Nov

17

A few notes on baptism

November 17, 2007 |

This comes from the my reading of the first essay in Oscar Cullmann’s Baptism in the New Testament:

* Jesus did not baptise himself, from Gospel accounts. Baptism existed before the NT times and featured in Jewish proselyte baptism and in the Qumran community. The novelty of the approach of the early Church (beginning with the Apostles) was the gift of the Spirit (Mt 3:11) which was possible only after the first Pentecost (Acts 2:38).

* Baptism involves forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit. But does forgiveness come from the gift of the Spirit? Baptism and Confirmation fell apart because of the division between forgiveness and the Spirit.

* Acts 8:14 gives the foundation. Acts19:1 separates ‘John’s baptism’ from the baptism into the name of Christ.

* Tertullian tried to tie the gift of the Spirit to the water part of baptism, quoting Genesis 1:1, where the Spirit of God moves over the waters.

* Clearly from Rom 6, also, Christian baptism is far different from the ‘baptism of John’.

* In 1 Cor 1:13, St. Paul links baptism to the cross in an emotional outburst. From Hebrews 6:4, we can conclude that there can be only one baptism.


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