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Ancient stone baptistry beside an early-Christian manuscript

The complete Baptism study hub

Every baptism resource.
One clear place to begin.

Courses, David Bercot Q&As, Historic Faith lessons, Scripture studies, and Sound Faith videos—gathered into one guided library.

Help with infant baptism Start the full course
4
course lectures
17
direct Q&As
10
related videos
9
more lessons

Recommended for the question you were sent

Confused by claims about infant baptism in the early church?

Do not begin with a pile of isolated quotations. Begin with the short answer, hear the direct objection answered, and then examine the full chronology in the restored course.

Watch this first · 6 min Did the Early Church Practice Infant Baptism? - David Bercot
1 Six-minute orientationWhat did the early church actually practice? 2 Direct answer · 4 minWhy Reject Infant Baptism If Early Christians Practiced It? 3 Complete investigationTruth about Baptism: Infant or Believers

Why this order? The short video identifies the chronology problem. The focused Q&A addresses the exact objection. The full course then lets you test the conclusion against Scripture and the surviving historical evidence.

Begin with our flagship course

Truth about Baptism: Infant or Believers

Four original lectures restored with their matching video, audio, Soniox transcript, quiz, discussion questions, jumpstarter, and downloadable lesson material.

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Truth about Baptism: Infant or Believers Restored & verified

Complete course · 4 video lectures

Truth about Baptism: Infant or Believers

Explore the historical debate between infant baptism and believers' baptism. Discover what the earliest Christians actually practiced and taught about this foundational sacrament of the faith.

  • Exact original video players
  • Synchronized, spell-checked transcripts
  • Quizzes and discussion questions
  • Printable lesson materials
Start the course
Lecture 1 49 min · Video lesson Lecture 1: What the Early Christians Believed about Infant Baptism and Believers Baptism Lecture 2 51 min · Video lesson Lecture 2: What the Early Christians Believed about Infant Baptism and Believers Baptism. Lecture 3 42 min · Video lesson Lecture 3: What the Early Christians Believed about Infant Baptism and Believers Baptism. Lecture 4 29 min · Video lesson Lecture 4: What the Early Christians Believed about Infant Baptism and Believers Baptism.

Every answer in one place

All 17 David Bercot baptism Q&As

Choose the question closest to your own. Every card opens the complete lesson player and transcript.

Full collectionBaptism Questions Answered
Q&A 01 David Bercot · 13 min What Is the Appropriate Age for Baptism According to Early Church Practices? Open answer Q&A 02 David Bercot · 8 min How Would the Early Church View a Believer Who Decides Not to Get Baptized? Open answer Q&A 03 David Bercot · 4 min What Was the Early Christian View on the Laying on of Hands for the Holy Spirit and Forgiveness of Sins in Baptism? Open answer Q&A 04 David Bercot · 2 min Should a Person Be Baptized If He Doesn't Agree with the Church for the Sake of Being Baptized? Open answer Q&A 05 David Bercot · 9 min Do You Think I Should Get Rebaptized as an Adult? Open answer Q&A 06 David Bercot · 3 min Are You Saying That a Person Who Prays a Sinner's Prayer Is Not Truly Born Again? Open answer Q&A 07 David Bercot · 6 min Should Baptism Be Delayed Until Church Membership? Open answer Q&A 08 David Bercot · 4 min What Mode of Baptism Was Most Often the Priority Mode, or Did Early Christians Have a Specific Mode That They Held To? Open answer Q&A 09 David Bercot · 5 min Was the Mode of Entering the Jewish Faith Also Baptism According to the Talmud? Open answer Q&A 10 David Bercot · 2 min Should Those Baptized Merely to Join the Church Be Re-baptized in a Setting with Higher Expectations? Open answer Q&A 11 David Bercot · 2 min What Did the Early Christians Believe About Baptism and the Expulsion of Demons? Open answer Q&A 12 David Bercot · 12 min Did the Early Church Understand That You Were Not Born Again Until You Were Baptized? Open answer Q&A 13 David Bercot · 4 min Why Reject Infant Baptism If Early Christians Practiced It? Open answer Q&A 14 David Bercot · 30 min Is Infant Baptism Biblical or Merely Tradition? Open answer Q&A 15 David Bercot · 27 min Should Baptism Be Repeated If It Was Done in a Heretical Group? Open answer Q&A 16 David Bercot · 14 min Are Vows Made at Baptism to a Specific Church Binding If I Didn’t Understand Them? Open answer Q&A 17 David Bercot · 11 min I Was Baptized Once in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Early Church Used Triple Immersion. Should I Be Re-baptized? Open answer

