1. Baptism: Are We All Wet? An Historical Perspective September 11, 2005 Dr. Dane Boyles

2. We limit our perspective:
Generally to contemporary evangelicalism.
Geographically to the United States.
Historically to the last 200 years.

3. This produces faulty conclusions:
That at baptism God saves a sinful human being is a minority position.
That baptism is an integral part of the conversion process espouse a new and innovative idea within the Christian world.

4. we want to broaden our perspective of Christian Baptism
Old Testament Origins. That Christian Baptism has its origins in the Old Testament and particularly in the Baptism of John.
1,500 Year Consensus. That beginning on the Day of Pentecost and continuing up through and including Martin Luther (i.e., for roughly 1,500 years) there was a general consensus regarding Christian Baptism.
Zwingli the Source of Innovation.

5. Old Testament Origins of Christian Baptism
Baptism is found in the Old Testament:
Hebrews 9:1-10
Here’s the point: all the meats, drinks, and diverse baptisms were carnal ordinances.
A partial list of washings in the Old Testament:
Leviticus 1:1-9
Deuteronomy 21:1-9
Leviticus 16:1-5
2 Kings 5:1-14

6. Old Testament Origins of Christian Baptism
Baptism was practiced in Judaism.
Poselyte baptism.
Began in the 2nd century BC and continued into the 1st AD.
Initiation rite into Judaism than a purification rite.
The initiate was baptized in the presence of at least two men learned in the Law.
It was not, however, associated with the remission of sins.

7. Old Testament Origins of Christian Baptism
John’s baptism seems to be the most likely place to look for the origin of Christian Baptism.
Both were/are concerned with end-of-time events (e.g., judgment).
Both are associated with an act of repentance and conversion.
Both are performed “unto the remission of sins.”
Both are an initiation rite of sorts into the Kingdom of God.
Both are only performed once.
Both are received passively (i.e., someone else immerses the person being baptized).

8. Old Testament Origins of Christian Baptism
What are we saying, exactly?
That the idea of baptism wasn’t new on the Day of Pentecost.
That there were washings and baptisms in the Old Testament that in some ways foreshadow Christian Baptism.

9. A 1,500 Year Consensus on the Meaning of Baptism.
The Early Church Fathers
Justin Martyr ( AD).
New converts “are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated …. For … they then receive the washing with water, [as in John 3:5]. We have learned from the apostles the reason [for baptism:] in order that we … may obtain in the water the remission of sins.”

10. A 1,500 Year Consensus on the Meaning of Baptism.
Tertullian ( AD).
“Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life.”
“The act of baptism … is carnal, in that we are plunged in water, but the effect is spiritual, in that we are freed from sins.”

11. A 1,500 Year Consensus on the Meaning of Baptism.
Cyril of Jerusalem ( AD).
“When going … into the water, think not of the bare element, but look for salvation by the power of the Holy Spirit.” “Great is the Baptism that lies before you: a ransom to captives; a remission of offenses; a death of sin; a new-birth of the soul; a garment of light; a holy indissoluble seal; a chariot to heaven the delight of Paradise; a welcome into the kingdom; the gift of adoption.”

12. A 1,500 Year Consensus on the Meaning of Baptism.
Martin Luther
“There is no magical power in the water nor in the act itself.”
“The power is in God’s promise to save and even this power is dormant unless and until it is activated by obedient faith.”
“Human beings are not saved by human works, which baptism is not, but by faith in God’s work, which baptism is.”

13. The Reformed Theology of Huldreich Zwingli.
His “beef” was with the Catholic theology of the sacraments.
“In this matter of baptism all the doctors have been in error from the time of the apostles [until now—i.e., 1520 AD].”
“For all the doctors have ascribed to the water power which it does not have and the holy apostles did not teach.”
“The Fathers were in error … because they thought that the water itself effects cleansing and salvation.”
“Christ himself did not connect salvation with baptism.”

14. The Reformed Theology of Huldreich Zwingli.
Zwingli’s conclusions:
“We must not attribute to baptism what belongs to the grace of God alone, i.e., we must not think that the water of baptism cleanses the soul.” (Zwingli)
“Water-baptism cannot contribute in any way to the washing away of sin.”
“A sacrament … cannot have any power …. They are wrong, therefore, by the whole width of heaven who think that sacraments have any cleansing power.”
“It is clearly frivolous to teach that … the sacraments can remit sins or confer blessings.”