Latourette further acknowledges from the writings of the Post Apostolic Bishops:
"Baptism seems to have been regarded as requisite for the remission of sins and for the new birth through which alone one could enter the Kingdom of God."
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics states with respect to the teachings of the first and second Century Christians::
"The dominant ideas were those of forgiveness of sin, regeneration, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. . . The change effected by baptism was attributed to the 'name' and to the water, which were regarded as actually effective and not merely symbolic."
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics further acknowledges:
"The earliest form, represented in the Acts, was simple immersion. . . in water, the use of the name of the Lord, and the laying on of hands."
The book, Early Christian Baptism, page 389 acknowledges:
"In connection with the name. . . the question of formula arises. The earliest known formula is 'the name of the Lord Jesus. . ."
The Hastings Dictionary of the Bible admits that one could draw the following conclusion from the historical evidence:
"The original form of words was 'into the name of Jesus Christ' or 'the Lord Jesus.' Baptism into the name of the Trinity was a later development. . ."
The second century book entitled, The Acts of Paul and Thecla, written by a second century Presbyter from Asia Minor gives the following account of water baptism:
". . . in the name of Jesus Christ." Although "Acts of Paul and Thecla is acknowledged to be a fictitious novel, the account of water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ gives support to the belief that this mode of baptism was common in the second century churches of Asia Minor.
Church Historian, Otto Heick, in "A History of Christian Thought" - pages 54, 62, 27 - observed that the Post Apostolic Fathers taught that "baptism confers the forgiveness of sins." was considered "a washing of forgiveness and a regeneration." and that which "brings pardon and the new life, and is therefore necessary for salvation."
Heick further acknowledges:
"At first baptism was administered in the name of Jesus, but gradually in the name of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
The First Century Epistle of Barnabas (unanimously believed by the early Christian Bishops to be written by the 1st century companion of the apostle Paul) records that water baptism is for the remission of sins:
"Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites, that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but should procure another for themselves. The prophet therefore declares, 'Be astonished, O heaven, and let the earth tremble at this, because this people has committed two great evils: they have forsaken Me, a living fountain, and have hewn out for themselves cisterns." The Ante-Nicene Father, Volume 1, page 144.
Again The Epistle of Barnabas records (on page #144; Volume 1 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross and have gone down into the water. . .we indeed descent 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."
The Early Second Century Epistle of Ignatius To The Ephesians records (on page 56, Volume 1 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Spirit. He was born and baptized, that by His passion He might purify the water."
The early second century book entitled "The Shepherd of Hermas" records (on page 14, Volume 2 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"Why was the tower built upon waters. . .Hear then why the tower is built upon the waters. It is because your life has been, and will be saved through water. For the tower was founded on the word of the almighty and glorious Name. . ."
Again The Shepherd of Hermas records (on page 49& 50, Volume 2 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"They were obliged. . . to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the Kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead; but when re receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal then, is the water: they descent into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the Kingdom of God. . . All the nations that dwell under heaven were called by hearing and believing upon the name of the Son of God. Having, therefore, received this seal, they had one understanding and one mind; and their faith became one, and their love one. . . On this account the building of the tower became of one color, bright as the sun."
Irenaeus, the late second century Bishop of Lyons records (on page 574, Volume 1 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [it served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as new born babes, even as the Lord has declared: 'Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."
Justin Martyr, a mid second century Christian Teacher believed that baptism was necessary for salvation (page 183, Volume 1 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. . .they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, 'Except you be born again, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.' . . .And for this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or choice, by our Parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, 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."
Tertullian, the second century Bishop of North Africa also believed that baptism is necessary for salvation (page 669, Volume 3 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers):
"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. . . But we. . after the example of our Jesus Christ, are born in water. . ."
Although some of the above Christians writers began teaching false doctrines, all of the Early Christian Teachers unanimously believed that it was necessary for all to be baptized by water in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. They quoted the words of Jesus in
John 3:5 to prove that it was necessary to be born again of the water in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. Even Martin Luther and the Anabaptists continued to believe in baptismal regeneration for the remission of sins. The rejection of the necessity of water baptism for salvation came during the later Protestant Reformation.
It is interesting to note that Tertullian is given credit for beginning the development of the creedal definition of the trinity. Twenty first century Trinitarian Christian Believers must acknowledge that all of the founding Fathers who developed their Trinitarian Doctrine unanimously believed that water baptism was necessary for salvation. Even the Trinity Dogma defined at the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople includes an anathema clause which pronounces a curse on all who reject the Catholic Baptismal Formula into the Trinity. Protestants should know that all who reject baptismal regeneration for the remission of sins are also anathamatized under the Trinitarian Creed.
Oneness believers are everywhere persecuted for rejecting the Nicene and Constantinopoliltan Creed. Yet Protestant, Evangelical, and Trinitarian Pentecostal Groups who reject Oneness Believers as heretical for their refusal to accept this Catholic Nicene Creed must also acknowledge that they are in fact, rejecting a major part of this Creed by rejecting baptismal regeneration for the remission of sins. Trinitarian Christians must acknowledge the historical fact that the very creed which postulates the theory that there are three co-equal and co-eternal divine persons within the Deity also contains a harsh curse against all who reject the Catholic view that all must be baptized into the trinity in order to be born again.
Oneness believers agree with this Catholic Council that it is necessary to be baptized in order to be saved. But Oneness Believers reject Trinitarian Baptism because it robs the believer from receiving the efficacy of the Name of Jesus Christ in water baptism. Water Baptism into the Name of Jesus Christ is clearly a Scriptural Command, not an option (See
Acts 2:38;
Romans 6:1-6;
Colossians 3:17).
The Encyclopedia Brittannica, 11th edition, volume 3, pages 365-366:
"In the third century baptism in the name of Christ was still so widespread that Pope Stephen, in opposition to Cyprian of Carthage, declared it to be valid." Note that Bishop Stephen was not called "a Pope" until the fourth century. This title was not used by the Bishops of Rome until the time of Emperor Galarius.
"A Treatise on Baptism" believed to be written by a third century Bishop name Ursinus:
"Heretics who are already baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ must only be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
This document affirms that baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is the correct mode of baptism. This treatise exhorts Christians who had held other heretical views, not to be rebaptized if they had already been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (even though the Church which baptized them had other false doctrinal views).
The fourth or fifth century document "The Constitution of the Holy Apostles"(Not written by the Apostles) - page 503 - condemned those who perform only "one immersion, which is given into the death of Christ" and requires all baptisms to be performed in the Trinitarian formula of three immersions.
Why did the Catholic Church condemn water baptism by one immersion into the death of Christ if people were not continuing to do so in defiance of the State Church?
The Roman Bishop Pelagius of the sixth century - 556-561 recorded:
"There are many who assert they are baptized in the name of Christ alone with only one immersion. But the evangelical precept which the very God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, handed down warns us to give each one holy baptism in the name of the Trinity and with a triple immersion also..."
Pope Gregory I wrote on June 22, 601 A.D.:
"Those heretics, however, who are not baptized in the name of the Trinity....these, when they come to the holy Church, are baptized, because what they received while in their error, not being in the name of the Holy Trinity, was not baptism." If these alleged heretics were not baptized in the alleged name of the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - they must have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Thomas Edwards of England in 1646 taught that it was heresy to use the words Father, son, and Holy Ghost in baptism as it was a man-made tradition and that true Christian Baptism is "only in the name of Jesus Christ."
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