An Overview of Baptism in the Church of the Brethren

From its beginning, the Church of the Brethren denomination was concerned about baptism. In fact, “much of the early published writings of Brethren authors were about the subject of baptism.” Baptism and eschatology were written about more than any other subject by the early leaders.

Early Meaning of Baptism

The Brethren were highly influenced by the Anabaptists who taught the concept of two Kingdoms: the Kingdom of man, and the Kingdom of God. Christians were to be part of the Kingdom of God, a separate people of God; and baptism was the symbol of this separation. The Anabaptists also taught that infant baptism was wrong, because anywhere baptism is taught or practiced in the Scriptures, it always follows repentance and believing. “A baby just couldn’t do these things.”

In 1708, Alexander Mack and seven others covenanted together to follow and obey the teachings of the New Testament. They gathered on the banks of the Eder River in Schwarzenau, Germany, to demonstrate the public means of this covenant: baptism. They felt strongly that they “must be baptized according to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles.” It was an illegal act for an adult to be “re-baptized” after having been baptized as a baby. The meaning of baptism was so deep for these early founders, that they were willing to die for it.

These early believers of the Church of the Brethren felt that baptism was a necessary action for their faith. Their primary goal was the desire for a marked gathered community of believers according to the “Rights and Ordinances” of the New Testament. Since believer’s baptism was explicitly commanded by Christ and by the New Testament authors, they knew they had to do it if they were going to call themselves New Testament people. The Church was the gathered body and baptism was the mark of membership in the Body. They believed that the Holy Spirit was leading them in unity and baptism was a sign of the work of the Spirit.

When they studied the Scriptures, they saw that baptism had deep significance. According to early Brethren theologians, baptism in the New Testament developed through three distinct phases. Each of these phases was cumulative; adding further meaning and insights as God revealed them to the previous phase. The phases are: John’s baptism (which is a baptism of repentance and a once-for-all forgiveness of sin), Jesus’ baptism (a representation of the coming of the Holy Spirit and an ordination to ministry), and Paul’s baptism (a baptism that is postresurrection and represents a “union with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection”). For the early Brethren, baptism by forward trine immersion held all of these meanings.

Baptism Today

For Brethren today, there should be no question about the necessity of the rite of baptism. While it is essential, they believe that it is not as essential as faith and repentance. “A believer who desires to be baptized, but cannot obtain it because of necessity – like the criminal on the cross – is still saved. If, however, a man does not desire to be baptized, he is rightly to be judged as unbelieving and disobedient, not because of baptism, but because of his unbelief and disobedience.” Baptism didn’t automatically bring salvation or the Holy Spirit either. They did not believe that the Holy Spirit was commanded by baptism, but that the Holy Spirit commanded baptism. The earliest Brethren also included the laying on of hands right after baptism, specifically for the receiving of the Holy Spirit. This was to make sure that the new believer received the fruit of the Spirit and received spiritual gifts for public ministry, and evangelism (and proclamation).

Brethren today believe that baptism is linked to repentance. They see baptism as a celebration of God’s forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ. This does not necessarily mean they believe that baptism is the time of salvation, but baptism is because of salvation. One very important meaning to baptism is that the very act of it is a separation from the world and a shift of loyalty from the values of the present age to those of the age to come. Baptism also incorporates the believer “into a community of believers, a common life where faith flourishes and worship abounds.”

One of the major reasons for baptism by immersion today in the Church of the Brethren is to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Both Matthew 3:15-16 and Mark 1:9 tell us that Jesus came up out of the water. You can not come up out of the water, unless you went down into it. This means that Jesus Himself was baptized by immersion. Jesus also commanded baptism for his followers (Matthew 28:19 & Mark 16:16). The Brethren also believe that baptism publicly confesses Christ (Romans 10:9-10), and is a sign of you following His commands (1 John 2:3). The Brethren hold up the Scriptures of 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 & Colossians 2:12 to show us that immersion makes us one with Jesus’ burial and resurrection and that immersion best symbolizes death to sin, and rising to new life (Romans 6:4 & Colossians 2:12). They believe strongly that baptism is putting on Christ (Galatians 3:27) and symbolizes a washing away of sins (Acts 22:16).

Three Times Forward

The mode of baptism (the way it is done) also has special meaning for Brethren. Many would argue today that the only proper way for baptism is three times forward. They believe that being immersed forwards shows that you relate to Christ’s death. When Jesus died on the cross, He bowed His head (John 19:30). For Brethren this suggests that baptism should be forward as well, because you relate to Jesus’ death in baptism. They believe that trine immersion by a forward motion is the literal application of the Scripture. If Jesus bowed His head in a forward movement, then we too, should receive baptism in the same way, bowing our heads in a forward movement. The Brethren also believe strongly in trine immersion so that faith in the Trinity can be shown. They make a big deal that the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19), specifically calls on the Trinity in baptism. They call for people to be immersed three times, once at the naming of each person of the Godhead. After studying the writing of the early church fathers, the Brethren truly believe that “Trine Immersion proves itself to be the best and most complete way to carry out all the Scriptures command in relation to the rite of baptism. Historically, the early authors and Church fathers unite together in giving a vast amount of testimony supporting Trine Immersion, along with countless historians throughout the ages”16 They point to many early Church writings, which include:

• The Didache. Sometimes called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, was written about A.D. 100. It says, “But concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: having first recited all these precepts, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in running water.” Brethren scholars believe this to be a strong implication for trine immersion as the preferred means of baptism.




• Tertullian, A.D. 160-220: “Jesus gave as his last command that they shouldimmerse into the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not into one person.Therefore, all who believed were immersed. For we are immersed, not oncebut thrice, at the naming of every person of the Trinity.”




• Augustine, A.D. 354-430, “In this font, before we dipped your whole body, we asked you, ‘Believest thou in God the omnipotent Father?’ After you declared that you believed, we immersed three times your heads in the sacred font … You are rightly immersed three times, you who receive baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, who rose the third day from the dead” (Sermon on the Mystery of Baptism).




• Jerome, A.D. 340-420: “We are thrice dipped in water that the mystery of the Trinity may appear to be but one, and therefore though we be thrice put under the water to represent the mystery of the Trinity, yet it is reputed to be but one baptism.”




• Chrysostom, A.D. 347-407 “Christ delivered to his disciples one baptism in three immersions when he said to them, ‘Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

In fact, the Brethren scholars point out that when Church leaders study what the early church did, they are forced to use trine baptism. They use John Wesley as one example: “when Mr. Wesley baptized adults professing faith in Christ, he chose to do it by trine immersion if the person would submit to it, judging this to be the apostolic method.”

Since the early founders of the denomination believed that baptism was necessary for salvation, it should be noted that this is not the official stance of the denomination today. In 1958 a major shift took place. At the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, the denomination in the name of ecumenicism voted to accept ‘letters of transfer’ (no matter how the believer was baptized) as acceptance for good standing membership status. Prior to this landmark decision, members desiring to join the Church of the Brethren from another Christian denomination were required to be rebaptized by trine immersion, even though they retained good standing membership status in another denomination. You can not believe that immersion is a necessary mark of salvation and agree with this position. This should show that the meaning of baptism for the Church of the Brethren varies from member to member.

Information courtesy of an excerpt of the essay “Church of Brethren Ordinances: Baptism and the Love Feast” by Robert E. Tevis III, retrieved from http://www.cerrogordocob.com/sermons/Brethren_Ordinances.pdf