Question 41 · Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Does baptism save, or is it only a sign?

What the sources show

Justin Martyr c. 155 · Letter of Barnabas c. 130 · Shepherd of Hermas c. 140 · Tertullian c. 203 · Cyril of Jerusalem c. 350New birth

Every early writer speaks of baptism as rebirth and washing: Justin, Barnabas, Hermas ("they go down dead and come up alive"), Tertullian and Cyril. ¹²³⁵⁶

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1992 · Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) 1530 · Westminster Assembly 1646 · Southern Baptist Convention 2000

Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran churches still teach this. The Reformed call it a sign and seal; Baptists, a symbol of faith already given. ⁷⁸⁹¹⁰

The answers given:

ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today

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Apostolic Fathers

30–150

130c. AD

New birth

Letter of BarnabasLetter of Barnabas 11.11

This means that we go down into the water full of sins and filth, and come up bearing fruit, with fear in our heart and hope in Jesus in our spirit.

Barnabas reads the river of Ezekiel 47 as baptism.

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140c. AD

New birth

Shepherd of Hermas fl. c. 140 ADShepherd of Hermas Similitude 9.16.3–4

Before a person bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead; but when he receives the seal, he lays aside death and takes up life. The seal, then, is the water. They go down into the water dead and come up alive.

"The seal" is the second-century name for baptism.

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Before Nicaea

150–325

155c. AD

New birth

Justin Martyr c. 100–c. 165 ADFirst Apology 61.3–4

Then they are brought by us to where there is water, and are reborn in the same way of rebirth by which we ourselves were reborn. For in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing in the water. For Christ said: "Unless you are born again, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (John 3:3–5).

The earliest description of baptism outside the New Testament, written for the emperor. Justin also calls it "illumination" (61.12).

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180c. AD

New birth

Theophilus of Antioch fl. c. 180 ADTo Autolycus 2.16

so that this too would be a sign that all who come to the truth, and are reborn and receive a blessing from God, are to receive repentance and forgiveness of sins through water and the washing of rebirth.

On the fifth day of creation: the creatures made from the waters were blessed, and Theophilus reads that blessing as a figure of baptism.

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203c. AD

New birth

Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADOn Baptism 1.1

Happy is our sacrament of water, because, washed of the sins of our former blindness, we are set free for eternal life!

The first whole treatise on baptism, written against a teacher who said faith alone was enough without water.

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Nicaea to Chalcedon

325–451

350c. AD

New birth

Cyril of Jerusalem c. 313–386 ADMystagogic Catecheses 2.6

Let no one think that baptism is only for forgiveness of sins and the grace of adoption, as John's baptism gave only forgiveness of sins. We know well that just as it cleanses from sins and brings the gift of the Holy Spirit, so it is also the copy of Christ's sufferings.

Addressed to the newly baptized at Jerusalem in Easter week. Some scholars give the Mystagogic Catecheses to Cyril's successor John.

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Reformation

1500–1700

1530AD

New birth

Augsburg Confession (Lutheran)Augsburg Confession Article IX

Of Baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and that through Baptism is offered the grace of God

Luther kept baptismal regeneration.

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1646AD

Sign and seal

Westminster AssemblyWestminster Confession of Faith 28.1

Baptism is a sacrament of the new testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church; but also, to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life.

The Reformed middle view: a sign and seal through which grace is given, but not tied to the moment of baptism (28.5–6).

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Modern churches

1700–today

1992AD

New birth

Catechism of the Catholic ChurchCatechism of the Catholic Church 1213

Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church

Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran churches all teach that baptism gives new birth.

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2000AD

Symbol

Southern Baptist ConventionBaptist Faith and Message Article VII

It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.

Baptists and most free churches see baptism as the believer's public act of obedience.

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Witnesses not in the library yet

These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.

1525
Huldrych Zwingli, On Baptism
The first Reformer to call baptism only a sign of commitment.

How this page was made

Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.