Q: The Watchtower of December 15, 2006, on page 30, under the
heading "Do You Remember?" asks the following review question:
"Was Jewish ritual bathing a forerunner of Christian baptism?"
The answer they offered
is: "It was not. The Jews
performed cleansing rites upon themselves, which John's baptism did not call
for. The cleansing required by the Mosaic Law had to be repeated, but
Christian baptism is performed only once."
This is what the original Watchtower
article said
(October 15, 2006, page 13): "The
cleansing required by the Mosaic Law had to be repeated as often as a
worshipper became unclean. This was not true of the baptism John performed
nor of that later practiced by Christians. John's baptism indicated
repentance and a rejection of a former life course. Christian baptism
symbolized the fact that a person had dedicated himself to God. The
Christian did so once, not over and over again." (Bold added)
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A: Does the fact that "the cleansing required by the
Mosaic Law had to be repeated as often as a worshipper became unclean" prove
that it has nothing to do with Christian baptism? Let's consider what was
involved:
The cleansing procedure, as commanded by Jehovah, included more than merely a
spattering of water upon the person to be cleansed. Important to note is that
the "sin offering" was an integral part of the cleansing process. For example,
when Jehovah separated the Levites from among the sons of Israel for carrying on
his service, he first had them cleansed:
And Jehovah spoke further to Moses, saying: “Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and you must cleanse them. And this is what you should do to them to cleanse them: Spatter sin-cleansing water upon them, and they must have a razor pass over all their flesh and must wash their garments and cleanse themselves. Then they must take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour moistened with oil, and you will take another young bull for a sin offering. (Numbers 8:5-8)
In his Law to the Israelites Jehovah mentioned the various things that would make a person unclean and the necessary steps involved to attain a clean standing before him:
"And Jehovah proceeded to speak
to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2 “This is a statute of the
law that Jehovah has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they
should take for you a sound red cow in which there is no defect and upon
which no yoke has come. 3 And YOU must give it to
El·e·a´zar the priest, and he must lead it forth outside the camp, and it
must be slaughtered before him. 4 Then El·e·a´zar the
priest must take some of its blood with his finger and spatter some of its blood
straight toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. 5 And
the cow must be burned under his eyes. Its skin and its flesh and its blood
together with its dung will be burned. 6 And the priest
must take cedarwood and hyssop and coccus scarlet material and throw it into the
midst of the burning of the cow. 7 And the priest must
wash his garments and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he may come into
the camp; but the priest must be unclean until the evening.
8 “‘And the one who burned it will wash his garments in
water and must bathe his flesh in water, and he must be unclean until the
evening. 9 “‘And a clean man must gather up the ashes
of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they must
serve the assembly of the sons of Israel as something to be kept for the water
for cleansing. It is a sin offering. 10 And the one
gathering the ashes of the cow must wash his garments and be unclean until the
evening.
“‘And it must serve the sons of Israel and the alien resident who is residing
as an alien in their midst as a statute to time indefinite.
11 Anyone touching the corpse of any human soul must also be unclean
seven days. 12 Such one should purify himself with it on
the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he will not
purify himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he will not be clean.
13 Everyone touching a corpse, the soul of whatever man
may die, and who will not purify himself, has defiled Jehovah’s tabernacle, and
that soul must be cut off from Israel. Because the water for cleansing has
not been sprinkled upon him, he continues unclean. His uncleanness is still
upon him.
14 “‘This is the law in case a man should die in a tent:
Everyone coming into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, will be unclean
seven days. 15 And every opened vessel upon which there is
no lid tied down is unclean. 16 And everyone who on the
open field may touch someone slain with the sword or a corpse or a bone of a man
or a burial place will be unclean seven days. 17 And
they must take for the unclean one some of the dust of the burning of the sin
offering and put running water upon it in a vessel. 18 Then
a clean man must take hyssop and dip it into the water and spatter it upon the
tent and all the vessels and the souls that happened to be there and upon the
one who touched the bone or the slain one or the corpse or the burial place.
