[Please look on the following as a history of thought, not as theology.] Baptism is a rite of initiation for entrance into the Christian Church, at least in those denominations which practice baptism. The type of the ceremony and the meaning to be assigned to baptism have varied through the ages. In the beginning of the Christian era it was generally much different than is usual now.
In the first three centuries, baptism was available only for adults who had studied the Christian church and come to accept it. When a candidate was ready for entrance to the church, he was presented by a "witness", who would testify to the candidate's knowledge. The candidate might be subjected to further tests and examinations by the church leaders. If accepted, the candidate was baptized, generally by immersion in water. The significance of this was that the baptism was a symbolic act of cleansing. The word "baptism" comes from the Greek word meaning dipping or washing. The New Testament says nothing about how baptism was to be performed except the those being baptized were to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. These last words became the key to whether a baptism had been performed.
Baptism was the means of entry into the church, and later into heaven. It could only be performed once. If one was not baptized, one was excluded from heaven. This led to a concern about people who had not yet been baptized. Infant baptism was the answer and about the Third Century, infants were baptized. By the Sixth Century, it was rare to find an adult baptism.
To baptize infants, a revision to the procedures was necessary. Someone had to act on behalf of the child, and this was usually a parent. Immersion was gradually replaced by sprinkling. With infant baptism fully the policy, it followed that it should be performed as soon as possible after the birth. Then confirmation was added, in which instruction of the individual was performed. The original practice had been instruction first and then baptism. In some churches, the confirmation could be performed only by the bishops. [In colonial Virginia, there were no bishops, so one had to go to England to be confirmed. Or the Virginia way of doing things developed, which was to forget the confirmation process.] It was not until the Twelfth Century that confirmation became one of the seven sacraments. Confirmation, like baptism, could never be repeated.
As a part of the infant baptism, people were designated as sponsors. The (leading) sponsor acted for the child during the baptism, and took the infant from the priest after the triple immersion had been performed. The sponsor had the obligation to foster the child's religious and moral development. The sponsor was required to be a Christian. Early on, the infant had only one sponsor, who might be a parent. We are now up to about the Ninth Century in the development of the baptismal rite.
(28 Jun 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.