A Church History Series: Early Church Fathers - In Their Own Words: Baptism

Baptism: Covenant, Grace, and the Apostolic Faith

Among the earliest and most universal doctrines of the Christian Church is the confession of “one baptism for the remission of sins.” So foundational was this belief that the early Church embedded it directly into the Nicene Creed—a testament to its central role in Christian identity and salvation.

Yet in many modern circles, baptism has shifted from a sacrament of God’s grace to a mere symbol of personal commitment. The difference between these views is not trivial; it speaks to whether we understand baptism as God acting toward us, or us acting toward God.

Historically, the apostolic and early Christian witness was unanimous: baptism is a sacred act in which God Himself grants new life, forgiveness, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Some Scholarship on Baptism in the Early Church:

G. R. Beasley- Murray, Baptism in the New Testament

In the light of the foregoing exposition of the New Testament representations of baptism, the idea that baptism is a purely symbolic rite must be pronounced not alone unsatisfactory but out of harmony with the New Testament itself. Admittedly, such a judgment runs counter to the popular tradition of the Denomination to which the writer belongs...The extent and nature of the grace which the New Testament writers declare to be present in baptism is astonishing for any who come to the study freshly with an open mind.

(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans [1973])

So, to clarify, the author belongs to a denomination which denies baptismal regeneration and, instead, teaches that baptism is merely a symbol. He is saying, even though it is counter to the beliefs/teachings of his denomination, an honest assessment of the evidence supports the position that baptismal regeneration is unanimously believed and taught by the apostles and the apostolic fathers. So unanimous that it’s impossible to deny for “any who come to the study freshly with an open mind.”

William Webster, The Church of Rome at the Bar of History

... 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.

(Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth [1995])

Everett Ferguson

The widespread practice of infant baptism by the third century indicates its acceptance and the theological justification given for it, reflecting a continuity of thought regarding the inclusion of children in the covenant community.

(Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries [2009])

Read The Early Church Fathers in Their Own Words:

***One Baptism for the remission of sins (Including Infant Baptism)***

Apostle Barnabas

We descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear of God and trust in Jesus in our spirit

(Epistle of Barnabas [A.D. 75])

• To Clarify, the apostle Barnabas is not talking about a spiritual change that has happened previously in a believer’s life, which they then, in the future, go to make a public, merely symbolic, declaration to the congregation of believers, of something that had already happened. Rather, notice his language. The spiritual gifts of baptism have not been received yet, even as the believer is descending into the water, but at the point of the actual, physical, process of the baptism, is when the believer receives the sanctifying grace where God grants the forgiveness of sins, grants the gift of the Holy Spirit, enabling a new spiritual life. The Holy Spirit begins to dwell within the newly baptized.

Hermas of Rome

‘I have heard, sir,’ said I [to the Shepherd], ‘from some teacher, that there is no other repentance except that which took place when we went down into the water and obtained the remission of our former sins.’ He said to me, ‘You have heard rightly, for so it is’

(The Shepherd 4:3:1–2 [A.D. 80])

Hermas of Rome

They had need [the Shepherd said] to come up through the water, so that they might be made alive, for they could not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God, except by putting away the mortality of their former life. These also, then, who had fallen asleep, received the seal of the Son of God and entered into the kingdom of God. For,’ he said, ‘before a man bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead. But when he receives the seal he puts mortality aside and again receives life. The seal, therefore, is the water. They go down into the water dead [in sin], and come out of it alive

(The Shepherd 9:16:2-4 [A.D. 80])

Irenaeus (Taught by Polycarp, who was taught by John)

He [Jesus] came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through him are reborn in God: infants, and children, and youths, and old men. Therefore, he passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, sanctifying infants; a child for children, sanctifying those who are of that age . . . [so that] he might be the perfect teacher in all things, perfect not only in respect to the setting forth of truth, perfect also in respect to relative age

(Against Heresies 2:22:4 [A.D. 189])

Origen

The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit

(Commentaries on Romans 5:9 [A.D. 248])

Theophilus of Antioch

Moreover, those things which were created from the waters were blessed by God, so that this might also be a sign that men would at a future time receive repentance and remission of sins through water and the bath of regeneration.

