By Rev. Cornelis Kant, Executive Director of Christians for Israel International
Tobias Krämer, head of the Theology and Community department at Christians Standing with Israel, received his doctorate in Theology cum laude from STH Basel on June 5th. His dissertation deals with the origins of Christian water baptism.
Scholars are almost unanimous in their belief that Christian water baptism is rooted in the baptism of John the Baptist. But how can one imagine the development from John the Baptist to Christian baptism? Tobias Krämer has explored this question in detail. The results of his more than 400-page work can only be outlined here.
First, it must be said that John the Baptist was of enormous importance to the Jesus movement: John was a man of God, his baptism was divinely ordained; of this there was no doubt (compare Matthew 11:11 and Luke 7:28). Jesus and John were both sent by God and shared the same horizon of expectation. They warned of the coming Last Judgment and awaited the eternal Kingdom of God—they were closely aligned in their beliefs. Jesus was baptized by John. This fact can hardly be overstated. For Jesus, baptism became a turning point: Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and from then on ministered as the Messiah (literally: the anointed one).
It is often overlooked that Jesus (parallel to John) baptized people himself for a time and soon delegated this task to his disciples (John 3:22–4:3). As the resurrected Christ, Jesus extended this commission to make disciples in a global context (Matthew 28:18–20). In Luke's Pentecost account, we read that Peter adopted John's baptism and connected it with the resurrected Jesus (Acts 2:38). From this perspective, baptism is a "Christianized" version of John's baptism. Jesus was baptized, baptized others, ordained baptism, and baptism was performed in his name. These are important milestones in this development.
Baptism as an act of repentance
In the New Testament, baptism connects one with Jesus and encompasses various aspects relevant to salvation. However, based on John's baptism, baptism is and remains an act of repentance. Repentance and a connection to Christ are the two poles of baptism. Baptism is thus nothing other than the turning point from a life of sin to a life with and through the Messiah, Jesus. The origin of Christian baptism, however, lies in John's baptism. This is made clear, not least, by the title of the doctoral dissertation: "In the beginning was John the Baptist."
Tobias Krämer has written a magnificent dissertation that, among other things, underscores the connection between the Old and New Testaments. As an international organization, we are proud that once again someone from our global network has earned a doctorate in theology. We warmly congratulate Tobias Krämer and hope that we will continue to benefit greatly from his knowledge.
