Baptism has been part of Christianity from the start, as shown by the many mentions in the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline epistles, the gospel according to St. Matthew, the first epistle of St. Peter, the longer ending of Mark and the Didache.
Background in Jewish ritual
Although the term "baptism" is not today used to describe the Jewish rituals (in contrast to New Testament times, when the Greek word baptismos did indicate Jewish ablutions or rites of purification), the purification rites (or mikvah—ritual immersion) in Jewish law and tradition are similar to baptism, and the two have been linked. In the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish texts, immersion in water for ritual purification was established for restoration to a condition of "ritual purity" in specific circumstances. For example, Jews who (according to the Law of Moses) became ritually defiled by contact with a corpse had to use the mikvah before being allowed to participate in the Temple in Jerusalem. Immersion in the mikvah represents a change in status in regards to purification, restoration, and qualification for full religious participation in the life of the community, ensuring that the cleansed person will not impose uncleanness on property or its owners.Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah, p. 12
New Testament The New Testament includes several references to baptism as an important practice among early Christians and, while giving no actual account of its institution by Jesus, portrays him as giving instructions, after his resurrection, for his followers to perform the rite (see Great Commission). It also gives interpretations by the Apostle Paul and in the First Epistle of Peter of the significance of baptism.
Baptism of Jesus
The baptism of Jesus is described in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. John's gospel does not directly describe Jesus' baptism.
John the Baptist was a 1st-century mission preacher on the banks of the River Jordan. He baptized Jews for repentance in the River Jordan.
At the start of his ministry, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Critical scholars broadly agree that the baptism of Jesus is one of the most authentic, or historically likely, events in the life of the historical Jesus. Christian baptism has its origin in the baptism of Jesus, in both a direct and historical sense. Many of the earliest followers of Jesus were people who, like him, were baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist.
Baptism by Jesus The Gospel of John, states that Jesus at an early stage led a mission of baptism that drew crowds. , considered by many scholars to be a later editorial insertion,See, e.g., the summary of such opinions by denies that Jesus himself baptized and states that he did so only through his disciples.
Some prominent scholars conclude that Jesus did not baptize. Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz assert that Jesus did not baptize, detached the notion of repentance from baptism, recognized John's baptism, and put forward a purity ethic in tension with baptism. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions also states that Jesus did not baptize as part of his ministry.
E. P. Sanders omits John's account of Jesus' baptizing mission from his portrait of Jesus as a historical figure.
Robert W. Funk considers the account of Jesus' baptism ministry in John to have internal difficulties: that, for instance, it reports Jesus coming to Judea even though he is already in Jerusalem and thus in Judea. actually speaks of Jesus and his disciples coming, not "εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν" (into Judea), but "εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν" (into the Judean countryside), which some interpret as contrasted with Jerusalem, the scene of the encounter with Nicodemus described immediately before. According to the Jesus Seminar, the passage about Jesus "coming to Judea" (as they interpret "εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν") to lead a mission of baptism probably preserves no historical information (a "black" rating).
On the other hand, the Cambridge Companion to Jesus takes a different view. According to this source, Jesus accepted and made his own John the Baptist's message of repentance, forgiveness and baptism; taking over from John, when the latter was imprisoned, he called for repentance and for baptism as a first step in accepting the imminent Kingdom of God; and the central place of baptism in his message is confirmed by the passage in John about Jesus baptizing. After John's execution, Jesus ceased baptizing, through he may have occasionally returned to the practice; accordingly, while baptism played an important part in Jesus' ministry before John's death and again among his followers after his resurrection, it had no such prominence in between.
New Testament scholar Raymond E. Brown, a specialist in the Johannine writings, considers that the parenthetic editorial remark of that Jesus baptized only through his disciples was intended to clarify or correct the twice repeated statement in the preceding verses that Jesus did baptize, and that the reason for its insertion may have been that the author considered the baptism that the disciples administered to be a continuation of the Baptist's work, not baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Other New Testament scholars also accept the historical value of this passage in John. This is the view expressed by Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall. Another states that there is "no a priori reason to reject the report of Jesus and his disciples' conducting a ministry of baptism for a time", and mentions that report as one of the items in John's account "that are likely to be historical and ought to be given due weight"..
In his book on the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, Daniel S. Dapaah says that John's account "may be a snippet of historical tradition", and comments that the silence of the Synoptic Gospels does not mean that the information in John was invented, and that Mark's account also suggests that Jesus worked with John at first, before moving to Galilee. Frederick J. Cwiekowski agrees that the account in John "gives the impression" that Jesus baptized.
The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible says that "though he [Christ] himself baptized not so many as his disciples; 'For he suffered them for an example, preferring one another.'
The Gospel of John remarks, in , that, though Jesus drew many people to his baptism, they still did not accept his testimony, and the Jesus Seminar concludes, on the basis of Josephus's accounts, that John the Baptist likely had a larger presence in the public mind than Jesus.
Paul's epistles
In the Pauline epistles baptism effects and represents the believer's union with Christ, a union by which the believer shares in Christ's death and resurrection; cleanses of sin; incorporates into the Body of Christ and makes one "drink of the Spirit."
The conception of a sacramental principle, widespread not only in the Greco-Roman world, but even in pre-Columbian America and in preliterate societies, took on a unique significance, and to Paul's influence is attributed an interpretation given to the Christian rite in terms of the Greco-Roman mysteries but little weight can be attached to the counterparts of baptism in mystery religions as an explanation of the Christian practice.
Gospel of Matthew
Matthew begins with the "generation" of Jesus as Son of David, followed by the visit of the gentile Magi, and the flight into Egypt to escape Herod, after whose death the Holy Family returns into the land of Israel, then moves to Nazareth, and then includes a detailed version of the preaching of John the Baptist, followed by the baptism of Jesus. John protests to Jesus that he needs to be baptized by Jesus, but Jesus tells him to let it be so now, saying that it is fitting for the two of them ("for us") to thus "fulfill all righteousness." When Jesus is baptized, he goes up immediately out of the water, the heavens open and John sees the Spirit of God descend upon him like a dove, alighting on him, and he hears a voice from heaven say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Later, at the request of the mother of James and John, who prompted her to present their request to him to declare that they are to sit one at his right hand and the other at his left, Jesus speaks of the "cup" he is to drink, and he tells them that they too will drink of his cup, but in Matthew's gospel Jesus does not explicitly state that the baptism with which he must be baptized is also the "cup" that he must drink.
The Gospel of Matthew also includes the most famous version of the Great Commission. Here, the resurrected Jesus appears to the apostles and commissions them to make disciples of all nations, to baptize, and teach. This commission reflects the program adopted by the infant Christian movement.
Gospel of Mark
This gospel, today generally believed by scholars to be the first and to have been used as a basis for Matthew and Luke, begins with Jesus' baptism by John, who preached a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. John says of Jesus that he will baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit. At Jesus' baptism, he hears God's voice proclaiming him to be his Son, and he sees the spirit like a dove descend on him.
During Jesus' ministry, when James and John ask Jesus for seats of honor in the coming kingdom, Jesus likens his fate to the cup that he will drink and to the baptism with which he must be baptized, the very cup and baptism in store for John and James (that is, martyrdom).
The traditional ending of Mark is thought to have been compiled early in the 2nd century, and initially appended to the gospel by the middle of that century. It says that those who believe and are baptized will be saved, "but he who does not believe will be condemned." Mark's gospel does not explicitly state that baptized persons who believe will be saved from the "wrath to come," the wrath to which John the Baptist refers in Matthew's gospel, but readers can infer that being "condemned" includes the "wrath to come".
Gospel of Luke
This gospel begins with a statement that it contains reliable information obtained directly from the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word. It introduces the conception of John the Baptist, the annunciation of Gabriel to Mary the virgin, the birth of the Baptist who will be called the prophet of the Most High, and then the birth of Jesus, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, and of Caesar Augustus, emperor of the Roman Empire. There follows the account of Jesus in the Temple among the teachers; and then the calling and preaching of the prophet John the Baptist in the days of emperor Tiberius Caesar, of tetrarchs Herod and Philip, of high priests Annas and Caiaphas, and then by far the briefest account in the canonical Gospels of the baptism of Jesus.
The baptism of John is different from the baptism of the one who is to come after him., Jesus declares later that he has another baptism to be baptized with, and that he is under constraint (he is straitened) until it is accomplished. The petition of the mother of James and John, the personal request of James and John, and Jesus' declaration to them that they will be baptized as he will be baptized, and will drink the cup that he will drink, is not in Luke's gospel.
In the Gospel of Luke, the risen Jesus appears to the disciples and the eleven apostles gathered together with them in Jerusalem and gives them the Great Commission without explicitly speaking of baptism, but readers can infer that "the forgiveness of sins" here includes "baptism" according to the preaching of the apostles at the time of Luke's gospel.
Gospel of John The Gospel of John mentions John the Baptist's baptizing activity,, , in particular his baptism of Jesus, and his statement that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. It also mentions baptizing activity by Jesus, specifying that the baptizing was not done by Jesus himself but by his disciples.