19 And the clean person must spatter it upon the
unclean one on the third day and on the seventh day and must purify him
from sin on the seventh day; and he must wash his garments and bathe in
water, and he must be clean in the evening.
20 “‘But the man who may be unclean and who will not
purify himself, well, that soul must be cut off from the midst of the
congregation, because it is Jehovah’s sanctuary that he has defiled. The water
for cleansing was not sprinkled upon him. He is unclean.
(Numbers 19:1-20)
The point is clearly made in the above scriptures, that for an unclean person to be cleansed, Jehovah mandated sin-cleansing water and the sacrifice of a sin offering, a young bull or the ashes of a heifer. If the "sin-cleansing" waters have nothing to do with Christian baptism because the cleansing "had to be repeated as often as a worshipper became unclean," then by the same reasoning we must conclude that the "sin offering" had nothing to do with Christ's sacrifice, for it too was "repeated as often as a worshipper became unclean." Note, though, what the apostle Paul says in this regard:
However, when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come to pass, through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered, no, not with the blood of goats and of young bulls, but with his own blood, once for all time into the holy place and obtained an everlasting deliverance [for us]. For if the blood of goats and of bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who have been defiled sanctifies to the extent of cleanness of the flesh, how much more will the blood of the Christ, who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works that we may render sacred service to [the] living God? ―Hebrews 9:11-14.
According to
the Mosaic Law, the sin-cleansing waters along with the sin offering was an
inseparable provision, needed as often as the people became unclean. Anyone
refusing to be thus cleansed was to "be cut off from Israel." Christ's
sacrifice was far superior to that of the animals offered under the Mosaic Law.
Our faith in Christ Jesus as
the sin offering, who "was offered once for all time to bear the sins of many," along with the "sin-cleansing waters" at our baptism, which needs to be
performed only once, for we need to be cleansed of our sins only once, enables
us to
render God sacred service with a clean conscience. That is the reason that Saul,
who became the apostle Paul, was told by Ananias, "Rise, get baptized and wash
your sins away by your calling upon [Jesus'] name." (Acts 22:16; Heb. 9:28)
Why does the Watchtower claim that "the cleansing required by the Mosaic
Law" was not "a forerunner of Christian baptism?" Because it contradicts their
teaching that baptism is about dedication. As the Watchtower article
explained:
"Christian baptism...symbolizes that an individual has wholly dedicated himself to Jehovah to serve Him as a disciple of His Son. Complete immersion in water is an appropriate symbol of such dedication. A person's going under the water represents his dying to his former life course. Being raised out of the water symbolizes his being made alive to do God's will." (10/15, 2006, page 13)
Of course, they do not provide any accompanying scriptures mentioning dedication in connection with baptism, because there aren't any. To them, the complete immersion in water at our baptism is not a fitting symbol of our being completely cleansed of our sins "once for all time" (rather than just being spattered with water, symbolizing temporary cleansing, as was the case under the Mosaic Law), because of our faith in the "sin offering," provided by Jesus' death "once for all time." Instead, they see baptism as a fitting symbol of our dying to our former course of life, and then being raised up and being made alive to do God's will. (Would that not rather be a more fitting symbol of a person being "born again?") But we may ask: Whose dying and being made alive is it that really matters? Is it not Jesus who died and was raised up "that we may render sacred service to the living God with a clean conscience?" When does human reasoning become "wicked," "injurious reasoning?" When God's Word is rejected in favor of human traditions. (Matt. 15:6-8, 19; Mark 7:20-23; 1 Cor. 3:19,20; James 1:22; 1 John 2:1,2)
"Let us approach with true hearts in the full assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our bodies bathed with clean water." (Heb. 10:22)
(For a further discussion on this subject see "God's View On Dedication." Also, Is it necessary to be baptized to survive Armageddon?)
http://www.perimeno.ca/Index_A.htm