Baptism

to do with growing in maturity in faith.
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Then the mode of this ceremony and the occurrence (whether it should be
public or private or concealed) depends on the communal situation. If a
public announcement destroys the person should we refrain from such public
display? When the early church was an underground church, baptism was
conducted underground among the believing community. Sometimes an open
baptism becomes a powerful witnessing in situation. We can hardly place a
hard and fast rule regarding, when, where, how of the ceremony.
3. Baptism is a sign and seal of the new covenant.
Before we go into the details let us first understand what is a covenant:
Webster's New World Dictionary defines a "Covenant" or "Testament" as
follows. "A binding and solemn agreement to do or keep from doing a
specified thing; compact, a will, or an agreement made by or between two or
more parties; orig., a covenant, esp. one between God and man; a statement,
act, etc. testifying to the fact, validity, or worth of something; testimonial
(©1995 Zane Publishing, Inc. ©1994, 1991, 1988 Simon & Schuster, Inc.)"
A Biblical Covenant is a contract or a promise by God with people. There are
actually two major covenants. (In fact when God deals with an individual or a
family or a community he makes a covenant with them). The Old Covenant
given in Old Testament and the New Covenant given in the New Testament.
Even though the covenant is new, both the Old and the new covenants are
essentially same.
The mediator is the same: Jesus
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
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