I recently finished Everett Ferguson’s Baptism in the Early Church. This massive tome of 860 pages thoroughly explores the theology and practice of baptism in the first five centuries of the church. What follows is a brief summary of Ferguson’s main findings.
Origins
Baptism was a big deal to the early Christians. It was modeled on John’s practice, as well as Jesus’ example and command. Unlike Jewish and pagan precursors which saw ritual washings as related ritual purification, Christian baptism was intended for spiritual cleansing and moral transformation.
Ceremony
Great pomp and ceremony developed very early around the church’s practice of baptism. While traditions differed from region to region as well as over time, in general, baptism was performed in the nude, via triple immersion, with the laying on of hands, exorcisms, renunciation of the devil, anointing with oil, confession of the creed, post-baptismal eucharist, and the wearing of a white garment.
Mode
Our earliest evidence indicates that adult immersion was the normal practice of the church (Epistle of Barnabas, Shepherd of Hermas, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Cyprian), with most churches practicing a triple immersion (once for each day Jesus was in the earth, or once for each name in the triune formula).
Salvific Importance
From the very beginning, the church understood baptism to be essential to salvation, necessary for forgiveness, and resulting in regeneration[1] (Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5). Even the splinter and heretical groups agreed. Baptism identified one with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Timing
In the Bible, people were baptized immediately after coming to faith in Christ. However, in a very short time the church began to delay baptism under after a believer had been through a period of catechesis. Justin Martyr was the first to note the church’s practice of a period of catehesis prior to baptism (Pseudo Clementine, Hippolytus). The catechesis was clearly designed for people of reasonable age, not infants and small children.
Infant Baptism
By the late 2nd century, however, infant baptism began to be practiced in certain parts of the church, but only in the case of deathbed baptism (we don’t know the name of a single person baptized as an infant under normal circumstances until the 4th century). Over the next four centuries, however, baptizing all infants became gradually accepted, until it was the predominant practice in the 5th century.
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[1] But they also stressed the need for faith, so it wasn’t the view the Catholic Church holds to today.
January 21, 2019 at 7:35 pm
Jason:
Holy cow.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the font type point size was about 8 point just to add to the plod-read of 860 pages alone, egads. You could have self-baptised with sweat reading it.
Nevertheless, I hope the pearls you found made the gargantuan undertaking worth the persistence required to finish the read. Was it an academic assignment.
Price notwithstanding but I noticed the hardcover pricing @ $244.00 Cdn while the Kindle version was a mere $49.95.
Probably won’t make the New York Best Seller list. 🙂
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January 21, 2019 at 8:30 pm
Thank you for sharing. Does the book make any note when the change from “Jesus name” to saying “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” took place? I read that Church History is scant from around 70 AD to 100 AD, so maybe that is impossible to know.
Thank you
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February 8, 2019 at 9:01 pm
I purchased book when it first came out. I thought it would have been embraced by apostolic’s, but you are the first I have seen that has read it. I have recommended it to some , but none seemed interested. Hopefully your review will influence some others to read also.
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February 10, 2019 at 2:29 pm
@J T Gefroh
Hi! I haven’t read the book, but I’m interested in the answer to Brian Stokes’ question: Does this book analyze the baptismal formula? It appears from what others have said about Ferguson’s other works, that he acknowledges the Jesus-name formula to be the original one, but I’ve found nothing to substantiate that.
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February 15, 2019 at 5:16 pm
to anybody that has read the book ……
does the book discuss — if Jesus can die for us why can’t He be baptized for us ?
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February 17, 2019 at 8:32 pm
Hi Paul. No, the book does not discuss if Jesus can die for us, why He can’t He be baptized for us. But if I understand the question, the answer seems rather simple: An act of trust (faith) is required on our part to appropriate the work of Christ to our lives. Even if Jesus was baptized for us, we would be required to exercise our faith in some other way. Indeed, there are multiple ways we exercise our faith: confession of sin, confession of faith, baptism, etc.
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February 18, 2019 at 1:59 pm
Theosophical Ruminator ……. thank you for your response and I’ll just briefly add what I understand that to mean.
so before the age of accountability baptism is not required for salvation and after the age of accountability if we confess faith in Jesus even though we are baptized without the correct formula mode or not even baptized we should be eligible for salvation.
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February 27, 2019 at 9:12 pm
Paul V,
A person who has not yet reached moral culpability will not be held responsible for their wrong-doing, IMO, and thus could not believe, repent, or be baptized. Once they develop enough morally to recognize their sin, however, they are responsible to believe, repent, and be baptized.
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March 8, 2019 at 7:46 am
Jason
I’ve read many of your articles and I have really enjoyed them. I’d love to ask you some questions that I have about being apostolic and what to make of the faith of the rest of Christianity. Please if you have time reach out to me rcriswell8018@gmail.com.
God bless!
Ryan
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March 24, 2019 at 5:25 am
Hello. Thanks for the overview. Just curious, do you still identify with the Oneness Pentecostal movement? UPCI? If yes/no what are you thoughts on the “essentials” (Oneness, Jesus name baptism, tongues as evidence, etc.)? Soul searching, myself. Not sure anymore.
Thank you.
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March 24, 2019 at 3:22 pm
@Frederick Williams
Of course, Bro. Jason can speak for himself, but as I understand it, he is just as oneness Pentecostal as he’s ever been. The same goes with me. I am as convinced as I’ve ever been of the truth of oneness and the new birth as defined by Acts 2:38. Since that’s not the topic of this thread, perhaps you can post something under a more relevant thread to discuss the matter.
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