Becoming a Christian: The Ecumenical Implications of Our Common Baptism


I. Introduction


1. "Blessed is the kingdom, of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages".

These words begin the service of holy baptism in the Orthodox Church. As representatives of many churches the participants of this consultation affirm that baptism is rooted in the Triune God into whose eschatological kingdom Christians are called. "He rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:13).1 Elsewhere Saint Paul writes, "for anyone united to Christ, there is a new creation: the old order has gone, a new order has already begun" (2 Cor. 5:17).

2. In our baptism we are joined to Christ and his body, the Church. Our pathway is set and our journey to life eternal is begun, a journey which begins with our death and burial in the baptismal water. By the anointing and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the life we live is no longer ours, but the life which Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20).

3. In January 1997, during the time when Christians in many parts of the world celebrated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an ecumenical group met at the Chƒteau de Faverges, Haute Savoie, France. Gathered at the invitation of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, the fifteen participants came from the South and the North: from Papua New Guinea, Korea, India, Brazil, New Zealand, Finland, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Ghana and Zaire. Many local churches were represented, of Anglican, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Lutheran, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United Church traditions. The theme of the consultation was "Becoming a Christian: The Ecumenical Implications of our Common Baptism". Among those present were liturgists, pastors and theologians sharing a common task: to consider the actual experience and practice of baptism in the life of their churches, and how the churches might be encouraged to recognize each other's baptismal processes and liturgies as expressions of the one baptism which unites us with, and within, the one body of Christ.

4. The consultation focussed on three main issues:  

  • the ordo (the fundamental structure or pattern) of baptism in its broadest sense, including instruction (catechesis), the act of water washing, and the continuing, life-long process of growth into Christ;

  • the inculturation of baptism, through which its meaning, and the irreducible elements of the baptismal rite, are expressed through the means particular to each culture;

  • and the "ethical economy" of baptism, or the implications of the process of baptism for the ethical formation, reflection and action of Christians.

5. The first two of these issues, those of ordo and inculturation, have been treated in relation to worship generally in an earlier ecumenical consultation entitled "So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship".2 Held by Faith and Order in Ditchingham, England in 1994, this consultation reflected the increasing awareness of the central importance of worship for the ecumenical movement in general, and for the search for Christian unity in particular. It explored the theological implications of the "liturgical renewal" of recent decades, as well as the implications, for worship, of the growing body of theological agreements among the churches. For Faith and Order it meant the renewed awareness of liturgical practise as a crucial dimension of the faith, life and witness of the church.3

6. At Faverges the issues of the ordo and inculturation were explored in relation to baptism in its broadest sense, and to present-day baptismal practise in the churches. These topics are closely interrelated: the baptismal ordo provides the basis, and touchstone, for the inculturation of baptism, while the process of inculturation should express the meaning and pattern of baptism in a way that illuminates, rather than obscures, its reality. The third issue treated at Faverges, the interrelation of baptism and ethics, was a new element in the discussion (the relation of ethics to worship generally had been noted, but not pursued, at Ditchingham4). Ethics belongs inescapably, however, to reflection on baptism understood as initiation into the community of believers, and as a life-long process of growth in Christian identity and discernment. Indeed the meaning of Christian baptism, and the nature of the ritual actions associated with it, are normative for Christian ethics, even as the process of inculturation has an ethical dimension and significant ethical implications.

 

II. The ordo of Baptism


7. Our churches live with different histories. Some are national churches whose people naturally bring their children for baptism. Other churches have separated themselves from state and nation and, in them, baptism is distinct from local (parish) or national custom. Other churches find themselves in situations of new missionary opportunity, the great majority of their candidates for baptism being first-generation Christians. Other churches, in older missionary contexts, are challenged by new emphases on the Spirit and baptism. Yet other churches find themselves in a shifting scene as their societies become increasingly "post-Christian".

8. Thus we find baptismal practice is often shaped by pastoral and missiological considerations as well as by doctrine. Indeed, our theology is often developed in order to describe the pastoral need. So history and context inspire theological insight as under the Spirit the church seeks to apply the ministry of Christ to the particularities of the human situation. Theology and practice do not exist in a vacuum.

A. Recognition of One Another's Baptism

9. There are two ways in which we may learn to recognize one another's baptism. One is to convert everybody else to our theology and practice. The other is to understand how our baptismal practices are responses to different pastoral and missionary contexts as well as responses to God's call in Christ.

10. An important ecumenical question is, "What are the criteria for mutual recognition of baptism?" In the past many have proposed theological criteria for such recognition. But baptism is more than doctrine alone. In this consultation we have sought to identify criteria which arise from baptism as rite and pattern of life. This way of thinking we call ordo, by which we mean baptism as call to life in Christ and map for pilgrimage to Christ's new creation.

