'Into the name of the Lord Jesus' : baptism in the early church

225 Pages·1997·9.38 MB·English

by  Lars Hartman

Studies of the New Testament
and Its World
Edited by
JOHN BARCLAY
JOEL MARCUS
and
JOHN RICHES
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'Into the Name of the Lord Jesus'
Baptism in the Early Church
Lars Hartman
T&T CLARK
EDINBURGH
T&T CLARK LTD
59 GEORGE STREET
EDINBURGH EH2 2LQ
SCOTLAND
Copyright © T&T Clark Ltd, 1997
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of T&T Clark Ltd.
First published 1997
ISBN 0 567 08589 9
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Fakenham Photosetting Limited, Fakenham, Norfolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bookcraft Ltd, Avon
Contents
Preface vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1. An early text 1
2. Baptism as a rite 3
1. The baptism of John 9
1.1. John the Baptist and his baptism 9
1.2. The interpretation of John's baptism in the Gospels 15
1.3. The baptism of Jesus 21
2. The origin of Christian baptism 29
33.. ''IInnttoo tthhee nnaammee ooff tthhee LLoorrdd Jesus' Jesus' 37
3.1. The formula 37
3.2. The meaning of the formula 44
4. Paul 51
4.1. Introduction 51
4.2. Gal 3.26f 54
4.3. 1 Cor 1.12-17 59
4.4. 1 Cor 6.11 63
4.5. 1 Cor 12.13 66
4.6. Rom 6.1-14 68
4.7. The primitive motifs 78
5. Before Paul, and not only Paul: Material in the Pauline letters 83
representing the views of other theologians
6. The school of Paul 95
6.1. The Letter to the Colossians 95
6.2. The Letter to the Ephesians 102
6.3. The Pastoral Letters 108
v
'INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS'
7. The First Letter of Peter 115
8. The Letter to the Hebrews 123
9. The Acts of the Apostles 127
9.1. Introduction 127
9.2. Baptism on the day of Pentecost 129
9.3. The Cornelius story 133
9.4. Spirit and baptism in the Samaria mission 136
9.5. The case of the 'disciples' at Ephesus 137
9.6. Traces of ritual details? 139
9.7. The primitive motifs 142
10. The Gospel of Matthew 147
11. The Gospel of John 155
12. Mark 16.9-20 161
13. At the end of the road through the New Testament 163
13.1. Looking back 163
13.2. Onward? 169
14. Baptism in the DidacheznA in the Shepherd of Hermas 171
14.1. Didache 172
14.2. The Shepherd of Hermas 177
Bibliography 187
Index of ancient references 204
Index of modern authors 211
vi
Preface
This book has a prehistory, some features of which ought to be mentioned
here. After producing a few articles on some problems and issues
concerning baptism in the New Testament writings, I wrote a long, still
unpublished article on the topic for Aufitieg und Niedergang der romischen
Welt. The German version of the present book, Aufden Namen des Herm
Jesus (Stuttgarter Bibel-Studien 148, 1992) was based on this ANRW
article, but was not simply a revision of it. Thus, as compared with the
article, the book spent considerably more space on the exegesis of
individual texts, whereas footnotes contained fewer references to the
contributions of other exegetes. All in all, the book was about twice as long
as the article.
The reader of this book, both the biblical scholar and the ordinary Bible
reader, will often find that I have left aside several of the problems and
aspects of the passages I have treated. But succinctness was necessary and I
hope that the presentation is not too concise to be understandable by
specialist and non-specialist alike.
I have abstained from discussing any consequences of the investigation
to the baptismal thought and practice of the church. But as a member of an
established church, a so-called Volkskirche, and also a professional exegete, I
have found it useful once more to scrutinise the oldest traditions on the
matter. In one way or another, they are still authoritative. I trust others
may be of the same opinion as to the usefulness of an investigation such as
this.
For the English version of this book, the German text has been revised.
The revision also includes some new references in the footnotes, partic-
ularly to recent literature; this, however, has not been done in any
systematic and thorough way. Furthermore, a new chapter has been added,
viz. an article of mine on baptism in the Didache and the Shepherd of
Hermas. It was published after the appearance of the German book and has
now been modified so as to fit its new context.
vii
'INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS'
Translations of passages from the Bible and other texts are my own,
unless otherwise stated. Often, however, my translations from the Bible are
inspired by the RSV.
Lars Hartman
viii
Abbreviations
Pseudepigraphical and Early Patristic Books
1 En. First (or Ethiopic) Enoch
2 Bar. Second (or Syriac) Baruch
OTP Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
Ps. Sol. Psalms of Solomon
Test. Job Testament of Job
Did. Didache
Hermas, Mand. Hermas, Mandate(s)
Hermas, Sim. Hermas, Similitude(s)
Hermas, Vis. Hermas, Vision(s)
Qumran Texts
CD Damascus Document
1QM War Scroll
1QS Manual of Discipline
1Q22 Manuscript no 22 from cave 1
Rabbinic Works
b. Babylonian Talmud
j- Jerusalem Talmud
m. Mishna
t. Tosephta
Ab. Abot
Ab.Z. Aboda Zara
Eduy. Eduyyot
Hul. Hullin
Ker. Keritot
Nid. Niddah
ix