One Baptism
Colossians 2:8-15
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 4:1-6
1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
One baptism
For the forgiveness of sins
One Church
One baptism
for the forgivness of sins
Colossians 2:8-15
8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. 9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.
Galatians 3:27-29
27 For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.
What is required for baptism?
Faith
In baptism, the church is making a confession:
This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
One Baptism
• We are baptized, not simply in church, but into the church.
• There is one baptism because there is one Lord and one salvation event–Christ’s death and resurrection.
• Baptism, like communion, is not ‘owned’ by a denomination. It is the action of the Triune God.
• Unity is not achieved by a church; it is a gift to be received.
For the Forgiveness of Sins
• Repentance and conversion are lifelong, for although one enters the Christian life at baptism, in another sense, one becomes a Christian over a lifetime.
• Baptism signifies that a person is committed to a life of repentance and growth.
• Baptism is a reminder to the church–we are a community of salvation.
A Community of Salvation:
The church is also a community of those whom Jesus Christ died, whose sins are forgiven.
To be identified as a community of salvation also expresses the demands of Christian living.
By taking the name Christian in baptism and being incorporated into Christ’s body, the baptized assume the responsibility to offer forgiveness to one another in imitation of the one into whom they are baptized.
The confession of one baptism is also essentially the confession of one Lord, one faith, and one church. There is only one baptism because there is only one Christ, dead and risen, into whom we are baptized. Baptism proclaims the Christian interpretation of Jesus’ death, that it was ‘for us and for our salvation.’ Baptism affects something, namely, life in Christ and life in a community of salvation, the church.
