I had a week long speaking engagement some time ago and I decided to use the off hours to study I Corinthians. When I came to chapter 15:29 I decided to talk to God about this mysterious statement. I said, “Lord I believe everything in the Bible but this does not seem consistent with the rest of it. Please show me the meaning or if it means what it literally says, then I will start teaching others that you have said to baptize people in behalf of those who have died.” Since I do not believe water baptism is essential to salvation, I felt very conflicted within myself. Then I went into serious investigation of the verse. The following are my conclusions and have satisfied my request to understand this mystery.
Paul’s use of the term baptism in I Corinthians 15:29 has created as much mystery and confusion for serious students of the Bible. This particular use of the word baptism is in a context of a description of death. The translators apparently had water on their minds when they translated the text. Virtually all commentators have sought to apply the passage to water or ognor it completely. One prominent group takes this literally and seriously so they practice baptism in behalf of dead people based upon this passage of scripture.
I Corinthians 15:29-32 says in the NIV, “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day–I mean that brothers–just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” The context of this passage has nothing to do with water baptism. Paul is explaining the resurrection. He is going to illustrate the same truth found in Romans 6 and Colossians 3. He is illustrating baptism into death or a type of death described as a baptism. Unfortunately, the translators have been preoccupied with this passage as referring to water that there has not been a serious attempt to apply the passage in another way. I offer the following as a valid translation of the passage. “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are whelmed across death, or baptized across the dead, or beyond the dead? For if the dead are not raised at all, why are people whelmed beyond or across the dead?” Verse 30, “As for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?” Here’s the point: Paul is already living beyond this life in his mind and spirit. He has already died to self, and he is pointing out that believers in Jesus Christ have made a conscious decision to be baptized into the death of Jesus Christ. They are already living as though they were dead. They are, so to speak, obsessed with the next life. If there were no resurrection, that would make no sense. So Paul explains that if there were no resurrection, why would people live that way? Why would they be baptized into death? And if the dead do not rise at all, he simply repeats the same thing, as he often does, “if the dead are not raised at all, why are people being whelmed across (or beyond) the dead?”
The operative Greek word here is ‘huper’ in the genitive case. It has to do with something beyond or across. And of course the word ‘baptizomenoi’ can certainly mean ‘being whelmed.’ ‘Being whelmed across the dead’ is a valid translation that makes this passage consistent with Romans 6:3-8 and Colossians 3:1-4 which deal with the same issues as the passage in I Corinthians 15:29-32. Only with this new translation does verse 30 conform to the context. Paul says, “And for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?” Paul is saying that if there is no resurrection, why are we so readily willing to die? Why do we put ourselves in danger?
This is climactic statement which begs for a translation that helps it make sense in the context. Verse 31 says, “I die every day.” Paul is making clear that there is a reaffirmation of the baptism into death that a believer must choose each day of their life. We are dying to self by being immersed in Jesus Christ and His death. The result is a resurrection life even while we are here.
It seems that Paul did not personally put as much emphasis on water baptism as some would be believe. He stated in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” In fact, in I Corinthians 1:14 he said “I am thankful that I did not baptize very many of you Corinthians.” He was concerned about misunderstanding the identification rite. He obviously saw water baptism as an identification rite…. an identification ceremony. But the identification was never to be identification with a particular segment of the Christian family. Not Paul, not Apollos, not Peter, but always Christ. Therefore, his teaching about baptism focused primarily upon the baptism of heart which he compared at one point in Colossians 2:12 to the circumcision rite among Old Testament believers. “Having been buried with Him in baptism, and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God in raising Him from the dead.” The previous verse says “In Him, you are also circumcised in the putting off of a sinful nature, not with the circumcision done by hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ.” Paul’s emphasis is a heart change. He has described this heart change as a baptism into death, a baptism into Jesus Christ Himself and His death. Water baptism provided the external identification; the reality though was baptism into death to self as an attitude within ones mind and heart. It was like circumcision of the heart.
It is gross biblical error to teach a vicarious water baptism in behalf of those who have already died. Paul did not intend any such understanding to come out of his defense of the necessity of the resurrection. He simply said he lived with a view of life in which he was whelmed across death by the glorious reality of the resurrection. Any other interpretation of I Corinthians 15:29 and following contradicts the elementary truth regarding death as a type of baptism. Why do I call it elementary? Hebrews 6:1-3 lists six elementary teachings about Christ, one of which is “instruction about baptisms.” Yes, “baptisms” is plural. One of those baptisms is the attitude expressed by Paul in I Corinthians 15:29 of being whelmed (baptized) across the dead. It’s elementary.