Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

96 Dimensions in Baptism

Ysebaert surveys the evidence and argues that there is 'no evidence that

tbl and (3ccTrn£eiv were ever used in Jewish sects to denote ritual purific-

ation as an immersion'.^15 Proselyte baptism and John's baptism were

probably singular acts, unlike those washings in various sects, and the

terminology of 'baptism' was never used in these sects. Different terms,

related but not the same in sense, come to be associated with ablutions,

such as aTToAouo|jai. Concerning verbs of washing having a reflexive

force in the middle voice, this is a view that has been held by many (see

also the next major section, below). This statement requires further clari-

fication, however. The first point is whether the middle voice is in fact

reflexive. This has been maintained by a number of scholars, although not

many recent grammarians. Even if in acts of washing one washes oneself,

it does not mean that the best or necessarily only explanation is that this is

a truly reflexive action, nor does it follow from this isolated instance that

the force of the middle voice is reflexive—a point that has been highly

disputed by a number of scholars. The second point of clarification, even if

the above is correct, is whether the verb (3aTrTi£co is a verb of washing.

This is assumed to be the case, but as Ysebaert has shown, (JaTrri£co does

not figure largely in the discussion of ritual ablutions and washings in

secular or religious writings prior to the time of the New Testament, and

certainly is not used systematically in this regard.^16

The second position interprets the use of the middle voice form in Acts

22.16 as passive in sense. It is somewhat surprising how many scholars

accept the passive interpretation, sometimes consciously but sometimes

apparently simply through acceptance of a particular translation. Those

scholars who simply accept a particular interpretation or translation in-

clude F. Blass,^17 Benham on the AV,^18 F.J. Foakes-Jackson on Moffatt's

(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 3rd edn, 1990), pp. 457-58; cf. F.F. Bruce, Commentary on
the Book of the Acts (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954), p. 442.

15. Ysebaert, Greek Baptismal Terminology, p. 35. J. Jeremias, Infant Baptism in the
    First Four Centuries (trans. D. Cairns; London: SCM Press, 1960 [1958]), p. 29, says
    that the verb (3aTTTi£eiv and its derivatives 'are nowhere used in non-Jewish Hellenism
    in a technical ritualistic sense'. However, he goes further and says that 'the use of the
    middle voice, "to dip oneself, wash oneself" (|3aTrri£6o6ai, dcTToAoueaSai), is just as
    bad Greek as it is good Jewish-Greek'. Jeremias has unfortunately linked language and
    thought in an iconistic way that is not justified, equating the type of thought with a
    quality of language use. In fact, the middle voice form of |3aTrri£co is found in non-
    Jewish Greek, such as Pollux, Onom. 1.114; Strabo 6.2.9 (see Ysebaert, pp. 13-14).


16. Ysebaert, Greek Baptismal Terminology, pp. 27-39.


17. F. Blass, Ada apostolorum sive Lucae ad Theophilum liber alter (Gottingen:
    Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1895), p. 237.