Monday, February 05, 2007

RANDOM FACT OF THE WEEK

So I'm researching the history and origins of baptism. It was done long before John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan. So my question is what did baptism mean, and how frequent was it in Jesus' Jewish context. I'll let you known what I find.

But I came across this interesting fact in my research. In the New Testament Early Church baptism was done naked. New converts to Christianity disrobed themselves for baptism. Getting naked was symbolic of getting rid of the old life completely.

This practice of naked baptisms has been dropped since NT times. And Baptists usually insist on being as close and real to the NT baptism as possible; this is why Baptists practice immersion. Think they'll bring this one back??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

as a person who would baptize many people later, i prefer not nakedness, there are somethings that shouldnt be seen.

Anonymous said...

Not naked is best for most situations.