11. The Faith and Order convergence text Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM), published by the World Council of Churches in 1982,5 has become one of the most widely read and discussed ecumenical texts in modern times. This text, itself the fruit of many years of ecumenical study and discussion, has helped create a new ecumenical situation. Through the BEM process of study and response many churches have gained renewed understanding and enrichment of their own faith, have engaged in ecumenical learning, and have developed new relationships with other churches.

12. As a convergence statement, BEM calls for common affirmations by divided churches struggling towards visible unity. According to Faith and Order's report on the official responses of the churches to BEM there is "a firm agreement that baptism, eucharist and ministry are all rightly understood as enacted and enabled by God in the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit".6

13. BEM emphasizes the significance of baptism for koinonia (communion) stating that:

Through baptism, Christians are brought into union with Christ, with each other and with the Church at every time and place. Our common baptism, which unites us to Christ in faith, is thus a basic bond of unity. We are one people and are called to confess and serve one Lord in each place and in all the world.7

14. In their responses to BEM churches generally affirmed an impressive degree of agreement and convergence on baptism. Virtually all agree that by God's grace and power the baptized person is incorporated into Christ's body and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Many also agreed that "our one baptism into Christ constitutes a call to the churches to overcome their divisions and visibly manifest their fellowship".8 In many places, although questions of eucharist and ministry persist, churches have entered into formal agreements regarding mutual recognition of baptismal practice.

15. Divisions, however, still remain and some churches have difficulty in mutually recognizing their various practices of baptism as sharing in the one baptism in Christ. For example, those who describe themselves as "believer baptists" often appear to deny that infants baptized in other churches are believers, while many who practise such baptism declare that it, too, is "believer's baptism". For them, children - even infants - are believers: God enables them to believe, or the church believes with them and for them. For some, despite the help provided in BEM, infant baptism remains a significant obstacle to mutual recognition; for others, there is significant disagreement as to where in the baptismal process the gift of the Holy Spirit is to be found - in the water rite, in chrismation, or in the laying on of hands, or in the combination of all three actions. There are other areas of disagreement which may hinder growth towards koinonia on the basis of mutual recognition of baptism.

16. The present text attempts to provide a basis which may help churches to move beyond what has already been achieved. Two starting points are found in BEM. The first is the recognition that "baptism is related not only to momentary experience but to life-long growth into Christ... the life of the Christian is necessarily one of continuing struggle yet also of continuing experience of grace".9 The second is the awareness that baptism takes place within the community of faith, requires personal confession of faith, and points to and is founded on the faithfulness of God10.

B. The common baptismal ordo

17. The Ditchingham report11 suggests that the ordo (pattern) of Christian worship may be immensely helpful in the ongoing discussion of many of the issues which still divide Christian churches. By ordo is meant "the undergirding structure which is to be perceived in the ordering and scheduling of the most primary elements of Christian worship", an ordering "which roots in word and sacrament held together".12 Among these basic structures of Christian worship are patterns of word and table, of catechetical formation and baptism. Recognition of these patterns - founded in the New Testament, attested to in the ancient sources of both the Christian East and the Christian West, practised today in diverse forms in different churches - gives us a basis for a mutually encouraging conversation between the churches.

18. This conversation may challenge the churches to re-examine the ways in which they express these basic structures of Christian worship. In the words of the Ditchingham report:

Churches may rightly ask each other about the local inculturation of this ordo. They may call each other towards a maturation in the use of this pattern or a renewed clarification of its central characteristics or, even, towards a conversion to its use.13

What is clear is that the patterns of Christian worship, including the pattern (ordo) of baptism, provide a major basis for koinonia between local churches and for a koinonia spanning both time and space.

19. According to the Ditchingham consultation, this ordo of Christian worship includes the great outline of baptism, understood as "formation in faith and baptizing in water together, leading to participation in the life of the community".14 These linked actions of baptism are seen by that report as part of the ancient yet ever-new patterns which the churches already possess, which they are invited to recognize in each other and renew in themselves.

20. But this great pattern of baptizing (formation in faith, baptism in water and life in community) is not simply the discovery of modern ecumenical conversation. It is found already in the witness of the scriptures. At Pentecost, according to Acts 2, baptisms follow from Peter's preaching and lead those baptized to life in the community: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (2:42) as well as to the distribution of goods to those in need (2:45). Those who heard, who were baptized and entered the community's life, were already made witnesses of and partakers in the promises of God for the last days: the forgiveness of sins and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh (2:38). Similarly, in what may well be a baptismal pattern, 1 Peter testifies that proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and teaching about new life (1:3-21) lead to purification and new birth (1:22-23). This, in turn, is followed by eating and drinking God's food (2:2-3), by participation in the life of the community - the royal priesthood, the new temple, the people of God (2:4-10) - and by further moral formation (2:11 ff.). At the beginning of 1 Peter the writer sets this baptism in the context of obedience to Christ and sanctification by the Spirit (1:2). So baptism into Christ is seen as baptism into the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). In the fourth gospel Jesus' discourse with Nicodemus indicates that birth by water and Spirit becomes the gracious means of entry into the place where God rules (John 3:5).

