Baptism

BAPTISM. Concerning the origin of Christian baptism we cannot make statements which are certain. Jesus indeed let himself be baptised by John the Baptist; but that he himself baptised is nowhere reported, and it is expressly contested by S. John's Gospel, iv. 2. In the same passage, however (and in iii. 22), it is asserted that the disciples had already administered baptism in Jesus' life-time, a report which we have every reason to treat with the greatest scepticism. In the primitive community, on the other hand, baptism is universally practised as a rite of admission into the Christian community, and we meet with it as an institution taken for granted both in the circles of the Jerusalem community and in the mission districts of the Apostle Paul. Paul himself is baptised after his conversion (Acts ix. 18), he himself baptised and had the ceremony performed by his assistants (I Cor., i. 16), and, what is of special importance, he assumes that all those who belong to the Christian community, Pagans as well as Jews, are baptised (I Cor., xii. 13).

Jewish and Christian Baptism.—The act itself took place without special preparation, as soon as the new convert confessed his faith in Christ and desired to become a member of the corn munity : the baptism of the eunuch of Queen Candace (Acts viii. 38) is a good instance of this. Everywhere in the oldest sources it is stated that baptism takes place "in the name of Jesus." For the first time in the relatively late final chapter of S. Matthew's Gospel the command to baptise with the trinitarian formula (in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mt. xxviii. 19) is put into the mouth of Jesus.

The so-called Jewish baptism of proselytes has been pointed to in explanation of this rite. It was in fact a strict regulation that a pagan convert to Judaism must, after his circumcision, go through a purificatory washing (Lev. xv. Num. xix.) which washed from him his pagan impurity, and its execution made him for the first time a member, fully qualified and with full status, of the people of Israel. It cannot be denied that this proselyte baptism has great similarity to Christian baptism. Yet it can be said definitely that Christian baptism cannot be derived from this Jewish prototype, because Christian Jews also had to undergo Christian baptism, whilst the meaning of proselyte baptism, as the washing away of ritual impurity, could only have been con sidered in relation to pagans. We hear further of a baptism as a ceremony of admission in the mysterious Jewish order of the Essenes; and here baptism appears to have had a sacramental meaning which was more than symbolic or ritual : yet our informa tion, especially about the diffusion of the Essenes and their significance in the whole system of the Jewish people, is too scanty to allow with any probability of the connection of Chris tian baptism with these reports.

What lies nearest to hand is to start rather from the baptism which Jesus himself underwent, namely the baptism of John. Though much in the picture of this prophet of the wilderness may be enigmatical and in dispute, yet so much is clear from all the reports, that he baptised Jews and pagans without distinction in the Jordan to the confession and forgiveness of sins, and that he connected with this action the proclamation of the approach ing kingdom of God as a judgment. His baptism was thus not a levitical purificatory washing, but signified a spiritual turning away from sins and the entry into a new and purer life. We know that round the person of John there gathered a circle of disciples which survived his death and meets us more than once at a later time (Acts xviii. 25; xix. 3. Clem. Recog. i. 54). At the present time it is a subject of lively discussion whether the still existent sect of the Mandaeans (see MANDAEANS), whose sacred writings are extensively preserved for us, is perhaps the last remnant of a religious society which can be traced back in direct succession to the communities of disciples of John. The religious world of ideas of these writings also, saturated with hellenistic-iranian mysticism, are in this case commonly traced back to the circle of the disciples of John the Baptist. Yet all this is very question able conjecture, and important arguments render not improbable the conclusion that the Mandaean sect is of post-islamic origin and has no kind of historical connection with the early extinct sect of John's disciples. At all events, we shall do well to con fine ourselves to the reliable ancient accounts of John the Baptist and to accept with reserve even the sacramental significance which Josephus (Ant. xviii. 117) ascribes to the baptism of John. As at all events the Christian community regarded Jesus as the fulfiller of the message of John and in a certain sense as the executor of his will, the taking over of the rite of baptism can be interpreted as a Johannine heritage for the primitive com munity. We must, however, be clear that the motives for so tak ing it over are and remain in the end unknown.

