Some Christians teach that baptism must be performed by immersion (aka submersion) for it to be legitimate. For example, the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith mandates baptism by immersion, inferring that baptism by any other mode – either pouring or sprinkling – is no baptism at all. “Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary to the due administration of this ordinance” (1689 London Confession, chapter 29, paragraph 4).
In defense of this view, Dr. John MacArthur teaches that without doubt, baptism as presented in the New Testament always refers to immersion:
“Two verbs express this reality, bapto and baptidzo. Those two verbs are used when baptism is referred to. They mean to immerse, to dip down. The noun, baptisma is always used in Acts to refer to a believer being immersed in the water. Sprinkling is a completely different word, rhantismos, completely different word, never used to describe a believer’s baptism in the New Testament, never used to describe a believer’s baptism in the New Testament, never. . . . Immersion is commanded of every believer as a picture, as an object lesson, as a symbol, as a visual analogy of a spiritual reality. It is the way that God designed to publicly declare the truth of personal salvation. What does it symbolize when a person is immersed, submerged? Clearly unmistakably throughout the New Testament, Christian baptism is a picture of the union of a believer in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.” (from “Is Infant Baptism Biblical?” preached by Dr. MacArthur September 18, 2011)
The goal of this essay is to test Dr. MacArthur’s assertion that baptism in the New Testament always points to immersion. I do not believe his claim holds up in the light of biblical scrutiny.
For example, the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 that the Israelites “all passed through the sea, all were baptized (ἐβαπτίσαντο, from the Greek verb baptidzo) into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” This refers to the crossing of the Red Sea, in which Paul says the Israelites were “baptized.” Clearly the Israelites were not submerged – in fact, the only people submerged in that event were the Egyptians. Thus we have clear evidence of a New Testament author defining “baptism” in a way other than immersion, indeed, in a way that makes immersion impossible. The Israelites “passed through” the water; they were not submerged in it.
The same can be seen in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught His disciples that they would be “baptized (βαπτισθήσεσθε, again from the Greek verb baptidzo) with the Holy Spirit not many days from now,” and that they would “receive power when the Holy Spirit” came upon them (Acts 1:5, 8 ). The fulfillment of this prediction came weeks later at Pentecost, but the concept of God submersing the disciples in the Spirit is nowhere found in the language of the biblical text. Rather, God baptized Christ’s disciples by “pouring out” His Spirit upon them (Acts 2:17-18, 33), and as a result they were “filled” (i.e., controlled) by Him, and not controlled by new wine as the mockers suggested (2:13). This was to fulfill the prophecy of Joel that God would “pour out” His Spirit (Joel 2:28-29; cited by Peter in Acts 2:17-18). The same thing is seen in Acts 10:45, where the Jews were astonished because “the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”
Throughout Acts, the language regarding the baptism of the Spirit plainly and consistently points to pouring, not immersion/submersion. In Acts 2, the visible sign of the baptism of the Spirit was “tongues as of fire” that “sat upon each” of the disciples (Acts 2:3), which pictures anointing/pouring, not immersion. God poured out His Spirit – this is the baptism of the Spirit as defined by Scripture.
As well, the various βαπτισμοῖς (baptisms) mentioned in Hebrews 9:10 refer to the *sprinkling* of blood (9:13, 19, 21). Once again, the concept of baptize = immersion is not found, and instead we have additional evidence that the word “baptism” calls to mind sprinkling/pouring.
It is significant that the Holy Spirit chose the Greek word baptidzo and not bapto to describe Christian baptism. Bapto points to dipping/dunking. The word is used three times in the New Testament, and in each case dipping or dunking is plainly in view. The rich man wanted Lazarus to βάψῃ (dip) his finger in water and give him a drink (Luke 16:24). Jesus βάψας (dipped) the bread and handed it to Judas (John 13:26). Jesus wears a robe βεβαμμένον (dipped) in blood when He comes in judgment (Revelation 19:13). The Greek word bapto as used in the New Testament means to dip, dunk. (Dr. MacArthur’s claim that bapto is used “when baptism is referred to” is incorrect. Again, bapto appears only three times in the NT, never with reference to Christian baptism.)
Baptidzo and its related forms appear much more frequently in the NT, and in none of them is dunking or dipping demanded. In fact, as we have seen, in some passages the idea of dunking/dipping is precluded altogether.
What about Romans 6:4? Paul says, “We have been buried with Him through baptism into death.” Does this not point to submersion baptism? It might seem to at first, but it actually points to nothing specific, since the mode of baptism is nowhere mentioned by Paul in that context. Dr. MacArthur points to this verse to establish immersion baptism, but it’s an argument by conjecture, conclusive only to those who already presuppose “baptism always means immersion in the Bible,” which as we have seen, it clearly does not. Besides, Jesus was buried by being placed in a cave, not by being “immersed” with dirt.
Lacking any exegetical data to verify Dr. MacArthur’s argument, Christians who baptize by pouring or sprinkling have no trouble understanding from the Bible that the pouring or sprinkling of water is indeed symbolic of the burial of death – as with the water that fell in the Noahic flood that destroyed all except those in the ark. Interestingly, Peter teaches that there is correspondence between Christian baptism and the eight people on the ark who “were brought safely through water” (1 Peter 3:20-21), as opposed to those who were submerged and perished. (Note the similarity to Israel being “baptized” in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2.)
