Theme · liturgical
Baptism
Water as a boundary between death and life appears at the Red Sea crossing and the Jordan entry into the Promised Land. John the Baptist calls Israel to a baptism of repentance, and Jesus submits to it to 'fulfill all righteousness.' After Pentecost, baptism becomes the initiatory rite of the church: 'Repent and be baptized.' Paul interprets baptism as union with Christ in his death and resurrection — going under the water is burial with Christ, coming up is rising to new life. Baptism marks the passage from the old creation into the new.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1Cor 6:11 — And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
- 1Cor 10:1 — Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
- 1Cor 12:13 — For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
- 1John 5:6 — This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
- 1Pet 3:21 — The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
- Acts 2:38 — Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- Acts 2:41 — Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
- Acts 8:36 — And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
- Acts 8:38 — And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
- Acts 10:47 — Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
- Acts 16:15 — And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
- Acts 16:33 — And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
- Acts 19:4 — Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
- Acts 22:16 — And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
- Col 2:12 — Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
- Eph 4:5 — One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
- Eph 5:26 — That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
- Gal 3:27 — For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
- Heb 6:2 — Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
- Heb 10:22 — Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
- John 1:33 — And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy
- John 3:5 — Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
- John 3:26 — And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
- Luke 3:16 — John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost an
- Mark 16:16 — He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
The Church Fathers on Baptism
"the laying on of hands." Those things that take place in baptism; or there, when the apostles laid on their hands, they gave the Spirit, which Simon the sorcerer also sought. (Acts 8:18-19) "the resurrection of the dead." For this also takes place in baptism through the form of rising up, and is confirmed in the…
It is necessary, therefore, to receive instruction before baptism, having first removed any impediment to learning and so making ourselves fit to receive the instruction. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself confirms this assertion by his example and also by the formal injunction: "So every one of you that does not…
This is what each of us has received at baptism.
and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ: Saving holy Baptism suffices for our cleansing of sin, and erases the stain of previous falls.
A first baptism was that of the flood [of Noah] that cut away of sin. A second was that by the [Red] Sea and the cloud, for the cloud is a symbol of the Spirit, while the sea is a symbol of the water. A third is that of the [Levitical] law, for every unclean person washed himself with water and also washed his…
Each one is a partaker of this spiritual origin in regeneration. To every one, when he is reborn, the water of baptism is like the Virgin's womb, for the same Holy Spirit fills the font, who filled the Virgin, that the sin, which that sacred conception overthrew, may be taken away by this mystical washing.