Baptism - Part 2

This is the second installment on baptism. The first can be found here. This is just some more information regarding the history and evolution of baptism in the church. Hope you find it informative.

Apostolic period
The Bible gives accounts of baptisms performed before this period, in the lifetime of Jesus, by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, and through the disciples. In the apostolic period, it reports baptisms of about 3,000 persons in Jerusalem within a single day, that of Pentecost, of men and women in Samaria, of an Ethiopian eunuch, of Saul, who was later called Paul, of the household of Cornelius, of Lydia's household, of the Philippi jailer's household, of many Corinthians, of certain Corinthians baptized by Paul personally.

None of these accounts gives an exact description of how baptism was administered, but many scholars believe immersion, whether partial or complete, was the dominant mode of baptism in the early church. In imitation of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, early Christians preferred rivers for performing baptisms, and this was also suitable for the baptism of large crowds. Since rivers were not available everywhere, some important writers of the second and third centuries (Justin, Clement, Victor I, and Tertullian) remarked that seas, lakes, ponds and springs are equally proper baptismal sites.

Outside of the Bible, probably the earliest known written instructions for administering baptism is that of the anonymous book of 16 short chapters known as the Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which most scholars date to about the year 100. It gives the following instruction:

"Concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water [that is, in running water, as in a river]. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit."

Post-apostolic period
The following period of Early Christianity seems to have introduced little to no changes. Immersion continued to be the usual method of baptism for the remission of sins, and there is no evidence to suggest that the practice of the first century differed in any way from what is known more precisely from the second and third centuries. "In the case of the sick or dying, where immersion was impossible, the sacrament was then conferred by one of the other forms.

Subsequently, the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries of Western Christianity witnessed general changes from the apostolic immersion to pouring and finally to sprinkling. Throughout the middle ages, there was therefore considerable variation in the kind of facility required for baptism, from the baptismal pool large enough to immerse several adults simultaneously of the 13th century Baptistery at Pisa, to the half-metre deep basin in the 6th century baptistery of the old Cologne Cathedral.

By the time of John Calvin, some held that immersion in water for remission of sins (Acts 2:38), the "burial in baptism" used as a figure of speech in Romans 6:4 and Colossians 2:12, was not required in Christianity to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Instead, they posited a waterless "baptism in the spirit", citing , Jesus on the day of his Ascension in Acts 1:5: "For John baptized with water; but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit..."

This shift in thinking reveals a shift in theology as well. Just what does baptism symbolize? Is it required for salvation? What form is allowed? Such questions will be addressed next week in the 3rd installment.

***Again, thanks to Wikipedia for the majority of this information.***