In the early church, baptism wasn't just a polite ritual; it was considered a literal "plunging" into the death of Christ.
: In some early periods, people waited until they were literally on their deathbeds to be baptized, hoping to wash away a lifetime of sin in one final act before meeting God. death_and_baptism
: Early Church Fathers like Tertullian noted that while the act is physical (the water), the effect is spiritual: being "freed from our sins" and passing from death to life. In the early church, baptism wasn't just a
If baptism is a funeral, why do we celebrate it? Because this specific "death" is the only way to bypass the finality of physical death. In the early church