Recently I started researching the bible concerning that most controversial topic: Baptism. I learned from the bible that there are four types of baptism. There is water baptism, aka "John's baptism", which most of us think of when we hear the word "baptism". And there is earth baptism, being immersed in the earth and rising again, which Jesus refered to at Mark 10:38. And then there is fire baptism, which John spoke of (Matt 3:11) and which is also mentioned elsewhere in the bible (II Sam 12:31, Isa 43:2, I Cor 3:15). Then there is baptism by the holy spirit, also mentioned by John.
Water, Earth, Fire: these are three of the four primary elements of the Greek philosophy which started around 350 BC. The fourth element was Air, but the bible doesn't mention air baptism; it says spirit baptism. Maybe we should explore the meaning of the word "spirit" and see if there's a connection. "Spirit" comes from the Latin word for "to blow or to breathe", ie., air in motion. It has the same meaning in Hebrew and Greek as well. Just for fun look up the different translations of Ezekiel 37:9-10 sometime and you'll see that 'spirit', 'wind' and 'breath' were interchangeable ideas back then. Our current understanding of the word 'spirit' (without the connection to moving air) didn't start until about 1290 AD.
This idea of baptism being associated with the Greek philosophy of the four primary elements isn't something new:
"That which the fathers taught, and which our mind has received and assented to, is as follows:--We recognize four elements, of which the world is composed, which every one knows even if their names are not spoken; but if it is well, for the sake of the more simple, to tell you their names, they are fire and air, earth and water. Now our God and Saviour, in fulfilling the Dispensation for our sakes, went beneath the fourth of these, the earth, that He might raise up life from thence. And we in receiving Baptism, in imitation of our Lord and Teacher and Guide, are not indeed buried in the earth (for this is the shelter of the body that is entirely dead, covering the infirmity and decay of our nature), but coming to the element akin to earth, to water, we conceal ourselves in that as the Saviour did in the earth" (GREGORY of NYSSA Date of birth unknown; died after 385 or 386)
So why was spirit associated with moving air? Maybe ancient people wondered what made the air move as wind and what made living things breathe air in and out. This mysterious thing was called "spirit" and was thought to be the force that moved the air. It was once thought that a sneeze was our spirit (ie breath) being forcefully expelled from our body. And since the air around us is filled with evil spirits (Satan being the "prince of the powers of the air"- Eph 2:2) it was necessary to ask God to send down His breath from heaven to fill that void inside us before the evil spirits got a chance to invade our body. We express this by saying "God bless you" whenever someone sneezes.
According to the bible then, holy spirit baptism was being baptised with 'God's breath'. You don't have to take my word for it, you can see for yourself at John 20:22 where Jesus performs a spirit baptism with his breath. And at Pentecost when the holy spirit came again (Acts 2:2) it began with a sound from heaven like a "rushing, mighty wind". Since our breath is the tool we use to speak with, it's only natural that the first sign of receiving God's breath (spirit) would be to speak in tongues. God's moving breath was using their vocal cords so naturally the language was different from their own (see Matt 10:20).
This idea of spirits being the force that moves air must have been very wide-spread. All over the globe you can find cultures that believed this. In China, Japan, Scandanavia, and North and South America there were ancient people who believed that spirits lived in beans. With our current understanding of the word 'spirit' we miss the connection to beans, but when you realize that spirit used to refer to moving air, then the connection becomes apparent. Eating beans caused 'air' to move in the posterior regions of humanity, hence they must contain spirits; ie. forces which cause air to move.
Maybe there'd be a whole lot less controversy about baptism if everyone took the time to figure out what the bible writers were really talking about. Baptism was an ancient pagan rite which was later influenced by Greek philosophy to include the four primary elements and it includes the idea that spirits move the air and make us breathe. One of the superstitions about spirits was that they could not cross water. Matthew 12:43 " Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it." This is why the pigs that were inhabited by spirits drowned in the water at Matt 8:32. Pigs are normally really good swimmers. Maybe that's why baptism today still uses the element of water. It keeps those nasty spirits away.
thinker