baptism The sacramental rite which admits a
candidate to the Christian Church. That it goes back to the earliest days is
clear not only from the many references in Acts but also from the allusions in Paul’s
Epistles; he sometimes finds it necessary to remind his readers of its
significance, but he takes for granted its existence and regular use. In Acts
faith and repentance are the prerequisites (8: 13 and 2: 38), and acc. to Paul
it effects and represents the believer’s union with Christ through which he
participates in his death and resurrection (Rom. 6: 4), is cleansed from his
sins (1 Cor. 6: 11), incorporated into the body of Christ and ‘made to drink of
the Spirit’ (1 Cor. 12: 13). In Acts it is associated with receiving the Spirit
(2: 38), although the exact connection is not always the same (8: 15f.; 10: 47;
19: 2–3). The chief precedents for it were the baptism of Jewish proselytes and
baptism by John the Baptist; Christians have often seen it foreshadowed in the
flood, in the crossing of the Red Sea, in circumcision, and in other OT
figures. Attempts to find its origin in paganism have won little acceptance,
and the counterparts in mystery religions (apart from the question of their
date) carry little weight.
It has been accepted in Christian tradition, on the basis of Matt. 28:
19 and the allusion to baptism in Jn 3: 5, that Christ himself instituted the
sacrament. According to the Gospels as a whole, he saw himself as sent by God
for the salvation of humanity, identified himself with the human condition by
accepting John’s baptism (see baptism of Christ), and (Lk. 12: 50) spoke of his
impending death as a baptism. The Church stems from his ministry, passion, and
resurrection and preserved many of his parables and sayings, but how far he
made his intentions explicit, and indeed how far he envisaged an organized
Church as a continuing institution, are a matter of dispute among scholars.
Baptism has been in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at
least from the end of the 1st cent. Some passages in Acts (2: 38, 10: 48, and
19: 5) speak of baptism ‘in the name of (the Lord) Jesus (Christ)’, but whether
this formula was ever used has been questioned. Though infant baptism is not
mentioned in the NT, it is perhaps implied in such passages as Mt. 19: 14 and
Acts 16: 33.
The rite of baptism was developed in the early Church. In the ‘Two
Ways’ of the Didache the principal duties of the candidate for baptism and the
method of administering it by triple immersion or affusion on the head are
outlined. The triple immersion is also attested by Tertullian (Adv. Prax. 26), who in his De Baptismo and De Corona describes the other parts of the rite, such as the
preparatory fast and vigil, the confession of sins, the renunciation of the
devil, and, after the immersion, the anointing, the imposition of the hand of
the minister, and the symbolic meal of milk and honey. A full description of
what is virtually the same rite is found in the Apostolic Tradition. In the
early Church the rite, normally presided over by the bp, included the laying on
of hands and anointing, and culminated in the eucharist. (For the later
division of these ceremonies in the W., see confirmation.)
From the 2nd to the 4th cent. the proper seasons for baptism were
Easter and Pentecost, but other dates (e.g. Epiphany and Christmas) were added
later. In cases of necessity, however, baptism might be administered at any
time and by any Christian, though, acc. to Tertullian, the Apostolic
Constitutions, and the ‘Fourth Council of Carthage’, not by women. A practice
which was common in the first four or five cents was to delay baptism until
maturity, or even until death was believed to be imminent, for fear of the
responsibilities incurred by it. In the latter case baptism was conferred
without further ceremonies, but it was regarded as inferior to regular baptism
and constituted a canonical impediment debarring the persons thus baptized, who
were called ‘clinici’ (Gk κλίνη, ‘bed’), from ordination to the priesthood. Clinical baptism
gradually fell into desuetude owing esp. to the increasing practice of infant
baptism and the development of the penitential system. It is striking that the
ancient Church never developed a rite of baptism for infants, but simply used a
rite clearly intended for adult converts; this, despite the fact that the
growing practice of infant baptism begins in the late 4th cent., a period
marked by remarkable liturgical creativity. It was only with the Reformation
(and then only among the Reformers themselves) that a rite of baptism
specifically for infants was devised, and was, indeed, treated as the norm,
baptism of adults coming to be regarded as secondary.
