The Purpose Of Baptism

To put it most simply, the power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of Baptism is to save. No one is baptized in order to become a prince, but as the words say, to "be saved". To be saved, we know, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil and to enter into the kingdom of Christ and live with him forever. -Luther's Large Catechism, 1529 Swiss Reformer Huldrych Zwingli differed with the Lutherans by denying sacramental status of baptism. Zwingli identified baptism and the Lord's supper as sacraments, but in the sense of an initiatory ceremony. His understanding of these sacraments as symbolic differentiated him from Luther. -1484 to 1531 Justin Martyr in his apology “I shall now explain our method of dedicating ourselves to God after we have been created anew through Christ…for they make their ablution in the water in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of our savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit.” (First Apology 6 1.3.) Here is the first recorded change of baptism from the Apostles formula of Jesus name, Lord Jesus, or The Lord Jesus Christ. This is found only in the scriptures from Acts 2:38 to 22:16. Paul was himself baptized that way (Acts 9:18,22:16) and who baptized in that manner (Acts 16:15/33, 18:8, and 19:1-5) wrote this as the only method in his letters to the churches. He said in Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12 that this baptism was into the death, burial, and rising of Christ through our faith in the operation of God. This echos the words of Jesus, (Mark 16:16, John 3:5, and Luke 24:47) even as he commanded it to be done in his name. The father, son, and Holy Spirit (John 5:43,14:26 and Matthew 1:21) all came in the name of Jesus. He further points out that to be baptized into Christ is to put him on in Galatians 3:27. And that Jesus Christ was the only valid name to be used for all words and deeds. Baptism is both a deed with a word spoken over it. Jesus said he alone holds all power/authority in Matthew 28:18. Peter said that Jesus alone held all saving power in Acts 4:12. He also said baptism does now save us; by our obedience we clear our conscience in 1 Peter 3:21. Titus 3:5 states; Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. This agrees with the words of Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. It is by our faith in action, after repenting that the grace of God shown at Christ's sacrifice, (Hebrews 9:15-22) saves us. Without faith we are lost. As faith comes by hearing the word, (Romans 10:17) nobody was converted; from the first day of the church at Pentecost, through the Eunuch, Cornelius, and then to John's disciples, except they were preached the word. And they not only heard, by like James 1:22,2:26 states they acted upon their faith. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Hebrews 11:1-40 states that; But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Then it goes on to show all who believed from Noah to Moses and beyond, all acted upon their faith. Scripturally to be saved, one must first hear the word and believe it, then repent and by faith be baptized in Jesus name, and then is given the grace of God; chiefly shown at the cross. Ant other method is not correct nor scripturally founded! At the time of the Reformation, many Protestants simply threw off many of the chains they felt Catholicism had. But they never shed the man made trinity (By Tertullian who coined it in 197 AD, from Pagan Plato's work of Timaeus. Catholics formally adopted it in 325 AD, and refined it further in 381 AD to today's theory.) Now until Zwingli, baptism rightly so was seen as they way to be scripturally saved. Catholics simply changed the formula, baptized infants, and sprinkled; thereby further reducing the Apostle's formula to a mere ritual. It was and is still seen by them as one of many steps in the salvation process. This is not in the word of God. Nobody has the right to change or alter the word says Revelations 22:18-19. As Jesus is always the same and the living word of God. (John 1:1-14 and Hebrews 13:8) The original method is perferred by

