From Wikipedia.

In Christianity, baptism (from Greek baptizo: "immersing",

"washing", ect.) is the act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to
membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the
particular Church in which the baptism is administered. In the word of God from
Acts 2:38 through 22:16 and to the end, it was only administered in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The importance of baptism can also be seen by looking back
at it's Judaic roots. Now baptism as according to the Jewish Encyclopedia. A
religious ablution signifying purification or consecration. The natural method of
cleansing the body by washing and bathing in water was always customary in Israel.
The washing of their clothes was an important means of sanctification enjoined on
the Israelites before the Revelation on Mt. Sinai (Ex. xix. 10). The Rabbis
connect with this the duty of bathing by complete immersion ("ṭebilah," Yeb. 46b;
Mek., Baḥodesh, iii.); and since sprinkling with blood was always accompanied by
immersion, tradition connects with this immersion the blood lustration mentioned
as having also taken place immediately before the Revelation (Ex. xxiv. 8), these
three acts being the initiatory rites always performed upon proselytes, "to bring
them under the wings of the Shekinah" (Yeb. l.c.).
With reference to Ezek. xxxvi. 25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and
ye shall be clean," R. Akiba, in the second century, made the utterance: "Blessed
art thou, O Israel! Before whom dost thou cleanse thyself? and who cleanses thee?
Thy Father in heaven!" (Yoma viii. 9). Accordingly, Baptism is not merely for the
purpose of expiating a special transgression, as is the case chiefly in the
violation of the so-called Levitical laws of purity; but it is to form a part of
holy living and to prepare for the attainment of a closer communion with God. This
thought is expressed in the well-known passage in Josephus in which he speaks of
John the Baptist ("Ant." xviii. 5, § 2): "The washing would be acceptable to him,
if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away of some sins, but for the
purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified
beforehand by righteousness." John symbolized the call to repentance by Baptism in
the Jordan (Matt. iii. 6 and parallel passages); and the same measure for
attaining to holiness was employed by the Essenes, whose ways of life John also
observed in all other respects. Josephus says of his instructor Banus, an Essene,
that he "bathed himself in cold water frequently, both by night and by day"
("Vita," § 2), and that the same practise was observed by all the Essenes ("B. J."
ii. 8, § 5).

The only conception of Baptism at variance with Jewish ideas is displayed in the
declaration of John, that the one who would come after him would not baptize with
water, but with the Holy Ghost (Mark i. 8; John i. 27). Yet a faint resemblance to
the notion is displayed in the belief expressed in the Talmud that the Holy Spirit
could be drawn upon as water is drawn from a well (based upon Isa. xii. 3; Yer.
Suk. v. 1, 55a of Joshua b. Levi). And there is a somewhat Jewish tinge even to
the prophecy of the evangelists Matthew (iii. 11) and Luke (iii. 16), who declare
that Jesus will baptize with fire as well as with the Holy Ghost; for, according
to Abbahu, true Baptism is performed with fire (Sanh. 39a). Both the statement of
Abbahu and of the Evangelists must of course be taken metaphorically. The
expression that the person baptized is illuminated (φωτισθείς, Justin, "Apologiæ,"
i. 65) has the same significance as is implied in telling a proselyte to Judaism,
after his bath, that he now belongs to Israel, the people beloved of God (Yeb.
47a; Gerim i.).

According to rabbinical teachings, which dominated even during the existence of

the Temple (Pes. viii. 8), Baptism, next to circumcision and sacrifice, was an
absolutely necessary condition to be fulfilled by a proselyte to Judaism (Yeb.
46b, 47b; Ker. 9a; 'Ab. Zarah 57a; Shab. 135a; Yer. Kid. iii. 14, 64d).
Circumcision, however, was much more important, and, like baptism, was called a
"seal" (Schlatter, "Die Kirche Jerusalems," 1898, p. 70). But as circumcision was
discarded by Christianity, and the sacrifices had ceased, Baptism remained the
sole condition for initiation into religious life. The next ceremony, adopted
shortly after the others, was the imposition of hands, which, it is known, was the
usage of the Jews at the ordination of a rabbi. Anointing with oil, which at first
also accompanied the act of Baptism, and was analogous to the anointment of
priests among the Jews, was not a necessary condition.

The new significance that Christianity read into the word "Baptism," and the new
purpose with which it executed the act of Baptism, as well as the conception of
its magical effect, are all in the line of the natural development of
Christianity. The original form of Baptism—frequent bathing in cold water—remained
in use later among the sects that had a somewhat Jewish character, such as the
Ebionites, Baptists, and Hemerobaptists (compare Ber. iii. 6); and at the present
day the Sabeans and Mandeans deem frequent bathing a duty (compare Sibyllines, iv.
164, in which, even in Christian times, the heathens are invited to bathe in
streams).

