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John the Baptist, who is considered a forerunner to Christianity, used baptism as the central sacrament of his messianic movement. Christians consider Jesus to have instituted the sacrament of baptism. The earliest Christian baptisms seem to have been done either by immersion or by pouring water on the head three times. [1]
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.
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.
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 ...
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.
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]
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 .
Reformed Christians believe baptism to be a sign of regeneration, or the making of one into a new creature, based on the connection found in the New Testament between regeneration and washing with water. [49] Baptism also represents forgiveness or remission of sin by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, similarly to the sprinkling of blood of ...