This is the second post in a series that will highlight five ways the contemporary evangelical church can learn from church history about spiritual formation. This post focuses on the traditions of catechesis and baptism.
The Early Church: Make Sure They Know What They’re Getting Into
The initiation of new disciples into the church has historically been a spiritually formative process. In the apostolic era, becoming a Christian meant risking one’s life; it was not a flippant decision. Two noteworthy sources from the patristic era detail the scrutiny and preparation that preceded one’s participation in the life of the church. First, the Didache, also known as “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”, which provides instructions for believers, likely written around the turn of the first century[1]:
“And concerning baptism, baptize in this way: having reviewed all of these things, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in running water. But if you do not have access to running water, baptize in other water. And if you are not able to baptize with cold water, then baptize with warm water. But if you possess neither, pour water on the head three times, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And before the baptism the baptizer should fast beforehand, and the one being baptized and any others who are able. Call upon the one being baptized to fast beforehand for one or two days.”[2]
Additionally, the writers make baptism a prerequisite to participation in the weekly meal of the church: “But none shall eat or shall drink from your Eucharist but those baptized in the name of the Lord; for also concerning this the Lord has said, ‘Do give not what is holy to the dogs.’”[3]
In the second century, Justin Martyr similarly explains, “And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.”[4] Apparently, the baptizands were scrutinized as to whether their faith and conduct were aligned with the church’s doctrine. One can find similar processes in examples from Syria, Egypt, Rome, and North Africa – all prior to the fourth century.[5] The threshold for entry into the Christian community was a formational process in which the whole community participated.
The Middle Ages: Infant Baptism and Confirmation
In the fourth century, baptism transitioned from “a ritual expression of one’s conversion experience” to a “means of conveying a profound experience to the candidates in the hope of bringing about their conversion.”[6]
The belief that baptism washed away one’s sins had previous led some to delay baptism so as to cover as many of their sins as possible. The same belief also led to the opposite extreme: baptizing infants in the case of their possible death before salvation.[7] Therefore bishops began administering baptism to children, a practice that grew in popularity until it became “more or less universal throughout the Christian Church.”[8] Even though the earliest reference to infant baptism (by Tertullian in the third century) disapproves of the practice, its widespread adoption paved the way for a post-baptismal “sealing” and confirmation.[9]
The reversal in the order of catechesis (i.e., preliminary instruction) and baptism significantly affected the process of spiritual formation, allowing membership in the church independent from the conversion and instruction which had previously accompanied it. In other words, one could become a “Christian” without any knowledge or practice of what that meant.
Since the Reformation: Individual Decisions Replace Baptism and Catechesis
In the medieval era, one was accounted a Christian by simply being born in a Christian state and being baptized – often as mandated by law. Anabaptist Reformers in the sixteenth century, such as Conrad Grebel, recognized the abuses of infant baptism and rejected the state’s authority over the church to mandate such.[10] Modern evangelicals align much more closely with Grebel’s ideal of the separation of church and state, but this institutional break contributed to the devaluing of the corporate experience of the believer.
By the time of the Second Great Awakening of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, evangelists such as Charles Finney had, in many ways, reduced the invitation to become a Christian to an emotional and individualistic appeal to make a decision to follow Jesus.[11] Although this revivalism produced many converts, it yielded negative results as well.
Baptism into a local church, as well as any meaningful catechesis, ceased to be a necessary part of one’s spiritual formation. One could claim a “personal relationship with Christ” – a phrase popularized by Charles Fuller’s radio program in the mid-twentieth century[12] – without knowing the basics of the trinitarian faith or belonging to any church community. Some evangelical churches now practice spontaneous baptisms, and others have completely replaced the sacrament with a formulaic prayer or a new believer’s class. Many such converts fall away on account of the lack of substance or accountability in their faith.
What About Us?
We must recognize the developments in today’s church that depart from centuries of tradition (to our detriment).
First, there is no historical precedent for someone becoming a Christian and not becoming a member of a church. This new reality is a modern invention of individualism.
Second, until recently in church history, a period of catechesis and baptism preceded church membership. There were no unbaptized members of the church. It would have been an oxymoron. If you did not understand and agree with the apostles’ teaching and commit to live accordingly, you were not permitted to be baptized and join the church.
Third, weekly participation in the Eucharist was restricted only to baptized members of the church. Because we have lost the centrality of the Eucharist in our worship gatherings, we miss the significance of such distinction.
We must recover the traditions of onboarding new believers into the church through a process of catechesis and baptism.
[1] Rick Brannan, trans., The Apostolic Fathers in English (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012). Logos Bible Software.
[2] Didache 7.1-4.
[3] Didache 9.5.
[4] Justin Martyr The First Apology 65.
[5] Paul F. Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship: A Basic Introduction to Ideas and Practice, (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010) 9-22.
[6] Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship, 23.
[7] Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship, 35.
[8] Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship, 36.
[9] Bradshaw, Early Christian Worship, 33, 37-38.
[10] Armitage, “Lecture – Radical Baptism”.
[11] Sten-Erik Armitage, “Lecture –Anglican Spirituality.” Dallas Theological Seminary, December 2024.
[12] Sten-Erik Armitage, “Lecture –Evangelicalism.” Dallas Theological Seminary, December 2024.