The men Paul met in Ephesus were apparently members of just such a sect. For it seems that after John’s death, syncretizing unitarians had themselves started initiating people “into John’s baptism.” By this, they probably meant they were purporting to initiate ‘in the name of John’ or perhaps even ‘into the name of John’ — neither of which John himself would ever have done.
Clearly, this ‘Spirit-less’ rite was certainly not the Christian baptism John himself had administered. For even while baptizing with water, John had urged his baptizees soon thereafter to become the disciples of the Spirit-baptizing One — Jesus Himself. Indeed, John’s disciples were never even supposed to be ‘rebaptized’ — neither by Jesus, nor by anyone else.
Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8, Page 9, Page 10, Page 11, Page 12, Page 13, Page 14, Page 15, Page 16, Page 17, Page 18, Page 19, Page 20, Page 21, Page 22, Page 23, Page 24, Page 25, Page 26, Page 27, Page 28, Page 29, Page 30, Page 31, Page 32, Page 33, Page 34, Page 35, Page 36, Page 37, Page 38, Page 39, Page 40, Page 41, Page 42, Page 43, Page 44, Page 45, Page 46, Page 47, Page 48, Page 49, Page 50, Page 51, Page 52, Page 53, Page 54, Page 55, Page 56, Page 57
