The Baptism as Moment of Spirit Possession

WAS JESUS POSSESSED? 20

III. THE BAPTISM AS THE MOMENT OF SPIRIT-POSSESSION

The bizarre imagery of the descent of a dove and a voice coming from the heavens that are used by the Gospel authors when describing Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan (Mk. 1:9-11//Mt. 3:1-17//Lk. 3:21-22//Jn. 1:32-34 [³³]) are found nowhere else in the Gospels and they are generally considered to be a poetic vehicle through which the Gospel authors present a messianic moment, make revelations regarding Jesus’ divine identity and highlight his relationship with God. Stevan Davies claims that since the baptismal accounts provided by the Gospel authors meet John Meier’s criterion of multiple attestation (the story appears in Matthew, Mark, Luke

28 Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 29, cf. p. 46.

29 Typical possession ‘is nevertheless distinguished from ordinary somnambulistic states by its intense motor and emotional excitement’ (Oesterreich, Possession, p. 39). ‘Muscle rigidity and loss of control of gross motor movements’ are mentioned by Davies (Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 33).

30 Campell Bonner, ‘Traces of Thaumaturgic Techniques in the Miracles’, HTR 20. 3 (1927) p. 176.

31 Bonner, ‘Traces of Thaumaturgic Techniques in the Miracles’, p. 176.

32 William Arndt and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957) p. 254.

33 Although the Johannine version of the baptism is recounted as a vision by John the Baptist, I am including it here as it retains the imagery of the descending dove.

and John), the criterion of embarrassment (the story is not compatible with the interests of early Christianity) and the criterion of dissimilarity (there is no mention of a descending Holy Spirit in other Jewish or early Christian sources), the baptism accounts can therefore be considered to be a historically reliable record of events.[³⁴] Davies then suggests that the baptism accounts essentially describe Jesus’ ‘initial spirit-possession experience’. [³⁵] This adoptionist cum possession theory proposes that Jesus was not possessed by the Spirit prior to his baptism and that he underwent a ‘psychological transformation’[³⁶] during which he was

‘anointed’ with the power to begin his messianic work.^[37] To regard the baptism as the moment of the endowment of spiritual power is reminiscent of the first-century Gnostic doctrine of Cerinthianism and the second-century sect of the Ebionites, both of whom believed that Jesus did not have the Holy Spirit until his baptism and that it abandoned him at the crucifixion.

A number of difficulties arise when proposing that the historical Jesus was spirit-possessed and these will be addressed below. However, connotations of spirit-possession may account for the sensitive treatment of the baptismal account by each of the Gospel authors. The author of Matthew has previously explained that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:18-20) and therefore he does not require the baptism story to explain the presence of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ ministry. Nevertheless, the baptismal account is preserved in Mt. 3:1-17. The author of Luke separates Jesus’ baptism from the descent of the Spirit and the heavenly voice, preferring to introduce these later when Jesus is praying (Lk. 3:21-22). The author of John chooses to replicate the baptismal story, but he is clearly embarrassed by it since he turns it into a vision by John the Baptist (Jn. 1:32). Various attempts have been made to account for the appearance of the Spirit as a dove (ὡς περιστερά) in all four Gospels. One particularly persuasive explanation is that the Gospel authors are conforming the physical embodiment of God’s Spirit to the popular conception of spirits, or souls, as airy, bird-like entities. James Frazer observes that it was widely accepted in the ancient world that when a person died his soul would leave his body in bird shape and he adds that ‘this conception has probably left traces in most languages, and it lingers as a metaphor in poetry.’^[38] In concurrence with Frazer’s comments, the depiction of the spirit or soul of the deceased as a bird is common in biblical, classical and modern literature. For example, James L. Allen Jr. writes in his study of the bird-soul motif in the writings of William Butler Yeats:

‘Because of its ability to rise above the earth a bird is a fairly obvious and appropriate symbol for a disembodied soul. The identification of soul with bird is…both ancient and widespread, the naturalness of such an association no doubt underlying its universality.’^[39]

34 Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 64.

