Iâm currently enjoying another one of the books that Lance sent me from his Ontario Bookstore; âGirl Meets Godâ. The author was raised Jewish, and upon adulthood had to âconvertâ to Judaism due to the fact that her mother was not Jewish (just her father). She describes the process that a convert to Jewish Orthodoxy must go through. The last step is full immersion into a ritual bath. Amazingly similar to Christian Baptism, isnât it? We gain so much by learning about our Jewish roots. Izzy
I have believed for some time, now, that John the Baptist's "baptism for the remission of sins" and the same phrase used by Peter in Acts 2:38 were for the benefit of the Jewish assembly. Immersion was used, even back then, in Gentile conversion. A Jew was never to receive this rite because he was born a child of God. I just think that as a Jew stood and listened to the Baptist give that command, he was probably blown away by its implications. It meant that birthright no longer mattered !!! Baptism "for the remission of sins" is an illustration for the Jewish community especially.
John
