Early Christian Beliefs About Baptism

Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching

in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book I Direct teaching

For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins, but the redemption brought in by that Christ who descended upon Him, was for perfection;

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching

...n? Clearly. Then He did not learn anything more from him? Certainly not. But is He perfected by the washing of baptism alone, and sanctified by the descent of the Spirit? So it is. The same also takes place in our case, and Christ became our example. Being baptized, we are illuminated. Being illuminated, we become sons. Being made sons, we are made perfect. Being made perfect, we are made immortal. "I," He says, "have said that you are gods, and all sons of the Highest." This work is called by various names: grace, illumination, perfection, and washing. It is called washing, because by it we cleanse away our sins. It is called grace, because by it the penalties that come from transgressions are remitted. It is called illumination, because by it that holy light of salvation is seen, that is, by it we see God clearly. Now we call that perfect which lacks nothing. For what is still lacking to the one who knows God? For it would truly be monstrous if that which is not complete should be called a gift, or act, of God's grace. Since He is perfect, He therefore gives perfect gifts. As at His command all things were made, so also when He merely wills to bestow grace, the perfecting of H

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

... by human faith and divine grace, our transgressions being taken away by one Paeonian medicine, the baptism of the Word. We are washed from all our sins and are no longer entangled in evil. This is the one grace of illumination, that our characters are not the same as before our washing. And since knowledge rises up with illumination, shedding its beams around the mind, the moment we hear, we who were untaught become disciples. Does this, I ask, happen at the coming of this instruction? You cannot tell the time. For instruction leads to faith, and faith with baptism is trained by the Holy Spirit. That this faith is the one universal salvation of humanity, and that there is the same equality before the righteous and loving God, and the same fellowship between Him and all, the apostle showed most clearly when he spoke in this way: "Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterwards be revealed, so that the law became our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." Do you not hear that we are no longer under that law which came with fear, but

Tertullian, On Baptism Supporting witness

...lf, with all his forces, Exodus 14:27-30. What figure is more clearly fulfilled in the sacrament of baptism? The nations are set free from the world by means of water. That is, they leave the devil, their old tyrant, far behind, overwhelmed in the water. Again, water is restored from the failure of bitterness to the grace of its own natural sweetness by the tree of Moses. That tree was Christ, restoring, by Himself, the veins of a nature that had once been poisoned and bitter into the altogether health-giving waters of baptism. This is the water that flowed without ceasing down for the people from the rock that went with them. For if Christ is the Rock, without doubt we see baptism blessed by the water in Christ. How mighty is the grace of water, in the sight of God and His Christ, for the confirmation of baptism! Christ is never without water. For He Himself is baptized in water, Matthew 3:13-17. He first reveals the opening signs of His power in connection with water, when He is invited to the wedding feast, John 2:1-11. When He speaks, He invites the thirsty to His own everlasting water, John 7:37-38. When teaching about love, He approves, among works of charity, a cup of wat

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

Regeneration did not take place with John, but with Jesus through His disciples it does so, and what is called the laver of regeneration takes place with renewal of the Spirit;

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Direct teaching

...f He is not a man, then He was not seized. If He was not seized, then He did not suffer, nor was He baptized. If He was not baptized, then none of us is baptized. But if there is no baptism, then there will be no remission of sins, and every man will die in his own sins." Manes said: "Is baptism, then, given on account of the remission of sins?" Archelaus said: "Certainly." Manes said: "Does it not follow, then, that Christ sinned, since He was baptized?" Archelaus said: "God forbid! No, rather, He was made sin for us, taking our sins upon Himself. For this reason He was born of a woman, and for this reason also He came to the rite of baptism, so that He might receive the purification of this part, and so that the body which He had taken to Himself might be able to bear the Spirit, who had descended in the form of a dove."

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness

Moreover, the things proceeding from the waters were blessed by God, that this also might be a sign of men's being destined to receive repentance and remission of sins, through the water and laver of regeneration — as many as come to the truth, and are born again, and receive blessing from God.

Acts 2:38 Direct teaching

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 22:16 Direct teaching

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Romans 6:4 Direct teaching

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Colossians 2:12 Supporting witness

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

“By reason, therefore, of this laver of repentance and knowledge of God, which has been ordained on account of the transgression of God’s people, as Isaiah cries, we have believed, and testify that that very baptism which he announced is alone able to purify those who have repented;

Tertullian, On Baptism Direct teaching

They who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers, fasts, and bendings of the knee, and vigils all the night through, and with the confession of all by- gone sins, that they may express the meaning even of the baptism of John: They were baptized, says (the Scripture), confessing their own sins.

