The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1877-11-14
For THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS,
BY REV. H. H. HALVES.
No. 2.

No. 2.
1. We are not told that Jesus "went dow
into the water" Matthew says He ''came
Jordan" Mark says, He was "bsptized
John in Jordan" But he also says Il: 4
"John did baptize in the wilderness" Nov
if Sin Jordan" means "in the water"-wh,,
does not I" in the wilderness" mean Gin tn
sand or earth of the wilderness? John bap
tized in the wilderness, and he baptized q
Jordan. If the proposition Sin" means i'm
mersion in the water of Jordan, it must alSt
mean immersion in the sands of the wilder
ness. So it just proves nothing. I" In Jor
dan" simply means locality, as Sin the viii
derness" does. These terms only mark thC
places sO6sye John baptized. See John x
40-42. And as we are not told at all, thai
Christ ever went down into the water, there
is no proof that He ever did. "Iindeed have
baptized you with water, says John Marx
i: 8 but He shall baptize you NTH the
Holy Ghost" This language is steadily held
by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each
and all say, "with water" and cannot be
forced to say Gin or under water"
2. But We read, Matthew iii 16, that Je-
sus came up out of the water. How could
He come out if He did not first go into it ?
A fair question, no doubt. Yet does any ad.
mission that He went into the water prove
that He went under it. Certainly not. The
writer of these articles rode into the Apo
mattox river, not long since, with good
immersionist" brother; but neither of US
had to dry our clothes afterwards. We went
into the river, and clear across it, but we
did not go under the water at all. 1t was
not necessary. "Into' and "out Of" there
fore do not mean "uader."
In Matthew iii 16, the Greek proposition
for " out Of" is "apO." But in verse 7, the
same proposition is translated "from, "-'fee
from the wrath to come" In Matthew vii
16, "apO" is used three times: eye shall
know them (apO) By their fruits; Do men
gather grapes (apO) of thOrns, or figs (apo) of
thistles p Matthew uses the word many
times. Sixty-6ve times it is translated
"from," and only ten times is it translated
"out Of. What then can be proved by the
phrase "out of the water p Nothing. The
translators had great leaning towards sim
mersion;" and they tried hard to make the
Bible teach it. This is the simple truth
If any ,one wants proof of the assertion, let
him examine Acts viii There, in verse 58,
sheg make Philip and the Eunuch both 20
down into the water" The proposition
translated "into" in that verse is "eis"-
1t is used in the Greek Testament eleven
tir3ss in this chapter, and 1t is translated
'sn:y only once. When the translstors came
to sOater, they aOanted to go under. So in
verse 38, they made "eis," "into." They
make eis' say in verse 3, "to prison )" in
verse 5, "to Samaria;" verse 16, sin the
name;" verse 20, "with thee;" verse %,
in the gale;" verse 25, "to Jerusalem ;"
verse 26, "unto Gazs;" verse 27, "to Je-
russlem;" ;" verse 40, cat Azotus," and "to
Ceserea." But in verse 98-," into the wa
ter" If this does not prove their partiality
for immersion" nothing can be proved in
all the world. What fact is made evident
here? Just this: If king James translators
had acted fairly, instead of trying to force the
Bible to prove their immersiOnist Uiews, no
one would have ever thought Of saying that
the Bible teaches immersion. There would
not be an immerSiOnist' on the face of the
earth. The inspired language (the Creek
of the Bible, never SO much as once, gives
any hint about "gOing down into the water"
But let it all stand as translated. What
then There is not one record in all the
Bible which proves or says, or warrants any
one in saying, that either Jesus or any other
person ever went ander the water in bsp-
tism Therefore he who teaches or thinks
that Jesus was Immersed, is wrong. He
has no Scriptural warrant for so doing. Hon
esty and sincerity may be claimed and pro-
fessed too. But we are also honest and sim
cere; and besides this, We study the lam
guags of the Bible in its inspired form, in
order that We may be able to teach truly what
the will and doctrines of God are. The pre-
judices of king James trsnslators, therefore,
cannot make, nor rule our faith. We cannot
find where God says, "Go under the water. I"
Therefore we will neither go, nor put others
under. We do fad that Gods will is to bap-
TIE "s0ith water" Therefore we do so.-
But suppose We grant that Jesus was i'm
mersed. What then That has nothing
whatever to do with our duty. And this We
will next consider.
The BEAUTY OF QUIET LIvEs-It is said
that when Thorwaldsen returned to his ma
tive land with those rare and wonderful