Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 53:212 (Oct 1896)
Article: The Archaeology Of The Mode Of Baptism
Author: Benjamin B. Warfield

BSac 53:212 (Oct 1896) p. 601

The Archaeology Of The Mode Of Baptism

Rev. Benjamin B. Warfield

It is rather striking to observe the diversity which has grown up in the several branches of the Christian church in the mode of administering the initiatory rite of Christianity. Throughout the whole West, affusion is in use. The ritual of the great Latin church directs as follows: “Then the godfather or godmother, or both, holding the infant, the priest takes the baptismal water in a little vessel or jug, and pours the same three times upon the head of the infant in the form of the cross, and at the same time he says, uttering the words once only, distinctly and attentively: ‘N, I baptize thee in the name of the Father,’—he pours first; ‘and of the Son”—he pours a second time; ‘and of the Holy Ghost’— he pours the third time.” Here is a trine affusion. With the exception of the large Baptist denominations, Protestants use a single affusion. The Baptists employ a single immersion. Throughout the East a trine immersion is the rule. Although practice seems sometimes to vary whether all three immersions shall be total,1 the Orthodox Greek church in-

BSac 53:212 (Oct 1896) p. 602

sists somewhat strenuously upon trine immersion. The ritual in use in the Russian church directs as follows: “And after he has anointed the whole body, the Priest baptizes the candidate, held erect and looking towards the east, and says: ‘The servant of God, N, is baptized in the name of the father, Amen; and of the Son, Amen; and of the Holy Ghost, Amen; now and ever, and to ages of ages, Amen.’ At each invocation he immerses the candidate and raises him again.”2 Significant variations obtain, however, among the other Oriental communions. The Nestorians, for example, cause the candidate to stand erect in water reaching to the neck, and dip the head three times.3 The Syrians, whether Jacobite or Maronite, place the candidate upright on his feet and pour water three times over his head in the name of the Trinity.4 The office of the Syrian church of Jerusalem provides as follows: “The priest first lets the candidate down into the baptistery. Then laying his right hand on the head of the person to be baptized, with the left hand he takes up water successively from before, behind, and upon each side of the candidate, and washes his whole body (fundi tque super caput ejus, et abluit to turn ipsius corpus).”5 In the Coptic church the custom has become fixed for the priest to dip...