Baptism
by Chad Shaffer and
Mike Stine
Intro
Infant Baptism
Believer's
Baptism
Three Modes of Baptism
Our
Conclusions
Is
baptism a necessary part of Christianity? By both biblical standards and historical ones, yes indeed. The Bible repeatedly calls for baptism to be done by the
believer and shows many instances of this being practiced. Acts 8 contains the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who asked
Philip to baptize him right after he became saved. Likewise, church history strongly attests to baptism being
practiced from its very beginning.
The
Bible uses the word baptize 73 times. The Greek term can mean numerous different things. It can mean: a washing, to cover wholly with a fluid, to
moisten a part of ones person, to stain, or to dip. To sink a ship was also known as to baptize it. How
do these meanings help us in our study of baptism? It leaves us with a very open ended book with numerous
interpretations available. Church
history shows us that baptism has been practiced in many forms,
all stemming from different interpretations of this term.
Not
only has the time of when it is proper to baptize been questioned,
the mode of baptism has also been of debate. Even today, entire denominations have split over matters
such as the mode by which one is to be baptized. It is the purpose of this study to better understand the
context of biblical passages concerning baptism and to see how the
church has dealt with the issue throughout history.
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Infant
Baptism
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