21. Such a reading of the New Testament helps us to interpret the baptismal practices of local churches in the first several centuries of Christian history. The patterns of the New Testament became the ordo of the churches. Preaching and teaching leading to baptism have shaped the catechumenate: candidates, teachers and sponsors engaged in the formation in faith. The great washing with water and the Spirit, leading those so washed into participation in the eucharist and in the life of the community, became the central event of baptism, often held on Easter-eve or at Epiphany or at other great feasts, often accompanied with signs of the Spirit who is active in baptism. And the continued life in community came to be experienced at every Sunday eucharist, as the assembly of the baptized, and in the exercise of witness and mission, and in the care for the poor. While the expression of this pattern already knew diversity in the early centuries - for example, in the length of the process and in the secondary ritual signs added to it - the Christian pattern itself was remarkably similar and recognizable across the churches. Those baptized in Antioch recognized those baptized in Carthage and Rome as members of the one Body of Christ. This pattern was not simply an educational programme of the churches but a witness to, and participation in, the eschatological promise of God. It was constantly accompanied by prayer, by fasting as waiting on God, by blessings and exorcisms spoken over the candidates, by a great thanksgiving over the water itself. It expressed and fostered a continued sense that the Triune God was acting here.

22. Furthermore, the long process of formation in faith (the catechumenate), baptism and incorporation into community was itself summed up in the central events of the baptismal rite. The renunciations of evil and the confession of faith - the creed - summarized and stood for the whole catechumenate. The reception of candidates into the community, the kiss of peace and the first eucharist, could anticipate the whole Christian life. What is more, the ordo of catechumenate, baptism and incorporation is constantly echoed in the whole Christian existence. In the life-long learning of the faith of Christ the catechumenate continues. In daily dying and rising Christians reclaim their baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. In repeated reconciliation in the church the baptized are restored to community. In the celebration of worship the church is renewed for the mission of Christ and formed in the patterns of Christian ethics. This reflection of Christian life, of life in Christ, in the baptismal process and this summary and anticipation of the process in the central baptismal events demonstrate a phenomenon known in ritual studies as "recapitulation". Baptism recapitulates the ordo. The ordo recapitulates the Christian life. Christians find the deepest reality of this baptismal recapitulation in the faith that the Triune God, who creates and saves all things, is present and active here. By means of God's continuing grace and presence baptism is process and once-for-all eschatological event and pattern for all of life.

23. Christian history has sometimes seen an apparent dismemberment of the matters which Acts 2 and 1 Peter hold together. Baptism has often been separated from catechesis and from eucharist and community life. The actual water-bath and admission to the Lord's table have frequently been dissociated. Confirmation has sometimes been held years after baptism itself, without baptismal reference. The process of baptism has too seldom known relationship to life in its many dimensions, not least the ethical. In many instances water-baptism and the gift of the Spirit have been disconnected, often becoming two "baptisms". The baptismal processes of the various churches have too often been dislocated from one another to the point that the churches have been unable to recognize, in one another's practise, the one baptism into Christ.

24. We are assisted toward common renewal and mutual recognition by a recovery of the ordo, a recovery of the vision of Acts 2 and 1 Peter as underlying the practice of the churches. Churches of different traditions can use this great ordo (shape or pattern) of the baptismal reality to interpret and refresh their own practices, and to recognize the diverse gifts of baptismal understanding and practise which may be present in other churches. Thus, some churches have strongly maintained a practice of teaching and the making of disciples. Others have exercised the sacramental signs at the heart of baptismal celebration with a vivid strength. Others have found fresh signs of new life in Christ in their own local contexts, signs which have enriched the general Christian understanding of baptism. Others have shown us the way to practise ongoing reconciliation to community life. Clearly the churches have much to learn from one another's distinctive gifts and witness.

C. Towards Renewal and Mutual Recognition of Baptism

25. In matters of renewal, the ordo may assist the churches to ask themselves the following questions, as many are already doing.

