Adult full-immersion water baptism: No infant baptism until AD 450.
Roman Catholic Doctrinal evolution: Doctrinal flip flops
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1. Baptism: No infant baptism till 5th century. 2. Sprinkling not formally accepted until after AD 1311 by Roman Catholics 3. The Orthodox church continues to fully immerse infants to this day. |
No infant baptism till AD 450:
A. There is no command or example of infant baptism in the Bible.
B. History of infant baptism:
“Baptism: Christian initiation is described for us in a wealth of detail by Egeria, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the late fourth century. In her day initiation was still for adults; only in the mid-fifth century did the practice of baptizing infants imply that few, if any, adults came to be made Christians. In Egeria's time, when an adult decided to become a Christian, he went with his friends and relations to the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, where they met the bishop in the middle of the nave. When the people supporting the candidate had testified to his good behavior, he was enrolled as a catechumen. A catechumen was obliged to attend daily sessions in the church. First individual meetings were held with a member of the clergy, who exorcized him or her with prayers for deliverance from sin. Then there was a daily three hour lecture by the bishop, at first in regard to the interpretation of the Bible and then the Christian creed. The catechumen was baptized before the assembly on Easter Day and received Holy Communion with the other members of the congregation. Until this time, the meaning of baptism and the Eucharist could not be revealed to them, and they had to attend more discourses in the week following Easter to learn about those two services. The oldest complete set of lessons to catechumens that is known comes from the pen of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who was bishop of Jerusalem in the middle of the fourth century C.E.” (Christian Worship in the Byzantine Period, John Wilkinson, Ancient Churches Revealed, p17, 1993 AD)
C. The Roman Catholic church admits baptism by immersion was practiced till 1311 AD:
- "There is no express mention of the baptism of infants in the New Testament" (Question Box, p. 23).
- "It is difficult to give strict proof from the scriptures in favor of it. [infant baptism]" (Catholic Dictionary, p. 61).
- "Ecclesiastical custom with regard to the administration of Baptism has undergone a change in the course of history. Whereas the early Church baptized adults only, the baptism of children soon became the usual practice." (Sanford, Alexander E., MD, Pastoral Medicine: Handbook for the Catholic Clergy, 1904, p 32-33)
- "Where in the fourth and fifth centuries the doctrine of original sin became better known, the practice of infant baptism progressed rapidly." (Legislation on the Sacraments in the New Code of Canon Law, p. 72).
- "When all fear of persecution had passed away, and the empire had become almost entirely Christian, the necessity for a prolonged period of trial and instruction no longer existed, about the same time the fuller teaching on the subject of original sin, occasioned by the Pelagian heresy, gradually led to the administration of baptism of infants." (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 78).
- Infant baptism by immersion commanded of all infants in the Council Of Mela in 416 AD.
Infant Baptism is Catholic but Un-biblical
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This is a valid baptism by full immersion of a believer. (adult) |
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Not even John Paul II can make right, an
infant baptism by sprinkling, that is wrong according to the Bible! |
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By Steve Rudd
