Why did John the Baptist baptize?

I hope that this question belongs in this category.

MisterCurie and I were having a discussion tonight about the necessity of baptism for entrance into Christianity (not just our church, but Christian churches in general). We realized that we don’t understand the original intent of why John the Baptist performed baptisms to begin with. A quick search on google presented more questions than it answered. I was wondering if anyone on here had any insights into this? Where did he get the idea from? Why was he performing baptisms? What was the purpose? Was it different from the Jewish purification rite of Mikvah?

I think this would go better in general discussion, or maybe history and doctrine, but I don’t *really* care…

I worked on this about 10 years ago. Obviously the Jews were VERY uptight about people messing around with their ordinances and worship practices. I mean, people got stoned to death for saying or doing unauthorized or heretical things, right?

But in the case of John the Baptist, not only were the leaders not bothering him, but that in the face of hundred, maybe thousands of fellow Jews lining up to get ‘baptized’. So it simply *couldn’t* have been missed. Therefore, John was doing something that the Jewish people AND leadership recognized as (1) valid (priesthood-wise) and (2) well known.

On #1: The church has taught for a long time that John was the last of a long priesthood line of authority, coming through his father Zacharias (or whatever his name was). We know Z. had authority, because he went into the Temple of Solomon’s Holy of Holies annually for ritualistic purposes, which was witnessed and supported by all the Jews of the day. So my guess is that he was the last of the Jews that held the legit Aaronic priesthood, though I’d not swear to that. As far as the records show, he wasn’t performing confirmations or ‘laying on of hands’.

On #2: The mikva is where the Hebrews go to be cleansed. It is used to make kitchen impliments ‘kosher’; to bring converts into the Jewish religion; the women to be purified after menstruation. There may be other uses but I’ve not heard of them specifically. In all 3 of these cases, the person or object is immersed in the water and a prayer of purification is spoken.

Check out these interesting details: To be a mikva, a real, legitimate one, the water must be flowing continuously into and out of the mikva. This is representative of “living water”, which may sound familiar to you. It should! And I feel this is why John used a flowing river for his ‘mikva’. It’s precisely perfect for a man raised in the desert.

As a former subscriber to the Biblical Archaeology Review(BAR) magazine, I have seen hundreds of ancient mikv’ot in situ all throughout the middle east. This was not a passing fad, nor a minor thing, to the Hebrews. Add to this our own LDS tradition that Adam himself was baptized, when filled by the Spirit, symbolizing his being ‘born again’. (Moses 6:66)

I spoke to an Orthodox Rabbi at the beginning of my research, starting with the proposal that baptism and washing in the Mikva were analogous. Oooh, he didn’t like that!! He denied it in no uncertain terms. After having completed my research, I have to differ with him. Yes, there are some differences. But if they are truly different things, then John would have been killed. That’s my view.

I think MadamCurie and myself were trying to get at why Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized and what significance baptism had for Jews back in the day (again, question of original intent). I had never thought about it before, but baptism isn’t really a Jewish ordinance, rather it is a Christian one.

I feel like my first post is not being read, or that I accidentally wrote it in Russian, or something. Schto?

Baptism has been practiced for millennia. Jews baptized. They don’t admit to it today, they don’t like using that word, but what the heck? It’s clear as a bell to me.

HiJolly

That is actually an interesting link to the BOM. One criticism is that the BOM folks just don’t seem Jewish enough. But Jews today are not Jews 2000 years ago. Oi vay! Who can unravel the mystery that doesn’t want to be unraveled?

Heber, that might be the best comment in the history of this forum. 😆

“unto repentance”

According to Matthew 3:8;11, it really wasn’t more complicated than that – as an outward sign of a repentant heart – as the first fruit of repentance that then would bring forth fruits meet (“appropriate to; worthy of”) for repentance.

1. Why was John doing baptisms in a pre-Christian era (before Christ established His church with His apostles)?

2. Why did John have the keys before and after Christ setup His church?

(MisterCurie…is that ok for me to ask my question along with yours, or is that taking your thoughts in a different direction???)

I am happy to have your questions along mine, could be a fascinating bit of research.

I feel like my first post is not being read, or that I accidentally wrote it in Russian, or something. Schto?

Do you speak Russian? I served a Russian-speaking mission and then majored in Russian at BYU.