those who worship God in spirit and truth. But as far as baptism seen as the entrance in Christianity, this is well recorded in many Historical accounts. The early Catholic Church Fathers wrote of baptism frequently. One of the first mentions of baptism outside the New Testament was in the Didache. It was a kind of pastor’s manual for early Catholic church leaders, and was written about 100-140 AD. It says, “But concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: having first recited all these precepts, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in running water.” Cyril of Jerusalem who wrote "On the Mysteries of Baptism" in the 4th Century (c. 350 AD): Do you not know, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? etc.…for you are not under the Law, but under grace. 1. Therefore, I shall necessarily lay before you the sequel of yesterday's Lecture, that you may learn of what those things, which were done by you in the inner chamber, were symbolic. 2. As soon, then, as you entered, you put off your tunic; and this was an image of putting off the old man with his deeds. Having stripped yourselves, you were naked; in this also imitating Christ, who was stripped naked on the Cross, and by His nakedness put off from Himself the principalities and powers, and openly triumphed over them on the tree. For since the adverse powers made their lair in your members, you may no longer wear that old garment; I do not at all mean this visible one, but the old man, which waxes corrupt in the lusts of deceit. May the soul which has once put him off, never again put him on, but say with the Spouse of Christ in the Song of Songs, I have put off my garment, how shall I put it on? O wondrous thing! You were naked in the sight of all, and were not ashamed; for truly ye bore the likeness of the first-formed Adam, who was naked in the garden, and was not ashamed. 3. Then, when you were stripped, you were anointed with exorcised oil, from the very hairs of your head to your feet, and were made partakers of the good olivetree, Jesus Christ. 4. After these things, you were led to the holy pool of Divine Baptism, as Christ was carried from the Cross to the Sepulchre which is before our eyes. And each of you was asked, whether he believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and you made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also hinting by a symbol at the three days burial of Christ.… And at the self-same moment you were both dying and being born. Tertullian, A.D. 160-220: “Jesus gave as his last command that they should immerse into the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not into one person. Therefore, all who believed were immersed. For we are immersed, not once but thrice, at the naming of every person of the Trinity.” Augustine, A.D. 354-430, “In this font, before we dipped your whole body, we asked you, ‘Believest thou in God the omnipotent Father?’ After you declared that you believed, we immersed three times your heads in the sacred font … You are rightly immersed three times, you who receive baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, who rose the third day from the dead" (Sermon on the Mystery of Baptism). Unscriptural. As the Scriptures only record baptism once in Jesus name! Jerome, A.D. 340-420: “We are thrice dipped in water that the mystery of the Trinity may appear to be but one, and therefore though we be thrice put under the water to represent the mystery of the Trinity, yet it is reputed to be but one baptism.”

Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407 “Christ delivered to his disciples one baptism in three immersions when he 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.”‘ The "Catholic Church fathers unite together in giving a vast amount of testimony supporting Trine Immersion, along with countless historians throughout the ages” (Hodge, Could It be Three? page 31). We may turn to a more recent respected Christian preacher, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. “When Mr. Wesley baptized adults professing faith in Christ, he chose to do it by trine immersion if the person would submit to it, judging this to be the apostolic method” (Moore’s Life of Wesley, Volume 1, page 425). Again, never did the Apostles complete even one trinity baptism! Trine immersion is the only form of baptism accepted nearly universally as valid by Christian bodies. While our primary appeal is to the Scriptures, (This is but a lie! No scripture supports a trinity or baptism in such. A lone scripture, Matthew 28:19 is taken out of context, and alone is used for it's so-called validity, without any baptism in that name in the scriptures. Contrarily, baptism was always employed in Jesus name alone in the Acts!) It is useful to consider the attitude of other professing Christian bodies. The Eastern Orthodox Church (the Greek church), which prizes many ancient traditions, baptizes by trine immersion, even though it performs the rite for babies. The church followed trine immersion for a thousand years or more. Even those churches that have abandoned immersion, and practice sprinkling, do it three times. Today, baptism is most readily identified with Christianity, where it symbolizes the cleansing (remission) of sins, and the union of the believer with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection so that he may be called "saved" or "born again". Most Christian groups use water to baptize and agree that it is important, yet may strongly disagree with other groups regarding aspects of the rite such as: Manner or method of baptism Recipients of baptism Meaning and effects of baptism How can this be so? If the scriptures say your faith (Shown in Baptism after one's repentance, in Jesus name.) and his Grace (At Calvary with the substitution of Christ in our place. And it is reflected in our lives afterwards.) and our continued walk with him saves us! Isaiah 1:16-20 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Our faith in obedience through the washing of the waters of baptism, that now saves us. It is only possible because of the perfect Lamb of God, who took the sins of the world upon him! 2 Kings 5:9-17 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near,

and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. This sounds like many today. They are in sin but want their method or way, to be clean. Just as God appointed a certain way then, so does now. Your way or mine for that matter, cannot save you. But they way of God will and can. (John 14:6) As one must be willing to come as a child and admit that he cannot by his work or way, save himself. But through the formula or method given by Christ and followed by his Apostles and disciples faithfully as recorded by the scriptures, we can. We must live by every word of God. (Matthew 4:4) All already from the age of accountability (Which varies from person to person, as God judges righteously when.)who already sinned are already counted in unbelief. The only method recorded to make God pleased is by faith in action to the obeying of his word. No way apart from his will saves us. Matthew 7:21-27 and Matthew 25:1-12 records this fact well. God bless us all in his name of Jesus! (Zechariah 14:9)