Pastor John,
A verse jumped out at me the other day while reading Acts. Acts 16:33 reads:
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. NKJV
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. KJV.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, immediately. ASV
The word that led me to do more research in Strong’s is immediately/straightway. The way I read it is, after Paul preached the good news, God rewarded the jail keeper and his family for their sincerity and humble spirit with the baptism of the holy ghost. The use of the Greek and Hebrew word in this case (which from what I gather was only use two other times, both describing immediate action) was used to describe the wonder and authority of Jesus outpouring of his spirit on the humble, and not to describe Paul and Silas quick discernment that they were worthy. Have you taught anything on this passage?
I can only suppose that Christian doctrine would teach that no, the word straightway/immediately was used to denote Paul’s urgency in administering water baptism while time was limited and water was available during the washing of their stripes.
In Greek and Hebrew is there two different words for baptism, one that describes John’s water baptism and one describes the baptism where those speak in tongues? If so which was used in Acts 16:33?
Thanks,
Michael
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Hi Michael:
There is no Hebrew in the NT, to speak of. It is all written in Greek. The Greek word here is used a number of other times by Luke (in his gospel and then in Acts). Outside of that, Matthew is the only writer who uses it, and he does so only once. Still, it is not what would be considered a rare word, and it simply means “at once”; that is, immediately following an action.
You are right about Xns assuming that a water baptism is intended here. But, as you know, it would make no sense for Paul to baptize Gentiles with water. The gospel Jesus gave Paul included just “one baptism” (Eph. 4:4-6), and he told us which baptism that was in 1Corinthians 12:13. It was Jesus’ baptism with the Spirit, not John’s baptism with water. There was absolutely no need for these Gentiles to even know about John’s baptism for the Jews, much less for Paul to administer it to them.
Finally, to my knowledge, there is no Hebrew word for baptism in the Bible. There were no baptisms in the OT, unless we were to count Moses sprinkling Aaron and his sons in Leviticus 8-9, when he consecrated them for the priesthood. But even then, it was a one-time thing.
Thanks for the question.
Pastor John