SCRIPTURE READINGS: Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:37-41. DISCUSSION:
1. What is baptism in the name of the Lord?
A. Immersion. While the 20th-century English word “baptism” can mean immersion, pouring, or sprinkling, the 1st-century Greek word translated “baptism” means immersion not pouring or sprinkling.
1) Definition of the Greek word. “1. From the preceding examples, it appears, that the ground-idea, expressed by this word is, to put into or under water (or other penetrable substance), so as entirely to immerse or submerge; that this act is always expressed in the literal application of the word, and is the basis of its metaphorical uses. This ground-idea is expressed in English, in the various connections where the word occurs, by the terms (synonymous in this ground- element) to immerse, immerge, submerge, to dip, to plunge, to imbathe, to whelm.
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