Baptism and Chrismation

Baptism in the Early Church and in the modern Orthodox Church is closely linked with Chrismation, which is more commonly referred to in the biblical context as the "laying on of hands." Induction into the Christian church was and is accomplished by Baptism, the spiritual birth that complements the physical birth, and Chrismation, the bestowing of the Holy Spirit onto the believer. Scriptural evidence for the meaning of both of these sacraments is abundant. Christ clearly states the need for a spiritual Baptism, and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles is full of demonstrations of these two sacraments in action. Except for one reference to the Book of Matthew, Mr De Hann makes no reference to any of the four Gospels when discussing Baptism, thus ignoring much of the evidence for a spiritual Baptism.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3:11-15; also: Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16)

Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:20-23; also: Mark 10:37)

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Afterward he [Christ] appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:14-16)

And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. (John 1:32-33)

When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) (John 4:1-2)

One of the most explicit statements of the nature of Baptism and Chrismation and their necessity for all Christians is given in Chapter 3 of the Gospel of John.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:3-8)

The phrase born again, used twice here, is especially interesting. In the first instance, the Greek reads "gennethei anwthen" and in the second, "gennethenai anothen." In both cases, the literal translation is "born from above", not "born again." The use of the phrase "born from above" gives added emphasis to the spiritual experience of Baptism and Chrismation.

The events of the Book of Acts provide numerous examples of a Holy Baptism in practice. In the very first chapter, Christ promises a spiritual Baptism, and from the day of the Pentecost, the day of the foundation of the Christian Church, new followers of Christ were Baptized unto the remission of sins and granted the Holy Spirit

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (Acts 1:4-5)

On the day of Pentecost, more than three thousand joined the Church, were Baptized and received the Holy Spirit. Those who would assert that Baptism is purely symbolic must somehow get around the statement made by Peter to those wishing to join with Christ:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call. (Acts 2:38-39)

Here Peter states explicitly that Baptism is for the remission of sins, something that is real, not symbolic. Mr De Hann, however, is unshaken even when faced with this evidence. He defers to the "well-known Greek scholar" A. T. Robertson, and offers this explanation:

"... the Greek preposition eis, translated 'for' in the phrase 'for the remission of sins,' may also mean because of. An example of this can be found in Luke 11:32, where the text says that the people of Nineveh 'repented at the preaching of Jonah.' The word at is a translation of the same Greek term eis found in Acts 2:38. The people of Jonah's day, you see, did not repent for his preaching but because of it."

Mr De Hann is on shaky ground for several reason. First, he asserts that eis may mean because of, but never explains the meaning of the phrase: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission of sins. It seems now to say that the converts can be baptized because their sins are forgiven through their repentance. If that is the case, then Mr De Hann has just endorsed another sacrament of the Church, Holy Confession.

Second, Mr Robertson's information about the preposition eis is flawed. According to Greek Grammar by Herbert Weir Smyth, page 376, eis has four uses: Local, expressing motion toward or into something, or presence before or at a place; Temporal, expressing the time at, by, up to, or until something happens; Measure and Limit with Numerals, expressing the number to which something is measured or counted; and Other Uses, which express a goal, purpose or intention. This fourth use, the expression of purpose, is the one contained in Acts 2:38. The preposition eis does not express cause.

Third, given Smyth's list of the uses of the preposition eis, Mr De Hann's statement that eis means because of in Luke 11:32 is incorrect. The NKJV translates Luke 11:32 as "... for they repented at the preaching of Jonah." That is, they repented when Jonah spoke, which is precisely the use of eis described by Smyth above as "Temporal". The implication is that they repented as a result of Jonah's words, but eis itself only indicates the time of repentance: when he spoke as opposed to before or after he spoke. As shown by Smyth's grammar, the implication made in Luke 11:32 cannot be applied generally to the preposition eis.

Finally, the argument that the mistranslation of a preposition has led to 2000 years of flawed theology is impossible. The Greek Church has always held that Baptism was for the remission of sins. In order for Mr De Hann's theory to be correct, the Greek Church would have had to have based the theological underpinnings of its belief on a mistake made in the King James translation of the Bible. The Greek Church understands the Greek language very well, and it understands the meaning of Peter's statement.

The Book of Acts contains many more examples of Baptism and Chrismation, but one is particularly noteworthy. It demonstrates the necessity of spiritual sacraments and how Baptism and Chrismation had distinct purposes though they were used in combination. Paul meets some disciples in Ephesus:

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (Acts 19:2-6)

Here Paul found believers in Christ who had been baptized either by John the Baptist or by someone else in John's style of baptism. However, as shown by the synoptic gospels, John's baptism was of water, not of the spirit. So even though the disciples had accepted Christ and had been baptized with water (a symbolic baptism?), Paul saw fit to baptize them again with the Holy Baptism and to lay hands on them as well. How do those who see Baptism as merely symbolic view this episode? Mr De Hann does not mention it.