Long-form teaching and course lessons

More baptism on Historic Faith

Complete Q&A episodes, Church Life AD 150, the meaning of baptism to early Christians, apostasy after baptism, and difficult passages such as baptism for the dead.

9 published lessons
Church Life: AD 150 1 hr 8 min · Historic Faith lesson Baptism Open lesson The Life of the Early Christians 57 min · Historic Faith lesson What does "baptized for the dead" in 1 Corinthians 15:29 mean? Open lesson Complete Q&A Episodes 1 hr 13 min · Historic Faith lesson Episode 006 -baptism and the Lord's Supper – The Historic Faith Open lesson Complete Q&A Episodes 49 min · Historic Faith lesson Episode 027 Believers Baptism- Part 1 Open lesson Complete Q&A Episodes 51 min · Historic Faith lesson Episode 028 Believers Baptism – Part 2 Open lesson Complete Q&A Episodes 42 min · Historic Faith lesson Episode 029- Believers Baptism – Part 3 Open lesson Complete Q&A Episodes 1 hr 3 min · Historic Faith lesson Episode 030 Bercot vs. Bercot – Believers Baptism – Part 4 Open lesson Salvation/Apostasy 3 min · Historic Faith lesson Did Early Christians Believe That Those Who Fell Away After Baptism Could Still Be Saved, or Did They View Apostasy as Irreversible? Open lesson Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up Historic Faith lesson Chapter 8: What Baptism Meant to the Early Christians Open lesson

From the Sound Faith YouTube library

Sound Faith baptism videos

Every Sound Faith video whose title is specifically about baptism, with its original YouTube thumbnail and player page.

Visit Sound Faith
Sound Faith 20 min · Video Beyond the Sinner’s Prayer: Steps to True Christian Baptism - David Bercot Watch now Sound Faith 18 min · Video Baptism: A Clean Start, A Lifelong Journey - Zack Morgan Watch now Sound Faith 42 min · Video The Truth About Baptism. What is Baptism? David Bercot Watch now

Interviews and historical studies

Baptism and the early church on video

David Bercot, Dean Taylor, Stephen Russell, and other teachers examine infant baptism, catechesis, the sacraments, Scripture, and early Anabaptist practice.

7 videos
Anabaptist Perspectives 1 hr 3 min · Video We Need Catechesis! Quit Baptizing People Before They Are Ready! - Stephen Russell Watch now Anabaptist Perspectives 1 hr 15 min · Video I Accepted, then Rejected, Infant Baptism Because of Early Church Writings - David Bercot Watch now Anabaptist Perspectives 1 hr 12 min · Video What the Early Church Taught on Sacraments (what the sources say) - Dean Taylor Watch now Anabaptist Perspectives 30 min · Video Communion and Baptism In Scripture and Early Anabaptism - Dean Taylor Watch now Anabaptist Perspectives 1 hr 15 min · Video Anabaptists and the Sacraments: It’s Complicated! - Dean Taylor Watch now Anabaptist Perspectives 9 min · Video You Don’t Use Infant Baptism to Form a Church - Dean Taylor and Stephen Russell Watch now Anabaptist Perspectives 6 min · Video Did the Early Church Practice Infant Baptism? - David Bercot Watch now

Go to the sources

Study Scripture and the early-Christian record

Use the topical Bible, primary-source collection, and complete David Bercot library when you want to investigate beyond a single course or answer.

