The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

y Taufe, or Taufen, but not once to use "tauchen," but invariably to use
Waschen, to wash.
Judith xii. 8: Und wusch sich im Wasser, washed herself; (Gr.:
Ebaptizeto; Vulg.: Baptizat se).
Sir. xxxiv. 30 (25): Wer sich wäscht, he who washes himself; (Gr.:
Baptizomenos; Vulg.: Baptizatur), what avails him this washing? sein
Waschen? (Gr.: Loutron).
Mark vii. 24: Ungewaschen (aniptois) Händen--sie waschen
(nipsontai), sie waschen sich (baptizontai), Tische zu waschen
(baptismous); vii. 8: Zu waschen (baptismous).
Luke xi. 38; Dass er sich nicht vordem Essen gewaschen hatte
(ebaptiste).
He translates baptizo as he translates nipto and louo.
Here is the demonstration, that while Luther believed, in common
with many philologists, that the etymological force (Laut) of baptismos
and baptisma is "immersion," its actual force in Biblical use is "washing,"
without reference to mode. Luther treats it as having the same generic
force with louo, pluno, and nipto, all of which he translates by the same
word, waschen, just as our authorized version translates every one of them,
baptizo included, by wash. With the etymology of the Greek goes also the
etymology of the German. The primitive mode of washing, in nations of
warm or temperate countries, is usually by immersion. Hence the words
in many languages for the two ideas of dipping and washing come to be
synonyms--and as the word washing ceases to designate mode, and is
equally applied, whether the water be poured, sprinkled, or is plunged in,
so does the word which, etymologically, meant to dip. It follows the
mutation of its practical equivalent, and comes to mean washing, without
reference to mode. So our word, bathe, possibly implies, primarily, to
immerse. But we now bathe by "plunge," "douch," or "shower-bath," and
we know that the wider use of the word "bathe" is very old in English, as,
for example, Chaucer 335 says:
"His heart-blood hath bathed all his hair."
If the baptismal commission had been given in English, and
335 Knightes Tale, v. 2,009.