Baptism was practised in ancient (Ḥasidic or Essene) Judaism, first as a means of

penitence, as is learned from the story of Adam and Eve, who, in order to atone
for their sin, stood up to the neck in the water, fasting and doing penance—Adam
in the Jordan for forty days, Eve in the Tigris for thirty-seven days (Vita Adæ et
Evæ, i. 5-8). According to Pirḳe R. El. xx., Adam stood for forty-nine days up to
his neck in the River Gihon. Likewise is the passage, "They drew water and poured
it out before the Lord and fasted on that day, and said, 'We have sinned against
the Lord'" (I Sam. vii. 6), explained (see Targ. Yer. and Midrash Samuel, eodem;
also Yer. Ta'anit ii. 7, 65d) as meaning that Israel poured out their hearts in
repentance; using the water as a symbol according to Lam. ii. 19, "Pour out thine
heart like water before the Lord." Of striking resemblance to the story in Matt.
iii. 1-17 and in Luke iii. 3, 22, is the haggadic interpretation of Gen. i. 2 in
Gen. R. ii. and Tan., Buber's Introduction, p. 153: "The spirit of God (hovering
like a bird with outstretched wings), manifested in the spirit of the Messiah,
will come [or "the Holy One, blessed be He! will spread His wings and bestow His
grace"] upon Israel," owing to Israel's repentance symbolized by the water in
accordance with Lam. ii. 19.

To receive the spirit of God, or to be permitted to stand in the presence of God

(His Shekinah), man must undergo Baptism (Tan., Meẓora', 6, ed. Buber, p. 46),
wherefore in the Messianic time God will Himself pour water of purification upon
Israel in accordance with Ezek. xxxvi. 25 (Tan., Meẓora', 9-17, 18, ed. Buber, pp.
43, 53). In order to pronounce the name of God in prayer in perfect purity,the
Essenes () underwent Baptism every morning (Tosef., Yad. ii. 20; Simon of Sens to
Yad. iv. 9; and Ber. 22a; compare with Ḳid. 70a, "The Name must be guarded with
purity"). Philo frequently refers to these acts of purification in preparation for
the holy mysteries to be received by the initiated ("De Somniis," xiv.; "De
Profugis," vii.; "Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit?" xviii. xxiii.; "Quod Deus Sit
Immutabilis," ii.; "De Posteritate Caini," xiv., xxviii.).

The Baptism of the proselyte has for its purpose his cleansing from the impurity
of idolatry, and the restoration to the purity of a new-born man. This may be
learned from the Talmud (Soṭah 12b) in regard to Pharaoh's daughter, whose bathing
in the Nile is explained by Simon b. Yoḥai to have been for that purpose. The
bathing in the water is to constitute a rebirth, wherefore "the ger is like a
child just born" (Yeb. 48b); and he must bathe "in the name of God"—"leshem
shamayim"—that is, assume the yoke of Gcd's kingdom imposed upon him by the one
who leads him to Baptism ("maṭbil"), or else he is not admitted into Judaism
(Gerim. vii. 8). For this very reason the Israelites before the acceptance of the
Law had, according to Philo on the Decalogue ("De Decalogo," ii., xi.), as well as
according to rabbinical tradition, to undergo the rite of baptismal purification
(compare I Cor. x. 2, "They were baptized unto Moses [the Law] in the clouds and
in the sea").

The real significance of the rite of Baptism can not be derived from the Levitical
law; but it appears to have had its origin in Babylonian or ancient Semitic
practise. As it was the special service administered by Elisha, as prophetic
disciple to Elijah his master, to "pour out water upon his hands" (II Kings iii.
11), so did Elisha tell Naaman to bathe seven times in the Jordan, in order to
recover from his leprosy (II Kings v. 10). The powers ascribed to the waters of
the Jordan are expressly stated to be that they restore the unclean man to the
original state of a new-born "little child." This idea underlies the prophetic
hope of the fountain of purity, which is to cleanse Israel from the spirit of
impurity (Zech. xiii. 1; Ezek. xxxvi. 25; compare Isa. iv. 4). Thus it is
expressed in unmistakable terms in the Mandean writings and teachings (Brandt,
"Mandäische Religion," pp. 99 et seq., 204 et seq.) that the living water in which
man bathes is to cause his regeneration. For this reason does the writer of the
fourth of the Sibylline Oracles, lines 160-166, appeal to the heathen world,
saying, "Ye miserable mortals, repent; wash in living streams your entire frame
with its burden of sin; lift to heaven your hands in prayer for forgiveness and
cure yourselves of impiety by fear of God!" This is what John the Baptist preached
to the sinners that gathered around him on the Jordan; and herein lies the
significance of the bath of every proselyte. He was to be made "a new creature"
(Gen. R. xxxix). For the term φωτιςθεῖς (illuminated), compare Philo on Repentance
("De Pœnitentia," i.), "The proselyte comes from darkness to light." It is quite
possible that, like the initiates in the Orphic mysteries, the proselytes were, by
way of symbolism, suddenly brought from darkness into light. For the rites of
immersion, anointing, and the like, which the proselyte has or had to undergo.
Notwithstanding the baptism of pagans or others in a non scriptural formulas,
baptism in the name and power of Jesus was always the means and way of enterance
into salvation via biblical terms.