Baptism into Christ is Baptism “into his death” (Romans 6:3)

Three months after the Exodus, the community of Israel encountered the wilderness of Sinai. They approached a formidable Mountain, and encamped at its base.  Moses was instructed to relay a message to the tribes as a preamble to the inauguration of the Covenant, and the thundering display of deity that would soon cause Mount Sinai to quake violently and the people to tremble. Israel responded: “We will do everything the Lord has spoken.” Further instruction was given for the people to consecrate themselves by washing their garments: 

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. – Exodus 19:10-11

In addition, they were also told to abstain from relations (Exodus 19:15). The imperative to wash and avoid relations makes it clear that the Lord wanted the people ceremonially clean. Since the Mount Sinai experience would virtually amount to a mass conversion, Judaism would look to Exodus 19 and the requirement to take on ceremonial purity (the immersion of baptism) as the template for conversion:

During their sojourn in Egypt, the children of Israel had the halakhic status of gentiles. At the revelation at Sinai they entered into a national covenant with God in which they attained their status of the Jewish people. This transformation was essentially the mass conversion of the people, and so their preparation for the revelation provides a paradigm of the process required for conversion for all generations…he [the gentile] is not a convert until he is circumcised and he immerses. – Yevamot 46a

Impurity

“Tumah” or impurity, is a concept entirely apart from physical cleanliness. If the Torah establishes the rule of law within the boundaries of Israel, “Tumah” as a part of the law, is best understood as a type of legal fiction. For example, when a person or an object becomes “Tamei” (unclean, impure) nothing about that person or object is inherently affected or changed. There are no “unclean” particles, so to speak, that a physicist could observe. Nothing is happening. It is a legal fiction that serves a purpose. That purpose is to make the Israelites, who have subjected themselves to this legal game, acutely aware of what it represents.

An Israelite is forbidden to offer sacrifice, eat of sanctified meat (after the animal is ritually slaughtered) or even generally reside near the Temple while in a state of impurity. This makes the state of impurity (and while it lasted) tantamount to a temporary separation from God. 

Tumah/Impurity represents sin.

Tumah acted as a barrier between the Israelite and access to the Temple. In the same way, man’s sin stands as an impenetrable barrier blocking access to God. Physical death is but a symptom of the highest expression of death, which is alienation from God. Therefore, Sin and death go hand in hand. This is why Torah regulation heavily associates Tumah/impurity with death. 

Jewish law has defined various degrees of Tumah/impurity. The ‘harshest’ or highest degree of Tumah, called the “Avi Avos” (grandfather of all impurity) is contracted through contact with a corpse. In this case, the only remedy is to receive purification through the red Heifer sacrifice (Numbers 19). All other forms of Tumah were regarded as “Toldos” (offspring), meaning that they are all rooted in the central theme of contact with death of some kind, and to a certain degree. 

The following Bodily secretions bring about a lower degree of Tumah:

• Emission of Semen
• Menstrual Blood
• Discharge
• Skin disease

These secretions bring about Tumah, since they are all related to death. Semen lost, will die. Menstrual blood comes from dead Endometrial cells as they slough off the Uterus. Discharge and skin disease are symptomatic of a lack of health. Our bodies are imperfect, vulnerable to disease and problems, and will eventually return to dust. Discharge and skin disease are ugly manifestations of the reality of the human condition. As a result of sin, we are mortal and we will eventually die. 

Childbirth makes the mother impure. After a woman gives birth to a son, she remains unclean for seven days (Leviticus 12:1). It is only through childbirth that the next generation can arrive. However a next generation is only necessary, since the prior generation will eventually die. This makes childbirth a reminder of death. One of the curses of the fall is pain in childbirth (Genesis 3:16). In addition, we are all born into sin and impurity. 

The birth of a son warrants seven days of impurity. However, in the case of a girl, the mother spends twice as long under the state of impurity! Why is this? A girl will eventually become a mother herself. The birth of a girl amounts to a greater potential for death, in comparison to the birth of a boy.

Cleansing

The highest degree of Tumah has but only one cure. The Red Heifer sacrifice specifically combats “Avi Avos” (the grandfather of impurity) contracted through contact with a corpse. Without this provision, this level of impurity would be irreversible. If the affected neglect to seek purification through the Red Heifer sacrifice, the Torah imposes the consequence of exile from the community. An untreated case is said to “defile the sanctuary.” 

