Editorial May 2, 1970 Issue

The Continual Nature of Baptism

William Milford Correll

In many religious denominations baptism is considered as a material rite, a sacrament, taking place at one time to signify purification. Some people use water baptism through immersion, others use it through a sprinkling ceremony. Christ Jesus submitted to water baptism because he felt it symbolized the necessity of moral cleansing and the time and custom demanded it. He said, "Suffer it to be so now." Matt. 3:15; But it must be understood that he did not employ such a ceremony in his own ministry or advocate it for his followers.

One of the difficulties in considering baptism as a material ceremony is that we are liable to lose sight of the continual spiritual cleansing that is the essence of baptism. John the Baptist spoke of Jesus as one who would baptize "with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." v. 11; And throughout Jesus' teaching he advocated continual purification of thought and life that resulted in healing and regeneration. Christian Science corroborates this and stresses the spiritualization of thought that actually and permanently liberates one from sin and disease. Mrs. Eddy defines "baptism" in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, as "purification by Spirit; submergence in Spirit." Science and Health, p. 581;

The student of this Science engages in daily and hourly efforts to purify his thinking and living. He knows that all discord, all suffering and limitation, come from the belief that man is a material creature, caused materially, governed by material laws, and subject to corporeal sense. He understands that a true sense of baptism must go far beyond a ceremonial cleansing, for a simple rite cannot break the claim of original sin. Baptism must extend to a transformation of thought from matter to Spirit. The individual must come to realize the spiritual nature of man in the image and likeness of God. He must come to understand the substance of Spirit and the unreality of matter. Christ Jesus spoke of being born again. He said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:5; Here he showed that both the moral regeneration and the spiritual transformation are necessary to a permanent solution to the problems of human existence.

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