Evangelism Resources and Photos Galleries
| Next | Previous | Contact Ron | Ron's Blog | Index | Tellout Home |
Water of Baptism
When we look closely enough, we find the Body of Christ beneath the surface of many seemingly mundane objects, such as water, bread, wine and a wooden cross. These "outward and visible signs of an inward invisible grace" are called sacraments.
Outward Signs
Augustine said in one of his sermons, "Christians are to see in the many grains, ground by the prayers of exorcism, moistened by the waters of baptism, and now united in the one Eucharistic loaf, the image of themselves as the Body of Christ, the Church." 1 All that does not glitter outwardly is not necessarily gold beneath.
Porthole
The basic purpose of this chapter is to show that the sacramental Body of Christ in all its forms had immense importance for the New Testament church and is a porthole into God's being at the beginning of the Twenty First Century. These sacramental models, when rediscovered, will provide what we now call "the church" with a rich and inspirational understanding of the Mystical without leading into superstition and heresy.
Water of Baptism
Baptism is the initiatory rite into the Christian Faith. It is one of two sacraments commanded by Jesus himself. Baptists practice it in believers' baptism by full immersion whereas Anglicans and Roman Catholics use infant baptism generally by sprinkling.
Though baptism in the Early Church was initially confined largely to adults, it became during the first century the norm for infants and babies within Christian households. We are told of the Philippians' jailor when he believed in Christ that "immediately he and all his family were baptized." 2 This would certainly have included all ages of people including grandparents, teenagers and many infants and babies in obedience to the head of this household.
Notes
1Sermon 262. 2Acts 16.33
What did Jesus mean when he said, "This is my body?"
| ^ Top Page | Next | Previous |