WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT WATER BAPTISM!

 WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT WATER BAPTISM!

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth AND is BAPTIZED shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

— Mark 16:15-16

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of WATER and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

— John 3:3-5

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and BE BAPTIZED every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ FOR the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

— Acts 2:38

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and BE BAPTIZED and WASH away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

— Acts 22:16

Know ye not, that so many of us as were BAPTIZED into Jesus Christ were BAPTIZED into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by BAPTISM into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

— Romans 6:3-4

In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in BAPTISM wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

— Colossians 2:11-12

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the WASHING of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

— Titus 3:5

The like figure whereunto even BAPTISM doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

— 1 Peter 3:21

Below is a great quote by my friend Robert Boylan on the necessity of water baptism. 

“The unanimous consent of the early Christian fathers was that baptism was necessary for salvation, and not a symbol. Outside Gnostic circles which disdain the material world, such was the position of Christianity until the time of John Calvin (1509-1564). Furthermore, no early Christian commentator ever disagreed with the association of baptism with the “water” in John 3:3-5.

The patristic evidence from the second century onwards for the doctrine of baptismal regeneration force even critics of the doctrine to admit that the patristics were "unanimous" in teaching its salvific efficacy.

For instance, William Webster, a Reformed Baptist, admitted that, "The doctrine of baptism is one of the few teachings within Roman Catholicism for which it can be said that there is a universal consent of the Fathers . . . From the early days of the Church, baptism was universally perceived as the means of receiving four basic gifts: the remission of sins, deliverance from death, regeneration, and the bestowal of the Holy Spirit." (William Webster, The Church of Rome at the Bar of History [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1995], 95-96).

Another example would be Philip Schaff, author of works such as The Creeds of Christendom (3 vols.) In his monumental 8-volume work, History of the Christian Church, Schaff, a Reformed Presbyterian, is forced to concede that this doctrine was universally taught since the early days of the Christian faith, in spite of his own theological objections to such a theology of baptism.” - Robert Boylan

I also find the remarks of Joshua Charles concerning the UNANIMOUS belief of the early Church concerning Baptismal Regeneration very enlightening.

“Studying this one doctrine in the ancient Church UNEXPECTEDLY showed me I’d likely have to go Catholic or Eastern Orthodox.

It wasn’t the Eucharist, Our Lady, the priesthood, or any of the doctrines protestants perhaps more frequently object to.

It was baptism.

In the ancient Church, we see unanimity on a doctrine most protestants reject, namely, baptismal regeneration.

As a protestant, I was open to the possibility baptismal regeneration was true. I knew smart people who affirmed and denied it.

Baptism in general is an issue upon which most protestants agree to disagree. We’d have separate denominations over it (which bothered me), but didn’t necessarily deny those who disagreed with us were Christians. I knew most protestants rejected baptismal regeneration, and I did too. But only very softly. Baptism in general was one of many subjects I felt fairly agnostic about given that good, educated people took different positions on it.

But when I opened the Church Fathers, the situation could not have been more different. I was absolutely stunned at the unanimity they exhibited on the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. It’s absolutely everywhere.

In baptism, they said, we are:

—Reborn/born again/made new creatures;

—Cleansed of/forgiven all our sins;

—Given the Holy Spirit;

—Justified/made righteous.

7 years into studying the Church Fathers, I have yet to find a single one who denied any of these.

This was very disturbing for me, because I knew most of us protestants rejected precisely what ALL the Fathers were affirming. And while we treated baptism as a “non-essential” issue (though it was apparently essential enough to divide into different denominations), that never made sense to me either.

Baptism is one of the three basic commands of Christ in the Great Commission to the Apostles before He ascended into heaven. How could this be a “non-essential” issue? Likewise, baptism comes up constantly in Scripture. Indeed, however you interpreted it, St. Peter flat out says “baptism now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21). How can something that “saves you” be “non-essential”?

Again, I held all these doubts at bay for many years because good, educated men disagreed, so I figured they had figured something out that I hadn’t.

But that all changed when I read the Church Fathers. They were completely consistent on baptism century after century; east and west; in Europe, Africa, and Asia; pre-Constantine and post-Constantine, etc. Not only was I shocked at their doctrinal position, but at their doctrinal unity! Truth be told I had all but given up on that sort of thing as a protestant, despite the fact that it was commanded in the strongest terms in Scripture, and obviously necessary given the nature of Truth, which cannot contradict itself.

While the topic of baptismal regeneration is raised in many different works, here is a very short list of them from the first century to St. Augustine if you want to dig deeper:

—The Shepherd of Hermas

—Letter of Barnabas

—Tertullian, “On Baptism”

—St. Justin Martyr, “First Apology” and “Dialogue with Trypho”

—St. Irenaeus of Lyon, “Against Heresies” and “On the Apostolic Preaching”

—St. Clement of Alexandria, “The Instructor”

—St. Hippolytus of Rome, “Discourse on the Holy Theophany” and “The Apostolic Tradition”

—St. Cyprian of Carthage, many letters, “Treatise 4: On the Lord’s Prayer,” and “Treatise 8: On Works and Alms”

—St. Methodius, “Banquet of the Ten Virgins”

—St. Aphrahat the Persian, “Demonstrations”

—St. Athanasius, “Discourse 3 Against the Arians”

—The Nicene creed

—St. Pacian of Barcelona, “On Baptism”

—St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “Catechetical Lecture 3”

—St. Gregory Nazianzen, “Oration 40: On Holy Baptism”

—St. Basil the Great, “Concerning Baptism” and “The Holy Spirit”

—St. Ambrose of Milan, “The Holy Spirit” and “On the Mysteries”

—St. John Chrysostom, “On the Priesthood” and “Catechetical Lectures”

—St. Augustine, “City of God,” “Faith, Hope, and Charity” (and many others).”- Joshua Charles Facebook post on March 13, 2024.