The Case For Christ

together to celebrate his teachings or how wonderful he was. They
came together regularly to have a celebration meal for one
reason: to remember that Jesus had been publicly slaughtered in a
grotesque and humiliating way.
"Think about this in modern terms. If a group of people loved
John F. Kennedy, they might meet regularly to remember his
confrontation with Russia, his promotion of civil rights, and
his charismatic personality. But they're not going to celebrate
the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered him!
"However, that's analogous to what these early Christians did.
How do you explain that? I explain it this way: they realized
that Jesus' slaying was a necessary step to a much greater
victory. His murder wasn't the last word-the last word was that
he had conquered death for all of us by rising from the dead.
They celebrated his execution because they were convinced that
they had seen him alive from the tomb."
"What about baptism?" I asked.
"The early church adopted a form of baptism from their Jewish
upbringing, called proselyte baptism. When Gentiles wanted to
take upon themselves the laws of Moses, the Jews would baptize
those Gentiles in the authority of the God of Israel. But in the
New Testament, people were baptized in the name of God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit-which meant they had
elevated Jesus to the full status of God.
"Not only that, but baptism was a celebration of the death of
Jesus, just as Communion was. By going under the water, you're
celebrating his death, and by being brought out of the water,
you're celebrating the fact that Jesus was raised to newness of
life."
I interrupted by saying, "You're assuming that these sacraments
weren't merely adapted from the so-called mystery religions."
"And for good reasons," Moreland replied. "First, there's no hard
evidence that any mystery religion believed in gods dying and
rising, until after the New Testament period. So if there was any
borrowing, they borrowed from Christianity.
"Second, the practice of baptism came from Jewish customs, and
the Jews were very much against allowing Gentile or Greek ideas
to affect their worship. And third, these two sacraments can be
dated back to the very earliest Christian community-too early for
the influence of any other religions to creep into their
understanding of what Jesus' death meant."