What about John 3:23? The apostle writes, “John (the Baptizer) also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.” Does “much water” demand immersion? No. It might be inferred, but there is no conclusive evidence here of baptismal mode, any more than in Romans 6:4. Once again the argument for immersion is one of conjecture. In fact, if early Christian art is a reliable guide, the preference for “much water” was due to the baptismal recipients standing partly in water while water was poured over their heads, which was the common way early Christians were baptized.
The same can be said about Acts 8:38-39: “they both went down into the water . . . they came up out of the water.” Baptism by immersion is not proven in these verses but only conjectured. And again, if early art is any indication, going “down into” the water is exactly what would have happened if the eunuch stood partly in it while Philip (also in the water) poured water on his head.
Here are two scenes of baptism from the Roman catacombs which illustrate how baptism was typically conceived in the ancient church:
(Click here to see more baptismal scenes from the catacombs.)
Finally, what about Dr. MacArthur’s observation that “Sprinkling is a completely different word, rhantismos, completely different word, never used to describe a believer’s baptism in the New Testament, never used to describe a believer’s baptism in the New Testament, never”?
Is this a valid way to establish that baptism by submersion is mandated in the New Testament? No. There might be something to the argument if the mode of baptism referenced by baptidzo always pictured immersion/submersion — but as we have seen, that is clearly not the case.
Since baptidzo at least sometimes pictures something other than submersion in a number of New Testament verses, and at times unmistakably points to pouring/sprinkling, the claim that the biblical writers would have hypothetically used the Greek verb rhainó (to sprinkle) instead of baptidzo if they had intended to point to sprinkling is superfluous. In fact, the author of Hebrews uses the verb rhainó (translated “sprinkling/sprinkled”) in Hebrews 9:13, 19, & 21 to give definition to the βαπτισμοῖς (“baptisms/washings”) mentioned in 9:10! According to the inspired text, and contrary to Dr. MacArthur’s claim, ritual washings/baptisms are witnessed via rhantizó, sprinkling.
What do we learn from this study? 1) We must be careful to understand the words of Scripture in the way the biblical authors actually use them. 2) We must be careful not to let unproven presuppositions about the meaning of certain words govern our reading of the biblical text. When we do all this, we find much compelling evidence in the New Testament indicating that the mode of Christian baptism was by sprinkling/pouring, and nothing conclusive to indicate baptism by immersion, despite Dr. MacArthur’s claims.
May God give us the light to see and embrace what is right.
Veritas Dei Lux Mea Est (God's Truth Is My Light) 
Full agreement on all points, Joe. Well done!
A few thoughts …
1. John 3:23 – “much water” in the Greek is hudata polla, literally “many waters”. It is not describing the depth of the water (as it would need to do to support immersionism), but numerous springs of water. Jay Adams, in his “The Meaning and Mode of Baptism”, cites a writer (Christy) who says …
Unfortunately for those who are accustomed to find here proof of immersion, these springs trickling through marshy meadow land on their way to the Jordan, as they do to this day, offer little or no facilities for immersion.
2. If you examine the prepositions used with baptism, we are never said to be baptized into water, but by means of water. This is evident from Matthew 3:11, where John the Baptist says “I baptize you with water unto repentance.” Even if baptizo means “immerse”, scripture nowhere says we are to be immersed into water. Instead, we are immersed into repentance (Mat 3:11), forgiveness (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38), the name of the Trinity (Mat 28:19), into Christ’s name (Acts 8:16; 19:5), into Christ and into his death (Rom 6:3), etc. Scripture is consistent in using the preposition en (by means of) with the dative case when speaking of water, and reserves the preposition eis (into) to speak of the salvation blessings signified by our baptism.
3. As you pointed out, bapto and baptizo are two different words with different meanings. Bapto involves two acts: (1) putting into, and (2) taking out. Baptizo, on the other hand, signifies only the single act of putting into. When we are baptized into Christ or into repentance or into the forgiveness of sins, it is a permanent immersion. We are put into these relationships with no thought of ever departing from them.
If baptizo intended the two acts of putting in and taking out, then baptism would involve immersing, followed immediately by un-immersing, and would leave us outside of Christ, without repentance, and without forgiveness. Scripture never, ever uses the word bapto to speak of water baptism. Instead, it consistently uses the word baptizo, and that is a good thing, since we would never wish to become un-immersed from Christ or from the forgiveness he provides.
The passage in 1 Cor 10 is, to my way of thinking, an unanswerable problem for people who believe in baptism by immersion (as you have shown) and adult-only believers baptism. Many of the ‘fathers’ of whom Paul spoke were infants and young children at the time they passed through the Red Sea. My own father passed through the late 1920s as a small child 🙂
Don’t forget Ezekiel 36:25 as an Old Testament prophecy of baptism. “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean” (NIV). It would take a lot of twisting of words to say this verse prophesies immersion only.