164 Dimensions of Baptism
(3aTTTia|Jcov 5i5ax% ('instruction about baptisms'^4 ) cannot refer to teach-
ing about Christian baptism alone, because, as far as the New Testament is
concerned, there is only one baptism (Eph. 4.5), which is administered but
once,^5 and elsewhere (with the probable exception of Col. 2.12^6 ) in the
New Testament (3aTrno|ja is used.^7 The only other occurrences of (3air-
Tia|j6s are in Heb. 9.10 and Mk 7.4 where it is used for the Levitical
ritual 'washings' of cups, pots, vessels and people, though it is later to be
p. 4. For discussion and further references, see A.R. Cross,^4 "One Baptism" (Ephesians
4.5): A Challenge to the Church', in S.E. Porter and A.R. Cross (eds.), Baptism, the
New Testament and the Church: Historical and Contemporary Studies in Honour of
R.E.O. 07»te(JSNTSup, 171; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), pp. 173-209
(173-78). Ellingworth, Hebrews, p. 311, believes that xfjs cxpx% before Aoyov is
slightly emphatic and that what is 'being left behind is not the "word of Christ" as
such, but the "word" of Christian initiation. Christian initiation is similarly linked in
2.3, and by implication in 3.14; 5.12, with the announcement of a message.' Similarly
G.R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1972
[1962]), p. 243, 'The conjunction of "washings" ((3aTrno|joi) and "laying on of
hands" in a list of foundational elements of faith affords a plain hint as to how both are
to be understood: they are set in the context of the beginning of the Christian life\
italics added. L. Hartman, Into the Name of the Lord Jesus': Baptism in the Early
Church (SNTW; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1997), p. 125, comments on the mention of
'enlightenment' as a possible reference to baptism, that 'the experiences mentioned in
6.4ff all apparently belong to entrance into the Christian community', and argues that
the author' takes baptism into account as a self-evident element in this process^9 , italics
added.
- The only other bringing together of baptism and teaching in the New Testament
is Mt. 28.19. - R. Schnackenburg, Baptism in the Thought of St Paul (Oxford: Basil Blackwell,
1964), p. 8; Hering, Hebrews, p. 43, 'contrary to the Mandaeans and Essenes,
Christians knew only a single baptism which was not repeated'; and Cross, '"One
Baptism"', pp. 173-93. - (3aTrno|j6s (in the form of (3aTrnaMcp) occurs in a well-attested variant of
Col. 2.12, which some scholars believe could be the original as it is the less common
and therefore more likely to have been altered by a copyist. See, e.g., P.T. O'Brien,
Colossians, Philemon (WBC, 44; Dallas: Word Books, 1987), p. 118, and J.D.G. Dunn,
The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: A Commentary on the Greek Text
(NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1996), p. 145 n. 2, both
following B.M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Lon-
don: United Bible Societies, corrected edn, 1975), p. 623. - A. Oepke, 'pccTrnofjos, (3aTrna|JCc', TDNT, I, p. 545, calls (3aTrnoMCc 'the
specific New Testament word for "baptism"', though we have seen that on the basis of
the probable variant reading of Col. 2.12, this is to overstate the case, but not by much.