1Co 12:13; Rom 6:3-7; Gal 3:27-28; Joh 14:16-20.
Class Outline:
Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Spiritual Gifts Part 87: The New Testament Greek word for Baptism
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Remote people - please email them to brian@lbible.org ; use the highest resolution possible.
The Doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts
Point 2. The Giver of the Gifts: The Person and Work of God the Holy Spirit
1. Efficacious Grace
2. Indwelling of the Spirit
3. Regeneration
4. the Baptism by the Spirit
5. the Sealing with the Spirit
6. the Distribution of Spiritual Gifts.
C. The Baptism of the Spirit is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in placing every new believer
into permanent union with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Body the Church.
The Holy Spirit is the personal agent who does the baptizing. He is not the substance or result.
The word for “Spirit” is in the instrumental case in the Greek.
The result of the baptism by the Spirit is our position in Christ. We are in union with Christ forever.
This baptism by the Holy Spirit is unique to the Church Age believer.
The Baptism by the Spirit is the basis for unity in the Body of Christ.
This subject gets attacked relentlessly by the kingdom of darkness.
The believer who understands and lives in his position in Christ is going to have victory over the enemies of Christ.
Water baptism was a teaching tool during the ministry of John the Baptist and the transitional
period documented in the book of Acts.
Water baptism is not necessary for salvation.
Water baptism is not the means by which you are entered as a member of the Church.
The Baptism by the Holy Spirit, placing the believer in permanent union with the Lord Jesus Christ,
is the ONLY baptism that matters in the Church Age.
Point 1. Defining our terms.
The English word “baptize” is not native to the English language,
and thus carries with it no innate meaning of its own.
It is simply a transliteration of the corresponding Greek word.
Therefore it derives its meaning from the Greek word.
Transliteration is not the same as translation.
Translation chooses the best words in another language to capture the meaning of the word in the original language.
Transliteration changes letters or words into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language.
In transliteration, the word in one language (Greek) is brought into the second language (English)
character by character, sound by sound…
… or more technically, brought over with the equivalent phonetic spelling or “letter equivalents” .
So… βαπτίζω becomes “baptize”
When we are dealing with a word in our English Bible that is transliterated from the Greek,
the ONLY way to get at its meaning is to study the MEANING of the Greek word.
Back to
βαπτίζω
Baptizo had a primary (more down to earth and concrete) usage and a secondary (more figurative and conceptual) usage.
The primary usage of baptizo meant a literal envelopment within an element and so to become subject to that element.
In secular documents written around the time the New Testament was written, baptizo is used to refer to a boat that is submerged in the water.
A word starts out meaning something very concrete and physical, and then starts to be used figuratively based on the physical item or act it began by referring to.
The term “crosshairs” started out to mean “A set of two perpendicular lines in the sight of a firearm, used to align the gun with the target.”
It has come to mean……
‘a center of interest'.
This is its secondary meaning if you will, yet no doubt the more popular way it is (or used to be!) used today.
The secondary meaning of baptizo had to do with an object being brought under the influence
of another quite apart from any physical envelopment.
Secular documents from the Koine Greek period show baptizo
being used to describe a person who is overwhelmed in calamities.
This secondary meaning - to be placed into and brought under the influence of another,
thus undergoing a permanent change - is by far the more frequent meaning
when baptizo is used in the Greek New Testament.
The baptism into repentance
The baptism into the remission of sins
The baptism by the cup into suffering
The baptism of Israel into Moses by the cloud and the sea
The baptism by the Spirit into Christ
“The introduction or placing of a person or thing into a new environment
or into union with something else so as to alter its condition
or its relationship to its previous environment or condition.”
(Kenneth Wuest)
A good simple translation for this Greek verb baptizo is “to place into” or “to introduce into”.
