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Course 21 · Lesson 5.2

Water: baptism, the renewal of baptismal vows and holy water

10 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 21 outline

Module 1: The Theology of Worship

  1. What liturgy is: the word, the idea and the debate
  2. Worship in the Old and New Testaments
  3. Praying and believing: how worship shapes doctrine and doctrine shapes worship
  4. Word, sacrament and sign across the traditions

Module 2: How Christian Liturgy Developed

  1. The earliest descriptions: the Didache, Justin Martyr and the early church orders
  2. The liturgical families of East and West
  3. The Reformation and the revision of worship
  4. Liturgical renewal in the twentieth century

Module 3: The Christian Year: Calendars, Feasts and Fasts

  1. Sunday, the week and the hours of the day
  2. Easter, Holy Week and the dispute over the date
  3. Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
  4. Lent, the Orthodox fasting seasons and Protestant approaches to fasting
  5. Saints days and the second cycle of the calendar

Module 4: Sacred Space and Sacred Images

  1. From house church to basilica: the development of church buildings
  2. The meaning of church buildings: altar, table, orientation and the Orthodox and Gothic examples
  3. Icons and the Incarnation: John of Damascus and the Second Council of Nicaea
  4. Images and the Reformation: Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican approaches

Module 5: Material Signs: Incense, Water, Oil and Blessings

  1. Incense: Scripture, temple worship and its use in the churches
  2. Water: baptism, the renewal of baptismal vows and holy water
  3. Oil: anointing of the sick, chrismation, confirmation and ordination
  4. Blessings: what the church means when it blesses a person, a house or an object
  5. Sacraments and sacramentals: the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant vocabulary

Module 6: Popular Piety and Devotional Practice

  1. What popular piety is, and why scholars take it seriously
  2. Pilgrimage, relics, medals and pious objects
  3. The rosary, the Stations of the Cross, litanies and akathists
  4. How the churches have regulated and corrected popular devotion

Module 7: Telling Tradition from Superstition

  1. What the theologians mean by superstition, and why the line is hard to draw
  2. A method: source, date, doctrine, authority and consequence
  3. Case studies: apocryphal legends, magical formulas and invented history
  4. Honesty and respect in judging other people’s devotion

All courses

Program / Course 21: Liturgical Theology / Lesson 5.2

What you will learn

  • Describe the New Testament basis for baptism and its early practice.
  • Compare Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed and Baptist teaching on who is baptized, how and what baptism does.
  • Explain the renewal of baptismal vows and the use of holy water in the traditions that practice them.
  • State what a person can and cannot do alone with respect to baptism.

The big idea

Baptism is the rite of entry into the Christian church, and water is its sign. All major traditions baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but they disagree about who should be baptized, how, and what baptism does. Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran churches baptize infants and teach that baptism gives new life. Reformed churches baptize infants as a sign of the covenant. Baptist and many free churches baptize only those who profess faith. Holy water, used in Catholic and Orthodox life, is a blessing connected with baptism, not a second baptism.

Key terms

Baptism
From the Greek baptizo, to dip or wash. The rite by which a person is received into the Christian church with water and the name of the Trinity.
Infant baptism (paedobaptism)
The baptism of babies, practiced by Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican and Reformed churches.
Believer’s baptism (credobaptism)
The baptism only of those who profess faith, practiced by Baptists and many other churches.
Immersion, affusion, aspersion
Baptism by dipping the person in water, by pouring water over the head, or by sprinkling.
Catechumen
A person preparing for baptism through instruction.
Holy water
Water blessed by a priest or bishop for use in devotion, blessings and the reminder of baptism, in Catholic, Orthodox and some Anglican use.
Agiasma
The Greek word for the blessed water of the Orthodox, especially at Theophany.

Background

Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan (Mark 1:9-11), and he told his disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). At Pentecost Peter urged the crowd to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Paul taught that those baptized into Christ are baptized into his death and rise to new life (Romans 6:3-4). John 3:5 speaks of being born of water and the Spirit. The Didache, early in the second century, says to baptize in running water if possible, and gives alternatives, including pouring water three times.

The question of infants is a point of long debate. Households were baptized in Acts (Acts 16:15, 16:33), and Origen and Cyprian in the third century speak of infant baptism as an old custom, while Tertullian recommended delaying baptism for some. The practice of baptizing infants became general in the fifth century after Augustine’s teaching on original sin. Baptists and others hold that the New Testament knows only believers’ baptism and that the household texts do not mention infants.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Catholic and Orthodox teaching

The Catholic Church teaches that baptism washes away original sin and all personal sin, makes a person a child of God and a member of the church, and leaves a permanent mark. Infants are baptized, and in adults baptism is part of Christian initiation, followed by confirmation and the Eucharist. The Orthodox baptize by triple immersion, and the child receives chrismation (anointing) and Holy Communion at once, even as an infant. Orthodox teaching speaks of baptism as death and resurrection with Christ and entry into the church. Both traditions teach that baptism is received once and is not repeated, though they differ in their views on the baptism of other churches.

Step 2: Lutheran and Anglican teaching

Luther taught that baptism is not just water but water with God’s word, which gives forgiveness, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe (Small Catechism). Infants are baptized, and Lutherans hold that faith is given even to them. Anglican teaching, in the Prayer Book and the Thirty-Nine Articles (Article 27), says that baptism is a sign of regeneration, a new birth, by which those who receive it rightly are grafted into the church, and that infant baptism is to be retained. Within Anglicanism there are different views on how strongly to speak of regeneration.

