There are very few records of whether people were sprinkled on the head or temporarily completely immersed underwater during baptisms recorded in the Bible.
Here is one example:
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Bear fruit that befits repentance,
11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.
14 John would have prevented Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.
16 And when Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water, and hey, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on Him;
17 and wow, a Voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Here are other examples:
Luke 3:1 (and Mark 1:1-11) In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness;
3 and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
16 John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but He who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,
20 added this to them all, that he shut up John in prison.
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,
22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form, as a dove, and a Voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."
John 1:19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?"
26 John answered them, "I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know,
27 even He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Hey, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, for He was before me.'
31 I myself did not know Him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel."
32 And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on Him.
33 I myself did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."
John 4:1 Now when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
John 4:2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only His disciples),
John 4:3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
[ Hearing that someone baptizes, and him actually performing baptisms, are obviously two different things; rumor versus fact. So even though Jesus Himself did not baptize (and isn't that something, if baptism is supposed to be so important?) His disciples (except Paul) baptized, according to the Biblical record? ]
First Corinthians 1:14 I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius;
15 lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name.
16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
[ So, someone who baptizes has inferior status compared to one who does not baptize - even though Paul was one of the chief New-Testament apostles?
And, concerning the "eloquent wisdom" and "cross of Christ being emptied of its power" phrases of Paul, were not Paul's New-Testament complex doctrinal masterpieces of theological insights thus legitimately considered "eloquent wisdom?" Did those remarkable epistles, because and being they were the brilliant dissertatons they were, thus "empty the cross of Christ" of "its power?" Power in a wooden cross-piece of Roman torture for convicted criminals? Is "the cross" some type of an metaphor or euphemism or symbol for something else? ]
There is no record of the Penitent Dying Thief on a Cross ever being baptized or ingesting communion bread or wine before he expired on his cross, and yet Jesus declared that that penitent thief (who previously had ridiculed the Lord but then changed his mind and called Jesus 'Lord') would be "in Paradise" with Him that very day:
Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew: This is the King of the Jews.
39 And one of the malefactors who was hanged railed against Him, saying, "If thou be Christ, save yourself and us!"
40 But the other answering chided him, saying, "Do not you fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due recompense against our deeds. But this Man has done nothing wrong."
42 And he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom."
43 And Jesus said to him, "Truthfully I say to you, today shall you be with Me in Paradise."
And finally, a few more references in the New Testament to baptism:
Matthew 21:24 (and Mark 11:29-33 and Luke 20:1-8) Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you a question; and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?" And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
26 But if we say, 'From men,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all hold that John was a prophet."
27 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Mark 10:38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
39 And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
What porcelain or alabaster or metal "cup" did Jesus intend to "drink?" Would that "cup" be in one piece, or rather broken into pieces or shards which He said that He would swallow? Would the cup pieces or cup shards be molten so he could drink them instead of eat them? Would ingesting them have thereafter given Him indigestion? And what was the "baptism" with which He was to be baptized with (being that He had already, by that time, been baptized with water by John), and what was that same "baptism" His disciples were to be baptized with?
Luke 7:24 When the messengers of John had gone, he began to speak to the crowds regarding (not "concerning") John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to observe and consider? A reed shaken by the wind?
25 What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Hey, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts.
26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written, 'Hey, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare thy way before you.'
28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
29 (When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John;
30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
It is hard to believe that a vagabond wild-man orator ranting out in the desert and going through the motions of applying water to whatever parts of the hopefully-fully-clothed bodies of people was not simply on par with but instead superior to conquering-military-hero Joshua, Red-Sea-opener Moses, Fire-From-The-Sky-Beckoning Miracles-Performer Elijah, Super-Strong-Man Samson, Super-Soldier David, Richest-and-Wisest-Man-Who-Ever-Lived Solomon, and so on. What did Jesus mean when He said THE greatest (and there can be only one of them) man who ever lived was John the Baptist, but seemingly contradicts that assertion by continuing on to state that some anonymous person who was "least in the kingdom of God" - was instead "THE greatest" -- whatever that meant?