The Apostolic Age.

Whether the judaic primitive community formulated special theological ideas about baptism, we are not informed, and no probable conjecture enables us to infer that it was so. On the other hand with the Apostle Paul we come upon a developed sacramental theology. In i Cor. x., baptism appears as a sacrament already foreshadowed in the Old Testament, and in Rom. vi. a fully articulated doctrine of the nature of baptism is produced in connection with the question of the Christian's relation to sin. When in the ceremony the candidate for baptism is submerged under the water, he is thereby buried with Christ and dies with him ; i.e., this submersion in water is for the Apostle, not merely a symbol of purification, nor only a symbol of being buried, but a real act of wonderful effect. The candidate for baptism experiences actually and genuinely the death of Jesus in his own body, and is likewise actually laid in the grave, as Jesus lay in the grave. And thereby the saving effect of these events too is transferred to him. He dies and in doing so pays to sin the tribute due : for the wages of sin is death. When he emerges again from the water, the resurrection of Christ becomes his. He who was dead awakes to new life, but under quite other conditions than those which governed his mode of life hitherto. If till then the world-encircling power of sin exercised its dominion in the flesh without restraint, now that is possible no more. The flesh, dead in the sacramental union with Christ, has become free from the power of sin, which till now worked upon it with the force of a law of nature. As Christ rose from the dead through the spirit of God which gave him life, so too is the baptised Christian equipped with the new life-principle of the divine spirit, and can fulfil the ordinance of the law (Rom. viii. 4). He is a new creature : the old man is dead and all is become new (2 Cor. v. 17). How realistically the effect of baptism is conceived is evident also from a curious custom which was the practice in Corinth (I Cor. xv. 29). If a Christian died there unbaptised, another had himself baptised in the place of the dead person, naturally in the belief that the sacramental action would also have its effect in the other world upon the person who had died. And traces of this "vicarious baptism" can actually be shown in various places even into the 4th century.

Parallels of the Pauline Doctrine.

To the comparative study of religion the connections which unite this Pauline doctrine of baptism to the kindred notions of other religions could not re main hidden. It is not necessary to go back to the religious ideas of primitive peoples, among whom the entry into the clan or into a particular group is celebrated by ceremonies which express the death and new birth of the individual concerned. It is of much greater significance that we can trace numerous views of the kind in the civilization by which early Christianity was sur rounded. These parallels had already struck the ancient Chris tian writers, been noted by them, and explained in various ways. We are particularly well informed about the ideas associated with . the initiation rites of the initiates in the Isis Mysteries. The African Apuleius, who wrote about A.D. i6o, informs us that the disciple had to undergo a ceremony of sanctification, which was celebrated in the likeness of a voluntary death fol lowed by salvation won through prayers : when, namely, a man, his natural life complete, shall stand already on the threshold of the light departing and be so qualified that the great secrets of religion could safely be confided to him, then the Goddess would call him back from death and set in the way of new salvation the man who, through her care, was as it were born again. And so, too, the hero in the romance of Apuleius signifies the day of his consecration to Isis as his "holy birthday," and reports that he approached the bounds of death, that he trod the threshold of Proserpina, and then returned back through all the elements, that at midnight he saw the sun shining with bright light, that he approached the gods of the world below and of the world above, and adored them face to face.

The Isis Mysteries were spread over the whole Roman Empire in a form suited for world propaganda, and there is no doubt that the leading ideas here expressed had their root in the ancient Egyptian religion (the cult of Osiris) and have suffered slight modifications by the spirit of Graeco-oriental mysticism. In the cult of Attis and Adonis also we meet with a god who, like Osiris, dies and awakes to life again, and whose fate is lived through in figure by the member of his community. From our knowledge, even though in general it is very scanty and embraces only limited fragments of the variegated piety of the early Empire, the conjecture that the circle of ideas mentioned ex ercised its effect in all kinds of other places besides amounts almost to certainty. When, therefore, in the communities of the Apostle Paul we meet with so kindred an interpretation of Chris tian baptism, we can definitely assume an influence from extra Christian piety. It must only remain questionable whether this sacramental theology was introduced into the Christian com munity directly by baptised pagans, or whether it had already taken hold here and there of "liberal" Greek-speaking Judaism, and so entered into Christianity as a semi-Jewish way of thinking.