(To Autolycus 12:16 [A.D. 181])

Tertulian

Without baptism, salvation is attainable by none

(On Baptism 12 [A.D. 203])

Clement of Alexandria

When we are baptized, we are enlightened. Being enlightened, we are adopted as sons. Adopted as sons, we are made perfect. Made perfect, we become immortal . . . ‘and sons of the Most High’ [Ps. 82:6]. This work is variously called grace, illumination, perfection, and washing. It is a washing by which we are cleansed of sins, a gift of grace by which the punishments due our sins are remitted, an illumination by which we behold that holy light of salvation

(The Instructor of Children 1:6:26:1 [A.D. 191])

Tertulian

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 consequence is, that a viper of the [Gnostic] Cainite heresy, lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism. Which is quite in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps and basilisks themselves generally do affect arid and waterless places. But we, little fishes, after the example of our [Great] Fish, Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety in any other way than by permanently abiding in water; so that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine,  knew full well how to kill the little fishes, by taking them away from the water!

(On Baptism 1 [A.D. 203])

Hippolytus of Rome

Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them

(The Apostolic Tradition 21:4 [A.D. 215])

Hippolytus of Rome

And the bishop shall lay his hand upon them [the newly baptized], invoking and saying: ‘O Lord God, who did count these worthy of deserving the forgiveness of sins by the laver of regeneration, make them worthy to be filled with your Holy Spirit and send upon them thy grace [in confirmation], that they may serve you according to your will.

(Apostolic Tradition 22:1 [A.D. 215])

Hippolytus of Rome

Perhaps someone will ask, ‘What does it conduce unto piety to be baptized?’ In the first place, that you may do what has seemed good to God; in the next place, being born again by water unto God so that you change your first birth, which was from concupiscence, and are able to attain salvation, which would otherwise be impossible. For thus the [prophet] has sworn to us: ‘Amen, I say to you, unless you are born again with living water, into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ Therefore, fly to the water, for this alone can extinguish the fire. He who will not come to the water still carries around with him the spirit of insanity for the sake of which he will not come to the living water for his own salvation

(Homilies 11:26 [A.D. 217])

Origen

Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin. . . . In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous

(Homilies on Leviticus 8:3 [A.D. 248])

Origen

It is not possible to receive forgiveness of sins without baptism

(Exhortation to the Martyrs 30 [A.D. 235])

Cyprian of Carthage

If, in the case of the worst sinners and those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back from baptism and grace, how much more, then, should an infant not be held back, who, having but recently been born, has done no sin, except that, born of the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does he [an infant] approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another

(Letters 64:5 [A.D. 253])

Cyprian of Carthage

As to what pertains to the case of infants: You [Fidus] said that they ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, that the old law of circumcision must be taken into consideration, and that you did not think that one should be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day after his birth. In our council it seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which you thought should be taken. Rather, we all judge that the mercy and grace of God ought to be denied to no man born

(Letters 64:2 [A.D. 253])

• So, to be clear, they are addressing an argument from Fidus. In that time, in North Africa, they are starting to baptize infants on the second and third day of their lives. Fidus is arguing that they need to wait until the eighth day of the infant’s life, because that’s the day the infant circumcision was performed. (Another clear illustration that the early church always understood baptism to be the covenantal replacement of circumcision). And the conclusion is that they agreed they don’t even need to wait until the eighth day, but rather, do it right away.

Cyprian of Carthage

Peter himself has commanded and warned us that we cannot be saved except by the one only baptism of the one Church. He says; ‘In the ark of Noah a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Similarly, baptism will in like manner save you’ (1 Peter 3:20-21)… In that baptism of the world in which its ancient wickedness was washed away, he who was not in the ark of Noah could not be saved by water. Likewise, neither can he be saved by baptism who has not been baptized in the Church.