Jesus - who had already, by that time, been baptized with water by John - predicted that He had another baptism to be baptized with:
Luke 12:47 And that servant who knew his master's will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating.
48 But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom humans commit much they will demand the more.
49 "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!
50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!
51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division;
52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three . . .
Jesus "had a baptism to be baptized with?" Had that not already been done to him by John when Jesus was baptized by John, and even "baptized" from above by the Descending-Dove Holy Spirit?
Acts 1:21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us -- one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection."
23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed and said, "Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen
25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place."
26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.
[ WHAT "baptism of John" in verse 22 above? ]
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture, and preached to him Jesus.
36 And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What does hinder me from being baptized?"
37 And Philip said, "If you believe with all thine heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
39 And when they had come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. And the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities until he came to Caesarea.
[ No mention of whether immersion or sprinkling occurred while both Philip and the eunuch were in the water ].
Acts 10:37 the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
Acts 13:24 Before his coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Acts 18:25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things regarding Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
Acts 19:3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism."
Acts 19:4 And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus."
Have you been suffocated by being submerged in water yet and consequentially died -- with or without then being deposited in some morgue?
Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Those of you reading this who have never been drowned, never buried at sea, and who realize that Jesus was never drowned and neither buried in a baptismal trough nor pond nor pool nor lake nor ocean, understandably would consider the Romans 6:4 statement above either absurd and ludicrous silliness, or instead a sort of weird or strange (at least quite unusual) euphemistic or symbolic representation of spiritual regeneration.
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
[ How can there be only one baptism - when other Scripture states that there is BOTH water and fire baptism? ]
Colossians 2:12 and you were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Those of you reading this who have never been drowned, never buried at sea, and who realize that Jesus was never drowned and neither buried in a baptismal trough nor pond nor pool nor lake nor ocean, understandably would consider the Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12 statement above either absurd and ludicrous silliness, or instead a sort of weird or strange (at least quite unusual) euphemistic or symbolic representation of spiritual regeneration.
First Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to [ Noah's Worldwide Flood ], now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. . .
Hey, if baptism saves us, whether for purposes of bodily cleansing or appeal, what is the point of Christ dying on a cross as propitiation and atonement against our sins?
If the following pre-crucifixion claim of Jesus Christ is literally true:
John 15:3 "You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you."
. . . why did Jesus have to actually be crucified on a cross, when atonement and redemption was apparently done simply by Christ's spoken word?
Some purport that we sinners did not deserve God sending His Son to atone for our sins against Him by Him dying on a cross, and - in one sense - we admittedly do not deserve His grace because of our willful-though-under-duress succombing to the stumbling blocks of temptation around us which God allowed and allows wicked entities to impose against us and which He Himself was responsible for imposing way back in the Garden of Eden by His deliberate insertion of the evil-environment Tempter, dangerous-then-lethal Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and even ingraining treacherous human free will to choose to screw up with.
But, on the other hand, we DO deserve mercy and forgiveness - simply for the sake of justice and fairness - being that the same completely-perfect and impeccably-benevolent Creator who permits fatal stumbling blocks to assault and besiege us nowadays as He did against our primal ancestors was and is obligated to compensate and make up for it by providing the really-simple-solution gospel of mere belief in, consensual obedience to, and non-forced love of THE redeemer Jesus . . . FAR easier than straining ourselves reaching for some rectifying fruit on some tree of life.
Pertaining to baptizing infants by sprinkling water on their heads rather than totally (but of course temporarily) completely immersing them in water, circumcision of male (not female) humans has similar aspects in comparison.
In both cases, the infant does not have a clue what is going on, and certainly repentance of the infant himself by himself (and/or herself in the case not of circumcision but of sprinkling water on them) clearly does not come into play, thus plainly indicating that the babe is;
- not cognizant of sin
- not aware that he or she has sinned
- not in a condition to declare intention to never sin again
- nor in a state of mind to willfully claim Jesus as his or her Redeemer against that sin of theirs.
