Infant Baptism Started With Moses

Hebrews 5:11-6:3 tells us that before we can go on to understand more Christian doctrine, and certainly before we can be teachers, we need to understand the fundamentals. Included in these fundamentals are the resurrection, judgment day, repentance, faith, and the “doctrine of baptisms.” Since there is only “one baptism” in the New Testament (Eph. 4:5) it is clear that the author of Hebrews is talking about Old Testament baptisms. There is some way in which the doctrine of baptisms in the Old Testament is foundational to the church. He expected the church to understand it, and connected Old Testament baptisms (Heb. 9-10) with Christian baptism (Heb. 10:22). Paul and Peter also expected their hearers to understand Old Testament baptism in such passages as 1 Corinthians 10:2, 1 Corinthians 15:29 and 1 Peter 3:21. New Testament Baptism is rooted in the Old Testament and anticipated by Old Testament saints as is obvious from such passages as John 1:25; Acts 8:28-39; 26:22; Is. 52:15; Ezek. 36:25-27; Acts 17:11.

One of the more intriguing passages on Baptism is 1 Corinthians 15:29 which speaks of those “who are baptized for the dead.” Some (like Mormons) have argued that this means proxy baptism on behalf of dead people. This interpretation could fit a secondary Greek meaning of the preposition ὑπὲρ but makes no sense in terms of the flow of Paul’s argument and finds no precedent in history.⁶¹ Scholars have been baffled by such a translation because there is no historical evidence of proxy baptism in Judaism, Christianity or paganism, yet Paul seems to imply that this practice was commonplace. Secondly, one would expect a preposition of substitution (such as ἀντὶ) rather than the generic preposition ὑπὲρ.⁶² if proxy baptism was intended. Thirteen tentative solutions have been collected by Thiselton,⁶³ but every one has a weakness in explaining either the syntax, the meaning of the preposition ὑπὲρ, the flow of Paul’s argument, the theology of Paul as a whole or evidence that such a concept of baptism was ever present in the church. An explanation that is not mentioned by Thiselton, and has none of the weaknesses mentioned, was provided by R.L. Dabney in his Lectures in Systematic Theology. He says that this is simply a reference to the Old Testament baptism of those who have touched a dead body and are thereby unclean (Numbers 19).⁶⁴ The preposition in 1 Corinthians 15:29 should thus be translated either as “because of” or “with reference to.” The situation was this: whenever a person touched a dead body, a grave, or lived in the same tent where someone died, or touched a leprous person⁶⁵ he had to receive what the Jews called a “baptism of nidah.” (The Old Testament refers to it as the “water of nidah,” sometimes translated as the “water of purification” or “water of separation.”

And a clean person shall take hyssop, and shall dip it in the water, and shall sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.
– Numb. 19:18

However, it was not just the physically dead who were treated as dead. Numbers 5:2-3 says, “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a dead body. You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell (emphasis added).” Leviticus 22:1-9 also says that those with discharges, lepers, those who have touched dead and the heathen are “cut off” from the people of God and from God’s presence until they have received the baptism of purification. When people were “cut off” from the people of Israel, they were not put to death. That was a covenantal death; a covenantal separation from the people of God. The baptism from the dead is associated with all of these situations where a person was “cut off” from the people of God. Thus the word nidah is used in connection with

