CROSS The Meaning of 'Baptisms' in Hebrews 6.2 169
There is, then, little reason to doubt that Jesus used the metaphor of bap-
tism in reference to his suffering and impending death.^31
It is important to note that in Lk. 12.50 the focus of the baptism meta-
phor is on Jesus alone, while in Mk 10.38-39 it is the fate of the disciples
which is the focus of Jesus' saying.^32 Though the reference to baptism in
v. 38 clearly has his death in view, v. 39 makes it explicit that they will
indeed share this 'baptism' of death (cf. Mk 8.34). That this, in fact, was
the fate of James (d. 44 CE) at least, is shown in Acts 12.2, on which F.F.
Bruce writes, 'James was the first of the apostles to meet a martyr's death;
thus he experienced the fulfilment of Jesus' promise to him and his brother
John that they would both drink from his cup and share his "baptism" (Mk
10.39)'.^33 With reference to the fire and baptism of Lk. 12.49-50, Beasley-
Murray writes:
misfortune, sorrow, etc.]) to depict the suffering and death into which he was soon to
be 'plunged'. On the authenticity of Mk 10.38-39, see J. Jeremias, New Testament
Theology. I. The Proclamation of Jesus (London: SCM Press, 1971), pp. 243-44, and
V. Taylor, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2nd edn,
1981 [1966]), p. 441, who suggests the logion 'is more justly interpreted as an original
and creative utterance. Paul's statement sis TOV SccvaTOV auxou s(3aTTTia0rujev (Rom.
6.3), may be a development and an application of the saying', though he immediately
adds as another possibility that 'it may be an independent formulation of what is
involved in the union of the Christian with Christ in death and resurrection'; on Lk.
12.49-50, see J.D.G. Dunn, 'The Birth of a Metaphor—Baptized in Spirit (Part I)',
ExpTim 89 (1978), pp. 134-38 (137-38); I.H. Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A
Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1978), p. 545;
B. Witherington III, The Christology of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1990),
p. 121; and Campbell, 'Jesus', p. 200. Interestingly, R. Bultmann (The History of the
Synoptic Tradition [Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1963], p. 153), understands Lk. 12.50 as
Jesus' martyrdom, from which he concludes the saying must be a vaticinium ex eventu,
along with Mk 10.38. However, this is rejected by J.A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel Accord-
ing to LukeX-XXIV(AB, 28A; New York: Doubleday, 1985), p. 995.
- Jeremias, Theology, pp. 277-86, who concludes, p. 286, 'we must note the total
result that there can be no doubt that Jesus expected and announced his suffering and
death'. - Cf. Marshall, Luke, p. 547. On the fate of the disciples, see Jeremias, Theology,
pp. 239-40, who writes, p. 239,' Suffering for Christ's sake inevitably forms part of the
service of a messenger. All strata of the sources are agreed that Jesus said this again
and again.' - F.F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, rev. edn,
1988), p. 233, cf. I.H. Marshall, Acts (TNTC; Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 1980),
p. 207. From the fourth century, there is an interesting reference to the martyrdom of
James in Eusebius's H.E. 2.9, quoting from Clement's Hypotyposes 1, that 'he who