Ancient Christian Witness

Quote:
Originally Posted by phil
i ain't gonna front
like i been reading all tertullian's works... admittedly i was googling early
church and credobaptism

it would seem this quote from the ninja turtle
himself would imply that certain folks held to credo & others to children
baptism (though i find it hard to get infant out of this, but that's another
story)...

is this quote not evidence to the fact that some in early
church practiced credobaptism?

i am certainly open to loving
correction!

In his day... ..which was about the early 3rd century, you had a fad of Credo-Baptist custom. This fast lasted to about the middle of the 4th century.


This was done.....not for the reasons you are thinking about. His premise for telling parents to wait for their kids to be baptized was done for a different reason.


You don't believe in Baptismal regeneration. So this quote should be understood with that doctrine in mind.

Tertullian didn't want infants to be baptized because he wanted them to sin first. Yes, he wanted people to actually have a chance to sin....before getting it washed away. He didn't think Babies were sinful.

Baptism washes away all past sins. And this is the reason why the Emperor Constantine waited to be Baptized at his death bed. He wanted all his past sins to be wiped away.



Christians were scared to sin after Baptism. And this was the reason for the temperory fad of Credo-Baptism.

The fad ended whith the Christian Theologians of the 4th century. All it took, was to point to the fact that sins can be forgivin after Baptism.

This is why we confess our sins to God and to One another.


The Church in Tertullians day, had a very high view of Holiness!!! they believed that we are sinners because we sin. The later Augustinian idea of sinning because we are sinners wasn't around back then.





This is the context that one should keep in mind.




JNORM888