The theology of baptism was elucidated by the 3rd-cent. controversy on
the validity of heretical baptism. The general practice in the W. came to be to
admit persons baptized in heretical sects by mere imposition of hands. In the
E., however, at least in Asia Minor, the Church refused to recognize baptism
conferred by heretics and generally rebaptized such people (on many occasions,
both in antiquity and in modern times, this rule has been relaxed); this
practice also prevailed in N. Africa, acc. to Tertullian, De Baptismo, 15. It was strongly supported by Cyprian and confirmed
by two councils at Carthage in 255 and 256. When the decisions of the latter
were submitted to Pope Stephen I he refused to sanction rebaptism and also
threatened the African bps with excommunication if they continued the practice.
The controversy was stopped by the deaths of Stephen (257) and Cyprian (258)
and a fresh outbreak of persecution, though each party continued to follow its
own custom. The dispute was revived in the beginning of the 4th cent. by the Donatists,
who held baptism to be invalid if conferred by a heretical or even an unworthy
Catholic minister. The Council of Arles in 314 opposed this view by declaring
heretical baptism valid if conferred in the name of the Trinity, and this
teaching came to be generally accepted in the W. Church, esp. through the
influence of Augustine. He established the dependence of the validity of the
sacrament on the correct form prescribed by Christ, regardless of the faith or
worthiness of the minister (‘non
cogitandum quis det, sed quid det’). In defending the propriety of infant
baptism against the Pelagians, he also maintained that one of the chief effects
of the sacrament was the removal of the stain of original sin on the soul which
bars even the newborn child from the kingdom of heaven, thereby developing
earlier teaching from NT times, acc. to which the remission of actual sins, the
infusion of grace, and the incorporation into the Church had been generally
recognized as results of baptism. In baptism the soul receives an indelible character,
imprinted by the baptismal seal: a doctrine, which had been adumbrated by Hermas
and in the ‘Acts of Thomas’, developed in the 4th cent. by Cyril of Jerusalem,
and taken even further by Augustine. He held that the Holy Spirit produced in
baptism an effect independent of sanctifying grace. This ‘royal character’ (character regius, Contra Gaudentium, 1.12.13), he held, marked the soul as God’s.
Elsewhere he compared it to the military mark, nota militaris (De Baptismo,
1.4.5), which could not be destroyed and was not to be repeated. The effects of
baptism were produced by Christ, who is the sole giver of sacramental grace,
the minister being simply his instrument. Augustine allowed, however, the
‘baptism of blood’ by martyrdom and the ‘baptism of desire’ in certain cases as
equivalents of the sacrament.
The Augustinian doctrine was taken up and developed by the
Scholastics, esp. Thomas Aquinas, who distinguished between the ‘remote matter’
of water and the ‘proximate matter’ of immersion or affusion. Though remitting
both original and actual sin and their punishment, baptism did not efface the
consequences of original sin in the natural order such as ignorance, suffering,
concupiscence, and death. It conferred habitual grace, the infused virtues and
the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The baptismal character formed the Christian in
the image of Christ and bestowed on him a certain participation in his
priesthood.
The 16th-cent. Reformers did not leave the medieval teaching on
baptism intact. The Augsburg Confession contented itself with stating that
baptism was necessary to salvation, that by it the grace of God was offered,
and that children were to be baptized and thus received into God’s favour. Luther
sought to combine belief in the necessity of baptism with his doctrine of
justification by faith alone. Baptism was a promise of divine grace after which
one’s sins are no longer imputed. Zwingli, on the other hand, denied the
necessity of baptism, seeing in it only a sign admitting man to the Christian
community. Calvin, though holding that baptism gave the Christian an assurance
of pardon and of participation in the gifts of Christ, taught that it was
efficacious only for the elect, since they alone have the faith without which
the rite is worthless. In comparison the BCP keeps closer to traditional
Catholic teaching. In the orders for the administration of baptism it
maintained the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, asserting that the human is
washed and sanctified with the Holy Spirit, delivered from the wrath of God,
received into the ark of Christ’s Church, accorded remission of sins, and made
an heir of everlasting salvation. In the Augustine Thirty-Nine Articles the
teaching is less explicit, but they clearly exclude the Zwinglian view,
speaking of the sacraments as ‘effectual signs of grace’, and regard baptism as
a ‘sign of Regeneration’ by which ‘the promises of forgiveness of sin, and of
our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and
sealed’. The doctrine of the Catholic Church was restated at the Council of
Trent, particular stress being laid on the fact that baptism is not merely a
sign of grace, but actually contains and confers it on those who put no
obstacle (obex) in its way, and that,
further, it is the instrument used by God for the justification of infidels.
Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has again linked baptism
with confirmation and first communion as sacraments of initiation.