(Letters 73[71]: 11 [A.D. 253])

Archelaus of Carrhae

We believe that baptism is the regeneration of the soul, and through it, one is made a partaker of the divine nature.

(The Acts of the Disputation with Manes, Chapter 22 [A.D. 278])

Cyril of Jerusalem

If any man does not receive baptism, he does not have salvation. The only exception is the martyrs, who even without water will receive the kingdom. . . . For the Savior calls martyrdom a baptism, saying, ‘Can you drink the cup which I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am to be baptized [Mark 10:38]?’

(Catechetical Lectures 3:10 [A.D. 350])

Cyril of Jerusalem

Since man is of a twofold nature, composed of body and soul, the purification also is twofold: the corporeal for the corporeal and the incorporeal for the incorporeal. The water cleanses the body, and the Spirit seals the soul. . . . When you go down into the water, then, regard not simply the water, but look for salvation through the power of the Spirit. For without both you cannot attain to perfection. It is not I who says this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the power in this matter. And he says, ‘Unless a man be born again,’ and he adds the words ‘of water and of the Spirit,’ ‘he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ He that is baptized with water, but is not found worthy of the Spirit, does not receive the grace in perfection. Nor, if a man be virtuous in his deeds, but does not receive the seal by means of the water, shall he enter the kingdom of heaven. A bold saying, but not mine; for it is Jesus who has declared it.

(Catechetical Lectures 3:4 [A.D. 350])

John Chrysostom

You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ’s] members

(Baptismal Catecheses in Augustine, Against Julian 1:6:21 [A.D. 388])

John Chrysostom

For if no one can enter into the kingdom of Heaven except he be regenerate through water and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink His blood is excluded from eternal life, and if all these things are accomplished only by means of those holy hands, I mean the hands of the priest, how will any one, without these, be able to escape the fire of hell, or to win those crowns which are reserved for the victorious?

(On The Priesthood - Book 3:5 [A.D. 381])

Gregory of Nazianz

Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Do you fear the seal [of baptism] because of the weakness of nature? Oh, what a pusillanimous mother and of how little faith!

(Oration on Holy Baptism 40:7 [A.D. 388])

Gregory of Nazianz

‘Well enough,’ some will say, ‘for those who ask for baptism, but what do you have to say about those who are still children, and aware neither of loss nor of grace? Shall we baptize them too?’ Certainly [I respond], if there is any pressing danger. Better that they be sanctified unaware, than that they depart unsealed and uninitiated

(Oration on Holy Baptism 40:28 [A.D. 388])

Gregory of Nazianz

Such is the grace and power of baptism; not an overwhelming of the world as of old, but a purification of the sins of each individual, and a complete cleansing from all the bruises and stains of sin. And since we are double-made, I mean of body and soul, and the one part is visible, the other invisible, so the cleansing also is twofold, by water and the Spirit; the one received visibly in the body, the other concurring with it invisibly and apart from the body; the one typical, the other real and cleansing the depths

(Oration on Holy Baptism 7–8 [A.D. 388])

Council of Nicaea

“I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins”

(Council of Nicaea, [A.D 325])

Gregory of Nazianz

Just as God gave existence to what did not exist, so too He gave new creation to what did exist, creation more divine and lofty than that which existed before, a seal for those only just entering into life, and for those of more mature age, a gift and a restoration of the image obliterated through sin.

(Oration on Holy Baptism 40:7 [A.D. 380])

Aphrahat the Persian Sage

For Israel was baptized in the sea on Passover night. and on that night of His Passion and death, He showed them the Sacrament of Baptism, just as the Apostle said; ‘You have been buried with Him in Baptism’ (Col. 2:12).

