity of water there.” (Joh 3:23) The Ethiopian eunuch asked to be baptized when they came to “a body of water.” They both “went down into the water.” Afterward they came “up out of the water.” (Ac 8:36-40) All these instances imply, not a small ankle-deep pool, but a large body of water into and out of which they would have to walk. Further, the fact that baptism was also used to symbolize a burial indicates complete submersion.—Ro 6:4-6; Col 2:12.

Historical sources show that the early Christians baptized by immersion. On this subject the New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967, Vol. II, p. 56) states: “It is evident that Baptism in the early Church was by immersion.” Larousse du XXe Siècle, Paris, 1928, says: “The first Christians received baptism by immersion everywhere where water was found.”

Answer 3

Matthew 3:13-17 Tells of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John.

Christ had to be formally inaugurated into the public discharge of his offices. For this purpose he came to John, who was the representative of the law and the prophets, that by him he might be introduced into his offices, and thus be publicly recognized as the Messiah of whose coming the prophecies and types had for many ages borne witness.

John refused at first to confer his baptism on Christ, for he understood not what he had to do with the "baptism of repentance." But Christ said, "'Suffer it to be so now,' NOW as suited to my state of humiliation, my state as a substitute in the room of sinners." Jesus' reception of baptism was not necessary on His own account. It was a voluntary act, the same as Jesus' act of becoming incarnate. Yet if the work Jesus had engaged to accomplish was to be completed, then it became Jesus to take on Himself the likeness of a sinner, and to fulfill all righteousness (Mat 3:15).

Total submersion baptism is following Jesus' act to the fullest.
Total submersion signifies the "death" of the old person in sin, to the rising out from under the water as the "rebirth" of a new person in Christ. It is a public proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ.

Some religions sprinkle babies and adults alike. But there is no Biblical basis for sprinkling babies, much less young people or adults. Nor is the practice following the teachings or the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Does it make a difference? Obviously so, to Almighty God and Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus have had John fully immerse Him under the water in the Jordan River, if a "sprinkle" of water over His head from the Jordan River would have served the same purpose?

Answer 4

I do not know of any Church or ecclesiastical group that Baptizes by sprinkling. In the Catholic Church we Baptize by immersion or pouring in the Trinitarian formula. Method is important but the amount of water is not. When in the military I baptized others with just a canteen of water. Since the word in the Greek for Baptism used in the Bible means to wash and the fact that there is no record in the Bible as to whether anyone was immersed or poured upon we must draw upon Sacred Tradition as the source of truth and it allows immersion and pouring with little regard for the amount of water. More water does not mean a more effective Baptism.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Jack,

BTW, the NT was originally written in Greek and not Hebrew as you stated and the OT was the Diaspora/Essene Canon also written in Greek.

Faith,

The Bible does not say that Jesus was immersed in His Baptism by St. John the Baptist. The method is not mentioned anywhere in Scriptures. The earliest writing used by the Christian Church describing Baptism is the Didache which states that either pouring or immersion may be used and states what methodology is preferred. As I stated before there is no Christian Church that I know of that practices sprinkling, Nor do I see a problem with it, but certainly Christ's Church ( Catholic and Orthodox) practices as the Church did in the earliest times, Baptising by immersion and pouring.

Answer 5

The term baptize comes from Greek. The actual Greek spelling I can't type as I don't have greek characters on this computer; however, it is of Greek extraction meaning to immerse.

To the Greeks immerse means to go completly under something. In the Bible we read Baptize by water. Therefore, we must immerse in water and by the Greek definition and also by the Hebrew (as the Bible was first written in Hebrew) to immerse would require going completly under water.

In the Christian world this represents death of our old life in the going under water completly ( for when we die we die completly) and then the coming up out of the water represents the start of a new life. We start with a clean slate when we are baptized. Our old sins are all forgiven (with some exceptions) and we are thus 'born again' as the Bible calls it!

After baptism in water we must be baptized by fire. This means our spirits must also come to a faith in God through the Holy Spririt. Water and spirit baptism makes it possible to return to our Heavenly Father again!;-)

Answer 6

I think the heart of the believer is the most important. I was raised Catholic but now consider myself non-specific Christian. I was baptized as a baby but chose baptism as an adult. It was immersion but I don't think that was as important as the fact that I felt I was obeying God by choosing baptism. My godfather was a priest; he said you could use any water anywhere if you followed the correct procedure, and that anybody could baptize; it didn't have to be someone ordained.

Answer 7

Once this couple wanted to get married, but the girls father wanted the boy to be babtised - full water. He argued, why not just have water sprinkled on the top of my head. The father said, 'No - that's not good enough'. The boy said, 'Well, what if I go in up to my waist?' The father said, 'No - that's not good enough'. The boy asked, 'What if I go in up to my neck?' The father said, 'No - that's not good enough'. The boy continued, 'What if I go in up to the point to where just the very top of my head is exposed out of the water?' The father said, 'No - that's not good enough'.
The boy said, 'Ah Ha - I knew that the very top of my head was the only important part to get wet!'

Answer 8

Romans 6:4, "...buried with Him through baptism..." Must be an immersion.

Answer 9

Immersion. As you go in you die as to your old sinful life and you rise again out of the water to your new life in Christ.

Answer 10

sprinkling does not do the job. Water must be POURED over the head or there must be a submergence.