The devout Christian is shocked by the entire teaching of Baptists on baptism. We will explain this in three articles. We will devote this first article to refuting their claims that distort the sacrament of baptism. We hope that we will respond, in a follow-up article, to their rejection of infant baptism, and clarify, in a third article, the connection between the renewal of believers and the sacrament of baptism.

Baptists attribute to the New Testament that “it teaches much about salvation apart from baptism,” which “symbolically depicts salvation,” and does not “in any way cause it” (Herschel Hobbs, Baptist Doctrine and Message, pp. 135 and 138; J. M. Carroll, History of the Churches Baptist Church, page 32). They use the word “ordained” to describe baptism, avoiding it being a sacrament of the church. They consider that it is permissible to accept it only “those who have consciously surrendered themselves to Christ,” through “the path of repentance” and “personal faith in Him.” Baptism, according to the teaching of the Scriptures, in their opinion, “follows repentance” (Herschel Hobbes, M.N., pp. 133, 138, 139; Finley M. Graham, Systematic Theology, p. 205; The Biblical Position, No. 7; Robert A. Baker, Biographies of Baptists In history, page 17). If we stop, in reading their references, at the book “Baker”, which we mentioned here, we see that he distorts the truth, by claiming that baptism, secretly, entered through the first Christian writers who were influenced by “their pagan surroundings and their philosophical environment,” as “the martyr Justin, the philosopher and convert,” wrote To the Christian, who lived in the middle of the second century, baptism completes salvation. Irenaeus, one of his later contemporaries, decided that baptism is new birth and that it produces renewal. Thus, magical power was attributed to baptism” (pages 25 and 33). Although they acknowledge that baptism “depicts the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4)”; “The believer’s death from sin, his burial with Christ, and his resurrection for newness of life (Romans 6: 3-6),” but they refuse to consider it the new birth. They insist on doing it by immersion (1)“The local church” is solely responsible for this practice. They do not accept baptism performed by another church except under conditions, including: that this church only practices immersion, and that its doctrine agrees with the biblical doctrine of baptism (Finley M. Graham, Systematic Theology, pp. 297-300; J. M. Carroll, History of Baptist Churches , page 18; Awad Simaan, Priesthood, pages 358-367). But, in fact, they re-baptize all who join them.

Irregularities appear abundantly in these passages, or ideas, taken from the writings of Baptists. They said what they said not only because they rejected infant baptism, but also because they denied the work of grace in the sacraments. If we carefully read their teachings, we can notice two basic things regarding this denial.

The first is that considering baptism as a symbol makes God’s salvation of man unreal and his renewal illusory. In this context, we will not review verses that refute their arguments. What they use without meaning is our support in our response. What does it mean that the believer, through his baptism, participates in the death and resurrection of Christ, and is symbolically saved, or symbolically renewed? Arif is not unaware that the word “symbol” did not appear in the New Testament to describe baptism and the effects of the sacraments as a whole. They say they rely on his books! But, in fact, they project onto it preconceived ideas, or what they think is correct. This does not befit the word of the One who redeemed us through his death and resurrection, and paved for us the path of true renewal by accepting his redemption through the Holy Spirit, who guides the mysteries of the Church, unites us, and revives us with his graces (1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 4:4-6).

The second thing is that they repeat the baptism of Christians who join their ranks. This is a clear contradiction to the Christian heritage. If baptism is participation in the death and resurrection of Christ (Romans 6:3 and 4; Colossians 2:12), and Christ died once and rose again forever, then how can they accept that a person should die twice with Christ and rise again twice? Isn't this a violation of what is stated in the Constitution of Faith (and one baptism for the forgiveness of sins), which Baptists claim to recognize as the validity of its teaching? And it contradicts the basis adopted by the fathers when they wrote down the teaching about baptism, that is, what the Apostle said: “And there is one Lord, and one faith, and one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). And if they wanted to imitate the Holy Church, which was restoring the baptism of heretics, and preventing its believers from receiving baptism at the hands of heretics (see: The First Ecumenical Council, Law 19; The Council of Latakia, Fourth Century, Law 8; The Second Ecumenical Council, Law 7; The Council of Trullo, Law 95; Laws of the Apostles, Laws 47 and 68...), so there is a difference between them and them. But if they only acknowledge the baptism they perform, then we leave that to the reader to judge!

Then whoever reads the teachings of the Baptists does not doubt that their rejection of the effects of baptism is based not only on their incorrect reading of the Holy Books, but also on the sins that strike some after receiving the sacrament. This is rejected by our heritage, which refused to condemn anyone else. He is rejected by the sound teaching that accompanied the holy secrets in explanation and clarification. It is known that the heresy of the Gnostics, which spread widely in the second century, adopted this same argument to criticize the sacrament of baptism. This was answered at the time by the scholar Tertullian (155-225), who responded to the Gnostic Cantela, which mocked baptism for the same reason mentioned, by saying: “But we, the little fishes, who took our name from Jesus Christ, are born in water, and are not saved unless If we remain in it” (On Baptism, Chapter One). The fact that some Christians make mistakes after receiving the sacrament of baptism does not allow criticism of the sacrament. This is the same magic. Baptists are magicians if they believe that baptism preserves the person who received it without his sincere will.

It remains to clarify their statement: personal faith in Christ and repentance come before baptism. This is valid if the person seeking baptism is an adult. In the early church, an adult who was about to receive baptism was asked: What do you want from the church? He answers: Faith. But it is not valid if the dependent is a child. Infant baptism is based on God’s salvation, which He granted, freely, to all people, whether young or old. This is what we will explain, with God’s help, in the following article.

(1) Regarding immersion, the Orthodox Church practices the sacrament of baptism exclusively by immersion. Unless there is an order prohibiting immersion. But any priest who baptizes anyone other than by immersion without there being a reason for this is violating tradition and church laws... (Al-Shabaka)