The Sacrament of Baptism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Sacrament of Baptism - Research Paper ExampleFurthermore, Baptism is the eucharist of regeneration by way of water in the word. It is also defined as the sacrament of supernatural rebirth. Moreover, it gives us a new life. The sacrament of baptism is the first of the seven sacraments not only in time but in priority. This is because new(prenominal) sacraments depend on it (catholicism.about.com). The sacrament of Baptism is necessary to Christians as Christ Himself ordered His disciples to preach the Gospel to all nations and baptize those the accept the message of the Gospel. ( stern 31-21), during His accept with Nicodemus, He made it clear that for salvation baptism was necessary Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot move in into the kingdom of God. Furthermore, for Catholics take baptism as a mark of a Christian as it brings Christians into a new life in Christ. The biblical root of the sacrament of baptism The biblica l root of the sacrament of baptism is evident as many events in Israels salvation history direct to the saving grace found in the waters of baptism e.g. Israel Crossing the Red Sea, the great Flood and the Israel crossing the River Jordan into the promised land. In the Gospel, at the beginning of Jesus public ministry, he was baptized by John in the River Jordan. In and during this event, Jesus, the sinless One, identified himself with sinful humanity whom he came to set free from the slavery and power of sins. Jesus filled the waters with his augur presence by stepping into River Jordan just as he does when the water is blesses during the sacrament of baptism. Furthermore, before Jesus returned to His Father, He issued the Great commission to preach in his name, aim disciples and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 2816-20). Types of sacrament of baptism Churches recognize that apart from the baptism of water there is also baptism of desire. This is ba ptism employs both to those who, slip by early in time before being baptized while as they wished to be baptized, and those who through no fault of their own, do not hunch the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who still seek God with an open and genuine heart, and moved by grace, make an effort in their actions to do His will as they know it through the guiding principle of conscience (Constitution on the Church, Second Vatican Council). Similar to baptism of desire, baptism of blood refers to the martyrdom of those believers who were killed for the faith before they had an probability to be baptized. This was widely known to occur in church during the early centuries, but also, later on in missionary lands. Consequently, the baptism of blood has the same set up as the baptism of water. The principal symbols of Baptism The main symbols of the sacrament of baptism portray the meaning of this sacrament. These symbols include water, oil, white garment and candle. Water is symboli c as it can both get down and save life. In the sacrament of baptism, pouring of the blessed water is the outward obviously seen sign of the interior transformation being brought about in the nous (Jensen, 69). In the Old Testament, oil was used to anoint kings and queens to symbolize the coming of Gods Spirit to enable them to be godly leaders of Gods people. Similarly, the anointing of a candidate at Baptism with sacred chrism, blesses by the bishop, symbolizes an interior anointing in