Baptism in the Early Church.

The early Church de veloped further both the liturgical expression and the theological interpretation of baptism in the direction marked out by Paul. In the first place a liturgical regulation of the procedure of baptism arose out of the freedom of the early period. Before the act itself a longer instruction of the candidates for baptism, the training of catechumens, is prescribed. And as the life of the community adapted itself to settled forms of order, so a definite time in the course of the year was fixed for the training of catechumens: it took place in the season of fast which preceded Easter. Then the spiritual leader of the community collected all those who were to receive baptism into a group for training and baptised them also together at the one period which in early times was fixed for baptism, viz., on Easter Eve; later the Epiph any festival of 6 January, as the day of commemoration of the baptism of Christ, was added, and also the whole Easter period up to Whitsuntide was occasionally regarded as a per missible time for baptism. Naturally, baptism could be ad ministered at any time to those dangerously ill. Gradually the character of baptism as a Mystery was with conscious purpose more and more emphasized, and this was also given expression in external details : thus arose the discipline arcani, which bound the candidate for baptism to mysterious silence concerning things which were held to be essential points of the Mystery—which nevertheless everyone could come to know who desired to. Thus the baptismal creed (see CREEDS) was learned by heart in the catechumens' training, because probably it was not allowed to be written down (traditio symboli), and then in the act of prepara tion for baptism it was solemnly proclaimed by the candidate (redditio symboli).

The baptism was preceded by a fast, it might be of several days; then the ceremony began on Easter Eve. The following is a description of it in accordance with the statements of Cyril of Jerusalem (circ. 340). The candidates for baptism are led into the vestibule of the baptistry and there drawn up facing west. Then they stretch out their hands to the west and call: "I re nounce thee, Satan, and all thy works and all thy being." Then they turn round and eastwards, as to the land of light, confess the creed. Now they enter the inner room of the baptistry and divest themselves completely of their garments. They are anointed from head to foot with exorcised oil and led to the baptismal tank. Each makes answer to the threefold question, if he believes in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, with the prescribed formula and is submerged at each confession, three times therefore. When he has come up from the tank he is again anointed with holy oil (chrisma) on the forehead, ears, nose and breast, and clothed in a white garment, the outward sign of the purity from sin he has won through the sacrament. At once the procession of candidates enters the church and partakes for the first time of the Eucharist. In Egypt, Italy and Africa, the custom survived till the 5th century of giving to the newly baptised, in addition to the wine, a mixture of milk and honey, as a neophyte communion : ap parently also a custom taken over from the hellenistic Mysteries.

Theological Developments of the 3rd and 4th Centuries. —According to the view of the whole early Church, baptism is a sacrament unconditionally necessary for the Christian : the one and only substitute for it is the baptism of blood of martyrdom; for whoever, even without having received baptism, suffers death for his confession of Christ, will without doubt be reckoned by Christ among His own. But in addition baptism cannot be re peated: only once can a man die in Christ and be born again. In consequence of this a controversy arose in the middle of the 3rd century in Africa, known as the controversy over heretical bap tism, and became of fundamental significance for succeeding ages. After the Decian persecution (A.D. 25o) the sect of the Novatians had separated itself from the Church. Yet when some years were passed, many returned penitently to the Church. In the meanwhile they had received baptism in the sect of the Novatians. The problem now arose for the Carthaginian bishop Cyprian, whether he should reckon this baptism performed by heretics as a real baptism or not. He adopted the standpoint that outside the Church there is no salvation (extra ecclesiam nulla sales) and drew the conclusion that there can be no real sacraments outside the Church. In his opinion, therefore, heretical baptism was a ceremony without significance, and thus, as occasion arose, he baptised the returned heretics afresh.

