166 Dimensions of Baptism
and Acts 19.1-5.^13 Ellingworth rejects the suggestion that the reference is
to the baptisms of John and Jesus alone on the grounds that there is no
contextual support for this.^14 The reference, then, could simply be to Jew-
ish proselyte baptism,^15 though many commentators see the reference as
being to Jewish ceremonial washings,^16 which include proselyte baptism,
the baptism of John and even the form of baptism practised at Qumran.^17
The majority see the reference to be to both Jewish and pagan ritual
washings,^18 while Attridge includes other purificatory rites practised in
early Christianity.^19
There is, however, another plausible candidate within the scope of refer-
ence of 'baptisms' and that is the baptism of blood, martyrdom,^20 the
origins of which are to be found in two logia of Jesus.- R.E.O. White, The Biblical Doctrine of Initiation (London: Hodder & Stoughton,
1960), p. 134 n. 2, comments that 'A debate between Johannine and Christian baptism
may underlie Heb. vi 2\ - Ellingworth, Hebrews, p. 315, citing the opinion of P. Andriessen, En lisant
VEpitre aux Hebreux: Lettre au R.P.A. Vanhoye, Professeur a VInstitute Biblique
Pontifical sur I'interpretation controversee de certain passages (Vaals: Abby St
Benedictsberg, 1977), pp. 23-26. This suggestion is also made by Hering, Hebrews,
p. 44, who adds that if Apollos is the author of Hebrews then it is all the more likely
(cf. Acts 18.25; 19.1-7). - So F. Bleek, 'Einige Bemerkungen iiber die dogmatische Bedeutung fur den
christlichen Ausleger, mit besonderer Beziehung auf Hebr 1,5-13', Theologische
Studien 8 (1835), pp. 441-61, cited by Ellingworth, Hebrews, p. 315. - S.L. Johnson,' Some Important Mistranslations in Hebrews', in C.F. Lincoln et
al, 'A Critique of the Revised Standard Version', BSac 110 (1953), pp. 50-66; Bruce,
Hebrews, pp. 115-16. - H. Braun, Qumran und das Neue Testament (2 vols.; Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr,
1966), pp. 255-56, rejects this, cited by Ellingworth, Hebrews, p. 315. - Oepke, TDNT, I, p. 545; S.I. Buse, 'Baptism in Other New Testament Writ-
ings', in A. Gilmore (ed.), Christian Baptism: A Fresh Attempt to Understand the Rite
in Terms of Scripture, History, and Theology (London: Lutterworth, 1959), pp. 185-86;
Beasley-Murray, Baptism, p. 243, and also NIDNTT, I, p. 149; W. Bieder, *(3aTT-
T\O\6S\ in H. Balz and G. Schneider (eds.), Exegetical Dictionary of the New
Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), p. 195. - Attridge, Hebrews, pp. 164-65 nn. 123-24, and the literature cited there.
- I wish, therefore, to argue that Ellingworth, Hebrews, p. 315 (see n. 1 above), is
too hasty to dismiss the baptism of blood, which he only mentions as a suggestion of
Augustine's, but which we will see can be traced back explicitly to Tertullian and
possibly earlier.