The man or woman who is (supposedly) baptized today in the Catholic or Protestant Church usually just got wet on the head as a small child. However, this custom has nothing to do with the biblical baptism and the correct baptism plays an extremely important role.
Inhalt / Content
Baptism is one of the elementary things in Christianity. Jesus Christ instructed His disciples to go out into the world to baptize people “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (see Matthew 28:19). For whoever is not born of water and the Spirit, the kingdom of God is closed to him (see John 3:5). Baptism still symbolizes going into death together with Jesus Christ. Death is the wages of sin and since every human being is a sinner without exception, every human being also faces death. But Jesus Christ, our Creator, took all our sins upon Himself and paid for us with His blood and His life. The baptism of man thus represents death in Jesus Christ.
Likewise, the emergence symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The baptized man or woman comes back to life together with Jesus Christ. It also becomes clear at this point that there can be no salvation without Jesus Christ. Only He bought with His own sacrifice the right to pardon our sins while maintaining justice. Those who are not in Jesus Christ (e.g. through unbelief or rejection) are excluded, cannot claim grace and must answer for the sins they have committed themselves. There is only one consequence of sin, death.
Since this connection, symbolized by baptism, is of essential importance, it is of course superfluous not to simply modify the process of baptism. In the New Testament of the Bible, the Greek word “baptizo” stands for the word “baptize”. This is a literal immersion. Now, the Catholic and Protestant churches do not practice immersion, but sprinkling of water on the head or forehead. For this purpose, this (pseudo) baptism is also carried out for small children or infants. Not only does the Catholic Church, based on its canon law, incorporate the person as a person after his (pseudo-)baptism, but also completely deviates from the biblical specification of baptism. Small children and infants are not of age and baptism is the free decision of each individual human being (see Acts 8:37). With baptism, the prospective Christian also gives a public witness to Jesus Christ and the gospel. An infant is not capable of this testimony.
The practice of sprinkling as a baptism is an entirely pagan custom. This has nothing to do with Christianity at all. Rather, the spraying of water can also be found in other religions, including in the Buddhism. There are certainly congregations that carry out the biblical (once!) immersion at baptism. These include, for example, the Baptists and the Free Church of the Seventh-day Adventists.
A drizzle cannot possibly symbolize the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is not what the Catholic Church wants at all, because the “Lord” it serves is quite another. The Protestant churches have simply retained this pagan custom and will probably never change it, since already hopelessly fallen.
Before the person to be baptized dives under water, the pastor pronounces the “baptismal formula” given by Jesus Christ, as in Matthew 28:19:
I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
John 3:5: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Mark 16:16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Acts 8:37: “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Romans 6:3: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”
Ephesians 4:5: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,”
Bible verses from King James Version