Tertullian, On Baptism Direct teaching

And so the baptism of repentance Acts 19:4 was dealt with as if it were a candidate for the remission and sanctification shortly about to follow in Christ: for in that John used to preach baptism for the remission of sins, Mark 1:4 the declaration was made with reference to future remission;

Origen, Commentary on John Direct teaching

It is to be observed that while the four represent John as declaring himself to have come to baptize with water, Matthew alone adds the words to repentance, teaching that the benefit of baptism is connected with the intention of the baptized person;

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

... his voice and was enabled to use it to prophesy; I, to whom my Lord bears witness that among those born of women there is none greater than I; if I am not able so much as to bear His shoes, what can be said about His garments? Who is so great as to be able to guard His coat? Who can suppose that he can understand the meaning contained in His tunic, which is without seam from the top because it is woven throughout? It is to be observed that while the four represent John as declaring himself to have come to baptize with water, Matthew alone adds the words “to repentance,” teaching that the benefit of baptism is connected with the intention of the person baptized. To him who repents it is salutary, but to him who comes to it without repentance it will turn to greater condemnation. And here we must note that the wonderful works done by the Savior in the cures He performed, which are symbolic of those who at any time are set free by the word of God from any sickness or disease, though they were done to the body and brought bodily relief, yet also called those who were benefited by them to an exercise of faith. So also the washing with water, which is symbolic of the soul cleansing h

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

...creature? Baptize me, the Baptist, that Your pre-eminence may be known. I, O Lord, baptize with the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they first confess fully their sins. Be it so then that I baptize You. What have You to confess? You are the Remover of sins, and will You be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Though I should venture to baptize You, the Jordan dares not come near You. I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me?"

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Supporting witness

I, O Lord, baptize with the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they first confess fully their sins.

Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness

Matthew 3:6 and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

...rias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the region around the Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” Luke, however, adds the continuation of the prophecy: “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” He writes, like Mark, “Make His ways straight,” shortening, as we saw before, the text, “Make straight the ways of our God.” In the phrase, “And all the crooked shall become straight,” he leaves out the word “all,” and changes the word “straight” from plural to singular. Also, instead of the phrase, “The rough land into a plain,” he gives, “The rough ways into smooth ways.” And he leaves out, “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” and gives what follows, “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” These observations are useful because they show how the evangelists are accustomed to shorten the sayings of the prophets. It must al

Mark 1:4 Direct teaching

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 3:3 Supporting witness

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 3:6 Supporting witness

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Direct teaching

And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 in living water.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Direct teaching

Wherefore also the Lord, when He sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations, commanded them to “baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” not unto one [person] having three names, nor into three [persons] who became incarnate, but into three possessed of equal honour.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching

From all which we learn that the person of the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the Holy Spirit.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

for the Lord did not say, Baptize into my death, but, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Supporting witness

And what can the impious have to say if the Lord sends forth His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?Matthew 28:19 Without contradiction, that implies a communion and unity between them, according to which there are neither three divinities nor (three) lordships;

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

Matthew 28:19 and then He adds this, and baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness

Matthew 28:19b and teach all the peoples, and 7 baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit;

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Supporting witness

But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Didache, Connection to Matthew 28:19 Supporting witness

since our Lord, when He sent us, said, "Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

Matthew 28:19 Direct teaching

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...een immersed by heretics should not be baptized when they come to us, because they say there is one baptism, which is one for this reason: the Church is one, and there cannot be any baptism outside the Church. For since there cannot be two baptisms, if heretics truly baptize, then they themselves have this baptism. And anyone who, by his own authority, grants this advantage to them gives in to them and agrees with them, so that the enemy and adversary of Christ seems to have the power to wash, purify, and sanctify a man. But we say that those who come from there are not re-baptized among us, but baptized. For in fact they receive nothing there, where there is nothing. But they come to us so that here they may receive where there are both grace and all truth, because grace and truth are one. But again, some of our colleagues would rather give honor to heretics than agree with us. And while by insisting on one baptism they are unwilling to baptize those who come, they thus either make two baptisms themselves by saying that there is a baptism among heretics; or else, which is even more serious, they try to set the filthy and profane washing of heretics before, and prefer it to, the

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

Likewise, be satisfied with one baptism only, the one into the death of the Lord; not the one given by wicked heretics, but the one given by blameless priests, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19. Do not accept what comes from the ungodly, and do not let what is done by the godly be canceled by a second baptism. For as there is one God, one Christ, one Comforter, and one death of the Lord in the body, so let the baptism into Him also be one. But those who receive polluted baptism from the ungodly will become partners in their opinions. For they are not priests. For God says to them, "Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from serving as priest to me." Nor are those baptized by them truly initiated; rather, they are polluted, receiving not the remission of sins, but the bond of impiety. Besides this, those who try to baptize people who have already been initiated crucify the Lord again, kill Him a second time, mock divine things and ridicule holy things, insult the Spirit, dishonor the sacred blood of Christ as though it were common blood, and act impiously toward Him who sent, Him who suffered, and Him who bore witn

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

For as, in that baptism of the world in which its ancient iniquity was purged away, he who was not in the Ark of Noah could not be saved by water, so neither can he appear to be saved by baptism who has not been baptized in the Church which is established in the unity of the Lord according to the sacrament of the one ark.