35 Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 148.

36 Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 65.

37 Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 148: ‘If Jesus believed himself to be one who was anointed by God, it is anything but unlikely that the anointing in question was his initial possession experience.’

38 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Chapter III. 33-34.

39 James L. Allen, Jr., ‘Yeats’s Bird-Soul Symbolism’, TCL 6. 3 (1960) p. 117.

There are various passages from classical literature in which the soul leaves the body in the form of a bird and one example of the early Christian use of this imagery in found in the Martyrdom of Polycarp, in which the saint’s soul leaves his body in the form of a dove upon death.

‘So at length the lawless men, seeing that his body could not be consumed by the fire, ordered an executioner to go up to him and stab him with a dagger. And when he had done this, there came forth [a dove and] a quantity of blood.’ [⁴⁰]

Although it is possible that the Gospel authors adopted the simple literary device of a bird-soul as a means by which to represent the physical embodiment of the Spirit, other scholars have suggested that περιστερά, is an error in translation and that the word relates to the manner in which the Spirit descends. Regardless of whether the Gospel authors intended περιστερά, to indicate a physical dove or simply the Spirit’s mode of descent, a theory of spirit-possession would be greatly strengthened if the Gospel writers intended to portray this Spirit as entering ‘into’ Jesus following its descent, rather than simply resting

‘upon’ him. The connection between possession and the presence of a spirit within the individual is demonstrated in the Markan account of the Capernaum demoniac when the unclean spirit is said to be in (evn) the possessed man (Mk. 1:23). Certainly this in-dwelling nature of the Holy Spirit is suggested in the baptismal account provided in the Ebionite Gospel in which the dove comes down and enters into Jesus (peristera/j katelqou,shj kai.

eivselqou,shj eivj auvto,n, Epiphanius, Adv. Haer. 30. 13). However, I would suggest that the terminology used by the Gospel authors cannot be used as a reliable indicator of spirit-possession since the terms ‘upon’ and ‘in’ are used interchangeably when depicting the reception of the Spirit in the Old Testament. For example, Isa. 42:1 reads ‘I have put my Spirit upon him’ whereas Ezek. 36:27 reads ‘and I will put my Spirit within you'.

Since Jesus’ wilderness experience follows directly from his baptism in all three Synoptic Gospels, it is clear that the evangelists intend the two events to be linked together. With this in mind, Stevan Davies suggests that Jesus’ expulsion into the wilderness is the direct result of his prior gift of the Spirit at baptism and that the forceful nature of Jesus’ departure is reminiscent of the impulsive behaviour associated with the possessed. Therefore Davies proposes that the Gospel authors are describing a ‘spontaneous possession experience’. [⁴¹] The forcefulness of Jesus’ expulsion is evident in the terminology used in the Markan account.

While Matthew and Luke employ the much softer avnh,cqh / h;geto (‘led’, Mt. 4:1; Lk. 4:1), a forceful, violent, external influence upon Jesus is evident in Mk. 1:12, in which the Spirit forcefully ‘drives out’ (ἐκβάλλει) Jesus into the wilderness.[⁴²]

40 The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 16:1 (trans. J.B. Lightfoot). There is some disagreement concerning the mention of a dove here. For example, Eusebius does not mention the dove and many have thought that the text has been altered.

Cf. also the martyrdom of St. Eulalia in Prudentius’ Peristephanon in which it is reported that a white dove left her mouth upon death.

41 Davies, Jesus the Healer, p. 64.

42 The term ἐκβάλλει is typically used by the author of Mark in connection with the exorcism of demons, cf.

Mk.1:34, 39, 43; 3:15, 22; 4:13; 7:26; 9:18, 28.

In document Jesus was a Wicked Priest and John the Baptist was the True Christ (Page 194-199)