When did they start baptism?

Answer 1

Answer:

A type of baptism may be traced back to Noah's flood. Peter made mention of that world that was overflowed with water and compared it with: "...the heavens and earth, which now are... reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment..." (II Peter 3:7).

Jesus says: "...as the days of Noe were, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be..." (Matt.24:37).

This comparison of the "water" of Noah's day with the coming "fire" of the day like Noah's day of Jesus' return, has a biblical relationship to "baptism."

John the Baptist said: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I... HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WITH FIRE..." (Matt.3:11). These are two separate baptisms - the Holy Spirit is for the righteous... the "fire" is for the wicked.

But, if that's reaching a little... certainly, The Bible says of the Israelites coming out of Egypt: "...and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea..." (I Cor.10:2).

Answer 2

When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan 2000 years ago, he felt the special presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This was a turning point in his life. You can find the story at the beginning of Mark's Gospel in the New Testament. Later, after his death and resurrection, Jesus told his followers to make new disciples and baptize them, too. This has been done ever since in Christian churches throughout the world.

Jesus, however, was not the first to be Baptized nor was he the first to endorse Baptism. According to Holy Scripture John the Baptist was Baptizing non-Jews when Jesus approached him. Jesus was the only Jew recorded as being Baptized by John the Baptist. John sent other Jews away, stating they were already saved because they were Jews, and had their own rituals of repentance of sins through the Temple and the priests. Baptism is what gave Jesus the title "Christ" which is the Romanized word for "Baptized". This is the identifying "Anointed by God" that gives Jesus the title of "Messiah" according to ancient Jewish traditions that started with Saul and David, (although they were anointed with oil by the Jewish priest as warrior kings to save their people from their enemies and to redeem (pay the ransom for) those taken as prisoners.)

Baptism through water began in Babylonia as part of the Babylonian Mystery School religion. Bab or bap meant gate or gateway in ancient Babylonian. Babylonia itself meant "The land of the Gateway" (to the mysteries of Death). Babylonia was famous for the very large Gates of Isis, and the Mystery School which was housed in the great walled city. Baptism originally was a method of drowning and resuscitation. It was a method of opening the "gate" to death that gave a person what is now termed a "near death" experience. As a person "died and was reborn" it was used as an initiation ritual. It was also used as a method of conversion. This was picked up by the Jews, particularly the Pharisees, who took up many of the Pharsee (Babylonian) beliefs when Daniel was trained in the ways of the Pharsee Magi. Those Jews that had been captives in Babylonia believed that a person who died to their old beliefs could be reborn as a Jew. Baptism was done through water and through fire. Baptism through fire can be seen when Daniel was thrown in the fiery furnace, and when the apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit by tongues of flame at Pentacost. Pre-Babylonian Jews rejected fire Baptism, but ancient Gnostics and Charismatic Christians today both endorse it. Other Christians today may or may not accept it, depending on denomination.

The first use of Jewish Baptism predates Jesus, as can be seen by John's calling people to repent of their sins and become Jews. Baptism is often confused with a "Mikvah" of washing that had nothing to do with cleansing from sins. John the Baptist rejected Jews from the ceremony, calling them a "brood of vipers" that already had a means of repentance, and needed to follow it. He implied that he was turning non-Jews into sons of Abraham through Baptism, and he could even raise up the very stones to be Jews. As a side note, John wanted Herod to force his wife to become Jewish in order to show support for the Jewish cause. He called her a whore because she could not be legally married in Jewish law if she refused Judaism. This was only believed to be true for the sect of Jews that came from Babylonia, not the pre-Babylonian Jews, and so Herod refused. Prior to Babylonian captivity the Old Testament shows that a person could be "adopted" as Jewish, and the Mikvah of cleansing is totally unrelated. Baptism is entirely a Babalonian Jewish tradition, and not needed in any other Jewish sect, including the modern denominations.

Baptism was used by the Maccabbees to convert non-Jews to Judaism in order to fight the Greeks and fulfill the prophesies of Isaiah concerning the rulership of the Jews and their supporters. Those converted through baptism to support the Jews in their wars against their Greek captors were called "the baptized" by the Greeks. The word in Greek is derived from the Babylonian, but it also means "to drown". The Greek word later became Romanized at the time of Jesus to "Christian". Technically, there were Christians (Baptized converts) before Jesus, but to avoid confusion, the Anglicized term is only used to refer to followers of "The Christ". Paul extended the term to refer to both born Jewish and converted Jewish followers of Jesus after Antioch.

Paul repeatedly uses the concept of dying to the old self and being reborn as a Christian through our Baptism. He states that through Baptism we join in Jesus' death and ressurection. These concepts hearken back to the Babylonian concepts of Baptism. Paul uses the death and rebirth concepts in his letters without having to explain them, which indicates they were probably well known in Paul's time. If the common understanding of Baptism had only to do with cleansing, he would need to explain himself to be understood. Paul uses the concept of cleansing in terms of being washed in the blood of the lamb, which refers to Jesus' sacrifice and bloody death. By combining the two concepts, he joins the traditional Jews by birth to the converted Jews, and at the same time declares that all followers of Jesus no longer have to follow the strict Jewish laws, especially in so far as eating with each other is concerned, as they are united through Christ. Paul states that he only converted a few non-Jews through Baptism, but much of his work was with the gentiles, and in uniting them with traditional Jews that followed Jesus. Paul himself may have been baptized by Ananias through the Holy Spirit, rather than by water. This would make sense, as he was already Jewish, but the Scriptures are not clear, and the question is still debated.

Answer 3

Christian baptism was practiced at the very beginning of the Church, on the day of Pentecost, when Peter responded to the crowd's question, "What should we do?" He answered, "Repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven."

The idea was elaborated by Paul, who taught that in Christian baptism, one symbolically dies with Christ, and rises to new life.

Answer 4

At the beginning of Jesus ministry in Israel. God gave John the Baptist that authority. It is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.