Step 3: Reformed, Baptist and others

Reformed churches, following Calvin and the Westminster Confession (chapter 28), baptize infants of believers as the sign and seal of the covenant, as circumcision was in Israel (Colossians 2:11-12 is often cited). They teach that baptism is a sign and seal of grace and not the cause of regeneration. Baptists, whose churches arose in the seventeenth century, hold that baptism is for those who have repented and believed, and is by immersion, as a picture of burial and resurrection. Quakers and the Salvation Army do not practice water baptism, holding that the true baptism is of the Spirit. All of these positions are held with serious scriptural reasons, and the debate has lasted five centuries.

Step 4: Renewal of vows and holy water

At the Easter Vigil, the Catholic church invites all present to renew their baptismal promises, rejecting Satan and professing the creed, and sprinkles them with blessed water. Anglican churches have similar services at Easter and other times. Catholic churches keep holy water at the entrances so that people may bless themselves with it as they enter, recalling their baptism. The Orthodox bless water at Theophany on 6 January in a solemn service recalling the baptism of Jesus, and a smaller blessing of water is done at other times. Parishioners take the water home to drink and to bless their houses. The tradition of blessing water appears in fourth-century sources such as the Apostolic Constitutions and grew from there. These usages are sacramentals, not sacraments.

Step 5: What a person alone can and cannot do

In case of necessity, such as danger of death, the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches allow any person to baptize with water and the Trinitarian words. This is a limited exception for an emergency. A person cannot baptize himself or herself as the churches understand it, since baptism is received from another and from the church. Baptists and most others agree. A person can remember their baptism, pray the creed, and renew their commitment in private prayer. A person without baptism who wishes it should ask a church, and not devise a rite. Those who keep holy water at home should treat it as a reminder and blessing, and not as having power of its own.

  1. Who may be baptized in this tradition, and why?
  2. In what manner is it done, and what does the manner signify?
  3. What does the tradition say baptism does?
  4. What Scripture texts are used, and do they decide the question?
  5. Is the rite repeated, and if not, why?
  6. What is the purpose of holy water, and what is it not?

Examples

An Orthodox baptism

An Orthodox priest immerses a baby three times, saying the name of the Trinity, then anoints her with chrism and gives her a small portion of the Eucharist. The ceremony includes the putting on of a white garment. The church teaches that she is fully a member of the church.

A Baptist baptism

A teenager gives a testimony of faith in front of his church, and the pastor lowers him into the baptistery and raises him again, saying that he is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The congregation sings. His church considers it an act of obedience and witness.

An emergency baptism

A nurse in a hospital pours water on the head of a dying newborn and says the baptismal words, as her church has instructed. The priest later records it. The churches that allow this do so as an exception.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Baptism is the gateway to the sacraments, given to infants and adults, and necessary for salvation as the ordinary means, though God is not bound by the sacraments. It is received once.

Orthodox

Baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, with chrismation and communion as one initiation. Orthodox hold that it is done by immersion where possible.

Lutheran and Anglican

Baptism is a gift of God by which faith and forgiveness are given. Infants are baptized, and the church teaches that the Holy Spirit works through the word and water.

Reformed

Baptism is a covenant sign and seal, administered to believers and their children. It does not convey grace automatically but promises it to those who believe.

Baptist and free-church

Baptism follows personal faith and is an act of obedience and testimony. It is by immersion and not repeated, and is a public step into the church.

Why it matters

Baptism is the most important ritual use of water and the basis for the others. Differences over it divide families and congregations, so a student who understands the arguments on each side can speak fairly and kindly to a friend of another tradition. Learning what holy water is also prevents treating it as magic, and helps a person be honest about the limit of what can be done alone.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Infant baptism was invented in the Middle Ages.

Correction: It is attested in the third century and was widespread by the fifth, although scholars debate how early it began. Baptists dispute that it has New Testament warrant.

Misunderstanding: Baptists do not think baptism matters.

Correction: They teach that it is a commanded act of obedience, and many refuse membership to the unbaptized. Their disagreement is about its meaning and its subjects.

Misunderstanding: Holy water is a second baptism.

Correction: It is a sacramental that recalls baptism. In no tradition does it replace or repeat it.

Misunderstanding: A person can baptize themselves.

Correction: The churches teach that baptism is received from another and from the church, with the limited exception of emergency baptism by another person.

Knowledge check

What is the difference between infant baptism and believer’s baptism?

Infant baptism is given to babies of believing parents and is practiced by Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican and Reformed churches. Believer’s baptism is given only to those who profess faith, practiced by Baptists and many others. Both claim support from Scripture.

How do Reformed and Lutheran teaching on what baptism does differ?

Lutherans teach that baptism, as water joined with God’s word, gives forgiveness and new life. Reformed churches teach that it is a sign and seal of the covenant, which promises grace to those who believe, but is not the cause of regeneration.

What is holy water and when is it used?

It is water blessed by a priest or bishop, used by Catholics and Orthodox to recall baptism and for blessings. Orthodox bless water especially at Theophany. It is a sacramental and not a sacrament.

Who may baptize in an emergency?

Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches allow any person to baptize with water and the Trinitarian words in case of necessity. A person cannot baptize himself or herself.

Think it through

  1. What does water signify in the Bible, from creation to the Jordan?
  2. Which side of the infant-baptism debate has the strongest argument, and what is the best reply?
  3. How do you remember your own baptism, if you have been baptized?
  4. How should a family handle a difference of conviction on baptism?

Independent assignment

A baptism chart

In your own notebook, make a chart with rows for subjects, manner, meaning, ministers and what follows baptism. Fill it for Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed and Baptist traditions using at least three sources from the course library. Add 200 words on the point where you found the most disagreement. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study