(Treatises 12:10 [A.D. 340])

Gregory of Nyssa

[In] the birth by water and the Spirit, [Jesus] himself led the way in this birth, drawing down upon the water, by his own baptism, the Holy Spirit; so that in all things he became the firstborn of those who are spiritually born again, and gave the name of brethren to those who partook in a birth like to his own by water and the Spirit

(Against Eunomius 2:8 [A.D. 382])

Aphrahat the Persian Sage

From baptism we receive the Spirit of Christ. At that moment in which the priest invokes the Spirit, heaven opens, and He descends and rests upon the waters and those who are baptized are clothed in Him. The Spirit is absent from all those who are born of the flesh, until they come to the water of rebirth, and receive the Holy Spirit.

(Treatises 6:14:4 [A.D. 340])

Augustine

Cyprian was not issuing a new decree but was keeping to the most solid belief of the Church in order to correct some who thought that infants ought not be baptized before the eighth day after their birth… He agreed with certain of his fellow bishops that a child is able to be duly baptized as soon as he is born

(Letters 166:8:23 [A.D. 412])

Augustine

What the universal Church holds, not as instituted [invented] by councils but as something always held, is most correctly believed to have been handed down by apostolic authority. Since others respond for children, so that the celebration of the sacrament may be complete for them, it is certainly availing to them for their consecration, because they themselves are not able to respond

(On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4:24:31 [A.D. 400])

Augustine

The custom of Mother Church in baptizing infants is certainly not to be scorned, nor is it to be regarded in any way as superfluous, nor is it to be believed that its tradition is anything except apostolic

(The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 10:23:39 [A.D. 408])

Augustine

By this grace baptized infants too are ingrafted into his [Christ’s] body, infants who certainly are not yet able to imitate anyone. Christ, in whom all are made alive . . . gives also the most hidden grace of his Spirit to believers, grace which he secretly infuses even into infants…If anyone wonders why children born of the baptized should themselves be baptized, let him attend briefly to this…The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of regeneration

(Forgiveness and the Just Desserts of Sin, and the Baptism of Infants 1:9:10; 1:24:34; 2:27:43 [A.D. 412])

Council of Carthage V

Item: It seemed good that whenever there were not found reliable witnesses who could testify that without any doubt they [abandoned children] were baptized and when the children themselves were not, on account of their tender age, able to answer concerning the giving of the sacraments to them, all such children should be baptized without scruple, lest a hesitation should deprive them of the cleansing of the sacraments. This was urged by the [North African] legates, our brethren, since they redeem many such [abandoned children] from the barbarians

(Canon 7 [A.D. 401])

Council of Mileum II

[W]hoever says that infants fresh from their mothers’ wombs ought not to be baptized, or say that they are indeed baptized unto the remission of sins, but that they draw nothing of the original sin of Adam, which is expiated in the bath of regeneration . . . let him be anathema [excommunicated]. Since what the apostle [Paul] says, ‘Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so passed to all men, in whom all have sinned’ [Rom. 5:12], must not be understood otherwise than the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always understood it. For on account of this rule of faith even infants, who in themselves thus far have not been able to commit any sin, are therefore truly baptized unto the remission of sins, so that that which they have contracted from generation may be cleansed in them by regeneration

(Canon 3 [A.D. 416])

Serapion of Thmuis

God of powers, aid of every soul that turns to you… we beseech you, that through your divine and invisible power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you may affect in this chrism a divine and heavenly operation, so that those baptized and anointed in the tracing with it of the sign of the saving cross of the Only-Begotten, through which cross Satan and every adverse power is turned aside and conquered, as if reborn and renewed through the bath of regeneration, may be made participants in the gift of the Holy Spirit and confirmed by this seal…

(The Sacramentary of Serapion 25:1 [A.D. 350])

Serapion of Thmuis

We beseech you, Savior of all men, you that have all virtue and power, Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we pray that you send down from heaven the healing power of the only-begotten [Son] upon this oil, so that for those who are anointed, it may be effected for the casting out of every disease and every bodily infirmity, for an antidote against every demon. . . for good grace and remission of sins

