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Baptism was commanded by our Lord
(Matt.28.16, supported by the appendix to Mark, 16.16).
Many scholars refuse to believe that the form
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost
can be so early,
but they rely chiefly on the argument from silence which is notoriously unsafe.
[G. H. Marsh, Origin and Significance of New Testament
Baptism (1941), gives their reasons.]
Though incidents only
found in the First Gospel have not very good historical authority, it is
hard to believe that in a matter so important as this the tradition can be
mistaken.
Even if the threefold formula is not certainly His,
the command to baptize must be His.
There is no doubt that Baptism was the method of admission to the Church
from the very beginning (see Acts 2.38, 41; I Cor.1.13).
In the New Testament admission to the Church is always by baptism.
This is assumed in Acts 10.47, 19:3; Rom.6.3.
St. Paul tells us that baptism is the means of union with the death of Christ
(Rom.6.3-11; Col.2.12) and assumes that the Roman Christians who had not
been converted by himself had been taught this.
In Eph. 5.26 baptism is the means by which the Church is cleansed.
Titus 3.5 mentions "the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost";
and according to I Peter 3.21 baptism saves us.
But the principal source for the meaning of baptism is John 3.5 where our
Lord tells Nicodemus that no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless
he has been born of water and of the Spirit.
The Church has always held that this passage refers to baptism.
["No passage from any Father can be adduced which
gives any other explanation.
Next there is the large body of Fathers
of every Church who do interpret the text as a matter of course of baptism.
Third,
all the liturgies, in all the ways in which it is possible to, apply it":
E. B. Pusey, Tracts for the Times, No. 67, p. 57.]
It is incredible that the interview between our Lord and Nicodemus was invented
by the Evangelist, and it is by itself enough to show that baptism was commanded
by our Lord Himself.
[Our Lord was no doubt referring
to the future;
that is why Nicodemus did not understand Him.]
Circumcision was the method of admission to the Church of the Old Covenant.
Proselytes were baptized as well as circumcised.
The Christian Church gave up circumcision when she ceased to be a Jewish
sect (Gal.5.2; Acts 15.28).
Baptism had been the necessary method of admission to the Church even in
the Jewish period.
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The "subject" of baptism is any person who has not been baptized
before.
Baptism confers a position of which the recipient can never be deprived.
No one who has been baptized can ever become as if he were unbaptized,
even by the "greater excommunication",
the heaviest punishment that the Church can inflict.
Therefore nobody can be baptized a second time.
But if there is any doubt whether a baptism took place or whether it was
valid,
the person must be baptized conditionally.
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The MATTER of baptism is water.
(The sign of the cross is a mere symbol and is not necessary to the baptism.)
No liquid except water may be used.
The person may be dipped in the water as in all the Eastern churches,
or the water may be poured on his head (affusion)
which was the Western practice from the earliest times.
In either case it should be done three times, though this is not essential.
The water should be poured, not "sprinkled".
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The FORM of baptism is:
I baptize thee (in the Eastern churches, The servant of God is baptized)
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.
The Church has not for many centuries recognized as valid any other form
than this.
[Pope Nicholas I appears to have recognized baptism "in the
name of Jesus Christ" as valid, but his opinion is not accepted by any
part of the Church.]
There is no actual evidence for the theory
that baptism was originally "in the name of Jesus
Christ" alone.
The minister of baptism is a priest, or a deacon in the absence of a priest.
A deacon may not baptize when a priest is present.
In case of necessity -
that is, when the candidate is in danger of death -
anyone may baptize.
St. Thomas Aquinas held that baptism administered even by a non-Christian
was valid.
[Summa Theologica, iii. 67, 5.
The
Orthodox churches deny this.]
A woman ought not to baptize if a man is present.
[St. Thomas Aquinas, op. cit., iii. 67, 4.]
The EFFECT of baptism is of two kinds, internal
and external.
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The internal effect is the New Birth or regeneration,
the beginning of life in grace (John 3.5).
Every person who is baptized receives the new birth,
but the new birth does not always develop into spiritual life.
Baptism also conveys the forgiveness of sins.
It removes the guilt but not the power of sin committed before baptism
and provides the recipient with a remedy against the tendency to sin
(ORIGINAL SIN) with which all human beings are born.
Acknowledgment of
one baptism for the remission of sins
is a dogma of the faith.
But if anyone is baptized without repentance, his sins will not be forgiven;
if without faith the new birth will profit him nothing.
Infants not old enough to have repentance or faith are baptized none the
less.
It is not the absence of repentance and faith but deliberate rejection of
them that hinders the effect of the baptism.
God's gift does not depend on our capacity.
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The external effect of baptism is admission into the Church as
a member of Christ, the child of God,
and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven;
[Church Catechism.]
inheritor, not as one who will possess it one day
but as one who possesses it now.
Since only members of the Church can receive the sacraments,
no unbaptized person is capable of receiving any other sacrament.
The confirmation, ordination, or communion of an unbaptized person is invalid.
