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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. Christians consider Jesus to have instituted the sacrament of ...
Baptism is held by almost the entire Reformed tradition to effect regeneration, even in infants who are incapable of faith, by effecting faith which would come to fruition later. [219] Baptism also initiates one into the visible church and the covenant of grace. [220]
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.
Baptists appeared in the American Colonies in the early 17th century among settlers from England. Theologically all Baptists insisted that baptism was the key ritual and should not be administered to children too young to understand the meaning.
He rejected the Separatist movement's doctrine of infant baptism. [18] [19] Shortly thereafter, Smyth left the group. [3] Ultimately, Smyth became committed to believers' baptism as the only biblical baptism. He was convinced on the basis of his interpretation of Scripture that infants would not be damned should they die in infancy. [20]
The Bogomils and Cathars also rejected the baptism of infants. However, they did not believe anyone should be baptized in water at all, and instead believed baptism to be of a spiritual character. [52] [53] Though infant baptism was practiced in the Bohemian reformation, a few also practiced believer's baptism. [54]
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin anabaptista, [1] from the Greek ἀναβαπτισμός: ἀνά 're-' and βαπτισμός 'baptism'; [1] German: Täufer, earlier also Wiedertäufer) [a] is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation in the 16th century.
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 ...