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The Baptism of Christ, 1450 (National Gallery, London). John the Baptist adopted baptism as the central sacrament in his messianic movement, [26] seen as a forerunner of Christianity. [citation needed] Baptism has been part of Christianity from the start, as shown by the many mentions in the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline epistles ...
Although the term "baptism" is not today used to describe the Jewish rituals (in contrast to New Testament times, when the Greek word baptismos did indicate Jewish ablutions or rites of purification), [1] [2] the purification rites (or mikvah—ritual immersion) in Jewish law and tradition are similar to baptism, and the two have been linked.
The earliest explicit reference to baptism by affusion occurs in the Didache (c. AD 100), the seventh chapter of which gives instructions on how to baptize, which include affusion: …But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm.
Though water baptism is extremely common among Christian denominations, some, such as Quakers and The Salvation Army, do not practice water baptism at all. [20] Among denominations that practice baptism, differences occur in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite.
One of the earliest of the Church Fathers to enunciate clearly and unambiguously the doctrine of baptismal regeneration ("the idea that salvation happens at and by water baptism duly administered") was Cyprian (c. 200 – 258): "While he attributed all the saving energy to the grace of God, he considered the 'laver of saving water' the instrument of God that makes a person 'born again ...
The baptism of Jesus, the ritual purification of Jesus with water by John the Baptist, was a major event described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark and Luke) [a]. It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghtas (also called Bethany Beyond the Jordan), today located in Jordan .
In the West, baptism by aspersion and affusion slowly became the common practice in later centuries. In aspersion, an aspergillum may be used to place the water on the skin. The Roman Catholic Church regards baptism by aspersion as valid only if the water actually flows on the person's skin and is thus equivalent to pouring ("affusion"). [1]
Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (c. 27 –29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles (c. 100) and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. [citation needed] Early Christianity developed out of the eschatological ministry of Jesus.