In fact, it is even dubious whether or not the infant has sinned at all, being that they have not yet reached an accountable age when they perceive what the abstraction of "sin" is.
Certainly non-born babes in wombs cannot be accused of having committed sin, and thus where is the case against them of having so-called "original sin?"
Romans 9:11 . . . though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call
Human fetii have not even thought anything to be sin while in the womb:
Romans 14:14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean.
James 4:17 Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
In stark contrast to womb-babes, we post-toddlers have guilty and regretful remembrance of our past sins:
Jeremiah 2:35 you say, 'I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.' Hey, I will bring you to judgment for saying, 'I have not sinned.'
Hebrews 10:1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near.
Hebrews 10:2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? If the worshipers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin.
Hebrews 10:3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year.
First John 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.
But God does not remember the sins of forgiven ones:
Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, 'Wow, I have come to do your will, God,' as it is written of me in the roll of the book."
8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),
9 then he added, "Wow, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God,
13 then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool for His feet.
14 For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days," says the Lord: "I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"
17 then He adds, "I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more."
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Thus, the vital element of repentance involving baptism is missing in infants: infants CANNOT repent, and thus there is no point in following up with baptism of nor for them, as compared to sin-perceiving post-infant persons:
Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
To merely dedicate infants - as Hannah of the Old Testament dedicated Samuel - which infants know nothing of sin, and who are incapable of repenting, is foolish to expect them (by and in baptism) to consciously and knowledgeably be brought into a saving covenant with God when - again - they are not (at that point) even aware of God . . . even if the free-willed/mind-of-their-own lifeforms are baptized in the promissory custody of Christian parents or sponsors allegedly speaking for them, being that:
Ecclesiastes 2:18 I hated all my labor in which I had worked under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me;
Ecclesiastes 2:19 and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I labored and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
Ezekiel 18:1 The word of the LORD came to me again:
2 "What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?"
3 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.
4 Hey, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.
19 Yet you say, 'Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?' When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.
20 The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."
First Corinthians 7:16 Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?
Liturgical Christians defend their infant-baptismal-covenant presumption by stating that when those infants become teenagers, they then are required in "Confirmation" services to confirm allegiance of their supposed infant baptismal covenant their parents made for them without the expressed consent and permission of the infant himself or herself.
Therefore they, in essence, put the proverbial "cart before the horse" - in postulating that sprinkled or submerged infants are first unconditionally brought into God's family (without infant cognizance of what is happening to them and why) in presumed "baptism," and then much later on become aware (or hopefully become aware) that that baptism involuntarily happened to them when they were infants, at which point or soon thereafter they go along with the whole idea of being in God's family and make their penitence-filled public-statement confession and profession of allegiance to Jesus Christ and His ways.
That "unconditionally being involuntarily brought into God's family" mis-thinking reveals a fallacy of many of those liturgical-oriented denominational religionists, purporting that both infant and adult humans cannot actively seek God "by their own reason or strength" but merely not reject "He who has called them and enlightened them with His gifts" - being that He has previously automatically saved them without their expressed or ongoing consent.
As Eve was the faulty aggressor in the Garden of Eden by taking the initiative to encounter The Serpent, by taking the initiative to go to the lethal Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (being that The Tempter did not go to her nor did the Tree of Temptation go toward her), Eve was and her offspring are now required to take the initiative to open the door when Jesus knocks:
Consider the way a courtship and marriage works.
Eve went to Adam first; Adam did not go to Eve first. Ruth went into the field of Boaz first; Boaz did not go into her field first. Abigail went to David first, David did not go to her first. Rebekkah went to Isaac first; Isaac did not go to her first. Bathsheba the Shapely-Exhibitionist/Adulteress displayed her nudity to David first; David did not display his naked body to her first.
A wife who does not actively respond back affectionately to her aggressive husband and thus aggressively "seek him while he may be found" will not last long in marriage as a wife, let alone even get married to the man at all.
Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
First Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and His strength, seek His presence continually!
Psalm 105:4 Seek the LORD and His strength, seek His presence continually!
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon Him while He is near;
Amos 5:6 Seek the LORD and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it . . .
Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do His commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the LORD.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
Hebrews 7:25 Consequently He (not Mary) is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through Him (not Mary), since He (not Mary) always lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you humans of double mind.
Infants cannot draw near to anyone by themselves, but must be drawn - whether they want to be drawn or not.
They can, however, draw near as sentient toddlers, tweens, teens, and adults - as male humans can willfully become circumcised as sentient toddlers, tweens, teens, and adults.
It is those who draw near who are ready to be baptized, hopefully by embarrassing-and humiliating-to-proud-people complete immersion.
Once they are circumcised, they cannot become uncircumcised, in paradoxical pseudo-contradiction to:
Romans 2:25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
Can we baptize ourselves (in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), whether in the shower or by jumping into a lake or river?
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Can husbands (erotically?) baptize their own wives?
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with The Word,
27 that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
30 because we are members of his body.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.
Is that "washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit" related, either directly or indirectly, to cleaning up one's body for ritualistic purposes of some mandatory purification rites allegedly desired by the Lord? Consider the following as to whether or not the following directives for bodily cleansing are necessary for salvation and to avoid disobeying-God-consequence damnation:
Leviticus 15:16 And if a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his entire body in water, and be unclean until the evening.
Leviticus 15:18 If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall [separately?] bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening. [The sensuously-heterosexual love that one! ]
Perhaps that one is related to:
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Note the word "sprinkling" in the verse above, and the verses below:
Numbers 8:7 And thus you shall do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.
Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
The partial-"baptism?" requirement aspect becomes rather dicey according to the following verse:
John 13:8 Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me."
Peter, apparently one of the first overtly-declared immersionists, went on to say:
John 13:9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" [The homoqueer homosodomites probably love that one! But Jesus does a sort of coitus interruptus partial-washing clarification in the next verse ]
John 13:10 Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you."
There again, if the disciples were verifiably already clean, why did Jesus thereafter have to go to the cross and become crucified?
And what was that blurb the Lord uttered about "needing" to wash? What if one does not do what the Lord rather succinctly said about that need for "bathing" - whatever that "bathing" would entail? Is that as necessary as being "baptized" - whatever that "baptism" would entail?
John 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. [ That, clearly, would be embarrassing, and perhaps sort of obnoxious, to have to wash stinky smelly feet. Perhaps humble servitude could be expressed in a less dirty way? An exception would be to wash one's spouse's feet, which would obviously be somewhat titillating ].
Acts 22:16 And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name. Sins are "washed" away by being baptized - rather than believing that the death of Jesus was THE expiation for committed sins? Oh Oh. That sins-washed-away bit sounds like a substitute means for eternal salvation and avoidance of damnation - a necessary sacrament - does it not?
Why the Lord's explicit advocation for cleanliness? The following verses seems to contradict that:
Luke 11:38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that He did not first wash before dinner.
Nor did Christ mandate His disciples to wash:
Mark 7:1 Now when the Pharisees gathered together to Him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem,
2 they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed.
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?"
6 And He said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'
8 You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men."
14 And He called the people to Him again, and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand:
15 there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him [including feces, arsenic, cyanide, sarin, plutonium, acid, Drano, Clorox, VX? ]; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him."
16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
17 And when He had entered the house, and left the people, His disciples [ understandably ] asked him about the parable.
18 And He said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? [ Duh! What do you think, know-it-all? ] Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him [including feces, arsenic, cyanide, sarin, plutonium, acid, Drano, Clorox, VX? ]
19 since it enters, not his heart but his stomach [and he gets acid indigestion or has to call the Poison Center for antidote? ], and so passes on?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.) [ "Foods?" ]
20 And He said, "What comes out of a man is what defiles a man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,
22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man." [Oh - plainly you're talking apples not oranges! Why did you take so long to specify what you were talking about, and instead impose that sarcastic know-it-all condemnation against us? ]
In conclusion, it is NOT the "washing" that counts:
Revelation 22:14 (RSV) Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
. . . but instead the obeying God's commands that matters:
Revelation 22:14 (KJ21) Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.