It is Design for Theological Students

1. By
Dr. Rajan Babu
Chairman,
Indian Christian Theological Association

7. NOT ONE STANDARD GREEK LEXICON DEFINES
"BAPTIZO" AS "SPRINKLE" OR "POUR"...
(CHENO) (RAINO)

9. 5. Baptism of Fire (Mathew 3:11; Luke
3:16).
1. Baptism of Holy Spirit (John 1:33; Mark 1:8; I Cor. 12:13)
2. Baptism of Sufferings (Mark 10:38-39; Luke 12:50).
3. Baptism of John the baptist (Baptism of Repentance in
Mathew 3:3-17)
4. Baptism of the Dead (I Cor. 15:29).

11. They are the Superior to John the Baptist, water was often
used for cleansing. Regular cleansing, but also for ritual
cleansing
The association of water with spiritual cleanliness was not
unknown to society from the first civilization, Mesopotamia,
onwards.

12. In Mesopotamia, water was first sanctified and then sprinkled
upon a person
It was a purification ritual to prepare for the main rite.
The purification would be done outside or away from the
sanctified place, or temple.One would only enter the temple
after purification.

13. However, more commonly, water was used for purification in preparation
for a larger and more specific ritual.
In Egyptian civilizations, babies were washed (it’s not clear if they were
immersed or just sprinkled) in water, to clean sinlessness of the womb
from them.
In the Greek world, there is some evidence that bathing in a certain
place would grant immortality.

14. Water was used to cleanse both
people and things.
In Mosaic law, which is the
starting point of Judaism, ritual
cleansing was also a practice.

16. Other stories, like that of a prophet telling a soldier to
dip seven times to clean himself of leprosy, are also part
of Mosaic tradition.
2 Kings 5: 1-14

17. According to Biblical Tradition, he was sent to
prepare the way for Jesus Christ.
John called for the Jewish community to repent of
their sins (possibly disobedience to the Mosaic
Law), and be baptized to show that repentance.
Before Jesus Christ’s death, resurrection, and
Ascension, baptism was more of a preparation for
the heart.
Here the baptism was not a cleansing or initiation, but an
outward sign of a personal decision.
Baptism was not any kind of required rite to be an
Apostles of Christ.
When Jesus Christ calls his disciples, he literally calls them, and
they follow him.

18. but a central ritual in itself.
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome,
by which a

19. I.Baptism in the preaching & Teachings of St. Peter
1. "It is for the remission of sins" - Act 2:38
This is the first gospel sermon, Peter commanded people
to be baptized
2. Baptism is an Antitype
The Greek word is antitupon {an-teet'-oo-pon},
which means "a thing formed after some pattern;
that which corresponds to atype"
In the text, the waters of the flood are the "type", and
the waters of baptism are the "antitype" - 1Pet. 3:20-21

26. II.Baptism in the preaching & Teaching
of St. Paul
-- Just as Jesus said: "...unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." - Jn. 3:5
2. Thus God saves us in baptism:
a. It is a "washing of regeneration" - a washing in we are
reborn
b. It is a "renewing of the Holy Spirit" - a renewal in which the
Spirit is at work

27. In the first 100 years of the church, the method of baptism was straightforward.
Jesus Christ had been baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
Therefore, immersion in flowing water was generally accepted.
However, from this time onwards, Christians already were discussing if baptism was
necessary for salvation from sins, or if it was simply a public display of conversion to
Christianity.
An unknown writing dating from 65 CE at the earliest, called the Didache, shows
how the rite had changed even in that first century.
By this time, church leaders had established ritual preparations such as fasting.
But the immersion itself was the central rite.
If possible, Immersion was the main means to baptism
If not possible, water could be poured three times over the head.
The name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were to be mentoned.

28. By the second century (101-200 CE), the was generally
accepted.
In this Century the was a religion that
They had an inner circle and initiation
that some would
Practitioners of Mithraism were in the same areas of the growing church, making
the influence of one on the other fully possible.
While later dissidents of Christianity tried to discredit it as an offshoot of
Mithraism, there is no evidence that Mithraic baptism existed before the 2nd
century AD.

29. Irenaeus, a theologian, writes about ,
.
Infant baptism also appeared in the 2nd century In the c. 182/88 A.D.
In this case, infant baptism would not apply because
Irenaeus in may be the first to specifically mention infant
baptism.
a theologian in Northern Africa,

31. Infant death rates at the time were very high.
Infant baptism came back to the forefront with the writings
of Saint Augustine.
of , called
In this sense,
Because ,
Those
them as soon as possible.

33. Luther writes,
“The one who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
In 1517, German priest Martin Luther put up his
issue from the Pope that would lessen one’s stay in Situation.
“
In 1521, instead of achieving changes in the Catholic church, Martin Luther was
excommunicated.
Contrary to what
and

34. He is a Swiss theologian and priest, led the Reformed movement in Switzerland.
He was and
However, , he focused on the
the child’s Christianity would be necessary.
John Calvin,
Calvin believed that
They only needed to be initiated, since they were already technically born into the
family of God.

35. The Anabaptists, or “Rebaptizers,” were a group within
the Reformers.
They specifically stood for adult baptism only.
They all voluntarily got baptized again.
This was considered irreverent, because it meant they were
going against their first baptism.
While the term “Anabaptists” no longer applies, since its
followers are no longer being “rebaptized,” it was a big
enough movement that a number of Christian sects trace
their origins to the movement.

36. In the 17th century (1601-1700), the Reformation reached the Church of England, which
had broken away from the Roman Catholic church in 1534.
However, until the Reformation, the Church of England still generally followed the
sacraments and doctrine of Roman Catholicism, with the exception of its teachings on
divorce.
The “reformers” in the Church of England were Two Kinds:
Puritans and Separatists.
Puritans wanted to clean the Church of England of corruption.
Separatists, on the other hand, wanted to create completely new congregations.
One group of Separatists left England for Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

37. While they set up their own church, they connected with a Mennonite movement.
The Mennonites, who were Anabaptists, could very well have shared their
doctrine with the Separatists.
The leader of the Separatists movement, John Smyth, eventually preached the
doctrine of adult baptism for believers who made a “confession of faith.”

38. Until today, baptism is a church sacrament that
different religious groups disagree on.
Infant baptism is practiced in some, while only adult
baptism is practiced in others.
The question of whether or not baptism is necessary to
salvation is part of a continuing debate since the first
century after the life of Christ.