SHERMAN 'Getting in and Staying in' 117
many Christians, this notion of 'transfer' is found at its strongest in the
action, language and symbolism of baptism. The discussion of baptism is
not at the forefront of Sanders's work, although it is not ignored. Baptism
in Paul is given only four listings in Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Sand-
ers makes a point about the inadequacy of comparison of motifs in relig-
ions;^10 he recognizes the weaknesses as well as the strengths of Albert
Schweizer's insights into Paul, particularly his mistaken conviction of
baptism in Paul as ex opere operato^11 and points to baptism as connected
with the death of Christ, with the cleansing received by Christians,^12 and
as a sign of participation with the Lord in the fellowship of the Spirit.^13
Admission to Judaism was sealed by circumcision and acceptance of the
law,^14 but admission to the Church is sealed by baptism. The 'getting in
and staying in' questions are not those of contrast between works in
Judaism and faith in Christianity, but of the consequences attendant on the
gracious gift of the law, in the former case, and on the incorporation into
Christ through baptism, in the latter.
Among the many 'quite obvious' themes which have been critically and
extensively re-examined in recent years are the area of believer's baptism
and Christian initiation within Baptist communities. Some of the impetus
for this has come through ecumenical conversation and the sense of strug-
gle to clearly convey Baptist perceptions in relationship with the insights
of others, and the increase in deliberately collaborative work among Bap-tist scholars. These have been the prompts to my own personal interest,
sharpened by a move to an unfamiliar cultural setting.
The Baptist church of which I am currently minister is essentially a
small-town church in its outlook, but set in a rural context. The old market-
town has undergone extensive changes due to changes in agriculture and
the development of tourism, and has a mixed economy built from farming,
tourism, military and local government centres, and a constantly shifting- Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p. 14, with reference to the mistaken
underlying assumption that for two religions to hold a motif in common necessarily
points to a similarity of outlook. Note G.W. Buchanan's The Consequences of the
Covenant (SNT, 20; Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1970)—the conclusion—does not follow that
the meaning and interpretation of baptism in Paul is the same as that of ritual washings
in Judaism. - Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p.434.
- Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p.452.
- Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, p.457-58.
- E.P. Sanders, Paul, the Law and the Jewish People (London: SCM Press,
1985), p. 178.