Baptism and Water Symbolism in Korea
By Paul Junggap Huh
AN ENGLISH IDIOM, “wet behind the ears,” means “naïve,” alluding to the newly born, recently born, still wet. There is a similar expression in Korean: “When did your ears emerge?” The question is asked to learn one’s birthday and the reply follows, “my ears emerged on such and such a day.” Those who are newly baptized in Jesus’ name are newly born by water and the Spirit. They are also called “wet behind the ears.” Naïve and inexperienced, still wet and full of life, they emerge from the living water. Baptism is the beginning of the church, giving new life, covenant, and promise.
Baptism signifies the birth of the Korean Church. The first Protestant worship recorded in Korea began with the Baptism of Koreans in Manchuria at 1879 by Rev. J. MacIntyre, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
As is true in many cultures, stories about the symbolism of water abound in Korea and in the Korean church context. One such story connects baptism as a sacrament of conversion, pardoning, and cleansing with a historical event:
King Sunjo during the Yi dynasty lost a war against Mongolian invaders. The victors took the losers’ wives and servants from the land. A peace treaty later allowed the Korean captives to return home. The newly liberated women couldn’t enter the city wall, however, because of guilt, shame, and rejection by their families. The king decreed that all the returning women should wash their bodies in the river and no questions should be asked about their past. Yet no one dared to enter the river. It wasn’t until the female survivors inside the city wall came out to the riverbank and reached out their hands to the returning captives that they washed in the river together. The divisions were erased. Forgiveness, pardon, and conversion took place along with the washing away of guilt, shame, and denial. The place is now called Hongje (means “wide love”) stream.
In another story, an ancient cultural ritual takes on new meaning for Christian worship and is a reminder that in baptism we are incorporated into the body of Christ:
Ancient Korean mothers started their days early in the morning with a prayer, a lighted candle, and a bowl of fresh water drawn from the well at daybreak. This bowl of water was also used at wedding rituals, the bride and groom exchanging their vows facing the daybreak water and bowing toward each other for the marital promise. In this ritual, the bowl of water represents heaven and earth. To have a fresh start of the day like dew in the early morning, Korean mothers joined heaven with earth represented by the bowl of water, and prayed that their wish would come true.
Baptism and the birth of the Korean church introduced dawn prayer in relation to this earlier practice of the daybreak ritual. People getting up early before the sun dawned, to gather in the church to worship daily, came from the belief that offering a bowl of fresh water embodies heaven and earth.
Stories and symbols of water represent the faith that even a small mustard seed has restored the sacramental importance of baptism in Korean churches. The Kingdom of God and baptized people of all nations will live in the river of justice overflowing with grace and peace.