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

Peter also, showing this, set forth that the Church is one, and that only they who are in the Church can be baptized;

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

...ng well baptized in this baptism only, they might attain the sound faith and the simple love of the laver. And, baptized in both ways, they might likewise, to the same extent, attain the baptism of salvation and glory. For what was said by the Lord, "I have another baptism to be baptized with," does not mean in this place a second baptism, as if there were two baptisms. Rather, it shows that there is also a baptism of another kind given to us, concurring to the same salvation. And it was fitting that both these kinds should first of all be initiated and sanctified by our Lord Himself, so that either one of the two kinds, or both kinds, might afford to us this one twofold baptism of salvation and glory. Thus certain ways of the one baptism were opened to us, so that at times one of them might be lacking without harm. This is as in the case of martyrs who hear the word: the baptism of water is lacking without evil. And yet we are certain that these, if they had any opportunity, would also have been baptized with water. And also for those who are made lawful believers, the baptism of their own blood is lacking without harm, because, being baptized in the name of Christ, they have b

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

so that, as well baptized in this baptism only, they might attain the sound faith and the simple love of the laver, and, baptized in both ways, they might in like manner to the same extent attain the baptism of salvation and glory.

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

15. Since we seem to have divided all spiritual baptism in a threefold way, let us now also prove the statement we have made, so that we may not seem to have done this by our own judgment and with rashness. For John says of our Lord in his epistle, teaching us, “This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For three bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three are one,” 1 John 5:6. From these words we may gather both that water is accustomed to confer the Spirit, and that a man's own blood is accustomed to confer the Spirit, and that the Spirit Himself also is accustomed to confer the Spirit. For since water is poured out just as blood is, the Spirit also was poured out by the Lord upon all who believed. Certainly, both in water, and no less in their own blood, and then especially in the Holy Spirit, men may be baptized. For Peter says, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet: ‘It shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, and thei

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

11. Since in baptism each person has his own sins forgiven, the Lord proves and declares in His Gospel that sins can be taken away only by those who have the Holy Spirit. For after His resurrection, when He sent out His disciples, He spoke to them and said, "As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they will be forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they will be retained." John 20:21-23 In this place He shows that only the one who has the Holy Spirit can baptize and give forgiveness of sins. Moreover, John, who was to baptize Christ our Lord Himself, received the Holy Spirit beforehand while he was still in his mother's womb, so that it might be certain and clear that no one can baptize except those who have the Holy Spirit. Therefore those who support heretics or schismatics must answer us whether they have the Holy Spirit or not. If they have Him, why are hands laid on those who were baptized among them when they come to us, so that they may receive the Holy Spirit, since He must surely have been received there, where, if He was there, He could also be g

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

... Lord and His God is rewarded by Christ, and receives forgiveness of sins and the sanctification of baptism! But by what power can the one who denies God the Creator, the Father of Christ, receive in baptism the forgiveness of sins, since Christ received that very power, by which we are baptized and sanctified, from that same Father? He called the Father greater than Himself. He asked to be glorified by Him. He fulfilled His will even to obeying by drinking the cup and undergoing death. What else is this, then, except becoming a partner with blaspheming heretics, to wish to maintain and insist that one who blasphemes and sins seriously against the Father and the Lord and God of Christ can receive forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ? Moreover, what is this, and what kind of teaching is it, that the one who denies the Son of God does not have the Father, but the one who denies the Father should be thought to have the Son, although the Son Himself testifies and says, "No man can come to me except it were given to him of my Father." John 6:65 So it is clear that no forgiveness of sins can be received in baptism from the Son unless it is plain that the Father has granted it. Es

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

...e laying on of hands, if, as they claim, it had power in the sanctifying of baptism? For if someone born outside the Church can become God's temple, why can the Holy Spirit not also be poured out on that temple? For the one who has been sanctified, with his sins taken away in baptism, and has been spiritually remade into a new man, has become fit to receive the Holy Spirit, since the apostle says, "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Galatians 3:27. He who, after being baptized among the heretics, is able to put on Christ, can much more receive the Holy Spirit whom Christ sent. Otherwise, the One who is sent would be greater than the One who sends, so that a person baptized outside may indeed begin to put on Christ, but not be able to receive the Holy Spirit, as if Christ could be put on without the Spirit, or the Spirit could be separated from Christ. Moreover, it is foolish to say that although the second birth is spiritual, by which we are born in Christ through the washing of regeneration, someone may be spiritually born among the heretics, where they say that the Spirit is not. For water alone cannot cleanse away sins and sanctify a man unl

Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness

...t mean from that death which the blood of Christ once destroyed, and from which the saving grace of baptism and of our Redeemer has delivered us, but from that death which afterward creeps in through sins. Also, in another place, time is given for repentance, and the Lord threatens the one who does not repent: “I have,” He says, “many things against you, because you allow your wife Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols; and I gave her time to repent, and she will not repent of her fornication. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds,” Revelation 2:20-22. Certainly the Lord would not urge them to repent unless He promised mercy to those who repent. And in the Gospel He says, “I say to you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons that need no repentance,” Luke 15:7. For since it is written, “God did not make death, neither does He have pleasure in the destruction of the living,” Wisdom 1:13, surely He who wills that none shoul

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

urging and teaching that this is a baptism greater in grace, more lofty in power, more precious in honour— a baptism wherein angels baptize— a baptism in which God and His Christ exult — a baptism after which no one sins any more — a baptism which completes the increase of our faith— a baptism which, as we withdraw from the world, immediately associates us with God.

Justin Martyr, Connection to Matthew 3:11 Direct teaching

`I baptize you with water to repentance; but He that is stronger than I shall come, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into the barn; but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.'

Origen, Commentary on John Direct teaching

...may very well stumble over the explanation given above about the Jordan. John says, “I baptize with water, but He who comes after me is stronger than I. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” To this we reply that the Word of God, in His character as something to be drunk, is to one group of people water, and to another wine, which makes glad the heart of man, and to others blood, since it is said in John 6:53, “Unless you drink My blood, you have no life in you.” And in His character as food, He is understood in different ways as living bread or as flesh. So also He, the same person, is baptism of water, and baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire, and for some, also, of blood. It is of this last baptism, as some hold, that He speaks in the words of Luke 12:50, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am distressed until it is accomplished!” And this agrees with what the disciple John says in his Epistle, in 1 John 5:8, about the Spirit and the water and the blood being one. Again, He declares Himself to be the way and the door. But clearly, He is not the door to those to whom He is the way, and He is no longer the way to those to whom He is the door. Therefore, let

Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany Direct teaching

By water and the Holy Ghost. This is the water in conjunction with the Spirit, by which paradise is watered, by which the earth is enriched, by which plants grow, by which animals multiply, and (to sum up the whole in a single word) by which man is begotten again and endued with life, in which also Christ was baptized, and in which the Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

and these three are one. And, unless I am mistaken, we have also explained what our Lord says: John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

...e most ancient baptism of Moses, and prepared the way for the new and true grace. By the baptism of water and of repentance, which he practiced for a time, he gradually prepared the Jews to listen. He also laid hold of them by announcing a spiritual baptism that was to come, urging them and saying, "He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire," Matthew 3:11. For this reason, we also ought to begin this discussion from this point. For in the Acts of the Apostles, after His resurrection, the Lord confirmed this same word of John and commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for that promise of the Father, "which," He says, "you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days from now," Acts 1:4-5. Peter also repeated these same words of the Lord when he explained his actions to the apostles, saying: "And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell upon them as on us at the beginning; and I remembered the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized wi

Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness

I baptized you with water, but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

...d Him. Even Peter himself, who had boasted that he would remain firm in his faith, and had most stubbornly resisted the prediction of the Lord Himself, still at last denied Him. This was so that it might be shown to us that whatever sins they had contracted in the meantime, and in whatever way, those same sins were without doubt put away by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, since afterward their faith was shown to be sincere. Nor, as I think, was it for any other reason that the apostles charged those whom they addressed in the Holy Spirit to be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus, except that the power of the name of Jesus, invoked upon any man in baptism, might give no small advantage toward obtaining salvation for the one being baptized, as Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles: "For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved," Acts 4:12. The Apostle Paul also explains this, showing that God has exalted our Lord Jesus and given Him a name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, in the glory of God the Father

Anonymous, Treatise on Re-Baptism Supporting witness

...rd the truth from Philip the deacon, believed, and was baptized. And when he had come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more. For he went on his way rejoicing, although, as you note, hands were not laid on him by the bishop so that he might receive the Holy Spirit. But if you admit this, and believe that it is saving, and do not oppose the judgment of all the faithful, you must also confess this: as this point is discussed more fully, that other point also can be established more broadly. That is, by the laying on of the bishop's hands alone, because baptism in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ has already gone before, the Holy Spirit may also be given to another person who repents and believes. For Holy Scripture has declared that those who believe in Christ must be baptized in the Spirit, so that these also may not seem to have anything less than those who are fully Christians, lest it should be necessary to ask what kind of baptism they received in the name of Jesus Christ. Unless perhaps, in that earlier discussion also, about those who had only been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, you decide that they can be saved

Matthew 3:11 Direct teaching

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Luke 3:16 Supporting witness

John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Acts 1:5 Supporting witness

for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

1 John 5:6 Supporting witness

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.