Topical Bible Baptism in Scripture Read the central baptism passages together and follow their connections across Scripture. Explore resource Primary-source study Baptism in the Early-Christian Writings Trace what the earliest post-apostolic Christian sources say about baptism. Explore resource Speaker library The David Bercot Library Continue with David Bercot’s courses, sermons, interviews, books, and Q&As. Explore resource

Straight answers

What did the early church teach about baptism?

Direct answers built from the primary sources—Tertullian, the Didache, and the rest of the early-Christian record—with every citation linked so you can check the evidence yourself.

Early church Q&A Did the early church practice infant baptism? The supplied evidence does not show infant baptism as an established apostolic or second-century universal practice. The earliest possible reference i… Read the answer Early church Q&A What did the early church believe about believer's baptism? The supplied early Christian sources treat baptism as a water baptism given to believers, connected with repentance, faith in Christ, and remission of… Read the answer Early church Q&A Was baptism by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling in the early church? The supplied evidence points to immersion as the normal and preferred early Christian mode of baptism, especially in living or flowing water. The Dida… Read the answer Early church Q&A Is baptism necessary for salvation? Yes—these sources present baptism as necessary in the ordinary Christian path of salvation, because Jesus and the apostles connect it with being born… Read the answer Early church Q&A What does Acts 2:38 mean by for the remission of sins? In the supplied biblical and early Christian evidence, Acts 2:38 means that repentant believers were to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in con… Read the answer Early church Q&A What did early Christians teach about baptism and repentance? Early Christian writers treated baptism and repentance as closely joined, not as separate or competing ideas. John’s baptism was understood as a bapti… Read the answer Early church Q&A What did Tertullian teach about baptism? In the supplied passage from Tertullian’s On Baptism, he treats baptism as the “most sacred font” of the believer’s “new birth.” He connects baptism w… Read the answer Early church Q&A Why did Tertullian advise delaying baptism? Tertullian advised delaying baptism because he believed baptism should not be administered carelessly or merely because someone asked for it. In the s… Read the answer Early church Q&A What did the Didache teach about baptism? The Didache taught that baptism should be done “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” explicitly connecting this with Ma… Read the answer

Quick clarity

Common baptism questions

Did the earliest Christians practice infant baptism?

The surviving evidence is more complicated than a simple yes or no. The New Testament consistently connects baptism with repentance, faith, and discipleship. Explicit arguments for baptizing infants appear later, while several early sources describe catechesis and a personal confession before baptism. The featured David Bercot resources walk through the evidence and its chronology rather than relying on isolated quotations.

Where should I start if infant baptism is the main question?

Start with David Bercot’s six-minute answer, “Did the Early Church Practice Infant Baptism?” Next listen to the direct Q&A about why early-Christian testimony does not settle the question by itself. Then work through the restored four-lecture Truth about Baptism course.

Does The Historic Faith teach believer’s baptism?

Yes. The Historic Faith presents baptism as the response of a repentant believer who has chosen to follow Jesus, while taking seriously the claims and historical evidence offered for infant baptism.

What is included in the complete baptism course?

The restored course contains four full video lectures with matching audio and Soniox transcripts, plus lesson quizzes, discussion questions, jumpstarters, and downloadable materials.

Are all 17 baptism Q&As on this page?

Yes. The complete David Bercot Baptism Questions Answered collection is shown here, including questions about infant baptism, the proper age and mode, rebaptism, church membership, the new birth, laying on of hands, apostasy, and baptismal vows.

Are these resources free?

Yes. The courses, videos, Q&As, transcripts, Historic Faith lessons, and topical Bible studies linked here can be used free on The Historic Faith.

Ready to begin?

Start with the question. Stay for the evidence.

The six-minute answer gives you the map. The complete course gives you the sources.

Watch the short answer Open the full course