More EARLY CHRISTIANS SPEAK... about Baptism...

EARLY CHRISTIANS SPEAK… more about water baptism..

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From Firmilian (c. 256) 5. 393

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The Second birth, which occurs in baptism, begets sons of God.

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Here’s an anonymous quote from the Early Christian writers:

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.…Being baptized in the name of Christ, they have been redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord. 5. 675.

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The next two quotes are from the Apostolic Constitutions, complied (c. 390):

When they wish to repent, we receive the pagans into the church to hear the Word. However, we do not admit them to communion until they have received the seal of baptism and are made complete Christians. 7. 414.

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He who out of contempt will not be baptized will be condemned as an unbeliever. 7. 457.

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from the Canticle of Mar (date uncertain) 8.654 :

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[Dark] I was in sins. But I am comely. For I have repented and converted. I have put away that hateful hue in baptism. For He, the Savior of all creatures, has washed me in His innocent blood.

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EARLY CHRISTIANS SPEAK... Cyprian, c. 250 A.D.

From the Writings of Cyprian, circa 250 A.D....

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By the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years was washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, infused into my reconciled heart. Then, by the agency of the Spirit breathed from Heaven, a second birth restored me to a new man. ANF 5. 276

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The Lord, when He came, manifested the truth of baptism... in commanding that this faithful water---the water of life eternal--- should be given to believers in baptism. ANF 5. 360.

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In the baptism of water, there is received the remission of sins. ANF 5. 497

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...from that death which once the blood of Christ extinguished, and from which [death] the saving grace of baptism and of our Redeemer has delivered us. ANF 5. 332.

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[ more of Cyprian to come ]

PALMS of VICTORY...

Ante-Nicene Fathers on Baptism

Part 3

From Tertullian... c. 198... volume 3, p. 646....

... a countless throng are revealed, clothed in white and distinguished by palms of victory, celebrating their triumph doubtless over Antichrist, since one of the elders says, These are they who come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes, and meade them white in the blood of the Lamb, for the flesh is the clothing of the soul. The uncleanness, indeed, is washed away by baptism, but the stains are changed into dazzling whiteness by martyrdom.

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And from Tertullian again, on p. 676 of that same volume...

Unless a man has been born again of water and Spirit, he will not enter the Kingdom of the Heavens. These words have tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers were baptized. So it was, too, that Paul, when he believed, was baptized.

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