Baptism of the First Christians by August Rasmussen

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 3, 1875

Baptism of the First Christians.

By August Rasmussen

By study of the Bible, I find the following facts: The first Christians went for baptism to places where there was much water. Matt. 3:6; John 3:22, 23. They went down into the water, and came up out of it. Acts 8:38, 39; Matt. 3:16. They were buried in the water. Rom. 6:4. They that gladly received his word, and those only, were baptized. Acts 2:41. Belief, conversion, and confession of sins, were demanded before baptism. Acts 8:37; 2:38; Matt. 3:6.

Baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God and requires a newness of life. 1 Pet. 3:21; Rom. 6:4. Baptism among the first Christians was just the same as it is now. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Eph. 4:5, and no more.

Now how can it answer to take a little infant a few weeks, or days, of age, and sprinkle it? Can a little child believe and repent? Can it walk out to the water? Can it walk in newness of life? Can it confess sins and say, Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Rom. 6:3, 4. If not, infant baptism is all a fearful delusion.

AUGUST RASMUSSEN.