Page 138 - Biblical Backgrounds student textbook

would establish his kingdom and rule on the throne of David from Jerusalem. At this time however
Jerusalem was occupied, and the Messiah did not rule, so in the Jewish mind the exile had not yet
ended. This had led to an earnest desire to understand what had led to the exile and what would need
to happen to bring them out of it. What they settled on was that they had gone into exile because of
their sins. As a result of their impurity God had left the temple and they had been taken captive. The
Hebrew scriptures told them that God had come to reside in the temple when it had been purified and
made ready for God to come. The seemingly obvious conclusion of this was that if God was to return,
the people would have to purify themselves so that God could dwell among them again. Reasoning in
this way they concluded that to entice the Messiah to come, they needed to purify themselves
nationally. This gave rise to some of the Jewish sects. Qumran was a community that intentionally
committed to developing themselves in purity rituals in order to prepare for the return of Messiah. It
also gave rise to many of the distinct rabbinic schools.

The Qumran, as well as other eschatological
groups, and the rabbinic schools were deeply
concerned with ushering in the Messiah through
corporate and individual purity. This drove the
Pharisees to develop many laws to ensure that
Torah was not violated. It guided the schools to
participate in ritual bathing known as “mikveh”.
The purpose of these washings varied. These were
daily washings to restore purity. The Mikveh
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pictured is from Masada. Some of the washings
were initiatory. That means that they were public
demonstrations that the person being baptized was
confirming that the rabbi in charge of the group he
belonged to have the correct interpretation of Torah and the correct purity rituals to bring about the
coming of Messiah and the return from exile. It is important to notice that the washing was normally not
associated with conversion. The Jews did not see the act of switching from one rabbi to another as a
conversion to a new religion. It also was not seen as the ritual that made you a member of the group. It
was the action by which you demonstrated that you were a member of the group in public and were
received into the community. Many pastors are unaware of this background and mistakenly assume that
the act of baptism is the point of salvation. In fact, if the purpose of baptism remains similar, the action
of baptism is a proclamation that you are already a recipient of the rabbi’s purity and are a member of
the community.

Now you might ask yourself, are there any differences in Christian baptism and Jewish ritual bathing?
The answer is yes. The Jewish ritual bathing was performed every day. Jesus does not simply lead His
followers in a purification ritual that is ongoing, He gives them His purity. As a result, the Christian
baptism is never seen to be an ongoing thing in the New Testament. It is a one-time act that declared to
the public that you were identifying with Jesus teaching and purity. It was and is the declaration that you
are already in the purity of Jesus and that His teaching is true. In short you believe in Him and receive
His righteousness as your own. You then make a publicly understood declaration of that internal reality
by a ritual washing to symbolize that cleansing. Also, you are not being cleansed to entice Messiah to
come, you are proclaiming that the Messiah has come. As a result, the very notion of baptismal salvation

179 Wikipedia Commons. Public Domain Image. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masada,_mikveh_-
_katsniffen.jpg

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