Baptism For Every Man and Woman

“Whereas not everyone in the Jewish community is circumcised, everyone in the Christian community is baptized.  Thus, baptism into Christ provides for a unity that cannot be realized in a circumcised community.” [1]

In the first century, a gentile could convert to Judaism and become a proselyte following a process that required circumcision and strict obedience to the commandments.  Circumcision was the defining act that separated “God-fearers” who were sympathetic to the Jewish people from those who were physically joined to become “sons of Abraham’s family,” (Acts 13:26).  While the act of circumcision was available to men, no such similar act was available to women.  This leads to the question, what defining act could a gentile woman perform to convert to Judaism? 

Although a woman could repent, swear allegiance to God, and, take on the yoke of the commandments, her actions might not distinguish her from a gentile woman who remained as a God-fearer.  A married woman may have been further restricted by the worship of her husband.  Whereas a man converting to Judaism could bring his entire family into the faith with him, a woman did not have a similar authority, but remained connected to the faith of her husband.

“It has frequently been noted that before the end of the first century CE it is obscure what conversion meant for a woman, and how a woman convert differed from a female firm sympathizer (or God-fearer).  In most cases, perhaps, inclusion in the community was simply through marriage to a Jewish husband, or – more ambiguously-adoption as a salve; but for other women, particularly those who remained married to their pagan husbands, with all the consequences that might entail for possible observation of the commandments, there was, as far as we can tell, no clear ceremony and perhaps no clear agreed idea of conversation.” 

“The silence of ancient texts regarding a transformational ritual for female proselytes has bewildered even the best historians and led to at least one to conclude that, except through marriage, it was simply not possible for a woman to convert to Judaism in the same sense that a man could.”

“The conundrum, then, is what to make of the apparently large number of gentile women interested in Judaism around the turn of the millennium: women so often identified by historians as proselytes.  If circumcision was the ‘decisive step’ in conversion for men, what was the transformational rite for these women?” [2]

Historians have pondered what defining step a gentile women undertook to convert to Judaism.  One of the speculations is baptism, “the emergence of immersion as a conversion ritual is no doubt to be connected with the emergence of the possibility that women too could convert to Judaism, not merely through marriage to Jewish spouse but in their own right.” [3]

Whereas only a man could be circumcised when joining the Jewish people, both male and female believers are joined to Jesus Christ through the common experience of baptism.  Lydia is an example in scripture of a gentile woman living in the city of Thyatira who accepted the Lord as her savior, apparently apart from the actions of her husband who may have been deceased at that time.  Upon accepting Christ, “she and her household had been baptized,” (Acts 16:15).  Through baptism, any individual could take a defining step to show their commitment to Jesus.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit,” (1Cor 12:13). 

“Paul understood Baptism into Christ as just that sort of conversionary rite.  Through it gentiles, both men and women, became circumcised and joined the covenant of Israel, thereby preparing themselves to stand in judgment before Christ at his imminent return.” [4]

For Paul, gentile access to the promises of God involved moving from an existing “unclean” condition, to a regenerated “clean” condition, as written, “‘Come out for their midst and be separate,’ says the LORD, ‘And do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you,’” (1Cor 6:17).  Baptism is an instrumental step in the process, “You were washed…you were sanctified… you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God,” (1Cor 6:11).

In addition, “The language of the temple provides ‘the chief terms by which Paul conceptualizes the incorporation of his pagans-in-Christ into Israel’s redemption.’ This is most explicit when Paul asserts that the gentiles are temples themselves (1Cor 6:19, 3:16-17).” [1]  Since access to the temple was only possible through baptism, it follows that a believer’s life, called “that temple” (1Cor 3:17), would be subject to the same purification required for an article used in the temple.

 (1) Separate from the pagan world, “For what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;”

(2) Become clean, “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.” and

(3) Move into a right relationship with God, “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” (2Cor 6:16-18)

Some may argue that baptism replaced circumcision for all people in Paul’s thinking.  Scripture does not support this position.  The Jewish believer in Christ remained under the yoke of the greater commandments, which obligated the believer to circumcision, as with the example of Timothy, (Acts 16:3).  However, for both the Jew and the Gentile, both male and female, baptism became a common gateway that united both Jew and Gentile, male and female into a common faith.  

So again I have to ask, why does the church too often diminish the importance of baptism?

--  Scott

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[1] Paul the Jew (Rereading the Apostle as a Figure of 2^nd Temple Judaism), (Joshua Garroway), page 221

[2] Ibid, page 224

[3] Ibid, page 225

[4] Ibid, page 229

[5] Paul Within Judaism, “The Question of Identity”, Caroline Johnson Hodge, page 165