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Jesus
proclaimed to Nicodemus that a man must be born again of
water and the holy spirit to enter the Kingdom of God
[John 3:5], and the Risen Lord charged his disciples to
baptize in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit,
adding that he who believes in the Lord and is baptized
shall be saved [Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15-16].
Philip baptized the Ethiopian [Acts 8:26-40]; Paul
baptized Lydia, a dealer in purple and a believer in the
Lord, and all her household [Acts 16: 14-15], Paul
baptized those who had received John’s baptism [Acts
19:4-5]; Paul proclaimed that all those who were
baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and new
life [Romans 6:3-4]; Paul, in speaking of baptizing a
particular household, emphasized that baptism was into
Christ, not into Paul [Corinthians 1:13-17], and finally
Paul explained that baptism into Christ means being
clothed with Christ [Galatians 3:27].
Scholars
disagree as to whether or not infants were baptized as
members of the same household, since baptism included
fasting and prayer; the understanding of the Catholic
Church and many other Christian denominations is that
infants were included. Both Irenaeus [c. 130-202] and
Origen [c. 185-254] mention infant baptism as customary.
The Apostolic Tradition, attributed to Hippolytus [died
235], indicates that children should be baptized
and that since a child cannot speak for himself or
herself, the parents are to answer for the child. |
