A ritual practice of cleansing and spiritual renewal. For Jews in Jesus’ time, the ritual of tvila was practiced by converts to Judaism and used for other forms of ritual cleansing. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, an itinerant preacher and one foretelling of the coming of the “Messiah” or anointed one. Many Christians interpret the baptism of Jesus by John as told in the Gospels as the time when Jesus was visited by the Holy Spirit and revealed as the Messiah. In later developments, it was established as a Christian ritual of admission to Christianity and later into specific sects of the faith.
