THE MEANING OF 'BAPTISMS' IN HEBREWS 6.2Anthony R. Cross
- 'Baptisms' in Hebrews 6,2
The reference to 'baptisms' in Heb. 6.2 has given rise to some interesting
proposals as to what precisely was in the mind of the author when he
wrote it. While patristic writers tended to understand this to be a reference
to Christian baptism,^1 modern scholarship has moved away from this to
see it as a reference which includes Christian baptism with other religious
washings.
The usual word used in the New Testament for Christian baptism is
(3aTma|ja, which appears to have been coined by Christians for the initi-
ating rite of baptism,^2 whereas the word in 6.2 is (3aTTTiapoi, the plural of
(3aTTTiG|j6s. If the growing consensus is correct and New Testament bap-
tism was an integral part of the conversion-initiation process,^3 then
- E.g. Tertullian interprets the plural as a reference to triple immersion; Augustine
to baptisms of water, blood and desire; Athanasius understands them to be repeated
heretical baptisms; Grotius explains them as inward and outward baptisms; and Theo-
doret maintains that they refer to the large number of the baptized. P. Ellingworth, The
Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster Press,
1993), p. 315, dismisses all these as anachronistic. Unfortunately, Ellingworth does not
give the references to these authors. References to Tertullian and Theodoret are men-
tioned by J. Hering, The Epistle to the Hebrews (London: Epworth, 1970), p. 44; H.W.
Attridge, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1989), p. 164 n. 121, lists other patristic and medieval interpretations of
the phrase in terms of Christian baptism, adding ' "teaching about (3O;TTTIGMGC>V" is
probably not instruction about the significance of the Christian initiation rite in itself. - F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1964), p. 115 n. 20, 'Bairnaija is peculiar to Christian writings'. - E.g. G.R. Beasley-Murray, 'Baptism, Wash',NIDNTT, I, p. 146; J.D.G. Dunn,
Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-examination of the New Testament Teaching on the
Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism Today (London: SCM Press, 1970),