Baptism
The re-baptism is the re- baptism of an already baptized people. Most Christian churches view baptism as a one-off event; the reasons for this are different.
Exegetical differences
In particular, the churches that practice infant baptism assume in their doctrine of baptism that in baptism it is not man but the triune God who is the doer (see also: Sacrament ). In the event of a new baptism, so the argumentation, the act of God at the first baptism is rejected. From this point of view, rebaptism is understood as an act directed against God .
Representatives of the baptism of believers, on the other hand, regard biblical baptism as a testimony and a one-off setting of one's own belief in the community. Child baptism does not meet these requirements.
"Baptism" in the New Testament
To prove that rebaptism already occurs in the New Testament , a passage in the Acts of the Apostles ( Acts 19 : 1-7 EU ) is sometimes cited. It describes the encounter between the apostle Paul and disciples of John the Baptist . Paul asks them what name they were baptized in. They answer that they received the baptism of John. Then Paul baptizes her again, but in the name of Jesus. This section raises the question of the relationship between the baptism of John and Christian baptism. One of the answers to this question was: John saw himself as a forerunner of Jesus. The baptism of John is a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, a baptism of repentance . Christian baptism, on the other hand, takes place in the name of the Triune God or in the name of Jesus. Both baptisms must therefore be distinguished from one another theologically. In the interdenominational baptism discussion, the representatives of the baptism of believers sometimes use this interpretation: Infant baptism is a “way-preparing” baptism towards Christ and can therefore be performed “again” when the child baptized has personally found Christ. This analogy is not conclusive, however, since the baptism of John presupposes the conscious conversion (repentance) of a person.
Conditional baptism
The Roman Catholic Church and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) know the so-called conditional baptism (baptism sub conditione) . People are baptized here who are not sure whether they have already been validly baptized. The conditional baptism is introduced with the words: On the condition that you are not validly baptized, I will baptize you… . This avoids rebaptisms, which are regarded as strictly forbidden.
Today's controversy
Churches in which infant baptism is the norm sometimes accuse baptized Free Churches of being Anabaptists when they baptize someone who has received baptism. Free churches of this type, however, regard infant baptism as unbiblical and therefore invalid. According to this conception, it lacks an essential element: the person being baptized's personal decision to follow Jesus . So if you do not baptize a person until they have made a decision, you consider this to be biblical. For them it is also a first baptism if the person to be baptized is already considered a minor from the point of view of a church of origin, e.g. B. as an infant, has been validly baptized. Even in baptismal free churches, baptism is not performed on people who have already been baptized for Christ on the basis of a conscious decision of faith, since they too consider a valid baptism to be unrepeatable.
It is therefore clear that the assessment of whether or not there is a rebaptism depends on whether or not a previous act is considered a valid baptism.
From the perspective of the Evangelical Church in Germany such as B. the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony , but also the SELK is a baptism that they see as rebaptism, synonymous with leaving the church:
“Anyone who is rebaptized doubts the validity of the baptism received as a child or adult and contradicts the teaching and practice of baptism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church. This must be followed up with pastoral care, including the stated intention to do so. With a rebaptism, the separation from the regional church occurs as long as those concerned do not distance themselves from the rebaptism and express their consent to the teaching and practice of baptism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church. "
Persecution story
In the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church , the " Anabaptists " are assigned the anathema (in German: ecclesiastical ban). For example, the fundamental confession of the Lutheran churches , the Augsburg Confession in Article 9:
Baptism is taught that it is necessary and that grace is offered through it; that children should also be baptized who, through baptism, are handed over to God and made pleasing. Therefore the Anabaptists are rejected, who teach that infant baptism is not right.
In the 16th century, the so-called Anabaptists were persecuted by Roman Catholic and Evangelical Reformed rulers. Ulrich Zwingli gave up the belief in 1519 that children who were not baptized and who then die would be lost to eternal salvation. In 1521 he called the doctrine that baptism could cleanse from original sin , a superstition . Nevertheless, Zwingli distanced himself from the Anabaptists because they wanted the separation of church and state . He feared that the Reformation in Zurich might fail as a result and that Catholicism would be reintroduced. As a result, the Anabaptists in Zurich were also persecuted. B. Felix Manz .
In Central Europe persecution lasted until the middle of the 19th century. Thousands died.
See also
- Martyrs of the Anabaptist Movement
- Synod of Martyrs in Augsburg
- Anabaptist mandate from Speyer
- Martyr's Mirror
The Anabaptist Empire of Münster plays a special role in the history of the Anabaptists . The Munster Anabaptists ruled Munster ( Westphalia ) in the 1530s , the New Jerusalem they named .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Can. 869 CIC 1983 , read April 20, 2011.
- ↑ See, for example, the sermon on the occasion of a conditional baptism in the SELK ( memento from September 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), read on April 20, 2011.
- ↑ Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Saxony: Baptism Order of April 11, 2005, in: Official Journal of the Evangelical Church in Germany 9 (2005) , p. 452.
- ↑ Alfred Kuen: Congregation according to God's blueprint. 3. Edition. Publishing house and writing mission of the Evangelical Society for Germany, Wuppertal 1986, ISBN 3-7256-0020-1 , p. 189.