Baptism in History

8/14/2019 Baptism in History

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Baptism in

History


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Baptism Review...

Last week we discussed how Jesus

commanded baptism for His followers; in the

Book of Acts alone there are 10 accounts oactive obedience to this ordinance; and yet,

there is still controversy in the religious

world concerning whether or not it has anyreal significance in the Lords gospel plan o

salvation!


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Baptism...

This week, we will continue our study on the

significance of baptism by looking at more

Scriptures concerning baptism. Additionally,

we will look at the place baptism held in the

early history of the church by examining

writings from some of the church fathers onthis subject.


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Baptism: A Necessity for Salvation?

What comes to your mind when the subject o

baptism arises? Do you believe it is a

necessary component of the Gospel plan osalvation?

The New Testament makes it abundantly clear

that baptism is absolutely essential for

salvation. The necessity of baptism was one

of the most important and clear-cut doctrines

of ancient Christianity.


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Baptism in the Book of Romans

One overriding truth as it relates to these

verses is that baptism always takes place

afterbelief. Therefore, an infant would not be a candidate for baptism as they have no

faith and they have no sin. And, if the

meaning of baptism could be boiled down toone word, that word would be identification.

Baptism speaks primarily of a personal,

public identification with Jesus Christ.


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In Romans 6:3-4, the Apostle Paul put it this

way: Or dont you know that all of us who

were baptized into Christ were baptized intois death? We were therefore buried with

im through baptism into death in order

that, just as Christ was raised from the deadthrough the glory of the Father, we too may

live a new life.


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Notice the strength of the

expressions: baptized into Christ

and baptized into His death and

buried with Him in baptism.

Baptism then, means at least 3

things in this passage:


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When you are baptized, you are in fact

visually preaching the Gospel. As you

stand in the water waiting to be

baptized, you symbolize Jesus dying on

the cross.


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As you are lowered into the

water, youre providing a visual

demonstration that Jesus was

buried in the tomb.


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As you shoot out of the water,

youre picturing Jesus risingtriumphantly from the dead, just as

He had promised.


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Your Own Personal Sermon

And sinceyou personally are being baptized,

ou are also saying, I died with Jesus

Christ, I was buried with Him and now I amraised with Christ to a brand-new life, an

its my intent to live my life under His

leadership and for His glory from this point

on. In short, in your baptism you are

preaching a sermon without using any words

at all.


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Your Own Personal Sermon

How important is your baptism? It is

our personal identification with thereatest act of human history--the

death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

Christ.


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Back to the Controversy...

Now, in spite of what we have seen

from the numerous passages fromthe Book of Acts and the examples

of conversion, many still will deny

baptism a place in the Gospel plan

of salvation.


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They will cite Ephesians 2:8-9 as

proof that baptism has nothing to do

with salvation: For it is by grace youhave been saved, through faith-and

this not from yourselves, it is the gift

of God-not by works, so that no onecan boast.


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And they ignore other passages that

contradict their doctrine, such as this:

For in hope were we saved: but hope

that is seen is not hope: for who hopes

for that which he sees? (Romans 8:24)

Paul says hope saves us, too.


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Or this:

... because if you shall confess with your

mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in

your heart that God raised Him from the

dead, you shall be saved: for with the heart

man believes unto righteousness; and with

the mouth confession is made untosalvation. (Romans 10:9-10) Paul says

here ourconfession saves us.


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Or this:

...not by works done in righteousness,

which we did ourselves, but according to

His mercy He saved us, through the

washing of regeneration and renewing of

the Holy Spirit, Which He poured outupon us richly, through Jesus Christ our

Savior. (Titus 3:5-6)


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Did you catch that? Paul said we were saved

by Gods mercy through the washing o

regeneration (baptism) and renewing othe Holy Spirit. If you still do not think

that baptism is the point that one becomes

saved through the grace of God, we have thisfrom Peter:


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...which also after a true likeness doth

now save you, even baptism, not theputting away of the filth of the flesh, but

the interrogation of a good conscience

toward God, through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3:32)


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Being One with Christ

Your guilt before God is removed the

moment you are baptized into Christ. It is

our personal testimony to, and the inward

assurance of, your passage from the old

life to the new life. In essence, your

baptism is a funeral!


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Being One with Christ

Its an act of faith in which we testify,

both to God and to the watching world,

that the person we used to be is dead and buried, and that weve been raised to

new life as 2 Corinthians 5:17 states:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he isa new creation; the old has gone, the

new has come!


