Affusion

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Not to be confused with Effusion.
Affusion of the infant

Affusion (

submersion baptism, partial immersion baptism, and aspersion or sprinkling.[2][3][4][5]

Christian denominations which baptize by affusion do not deny the legitimacy of baptizing by submersion or immersion; rather, they consider that affusion is a sufficient, if not necessarily preferable, method of baptism. Affusion and aspersion tend to be practiced by

Old Order Mennonites, and Conservative Mennonites
still practice baptism by pouring.

History

Affusion became the standard practice in the western church around the 10th century,[6] but was in use much earlier. The earliest explicit reference to baptism by affusion occurs in the Didache (c. AD 100), the seventh chapter of which gives instructions on how to baptize, which include affusion:

…But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. (Emphasis added)[7]

This text implies that early Christians saw affusion as a viable alternative to immersion when no living water (i.e. running water like a river or spring) or cold water is available.

Acts of various martyrs show that many were baptized in prison, while awaiting martyrdom; immersion would have been impossible. The most common use, however, was for ill or dying people who could not rise from their beds. It was consequently known as "baptism of the sick". Receiving this baptism was regarded as a bar to

catechumens
but not being baptized for years or decades. While the practice was decried at the time, the intent of the criticism was not to encourage baptism by immersion, but to refrain from delaying baptism.

Affusion and the Bible

In the New Testament book of Acts, speaks to a “pouring out” of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17,18,33; Acts 10:45). However, none of these verses refer directly to baptism. It may also indicate that Luke’s concept of baptism includes, or allows for, baptism by pouring. For instance, on Pentecost, the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit by having the Spirit “poured out” on them from heaven not by being dipped in the Holy Spirit until they were completely immersed.

Submersionists say that passages like these do not directly speak to the issue of water baptism because they are, strictly speaking, about baptism with the Holy Spirit. Affusionists think they indirectly apply to water baptism, though, by telling us something about the general concept of baptism, regardless of whether the medium of baptism is water or Spirit.

Affusionists see more evidence that Luke’s concept of baptism includes pouring by noting an additional possible connection between water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism. In Acts 10, Peter is “astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45). Peter responds by saying, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have" (Acts 10:47).

Affusionists read Peter to be saying "by having the Spirit poured out on them, these people already have been baptized with the Spirit, so why not actually baptize them with water." They understand Peter’s words to imply that water baptism is a symbolic picture of the Holy Spirit baptism. If this is right, affusionists contend, then water baptism should be, or, at least, can be, by pouring, because the baptism with the Holy Spirit of which it is a picture occurs by pouring.

Also noteworthy to affusionists is that, in Luke 11:38, the word ἐβαπτίσθη [ebaptisthē][8] is used in the Greek and baptizatus[9] is used in the Latin.[10][11] Both words are used, in other passages, to mean baptism. But in that verse of Luke, the "washing" referred to is partial, like affusion.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Affusion" Dictionary.com
  2. ^ "There are four principal methods of baptizing: (1) submersion (or total immersion) ; (2) immersion, when the head is dipped with or without the candidate standing in the water; (3) affusion, when water is poured over the head and (4) …" (John Gordon Davies, The Architectural Setting of Baptism. Barrie and Rockliff 1962. p. 23).
  3. ISBN 0-520-04392-8
    . p, 204
  4. ISBN 0-89870-631-9
    . p. 113).
  5. ^ "There have been four different modes of conferring baptism throughout history: (1) submersion, also called dipping, in which the candidate is completely submerged under the baptismal waters; (2) immersion, in which the candidate stands or kneels in rather shallow water, and the water is either poured over the head of the candidate or the candidate's head itself is pushed partially into the water; (3) affusion, in which water is poured over the head of the candidate; and (4) aspersion …" (S. Anita Stauffer, On Baptismal Fonts: Ancient and Modern. Grove Books 1994, pp. 9-10).
  6. ^ "Baptistery", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
  7. ^ "Didache" in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325. vol. 1. Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James; and Coxe, A. Cleveland, eds. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), 1951 (original pub. in U.S. 1885).
  8. ^ ebaptisthē
  9. ^ baptizatus
  10. ^ Luke 11:38 Greek Interlinear
  11. ^ New Advent: Luke 11

External links

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