Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Daniel B. Stevick on the lack of concern about who administered baptisms in the New Testament Era

  

There was little concern about who administered baptism

 

Whereas the ritual washings of Judaism were self-administered, Christian baptism (following the model of John the Baptist) was received. It was administered to someone and administered by a person who represented the church. Who may administer baptism became a matter of regulation and controversy in later centuries, but at this early time there seems to have been little concern as to who might baptize. The apostles baptized, of course, but 1 Corinthians 1:14-17 indicates that Paul did not invariably baptize his own converts, and Acts 10:48 suggests that Peter was willing to delegate the role of baptizer. Philip baptized (4:12, 38), as presumably did other evangelists. Ananias baptized Paul (9:18). Was it understood that any Christian could baptize? Were there some persons who might not baptize? Nothing in the record answers such questions. (Daniel B. Stevick, By Water and the Word: The Scriptures of Baptism [New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 1997], 205)