1. baptism by sprinkling of those contaminated by death or leprosy (Numb. 19; Lev. 13-14)
2. baptism by sprinkling of those who were covenantally dead and “cut off” from the people of God:
   1. Nidah is connected with the purification of anything or anyone that came out of heathen lands (Numb. 31:20-23)
   2. Purification of proselytes from heathen lands (Numb. 31:18,23 with Deut. 21:10-14).⁶⁶ On the basis of these passages, and the use of nidah in Ezra 9:11; Lam. 1:17; Zech. 13:1 with 14:16-20, the Jews always treated the heathen as covenantally dead and in need of the baptism of purification (nidah). This “proselyte baptism” was in effect a “baptism from the dead” that the Jews were used to. This was the baptism of “purification” that both John the Baptist and Christ used for both Jew and Gentile alike (see John 3:22-26 for “purification” = “baptism”; see Luke 3:12,14 for baptisms of Gentiles; see Luke 3:7-9 for Jews being treated as “cut off” from Israel⁶⁷). They were declaring that Israel had become “cut off” from the people of God, and if they were to avoid covenantal judgment, they must repent of their willful uncleanness before God and submit to baptism.
   3. Purification of a woman who had a discharge of blood (Note the use of the Hebrew word nidah in Leviticus 15:19-20,24-26,33; 18:19; Lam. 1:17; Ezek. 18:6; 22:10; 36:17)
   4. Purification of a woman after birth (Note the use of the Hebrew word nidah in Leviticus 12:1-8). It should be noted that prior to the eighth day the child was unclean (cf. Is. 52:1; Ezra 9:1-2) and is described in Genesis 17:14 as “cut off from his people.” “And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” The focus of attention in Genesis 17 is on the rite of circumcision, but the Scriptures cited above (points 1 & 2a-c) make it clear that all those who are “cut off” from Israel as covenantally unclean had to receive the baptism of nidah also. Thus Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:14 that if there is not at least one believing parent in the family, the child must remain unclean, but in the case of the people he was talking to, they were not unclean. The unbelieving spouse was also set apart (“made holy” or “sanctified”) for the special ministry of God’s Spirit with the hope of future salvation, but only the child is both set apart and cleansed. (See discussion of this verse earlier in this book. The word that is used for “unclean” is the same word that is used of Gentiles and unbaptized persons.) A child thus was seen as being born a Gentile, but brought into the church by circumcision and baptism. After that there were many baptisms since it was easy for the Jew to become covenantally “cut off.” Since all nidah baptisms brought a person into the Israelite church,⁶⁸ Jews began to speak of these baptisms, and especially of proselyte baptism as being “born” into Israel. This Jewish language was alluded to by Christ in John 3:5-7. Christ said that it is not enough to be “born of water.” One must also be “born of the Spirit” in order to truly be in the kingdom. The Jews unfortunately stressed only the outward rite of the baptism of nidah, and failed to grasp what the baptism pointed towards: the cleansing work of the Spirit. It is not just the New Testament that ties the meaning of water baptism to Spirit Baptism (Matt. 3:11; John 3:5; Acts 1:5; 10:44-48; 11:15-16). Christ implies that Nicodemus should have known better from the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophesied that when Israel would be cut off because of her need of nidah (Lam. 1:8,17; Ezek. 36:17-21), she would subsequently need a baptism by water and a baptism by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:22-32) to take away the nidah-less condition (36:17) and bring restoration as God’s people (36:33-38). Isaiah 44:3-4 speaks of the same coupling of water baptism with Spirit baptism and says that these would be poured out upon believers and their children. Significantly, both passages are prophecies of the New Covenant and tie in with the prophecy of Christ’s redemption that would open up a fountain “for sin and for nidah” (Zech. 13:1).

Thus there is evidence not only for proselyte baptism (which we know from history included the infants) but also for the Jewish application of the same baptism of nidah (what Paul calls being “baptized from the dead”) to infants and any others who were covenantally treated as “cut off” from Israel through uncleanness. This infant baptism was in addition to circumcision for males and was treated as if it were circumcision for females (see principle #5 in the main body of this book). In the New Testament, circumcision is completely removed and baptism is called “Christian circumcision.” The chart explains the situation of nidah for a child and its mother in the Old Testament.

• At birth
  • Mother: Unclean because of blood discharge (Lev. 15:19). Everything she touches is unclean (Lev. 15:20-24).
  • Son: Unclean until 8th day purification (Lev. 15:19 & 12:2-3). NB “un-clean” in 1 Cor. 7:14.
  • Daughter: Unclean until 15th day (2nd 8th day (Lev. 15:19 with 12:5). Cf. also 1 Cor. 7:14.
• On 8^th day (M) and 2^nd 8^th day (F)
  • Mother: A “baptism of purification” “as in the days of her customary impurity” (Lev. 12:2).⁶⁹
  • Son: Baptism purification of nidah & circumcision.⁷⁰
  • Daughter: Baptism (purification of nidah).
• After 8th day
  • Mother: Still unclean with respect to “any hallowed thing …[or] the sanctuary” (Lev. 12:4), but she did not defile her child.⁷¹
  • Son: Clean (see above). Note that the temple purification is for the mother, not for the child (cf. Lev. 12:7-8; Luke 2:22-24).
  • Daughter: Still unclean (Lev. 12:5).
• After 2^nd 8^th day, i.e. after 14 days of uncleanness
  • Mother: If she had a daughter, she was still unclean with respect to “any hallowed thing …[or] the sanctuary” (Lev. 12:4), but she did not defile her child.
  • Daughter: Clean (see above). Note that the temple purification is for the mother, not for the child (cf. Lev. 12:7-8; Luke 2:22-24).
• After 8 + 33 days |
  • Mother: If she had a son, she is now clean and ready to go to temple.
  • Son: If a first-born son, he is presented at the temple.
• After 14 + 66 days
  • Mother: If a female child, mother is now clean and ready to go to the temple.