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The baptism of infants has been the practice of the Church from very early
times.
There is no certain evidence for it in the New Testament,
but it is proved from Scripture by the combination of Mark 10.14 with John
3.5,
for if children are to be brought to the Saviour,
for of such is the kingdom of God,
and no one can enter the kingdom of God but by baptism,
it must by our duty to baptize children.
These two passages are the liturgical Gospels used at the baptism of infants
and adults respectively which shows that the English Church sanctions this
interpretation.
Eph.6.1 and Col.3.20 show that there were children
in the Christian community.
The rubric to the baptismal service declares that infants dying after baptism
before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved.
This is the universal teaching of the Church.
We can say nothing of the fate of children who die unbaptized.
The current teaching of the Roman Communion,
based on St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summa Theologica,
Suppl. 69, 6;
unbaptized infants are said to be excluded from heaven because of "original
guilt".]
is that children who die unbaptized before they have committed actual sin
attain to the greatest possible natural happiness
but not the supernatural happiness of the Beatific Vision.
All we can say is that no pains should be spared to prevent any child of
Christian parents from dying unbaptized.
But the practice of infant baptism was not intended for the children of
parents who had no intention of bringing them up as Christians.
The godparents were provided to see that the parents did their duty.
But it is not right to allow children to be bound by promises which they
have no reasonable chance of fulfilling or to admit to the Church large numbers
of merely nominal members.
This deplorably common practice has done
more than anything else to weaken the sense of Church membership.
But any unbaptized child may be baptized if in danger of death.
Private or clinical baptism is only allowed in the Church of England in
cases of sickness.
All such baptisms should be at once registered;
and if the candidate recovers, he must be presented in church.
Adult candidates for baptism must be carefully prepared and instructed as
for confirmation.
They should be advised but cannot be compelled to
confess their sins to the priest.
They must not be baptized unless
the priest is as certain as possible of their repentance and faith.
But they are not to be absolved.
Their forgiveness is conveyed by baptism.
The bishop must be given at least a week's notice of an adult baptism as
the Prayer Book directs, and the baptism should be followed as soon as possible
by confirmation.
Anyone who is old enough to be confirmed is old enough to be baptized as
an adult.
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Regeneration conveyed by baptism must be distinguished from conversion.
The two are often confused.
Conversion is the conscious turning of the soul to God.
It may come before baptism as in the case of St. Paul, but it very often
comes later.
It may be sudden, but more often it is gradual.
Regeneration, on the other hand, is usually subconscious.
It is the first beginning of the life in grace and is given even to infants.
Modern psychologists have shown the immense importance of the subconscious.
They were anticipated by the Church,
which relies on the Holy Ghost to sanctify the whole man,
subconscious as well as conscious.
Those who look for the beginning of the life in grace at the age when the
boy or girl is ready consciously to accept Christ as Saviour ignore this
psychological fact.
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There is no difference on the doctrine of baptism between the Catholic communions,
and the Lutherans are orthodox on this point.
But the Presbyterians, though infant baptism is their practice, do not apparently
believe that it conveys regeneration or that it is necessary to membership
of the Church in all cases.
The Presbyterian doctrine of baptism appears to be that it is the sealing
or public recognition of grace and election already given, which is consistent
with the Presbyterian doctrine of ordination.
Baptism administered
by Presbyterians is accepted as valid by the Church if the matter and form
have been used (Presbyterian ministers are not always careful about this),
but the Presbyterian doctrine of baptism is a deeper cause of separation
from the Church than Presbyterian ministry or church government.
At
the Edinburgh Conference on Faith and Order in 1937 the Presbyterian Church
of Scotland invited all members of the conference, baptized or not, to a
general communion service.
Similar Anglican invitations have always
been limited to the baptized.
The Church regards all baptized children as her members.
The Congregationalists and other bodies do not regard them as members till
they are able as adolescents to "receive the right hand of fellowship".
[Many Congregationalists deny that baptism is of any importance.
Even their ministers are often unbaptized.
Some Baptists give communion
to unbaptized persons.]
From this theological difference comes the profound difference between the
Church (Anglican or Roman) and other Christians about religious education.
The Church demands Church teaching for children as members of the Church,
which is intended to lead up to confirmation and first communion.
The other religious bodies hold that children must choose for themselves
when old enough, and they are therefore satisfied with undenominational teaching.
It is one of the gravest practical differences within Christendom;
and since it arises from fundamental divergence of principle,
the religious teaching of Church children
and children belonging to bodies that are unorthodox about baptism
ought to be kept entirely separate.
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Baptism carries with it very grave responsibility.
Sin after baptism is much more serious than sin before baptism (Heb.10?26).
It is therefore important that everything possible should be done to make
baptism a solemn reality.
The present lax administration of baptism is a survival from the ages when
the whole population could be regarded as Christian, and it is not easy to
see the remedy for it.
But there is no more urgent problem before the
Church.
The remedy for grave sin after baptism is the sacrament of absolution
(see pp. 393, 428-31).