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Mode of Baptism

Throughout Christian history three primary

modes of baptism have been followed:

sprinkling, pouringand immersion. TheGreek work translated baptize is the verb

baptizo. According to contemporary

lexicons, the primary meaning is to dip,lunge, or immerse.


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Mode of Baptism

The secondary meaning is to bring under

the influence. Interestingly, while there

were Greek words for sprinkling orouring that were available to the authors

of Scripture, they consistently chose the

word baptizo, or immersion, to describe themode of baptism.


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Mode of Baptism

Baptism requires going down into the

water. After the chariot stopped, theBible says that Philip and the man

...went down into the water and Philip

baptized him. (Acts 8:38)


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Mode of Baptism

Baptism requirescoming up out of the

water. This man went down into the

water, and then came back up out othe water (Acts 8:39). Jesus did the

same when He was baptized (Matthew

3:16).


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Mode of Baptism

Clearly, immersion is in view here.

In addition, the figures of speech used

by the Apostle Paul are consistentwith immersion. Baptism is called a

burial in Romans 6:4 and

Colossians 2:12.


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Mode of Baptism

We were buried therefore with Him

through baptism unto death: that like as

Christ was raised from the dead through

the glory of the Father, so we also might

walk in newness of life. ... having been

buried with Him in baptism, wherein you

were also raised with Him through faith inthe working of God, who raised Him from

the dead. (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12)


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Mode of Baptism

Baptism is into His death and

involves being raised to walk innewness of life. It is impossible to

see how sprinkling or pouring could

convey these meanings.


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Mode of Baptism

Finally, the testimony of church history is

that immersion was indeed the mode obaptism practiced in the early church. So,

what does all this mean? As we have seen

rom the Scriptures in the New Testament,

water baptism was always by immersion.


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Baptism and the Early Church Fathers

To a man, the ancient Christian bishops and

apologists believed that baptism was essential

for salvation. What follows is a small

sampling of the many statements they made

on the importance of this sacred

commandment of God.


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Baptism and the Early Church Fathers:

Tertullian, Christian apologist (155-230)

...without baptism, salvation is attainable

by none. (Roberts and Donaldson3:674)


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Novatus, bishop of Thamugada (210-260)Although we know that all the Scriptures

give witness concerning the saving

baptism, still we ought to declare ourfaith, that heretics and schismatics who

come to the church, and appear to have

been falsely baptized, ought to be

baptized in the everlasting fountain.

(Roberts and Donaldson 5:566)


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Felix, 210-265, bishop of Gurgites

I judge that, according to the precepts

of the holy Scriptures, he who is

unlawfully baptized by heretics outsidethe Church, when he wishes to take

refuge in the Church, should obtain the

grace of baptism where it is lawfullygiven. (Roberts and Donaldson 5:571)


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Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (late 4th

century)

Nay, he that, out of contempt, will

not be baptized, shall be condemned

as an unbeliever, and shall be

reproached as ungrateful and

foolish. (Roberts and Donaldson

7:457)


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Justin Martyr, Christian apologist (100-165)

By reason, therefore, of this laver [baptismal

font] of repentance and knowledge of God,

which has been ordained on account of the

transgression of God's people, as Isaiah cries,

we have believed and testify that that very

baptism which he announced is alone able to

purify those who have repented; and this is thewater of life. (Roberts and Donaldson 1:201)


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Iranaeus, bishop of Lugdunum (130-202)

And again, giving to the disciples the

power of regeneration into God, He

[Christ] said to them, Go and teach all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy

Ghost(Matthew 28:19). (Roberts andDonaldson 1:444)


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Hippolytus of Rome (165?-235)

Come into liberty from slavery, into a

kingdom from tyranny, into

incorruption from corruption. And

how, saith one, shall we come? By

water and the Holy Ghost. (Roberts

and Donaldson 5:237)


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Didymus the Blind (313-398)

Johannes Quasten has said the following

about Didymus the Blind:

Didymus, surnamed the Blind, stands out

among the heads of the catechetical school o

Alexandria in the fourth century. Born about

the year 313, he had lost his sight at the ageof four. . . .


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The high esteem that he won during hislifetime sprang partly from spontaneous

admiration for a man who, despite the

tremendous handicap of lifelong blindness,amassed an amazing treasure of erudition....


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He was a veritable prodigy o

encyclopaedic knowledge. Athanasius did

not hesitate to place him in the highly

responsible position of the head of thecatechetical school of Alexandria.


