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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Baptism Series Part 3: Who can perform Baptism and who can be baptized?

Who can perform the Sacrament of Holy Baptism? According to the Small Catechism, "Normally the called ministers of Christ are to baptize but in cases of emergency and when no pastor is available, any Christian should baptize." So, are you saying that even mom and dad can baptize someone? In an emergency situation, any Christian can baptize. In fact, Luther gives a short form for Holy Baptism in cases of emergency*. In emergency situations, any Christian can baptize people, but in normal situations, the called ministers of Christ are the ones who administer Baptism.

Who can be baptized? Anyone! ... Well, that's not entirely true. There's no double dipping in Baptism. Once you've been baptized, you can only be baptized once, even if you were baptized originally in another Christian denomination. As long as Baptism is administered using the Trinitarian Invocation (I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit), your baptism is valid. So if you were baptized in the Baptist church or the Assemblies of God or in the Methodist church, you're good. If you were baptized in a pseudochristian sect (Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormonism), they would have to be baptized again, due to the fact that they deny the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. So back to our original question: Anyone.

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