The Baptism of Couches and Tables: A Lexical and Contextual Reexamination of βαπτίζω in Mark 7:4   Jack Kettler   Abstract   The pericope of Mark 7:1–13, which critiques Pharisaic traditions of ritual purity, employs the verb βαπτίζω in a manner that challenges modern assumptions about its semantic range. Young's Literal Translation renders Mark 7:4 as follows: “And, coming from the market-place, if they [Pharisees] do not baptize themselves, they do not eat; and many other things there are that they received to hold, baptisms of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and couches.” This study interrogates whether βαπτίζω, often rendered “immerse” in contemporary translations, necessitates total submersion in these contexts, particularly with respect to the purification of inanimate objects such as couches. Drawing on classical, Septuagint, and New Testament usages, as well as patristic and confessional sources, it argues that βαπτίζω encompasses a broader spectrum of ablutionary practices, including washing, pouring, and sprinkling. This polysemy not only resolves apparent absurdities in the text but also illuminates the sacrament of baptism as a sign of covenantal union, adaptable to diverse modes without compromising its efficacy.   Introduction   The Gospel of Mark's depiction of Jewish purity rituals in chapter 7 serves as a fulcrum for Jesus' polemic against human traditions that encroach upon divine commandments (Mark 7:1–13). Central to this narrative is the verb βαπτίζω, which appears in verse 4 to describe the Pharisees' ablutions upon returning from the marketplace and their purification of domestic vessels and furniture. A prior lexical analysis has established that βαπτίζω may convey notions of dipping, plunging, dyeing, bathing, wetting, or immersing, depending on context.1 The present inquiry probes a hermeneutical crux: Does the text plausibly envision the total immersion of human subjects or household items, such as couches (κλίναι)? This question bears not only on exegesis but also on ecclesial practice, as it intersects with debates over baptismal modes in Christian theology.   The Lexical Breadth of βαπτίζω   Scholarly consensus, as articulated by James W. Dale in his magnum opus on baptism, underscores the term's semantic versatility. In Classic Baptism, Dale contends that βαπτίζω does not invariably denote “to dip” (i.e., total submersion and emersion) but rather “to put together so as to remain together,” a meaning untethered to any singular mode.2 Classical Greek attests to its manifold applications: plunging, drowning, steeping, bewildering, tinting, pouring, sprinkling, and dyeing. Dale illustrates this profusion through vignettes of historical figures, such as Agamemnon, Bacchus, and Cupid, each “baptized” in senses divergent in nature or manner. He likens the term's elusiveness to selecting a spectral hue blindfolded or navigating the Cretan labyrinth, beyond even the ken of Greece's seven sages.3   This lexical latitude informs Jay E. Adams's endorsement in the foreword to Dale's work, wherein he posits water baptism as a “uniting ordinance” that inaugurates believers into the visible church, paralleling Spirit baptism's union with the invisible church.4 Such a view liberates the rite from modal rigidity, emphasizing covenantal incorporation over performative exactitude.   New Testament Contexts Precluding Immersion   Several New Testament loci militate against construing βαπτίζω as exclusive to immersion. In Luke 11:38, a Pharisee marvels that Jesus "did not first wash [ebaptisthē, literally 'was baptized'] before the meal." The subject's identity, Jesus himself, not merely his hands, renders full immersion implausible as a pre-prandial norm. The surprise aligns instead with ritual handwashing, likely involving affusion, as corroborated by Matthew 15:2 and Mark 7:3–4, and echoed in 2 Kings 3:11 and Luke 7:44.5   Mark 7:4 itself reinforces this: Upon returning from the marketplace, the Pharisees “baptize themselves” (baptisōntai) before eating, alongside “baptisms” (baptismous) of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and couches, total submersion of the self or furniture strains credulity, as Albert Barnes observes in his commentary. The “market” denotes a provisioning locale, and the ablution pertains to hands, not the corpus, often with minimal water.6 Barnes elucidates the “baptism of cups” as ceremonial cleansing of dining vessels, pots for liquids, and brassware, defiled items purified by fire or rinsing, not immersion. Earthenware, if tainted, was shattered. “Tables” here transliterates klinōn, denoting reclining couches (cf. Matthew 23:6), deemed impure by contact with the unclean and thus ritually washed, by sprinkling or other means, not submersion.7   Marvin R. Vincent's Word Studies concurs, noting that while classical Greek privileges "immerse" (e.g., Polybius on sunken ships; Josephus on besieged Jerusalem; Plato on inebriation), Septuagint and New Testament usages expand to washing and sprinkling.8 Levitical precedents (Leviticus 11:32, 40; Numbers 8:6–7; Exodus 30:19, 21) employ βαπτίζω for vessel ablutions, priestly sprinklings, and hand/foot washings—practices incompatible with immersion, lest the purifying medium become defiled. Vincent cites the Didache's elastic directives: immersion in running water, if possible, otherwise affusion thrice upon the head.9   Practical constraints further obviate immersion. John 2:6 describes six stone waterpots, each holding two or three metrētas (approximately 20–30 gallons), in accordance with Jewish purification norms, insufficient for immersing multiple persons or couches.10   Metaphorical and Old Testament Dimensions   Beyond literal rites, βαπτίζω accommodates metaphor. In Mark 10:38, Jesus queries whether disciples can share his “baptism”, a eucharistic allusion to Gethsemane's cup and Calvary's cross, not immersion.11   Old Testament antecedents, as rendered in the Septuagint, exhibit a similar breadth. Exodus 29:4 mandates washing (rāḥaṣ) Aaron and his sons at the tabernacle portal, a consecration plausibly entailing partial ablution, akin to a sponge bath, rather than immersion.12 Isaiah 21:4 LXX deploys baptizō metaphorically (“iniquity baptizes me,” i.e., overwhelms); 2 Kings 5:14 describes Naaman's Jordan dips; Judith 12:7, Judith's fountain washing; Sirach 31:25, contagion from corpses.13 Daniel 4:33 LXX renders Nebuchadnezzar's dew-wetting as “drenched,” evoking sprinkling.14   Levitical typology further links baptism to sprinkling, as seen in Hebrews 9:19, 12:24; Leviticus 14:7; and Numbers 19:18.15 These parallels—water and blood asperged for cleansing—govern New Testament hermeneutics, per Augustine's canon: “The New is in the Old contained; the Old is by the New explained.”16 Thus, pouring evokes Pentecost's Spirit outpouring (Acts 2:1–13); sprinkling, Christ's atoning blood (Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 1:2; Ezekiel 36:25).17   A typological crux for immersion advocates arises in 1 Corinthians 10:2, where Israel is described as being "baptized unto Moses in the cloud and sea." Pharaoh's host alone submerged; the covenant people were misted (as Nebuchadnezzar) or sprinkled from the cloud, neither immersion.18   Early Christian and Confessional Testimony   The Didache (ca. pre-300 CE), an early catechetical manual, prescribes immersion in running water ideally, but permits affusion in exigency: “If you do not have either [running or still water], pour [ekcheō] water three times on the head.”19 This predates papal innovations, refuting claims of Roman invention for non-immersive modes. Eastern Orthodoxy, while immersion-normative, countenances pouring or sprinkling in extremis, such as hospital confinements.20   The Westminster Confession (1646), Chapter XXVIII, codifies this latitude: “Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person” (citing Hebrews 9:10, 19–22; Acts 2:41; 16:33; Mark 7:4).21 It delineates baptism as a covenant sign sealing regeneration, remission, and ecclesial ingrafting, efficacious irrespective of mode, annexed to faith yet not salvific ex opere operato.   For immersion exclusivists, emergencies pose an ethical bind: bedridden candidates or those tethered to monitors preclude submersion. The Didache offers triage: triple affusion or forehead anointing with asperges.22   Conclusion   Exegetical fidelity to Mark 7:4 demands recognizing βαπτίζω's modal pluralism, thereby foreclosing immersion as a prescriptive practice. This aligns with Scripture's self-interpretation, where the Old Testament shadows illuminate the New Testament realities. Baptism, thus, symbolizes not hydraulic mechanics but pneumatic union, poured Spirit, sprinkled blood, immersed grace. As 2 Timothy 2:15 exhorts, the theologian must “rightly divide the word of truth,” stewarding a rite that unites across exigencies.   Bibliography   Adams, Jay E. Foreword to Classic Baptism, by James W. Dale. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1989.   Augustine. Quaestiones in Heptateuchum. In Patrologia Latina, edited by J.-P. Migne, vol. 34. Paris, 1844–1864.   Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Bible. Vol. 1. London: Blackie & Son, 1870.   Dale, James W. Classic Baptism: An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Word Baptizo as Determined by Classical Greek Writers. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1867. Reprint, Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1989.   ———. Judaic Baptism: An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Word Baptizo as Determined by Jewish and Patristic Writers. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1868.   ———. Johannic Baptism: An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Word Baptizo as Determined by the Usage of the Holy Scriptures. Middletown, NY: G. Nelson, 1874.   ———. Christic and Patristic Baptism: An Inquiry into the Meaning of the Word Baptizo as Determined by the Usage of the Holy Scriptures and Patristic Writings. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1874.   The Didache: Or, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. Translated by J. B. Lightfoot. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1891.   Reymond, Robert L. A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998.   Vincent, Marvin R. Word Studies in the New Testament. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1887.   Westminster Confession of Faith. London: Assembly at Westminster, 1646.   End Notes   1 On the semantic range of βαπτίζω, see prior analysis in the author's series on New Testament ablutions.   2 James W. Dale, Classic Baptism (1867; reprint, Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1989), 126.   3 Ibid., 353–54.   4 Jay E. Adams, foreword to Classic Baptism, vi.   5 Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 923–35.   6 Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, vol. 1 (London: Blackie & Son, 1870), 577.   7 Ibid.   8 Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1887), 199.   9 The Didache: Or, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, trans. J. B. Lightfoot (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1891), chap. 7.   10 John 2:6 (KJV).   11 Mark 10:38 (KJV).   12 Exodus 29:4 (KJV); cf. Hebrew *rāḥaṣ*.   13 Isaiah 21:4; 2 Kings 5:15; Judith 12:7; Sirach 31:25 (LXX).   14 Daniel 4:33 (LXX).   15 Hebrews 9:19; 12:24; Leviticus 14:7; Numbers 19:18.   16 Augustine, Quaestiones in Heptateuchum 2.73 (PL 34).   17 Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 1:2; Ezekiel 36:25 (KJV).   18 1 Corinthians 10:2 (KJV); cf. Daniel 4:33.   19 Didache 7.1–3.   20 Eastern Orthodox praxis, as documented in liturgical rubrics for klinikē (bedside) baptism.   21 Westminster Confession of Faith (London, 1646), chap. XXVIII.3.   22 Didache 7.3. Declaration   “For transparency, I note that I used Grok, an AI tool developed by xAI, and Grammarly AI for editorial assistance in drafting, organizing, and refining the manuscript’s clarity and grammar, as indicated in the article’s attribution. All theological arguments, exegesis, and interpretations are my own, and I take full responsibility for the content.” -  Jack Kettler   Mr. Kettler, an author who has published works in the Chalcedon Report and Contra Mundum, is an active member of the RPCNA in Westminster, CO, with 21 books defending the Reformed Faith available on Amazon.