(The Sacramentary of Serapion 29:1 [A.D. 350])

Ambrose of Milan

The Church was redeemed at the price of Christ’s blood. Jew or Greek, it makes no difference; but if he has believed, he must circumcise himself from his sins [in baptism (Col. 2:11–12)] so that he can be saved . . . for no one ascends into the kingdom of heaven except through the sacrament of baptism… ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’

(Abraham 2:11:79–84 [A.D. 387])

Basil of Caesarea

This then is what it means to be ‘born again of water and Spirit’: Just as our dying is effected in the water [Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12–13], our living is wrought through the Spirit. In three immersions and an equal number of invocations the great mystery of baptism is completed in such a way that the type of death may be shown figuratively, and that by the handing on of divine knowledge the souls of the baptized may be illuminated. If, therefore, there is any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water, but from the Spirit’s presence there.

(The Holy Spirit 15:35 [A.D. 375])

Basil of Caesarea

For prisoners, baptism is ransom, forgiveness of debts, the death of sin, regeneration of the soul, a resplendent garment, an unbreakable seal, a chariot to heaven, a royal protector, a gift of adoption.

(Sermons on Moral and Practical Subjects 13:5 [A.D. 379])

Ambrose of Milan

Although we are baptized with water and the Spirit, the latter is much superior to the former, and is not therefore to be separated from the Father and the Son. There are, however, many who, because we are baptized with water and the Spirit, think that there is no difference in the offices of water and the Spirit, and therefore think that they do not differ in nature. Nor do they observe that we are buried in the element of water that we may rise again renewed by the Spirit. For in the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses the body as it were in a kind of tomb, that we, by the power of the Spirit, may be renewed from the death of sin, being born again in God.

(The Holy Spirit 1:6[75–76] [A.D. 381])

Ambrose of Milan

So, then, having obtained everything, let us know that we are born again, but let us not say, How are we born again? Have we entered a second time into our mother’s womb and been born again? . . . If, then, the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Virgin wrought the conception, and effected the work of generation, surely we must not doubt but that, coming down upon the Font, or upon those who receive Baptism, He effects the reality of the new birth.

(On the Mysteries 9:59 [A.D. 382])

Ambrose of Milan

And it is not doubtful that sin is forgiven by means of baptism, but in baptism the operation is that of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

(The Holy Spirit 3:18:138 [A.D. 381])

Ambrose of Milan

If, then, there be any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water, but from the presence of the Holy Spirit. . . We were then sealed with the Spirit by God. For as we die in Christ, in order to be born again, so, too, we are sealed with the Spirit, that we may possess His brightness and image and grace, which is undoubtedly our spiritual seal. For although we were visibly sealed in our bodies, we are in truth sealed in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit may portray in us the likeness of the heavenly image.

(The Holy Spirit 1:6:77 – 1:6:79 (A.D. 381])

Ambrose of Milan

Why do you baptize, if it is not allowed that sins be forgiven through men? In baptism too there is forgiveness of all sins; what is the difference whether priests claim this power is given to them to be exercised in Penance or at the font? The mystery is the same in both.

(Penance 1:8:36. [A.D. 388])

Ambrose of Milan

Now, it seemed impossible that sin should be washed away in water . . . But what was impossible was made possible by God, who gave us so great a Grace. It seemed likewise impossible for sins to be forgiven through Penance; yet Christ granted even this to His Apostles, and by His Apostles, it has been transmitted to the offices of the priests.

(Penance 1:15:80 [A.D. 388])

Augustine of Hippo

There are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptism, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance; yet God does not forgive sins except to the baptized

(Sermons to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15 [A.D. 395])

Augustine of Hippo

[According to] apostolic tradition . . . the churches of Christ hold inherently that without baptism and participation at the table of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain either to the kingdom of God or to salvation and life eternal. This is the witness of Scripture too

(Forgiveness and the Just Desserts of Sin, and the Baptism of Infants 1:24:34 [A.D. 412])