Luke 11:37-42

BAPTIZO NOT ALWAYS A TOTAL SUBMERSION, BUT A PURIFICATION

Luke 11:37-42. “But while He was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him that He may dine with him; having come in, lie sat down at the table; and the Pharisee seeing, was astonished because He was not first baptized before dinner.” It is a well-established fact that the Pharisees, pursuant to the tradition of the elders, were accustomed to wash their hands before eating, lest they had contracted pollution by contact with Gentiles, unclean animals, or some other impurity. Here, where the English says “wash,” the word is ebaptisthe, the passive voice and aorist tense of baptizo, the word constantly used in the New Testament for Christian baptism. The case here is clear and decisive that it only means for Jesus to wash His hands, the very idea of submerging His whole body under water being utterly out of the question. But you say His hands were immersed. That might be so, or it may have been done by affusion. But that is not the point of investigation. It is not said that His hands were baptized, but that Jesus Himself was baptized. Hence it follows, as an irresistible sequence, that when His hands were washed, his entire person was baptized. We simply give this as an honest exegete, expecting to meet you all at the judgment- bar; and not that I want to keep any of you out of the river. On the contrary, I exhort you to follow your convictions and satisfy your conscience. (1 Peter 3:21)

“And the Lord said to Him, Now, you Pharisees purify the outside of the cup and the plate, but the inside of you is full of extortion and wickedness. Ye fools, did not He who made the outside also make the inside? Therefore give alms of your possessions, and, behold, all things are pure to you.”

Where E.V. says “make clean,” the word is catharizo, which is here our Savior's definition of baptizo. So you need not ransack the world to find out the meaning of baptize. It has no meaning in the Bible but to purify, catharizo being the word constantly used in the Bible to signify a purification. Then our Savior assures these Pharisees that if they will give alms, “all things will be pure to them,” showing up the fact that the love of God in the heart is really the baptism which he requires, superseding and climaxing all ceremonies.