[b-greek] Re: 1 Cor 15:29 Baptism

From: Bill Barton (phos@prodigy.net)
Date: Sat Mar 10 2001 - 12:59:45 EST



Paul Dixon wrote:

PD>An assumption often made in this passage (1Cor 15:29) is that Paul must
be condoning baptism for the dead, since he does not take time to condemn
it.>

There are dozens and dozens of readings that have been proposed for this
verse. Hence it's unlikely there will be a consensus in b-Greek about the
meaning.

I would suggest three points to be decided about the text, in increasing
order of importance, are the following:

1). Should the punctuation be rendered as A or B:

A. "Else what shall they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the
dead are not raised at all, why are they baptized for them?"

B. "Else what shall they do who are being baptized? It is for the dead if
the dead are not raised at all. Why are they baptized for them?"


2) Should the word HUPER be taken to mean "in place of" (BAGD A.1.c); or
should the word HUPER be taken as a marker of general content "concerning"
(BAGD A.3).


3) Should "the dead" NEKROS be taken to mean the lifeless body (BAGD B.1);
or should the word NEKROS be taken to mean the spirit which survives death
in the afterlife (BAGD B.1).


A cross reference by the same author which relates the words "BAPTISMA" and
"NEKROS" is Romans 6:4.

One possible reading (certainly not the only possible one) is that ritual
baptism connotes the hope of sharing in Christ's bodily resurrection.
Hence if Christ was not raised, the connotation of ritual baptism is
misguided. In this reading "the dead" refers to the dead bodies of those
being baptized.


Bill Barton


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