I recently enjoyed a clandestine recording of a back seat conversation between two sisters on the subject of “getting bath-tized”. The older sister—a six year old—patiently explained to her inquiring three year old sibling: “When you’re a little older—like 14, you’ll have to get bath-tized. They’ll hold you and they’ll dunk us under water.”
At the age of six, this youngster already knows three significant Bible truths about baptism: 1) It is not for infants or young children; 2) It has to be an immersion in water; and 3) It is essential; it is something you have to do.
Though it may be just a consonant blend that a young mouth may not yet have fully mastered, the use of “bath-tized” for “baptized” is also accurate and rich with Biblical truth.
In the Greek language, there are three verbs translated “to wash”. Nipto is used when referring to washing or cleaning a part of your body—like washing your hands or Jesus washing Peter’s feet (John 13:5, 6, 8). Louo is used when referring to washing or bathing the entire body (John 13:10). Apolouo is used when referring to having some impurity washed off or away from your body when it has been in a bath (loutros). Just as a pool of water in Philippi was necessary to clean the blood-stained bodies of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:33), a pool of water was necessary to cleanse the sin-stained soul of a treasurer from Ethiopia (Acts 8:37-39). In both baths, a cleansing occurred. One was outward; one was inward.
In Scriptural baptism, a spiritual bath transpires. It is not the outward bath of putting away the filth of the flesh, but an inward bath which seeks to have a good conscience toward God (1 Peter 3:21) by having one’s sins washed away (Acts 22:16).
Biblically speaking, baptism can accurately be termed a “bath-tism”. When the body of a penitent believer is dipped or dunked in water (Hebrews 10:22), his soul is washed/bathed (louo), sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11). A sinner has been saved, born again by the washing/ bath (loutros) of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The members of Christ’s bride are those who have been sanctified and cleansed with the washing/bath (loutros) of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26).
When a person obeys the gospel, it can be accurately stated that he has been “bath-tized”.
God’s word is so simple and understandable that young children can understand it (2 Timothy 3:15) and then accurately explain important truths to one another. How heartwarming it is to see these Bible Basics being taught and learned in our world today.