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Johannes Quasten has said the following about

Didymus the Blind:

His best known pupils are St. Jerome and

Rufinus. The first mentions Didymus

repeatedly as his magister, praises his learning,

and testifies to his influence on the divines ofhis time in the West as well as in the East. The

second calls him a prophet and apostolic

man. (3:85-86)


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Didymus affirmed that baptism was essential for

salvation. Here are a few of the things he said onthe subject:

The Holy Spirit as God renovates us in baptism,

and in union with the Father and the Son, brings

us back from a state of deformity to our pristine

beauty.


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Didymus affirmed that baptism was essential for

salvation. Here are a few of the things he said on

the subject:He...makes us spiritual men, sharers in the

divine glory, sons and heirs of God and of the

Father. He conforms us to the image of the Son

of God, makes us co-heirs and his brothers, we

who are to be glorified and to reign with Him.

(Quasten 3:98)


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Quasten reiterates the fact that Didymus

believed in the necessity of baptism for

salvation:Speaking of the effects of baptism, he

[Didymus] mentions both the negative and

the positive aspect. Baptism isabsolutely essential for salvation.


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salvation:Not even the perfection of a faultless life can

make up for it: No one not regenerated by the

Holy Spirit of God and marked with the seal

of His sanctification [baptism] has attained

heavenly gifts.


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salvation:He sums up the effects of baptism on the

soul as follows: Thus, renovated in baptism,

we enjoy the familiarity of God, in so far as

the powers of our nature permit. (3:98)


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Clement of Alexandria (148?-213?)

For thus He [Christ] wishes us to be

converted and to become as childrenacknowledging Him Who is truly our

Father, regenerated by water. (Quasten

2:27)

Being baptized, we are illuminated.

(Quasten 2:28)


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Clement of Alexandria (148?-213?)

Quasten notes that Clement

uses...the terms seal, illumination, bath, perfection and mystery for

baptism. (2:28)


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Baptism and Other Early Church Fathers:

Athanasius of Alexandria (293?-373)

In his highly respected work entitled

Early Christian Doctrines, J. N. D.Kelly summarizes the views of other

church fathers on the importance of

baptism:


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For Gregory of Nyssa similarly the

baptized person receives God and is inHim; united with Christ by spiritual rebirth,

he becomes God's son by adoption and puts

on the divine nature.


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Chrysostom speaks of the Christian's having

Christ in himself as a result of baptism and sobeing assimilated to him; stepping out of the

sacred bath, the catechumen [religious

convert] is clothed with light and, fully

regenerated, enjoys the possession of justice

and holiness.


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Cyril of Alexandria states that perfect

knowledge of Christ and complete

participation in him are only obtained by the

grace of baptism and the illumination of the

Holy Spirit. According to Theodore,

baptism is our second birth, as a result of

which we belong to Christ and are associatedwith the privileges of His glorious life, being

His body and His members. (431-432)


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Baptism and Other Early Church Fathers

Jeffrey Burton Russell is certainly

correct when he observes that among theearly Christians "it was universally

believed that...we obtain the benefits o

Christ's sacrifice by baptism." (100)


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Most Protestants reject the necessity of

baptism because it contradicts and is,

therefore, incompatible with their belief insalvation through grace by faith alone.

However, the fact remains that the Savior's

ancient church taught that one could not enterthe kingdom of God without being baptized.


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In Harper's Bible Dictionary we read the

following:

...baptism was in some sense to Christianitywhat circumcision was to Judaism. John 3:3-

5, in fact, makes baptism--not circumcision--

the formal entrance rite into the covenantunity. (p. 92)


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Additional Comments

In the highly revered ancient Christian text

entitled the Shepherd of Hermas, we read that the

angel told Hermas that baptism was essential, andthat it was through baptism that people were able

to enter into the kingdom of God. (Similitude IX,

93:1-5, in Jack N. Sparks, editor, The Apostolic

athers, pp. 245-246). It's interesting to note that

the translator, Graydon Snyder, identified 93:2-3

as rough paraphrases of John 3:5 (see page 245).


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Final Comments

We have seen from the Scriptures and

from the early church history that baptism

has been taught as being essential in thegospel plan of salvation. So do we choose

to follow God, or men?

...but as for me and my house, we will

serve Jehovah. (Joshua 24:15)

Whom will you choose to follow?

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Baptism in History