The origin of baptism

   Many Christians think that the practice of baptism started in the new testament. As Luis berkof say, " baptism is not something entirely new in Jesus in Jesus time. They usually flip over to the gospel and start with john the baptist in an attempt to study bablical view of baptism. But according to biblical account of the practice of baptism , it did not begin with john the baptist in the early part of the testament. The practice of baptism has been existence before the coming of john the baptist.  It was only more pronounced during the time of john the baptist .

      The practice of baptism is traceable to the old testament as part of the Jewish practice in the scripture. I shall explain this further in the next heading. Before then, it is expedient to look at the etymological meaning of baptism. If we hope to discover what the biblical writers meant by Baptism , we must consult what it meant in the language they used , which is Greek , when they wrote the new testament . we should also examine those biblical contexts where they used  "baptise" or "baptism".

      Both the word " baptize" and "baptism" have their own origin in the Greek language. According to starndard greek dictionary, the verb baptize is derived from a word "baptizo" , meaning to immerse , plunge, sink, drench, overwhelmed. The noun "baptism" is derived from the Greek word "baptisima" , meaning of dipping or the immersion of something or somebody. For example , mark 7:6 uses baptism to refer to the rules of the  Jews  to immerse vessels in other to remove impurity . outside judeo Christian circle , the normal meaning of the Greek word " baptiso"  was used in a secular sense for example , among those Greek documents which still exist where the verb "baptize" was used , we find out "baptize" was used to describe a boat which has sunk as well as a person who was overwhelmed with problem. And Nate Wilson hold that:

         The  bible uses many synomnys for the Greek word for "baptise" .dip ( the one              most often used ),  bathe ( which can be by dipping , pouring , or sprinkling) ,                wash ( by pouring  , and maybe by immersion ) , cleanse ( usually by sprinkling)           , overwhelmed , color- dye , splatter and sprinkle unevenly.

In the late old testament and early Christian periods , it was occasionally used more in religious sense , signifying purification and new life. From the foregoing, it is obvious that  there is no exclusive use of the word "baptize" . let us now look at the notion of baptism in the old testament.