“So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.” (2 Kings 5:14, NRSV)
Is baptism a Christian sacrament necessary for salvation? Is full immersion necessary? What was John’s baptism? Is it for adults only? Does the Holy Spirit come at baptism? Did the Jews have anything like Christian baptism? All good questions, which we won’t answer here, another time perhaps. Our question here is what was the nature of Naaman’s washing and did it, since it uses a Greek word for baptism, prefigure full Christian immersion as suggested by some Baptists1 and the translators of the Greek Old Testament?
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: K. J. Went
Keywords: Naaman's baptism, Naaman, Naaman the leper, Naaman's leprosy, Naaman's cleansing, Naaman's washing, Baptism, Dipping, Water baptism, Baptized, Baptized in water, Total immersion, Total immersion baptism, Baptized by sprinkling, Baptised, Baptised in water, Baptised by sprinkling, Baptism in the Old Testament, Baptism in the OT, Examples of baptism, Baptism essential to salvation, How essential is baptism
Bible reference(s): 2 Kings 5:14, Luke 4:27, Matthew 3:6, Matthew 3:13, Mark 1:5, Mark 1:9, John 10:40, Hebrews 9:10
Source: Difficult Sayings.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.