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What Did the Early Christians Believe About Baptism? The Unity of the Early Church on Baptism Baptism wasn’t a controversial issue among the first Christians—it was a point of remarkable unity. Despite early theological debates on other topics, there was widespread agreement among the Church Fathers on the essential meaning and effects of baptism. Everett Ferguson, a Protestant elder, biblical scholar, and Church historian, explores this in depth in his landmark work Baptism in the …

St. Justin Martyr’s First Apology dates to around 160. In the text we find Justin offering an explanation and a defense to the pagan emperor. That includes a description of what the Christians of his day thought about baptism:I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertak …