What Does the Bible Teach About Baptism?
The brochure " What does the Bible teach about baptism? ", Written by Franz Eugen Schlachter in 1896 , deals with the question of what biblical baptism should look like. The content of the brochure is Schlachter's personal understanding of baptism and its theological presentation.
At the beginning of the booklet he asks the following questions, which he then answers biblically :
- What does baptize mean?
- Who is baptized and under what conditions?
- Through whom is baptism performed?
- For what purpose?
- Finally, we ask what kind of meaning is given to baptism in Scripture.
Schlachter concludes:
"Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, which is carried out in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and which expresses the passage of man from the old life into the new and from the world into the community and church of Christ brings. "
Franz Eugen Schlachter himself was baptized in 1884 by the preacher of the Free Evangelical Congregation in Thun , Konrad Werndli. This step triggered a crisis in the Evangelical Society of the Canton of Bern and led to irritation, which could, however, be dispelled.
This brochure can be seen against this background and in view of the fact that he later practiced adult baptism as a preacher for the Free Evangelical Congregation in Bern .