Sprinkling is not baptism. The word “baptism” is derived from the Greek word baptismos, which means “immersion.” The Greek word baptein (baptism) means “to plunge, to immerse, or to wash” (see “BAPTISM,” The Encyclopedia of Religion, 1987 ed., Mircea Eliade, et al. [New York: Macmillan, 1987]). So when the candidate is immersed in water during baptism, his spiritual being is being cleansed.

Hebrews 10:22 cannot be cited as a basis for sprinkling. In fact, this verse actually supports baptism by immersion because it describes how the heart, not the body, is being sprinkled spiritually, while the body is “washed with pure water” physically (washed=immersed). According to Hastings, “The external form of baptism was immersion in flowing water which is presupposed in Ac 822, He 1022” (Hastings, “BAPTISM,” Dictionary of the Bible [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963]).

Similarly, in Ezekiel 36:25-26, cleansing through sprinkling figuratively denotes inward cleansing. (The reference is to Numbers 8:6-7.) In the Old Testament, the sprinkling of blood foreshadowed the spiritual cleansing of Jesus’ blood (see Heb 9:18-22). Thus “sprink1ing of the blood” in Peter 1:2 does not refer to the physical action of baptism, but to the effect of spiritual cleansing through Christ’s blood.