The Baptismal Formula: Difference between revisions

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What is clear from the scriptural references is that there was no "magic formula" for water baptism.  There are no exact words that are required to be spoken.  There is certainly no requirement that when a person is baptized, the words must be spoken... "I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
What is clear from the scriptural references is that there was no "magic formula" for water baptism.  There are no exact words that are required to be spoken.  There is certainly no requirement that when a person is baptized, the words must be spoken... "I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."


=The Historical Record of the Church=


:''There is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who leads to the laver the person that is to be washed, calling him by his name alone. For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because they who learn these things are illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.”<ref>Wri. of Justin, pp. 59, 60. Clark’s Edi. as quoted in R. Ingham, A Handbook of Christian Baptism: Subjects, vol. II (London: E. Stock, 1871), 429.R. Ingham, A Handbook of Christian Baptism: Subjects, vol. II (London: E. Stock, 1871), 429.</ref>


JUSTIN, the Martyr, having spoken of the preparations of the applicants for baptism, adds: “they are then conducted by us to a place where there is water, and they are regenerated, after the same mode of regeneration, wherein we ourselves were regenerated, for they then are washed in the water, in the name of the Father and Lord God of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost.
Basil of Caesarea, A Treatise on Baptism and A Treatise on Confirmation, trans. Francis Patrick Kenrick (Philadelphia: M. Fithian, 1843), 107.
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[[Category: Unfinished articles]]
[[Category: Unfinished articles]]