In Rome the opposite decision in the same question had been reached : the idea of a sacrament was developed more vigorously and regarded as effective quite independently of the worthiness of him who administered it and of the surrounding community. He who has received baptism, even if it be in the circle of heretics, is incorporated into the community of Jesus, and only his severance from the heretical community and his union with the Catholic Church is needed to bring out also the saving effect of the sacrament. Heretical baptism was thus recognised in Rome. For half a century Africa maintained its practice, then the Roman standpoint prevailed, and has ultimately remained till the present day decisive for our church practice. At a later time only did the Roman Catholic Church begin to question, on grounds of form, the correctness of protestant baptisms, and to make use of the safety provision of a "conditional" re-baptism, in the form : "in case thou shouldest not have been baptised, I baptise thee," etc.

The whole early period knows baptism only for adults, who join themselves of their own resolve to the Christian community. Infant baptism appears sporadically towards the end of the second century and was indeed practised also during the following cen turies, yet only as an exception. In contrast to it the custom was widespread rather of postponing the baptism even of adults as long as possible in the prudent calculation that the complete for giveness of sins conferred by baptism might be first undertaken at a time when the person considered that he had the main period of transgression behind him. For the effectiveness for the forgiveness of sins of the sacrament of penance, which alone was still available to one already baptised, was by no means free from all doubt in the belief of the people.

Influence of St. Augustine.

The theorist of baptism who has been most influential for succeeding ages is S. Augustine. He develops the Pauline idea, according to which the baptised person is engrafted as a member into the community which forms the body of Christ. The first effect of baptism is the forgiveness of sins, which extends itself to all sins, both to all actual sin and also to original sin. This latter sinfulness, inherited from Adam, would indeed alone suffice, without actual sin, to bring man to damnation, as, too, infants dying unbaptised are excluded from the Kingdom of heaven in consequence of original sin, and live in the world beyond in some form of perdition, even if of the mildest kind. Baptism has effect upon original sin, in the sense that it takes from it its character of guilt : thereby free access to God and His heavenly kingdom is opened. But there remains the material effect of original sin which shows itself in the inclination to evil (con cupiscentia). This remains even in the baptised Christian, and ac curately regarded it must remain, because without it no moral struggle, no overcoming of evil in meritorious conflict with sin, would be possible. But this concupiscence is not guilty in one who is baptised : the commission of fresh actual sin first makes the Christian once more guilty before God. Infant baptism, when practised early, will, as a rule, count only as the effacement of original sin. But the child still receives, just as does the adult, the positive effect of the Holy Spirit, which expresses itself in his case as protection, guarding him from evil influences and allow ing him to grow towards maturity, till the time when he shall consciously make his own what was received in baptism and con fessed through the mouth of the sponsor representing him, and become in the full sense a Christian personality.

The Mediaeval Period.

The mediaeval development altered little in the practice and theory of baptism. The ritual is modified here and there in the various countries, but is preserved every where in its essential points. Western theology in the main builds further on the foundation supplied by Augustine and develops all kinds of conceptual distinctions, which leave the essence of the matter untouched. The Augustinian doctrine also of the efface ment of original sin as guilt and of the retention of concupiscence as tinder for sin (fomes peccati) is retained and still more min utely elaborated. Baptism appears as one of the two sacraments (the other is the ordination of priests), which confer an indelible character (character indelibilis). Whoever has received this sac rament bears indelible to all eternity the mark of Christ. Through it alone man obtains the right and the capacity to receive also the other Christian sacraments. Of considerable practical importance became the theory of the three baptisms. The first is the baptism of water, the second the martyr's baptism of blood, the third the baptism by desire (baptismus flaminis=spiritual baptism) of him who finds himself in peril of death, who would fain be baptised, but cannot owing to external circumstances receive the sacra ment. Certainly in such a case a priest is not required : in peril of death a layman is justified in administering the sacrament of baptism to him who is endangered. But where that too is de nied, God will reckon as fulfilled the wish of one who desires bap tism. For that he has the desire is an evident sign of the working of divine grace. He possesses therefore what is essential in the sacrament, the res sacramenti; even though the form, the sacra mentuna, is lacking. (H. Li.)