The rationalism of the 18th cent. contributed largely to the
indifference towards baptism in the Continental Protestant Churches as well as
in the C of E. The revival of the Catholic doctrine of baptismal regeneration
in the latter is due to the Tractarian Movement, esp. E. B. Pusey’s three
Tracts, nos 67–9. The Gorham Case in 1850 attracted the attention of the
general public to the question, and, though the secular authorities decided
against the Catholic view, the latter has become increasingly prevalent in the
C of E. In recent times the need for some restatement of baptismal theology has
been widely felt. This has been esp. prompted by the custom of presenting for
baptism children from homes where there is little prospect of a Christian
upbringing.
The forms of the rite used in the Catholic Church are still the most
elaborate found in the W. The Ordo
Baptismi Parvulorum of 1969 governs present practice. After an undertaking
from the parents that the child shall be brought up in the Christian faith, the
priest reads one or more passages from scripture and delivers a homily. A
prayer of exorcism is followed by the anointing of the candidate’s breast with
the ‘oil of catechumens’, unless a local conference of bps has authorized the
omission of the latter rite. The priest then blesses the water, except in Paschaltide
when the water blessed at the Easter Vigil is used. Both parents and godparents
renounce Satan and evil and make a declaration of faith. The priest baptizes
the child, either by immersion or affusion, using the traditional formula. He
then anoints him with chrism and the child is clothed with a white garment. A
parent or godparent of the child, or someone else, lights a candle from the
Paschal Candle in the baptistery and holds it. The rite of Ephphatha may
follow. The ceremony is concluded at the sanctuary with a recital of the Lord’s
Prayer and a threefold blessing of the mother, father, and all present, which
replaces the churching of women. If baptism is administered by a catechist, the
anointings are omitted; a form still further simplified is provided for use in
danger of death. The Ordo Initiationis
Christianae Adultorum (1972; commonly known as RCIA, the Rite of
Christianity Initiation of Adults) provided a new order for the baptism of
adults, which is not very different from that for the baptism of children (it
is clearly that way round, not the reverse; a remarkable innovation). The
sacrament is celebrated during the Easter Vigil or at least during Mass (after
the homily); the rite consists of the Litany of the Saints, blessing of the
water, the renunciation of evil and profession of faith (by the candidate
answering for himself), the baptism and other post-baptismal ceremonies, except
for the chrismation. It is immediately followed by confirmation. Adult baptism
in the Catholic Church is the conclusion of the restored catechumenate.
The rite of the C of E is much simpler. Acc. to the BCP, baptism
should be administered after the Second Lesson at Morning or Evening Prayer.
After several prayers recited by the priest and a reading from the Gospel there
follows the renunciation of the devil, the world, and the flesh, the confession
of faith, the naming of the child by the godparents, and the immersion in or
affusion of water, accompanied by the baptismal formula, followed by a signing
with the cross and concluding prayers. CW provides, alternatively, for baptism
to be administered during the eucharist, or at ‘A Service of the Word’. There
are other changes: the form of renunciation is different, the signing with the
cross comes before the profession of faith, and there is provision for the
optional use of oil and clothing with a white robe. A lighted candle may be
given to the newly baptized. In practice, whatever rite is followed, baptism,
esp. of infants, generally takes place at a separate service. In much of the
Anglican Communion, there has been a growing emphasis on the administration of
baptism at the principal Sunday eucharist.
In conditional baptism, which is given both in the Catholic Church and
the C of E, when it is doubtful whether the candidate has already previously
been validly baptized, most of the ceremonies are omitted and the baptismal
formula is pronounced in a conditional form, beginning in the C of E ‘If thou
art not already baptized, I baptize thee’.
While the forms of the rite used in the W. have been simplified in
modern times, those used in the Orthodox Churches, Eastern and Oriental, have
remained unchanged. There are two parts: the rite for admission to the
catechumenate, consisting of exorcisms, renunciation of Satan, and profession
of faith, and the rite of baptism proper, in which water and oil are blessed,
the candidate is anointed with oil, immersed three times in water, and clothed
with a white garment. Chrismation follows immediately, and the rite concludes
with Epistle, Gospel, and final litany. Normally, though this is not always
possible, communion is given at the same time to the newly baptized, or
nowadays at the next following divine liturgy. (Andrew Louth
and Matthew Olver, “Baptism,” in The
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. Andrew Louth, 2 vols. [4th
ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022], 1:175-77)