Purification for lower degree Tumah cases are simple in comparison. The Torah only requires immersion in water, and seclusion from the outside world until evening (until the day concludes).

The symbolic value behind water is clear. Water washes away the dirt, grime, and filth that we collect under our fingernails, or under our feet, as a result of our participation in the world. Water removes what is foreign, and restores the purity of what was originally. 

The procedure of washing was a gesture of removing Tumah, as if it were a stain on the soul. 

Immersion

Torah instruction requires immersion of the entire body underwater (Leviticus 15:16). In order to perform these immersions in adherence to Torah specification, private and community “Mikveh” pools would be established. Jewish law would define the standard of a minimum of “40 Sa’ah” of water, to ensure full body immersion.

The “Mikvah” immersion was a voluntary brush with death. For a brief moment, with eyes closed, and breath suspended, the Israelite would endure conditions similar to death: darkness, silence, and suspense. This was considered an act of self “nullification”:

“Through immersion into mikveh a person nullifies himself entirely.” – Siddur Im Dach, pg 159d

The symbolism behind the immersion intimates that death is not simply being washed away. Rather, death is removed by moving through it, and emerging into new life on the other side. When the Israelite undergoing a Mikveh immersion would break through the surface, after having endured an experiential nullification, they were regarded as spiritually purified and born again. 

It was believed that after a convert was ritually immersed (baptized) they were absolved of all former sin:

“Rabbi Yosei said, ‘A convert who converted is as a child just born, [an no former sin is reckoned to him].” – Talmud, Yevamot 48b

The convert was reborn as an Israelite:

“[once] he is immersed and rises, he is viewed as an Israelite in all matters.” – Talmud, Yevamot 47b

John the Baptist, and Jesus

John the Baptist campaigned powerfully in the spirit of Elijah, as if to prepare “a highway” (Isaiah 40:3) for the coming of the messiah. He would prime Israel to best receive the Messiah, through a ministry of repentance:

“Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River…’I baptize you with water for repentance.’” – Matthew 3:6,11

John beckoned the penitent to substantiate their resolve to restore their relationship to God, by undergoing the nullification of immersion. Through immersion, they hoped the sin of the past would wash away. John’s Baptism would represent renewal, and the opportunity to return to a blank slate:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, – Isaiah 1:16

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! – Psalm 51: 2

When Jesus approached John to receive baptism, John was perplexed: “But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14). Jesus would seek nullification not for repentance of sin, but out of a desire to hold nothing back. In response to this, Jesus would receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that he could move forward in power and begin his ministry.

There is a concept in Judaism called “repentance out of love.” Under the paradigm of repentance out of love, it is believed that intentional sins can be transformed into merits:

Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, as the penitent’s intentional sins are counted for him as unwitting transgressions, as it is stated: “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity” (Hosea 14:2). The Gemara analyzes this: Doesn’t “iniquity” mean an intentional sin? Yet the prophet calls it stumbling, implying that one who repents is considered as though he only stumbled accidentally in his transgression. The Gemara asks: Is that so? Didn’t Reish Lakish himself say: Great is repentance, as one’s intentional sins are counted for him as merits, as it is stated: “And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby” (Ezekiel 33:19), and all his deeds, even his transgressions, will become praiseworthy? The Gemara reconciles: This is not difficult: Here, when one repents out of love, his sins become like merits; there, when one repents out of fear, his sins are counted as unwitting transgressions. – Talmud, Yoma 86b

Rabbi Meir expounds on how this is so:

It was taught by Rabbi Meir would say: “Repentance is great: for the sake of…[one] who performs repentance the entire world is completely forgiven, as it says, ‘I shall heal their backslidings, I shall love them liberally, for my anger has turned from him.’ ‘…from them’ it does not say, but ‘from him.’ – Talmud, Yoma 86b

Who is “him”? This is the righteous one without sin, who repents out of love. The only one in human history who was truly capable of repenting out of love (repentance without sin) was Jesus. Through Jesus, sin became merit, because the sin he was repenting of was not his own sin!

When Jesus was immersed, he was nullified, died in principle (through the nullification), and went through rebirth, on our behalf.

The Apostle Paul

Since Jesus accepted nullification on behalf of the world, the process of spiritual rebirth was locked and anchored to himself. When we are baptized, we are routed through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. When we break through the surface of the water, we emerge as a new creature in Christ. We are reborn as children of the Heavenly father. Paul summarizes this process in Romans 6:

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,  that we should no longer be slaves to sin…” – Romans 6:3-6