Fresh Warriors
“Baptized for the dead” (1 Cor. 15:29) does not mean that living believers could be baptized in place of those who had died unbaptized. What Paul was actually seeking to convey here is that only those who were willing to be identified with the dead in martyrdom for Christ’s sake, as well as with Christ in His death and resurrection, could be described as “those baptized for the dead.”
But why does Paul use the words “for the dead?” Let us examine this phrase carefully. The first word, “for,” is huper in Greek, which basically means “over” or “ above.” The literal translation of this phrase would be “baptized over the dead”; that is to say admitted publicly into the visible Church of Christ, as if the dead bodies of those who were similarly admitted into the Church before them and had died for Christ were lying beneath their feet. Metaphorically, it means in the prospect of death and as a continuance of the testimony of those who have heroically died for the faith.
Compare what happens on a battlefield. It is strewed with the bodies of those who fought and perished nobly; but the contest is still raging, and fresh combatants are continually pressing into the action. These, as they come up, may be said to be initiated into the battle over the bodies of those who have bled and died before them. Now this world is a spiritual battlefield. The contest between sin and righteousness, which commenced so soon after the fall, has been waging from generation to generation. It is waging still, and it will continue till sin and Satan are overpowered, and death is swallowed up in victory. Many, in bygone ages engaged in this warfare, have fallen on the battlefield, fighting the good fight of faith. Fresh combatants, however, at the summons of the great Captain of our salvation are continually pressing forward to occupy the places of the slain and bravely maintain the contest. These, by the rite of baptism, were admitted to the position they now occupy as constituted Christian soldiers. With reference either to the past or the future—the deaths which have already occurred or their own death most certainly to occur—it may be said that they are either “baptized over the dead” or “baptized in the prospect of death.” In this way the meaning of the expression becomes clear.
But why does Paul use the words “for the dead?” Let us examine this phrase carefully. The first word, “for,” is huper in Greek, which basically means “over” or “ above.” The literal translation of this phrase would be “baptized over the dead”; that is to say admitted publicly into the visible Church of Christ, as if the dead bodies of those who were similarly admitted into the Church before them and had died for Christ were lying beneath their feet. Metaphorically, it means in the prospect of death and as a continuance of the testimony of those who have heroically died for the faith.
Compare what happens on a battlefield. It is strewed with the bodies of those who fought and perished nobly; but the contest is still raging, and fresh combatants are continually pressing into the action. These, as they come up, may be said to be initiated into the battle over the bodies of those who have bled and died before them. Now this world is a spiritual battlefield. The contest between sin and righteousness, which commenced so soon after the fall, has been waging from generation to generation. It is waging still, and it will continue till sin and Satan are overpowered, and death is swallowed up in victory. Many, in bygone ages engaged in this warfare, have fallen on the battlefield, fighting the good fight of faith. Fresh combatants, however, at the summons of the great Captain of our salvation are continually pressing forward to occupy the places of the slain and bravely maintain the contest. These, by the rite of baptism, were admitted to the position they now occupy as constituted Christian soldiers. With reference either to the past or the future—the deaths which have already occurred or their own death most certainly to occur—it may be said that they are either “baptized over the dead” or “baptized in the prospect of death.” In this way the meaning of the expression becomes clear.