(a) Concerning the catechumenate:

  • Are we holding baptism and formation in faith sufficiently together?
  • Can we welcome again the ministry of catechists and restore the importance of baptismal sponsors among us?
  • Can sponsors actively accompany every adult coming to baptism and uniting with the church's life?
  • Can sponsors also accompany those who cannot answer for themselves as well as the parents or others who may be bringing these little ones?
  • Can such catechists and sponsors be trained and assisted by the prayers of the whole congregation?
  • Can we recover the catechumenate, or a pattern like the catechumenate, for both adult candidates and for those who are bringing children?
  • Can we pray regularly in the Sunday assembly for all the candidates for baptism, strongly claiming them already as Christ's own and strongly asking the Spirit to cast all evil out of their lives?
  • In churches which do not baptize infants, can the children be enrolled and blessed and accompanied toward their own day of baptism?

(b) Concerning the baptismal rite itself:

  • Can we practise a strong use of water for all candidates, recovering immersion fonts where possible?
  • Can we always hold our baptisms in the presence of the church - or of representatives of the church - letting the whole assembly gather around the place of the water?
  • Can we reclaim the great Christian festivals, especially Easter and Epiphany, as particularly appropriate times for baptism?
  • Can we understand the principal minister of baptism as ordinarily the presider in a local assembly of Christians - someone authorised and recognized by the wider church - acting in and with that assembly?
  • Can we declare in our rites that the Spirit of God is poured out on these new members of the Body of Christ, whether by the laying on of hands, sealing with the sign of the cross (signation) or anointing with oil (chrismation)?
  • Can we lead all the newly baptized immediately to participation in the eucharist?
  • Can we consider together whether any secondary signs - other anointings or new clothing or other local expressions of new life in Christ - can further unfold the meaning of the ordo itself?

(c) Concerning incorporation into the life of the community:

  • Can we assist the baptized to find their place in the mission and service of the church, the expression of their baptismal vocation?
  • Can we enable a life-long learning of the faith, by all people - clergy and laity, old and young, old-timers and newcomers - together, side by side in our churches?
  • Can sponsors and catechists continue to accompany children baptized in infancy in a post-baptismal catechesis which helps them to appropriate their own baptismal gift of faith?
  • Can we find occasions to remember our baptism, celebrate its powerful gift and renew our own promises, occasions which may occur in persons' lives at moments of crisis, change or renewal?
  • Can we see every Sunday eucharist as the repeated remembrance and renewal of baptism?

And can we do these things by teaching, love and invitation, opening up and strengthening what is already in our churches, and not by constraint and compulsion?

26. In matters of recognition, the ordo may assist the churches to ask themselves the following questions.

  • Can we see this great pattern operative in our own and in other churches?
  • Can we treasure ways each church may have been able to give special emphasis to certain parts of the ordo - even while calling each other to a recovery of fullness in our understanding and practice?
  • Can churches which baptize infants trust in the blessing and dedication of children among those who baptize only believers who can answer for themselves, seeing these children as in a rich catechumenate of long duration?
  • Can churches which baptize believers who can answer for themselves trust the recovery of catechumenate and life-long learning among the churches which baptize infants, as a sign of their baptismal seriousness?
  • Can all churches, whatever their formula of baptism, acknowledge that the whole ordo and all of its catechesis must express the Triune Name?
  • Can we ensure that our catechesis teaches, and our rites express, that baptism is always into Christ's whole body?

And can such reflections and new patterns of thinking about baptism as ordo foster new, creative and trustful ways to approach old controversies over recognition and re-baptism?

27. Our answers to these enquiries may lead the churches to ask themselves questions which could change their way of living with one another:

  • Are there matters of renewed baptismal practice which divided local churches could begin undertaking together?
  • Could a renewed catechumenate (the process of forming in faith) or a training of catechists and sponsors be undertaken together?
  • Could we be present at each other's baptisms, whether through representatives or as entire congregations?
  • Could we do baptism together, side-by-side, at great feasts we have in common?
  • Could local churches provide a common baptismal certificate?
  • Could we consider constructing a common font or baptistry for the local churches in a town or village?

And could we begin to do some of these things out of love, out of new insights into the ordo, out of the conviction that through baptism the Holy Spirit ever draws us into koinonia, into the very unity and life of the Triune God?

 

III. The Inculturation of Baptism


28. The Christian faith is rooted in God's act of incarnation: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Consistent with this is the fact that the universal truth of the gospel is everywhere experienced and expressed in local language and cultural forms. This happens through the process of inculturation. The Ditchingham15 report defined inculturation in part as "a form of creative activity accountable to both received liturgical tradition and the actual praxis of the church as well as to the integrity of culture..."16. Inculturation, therefore, is the use of cultural means in order to express the meaning of worship in a way that helps people within a specific context to come to a clearer understanding, and experience, of the mystery of God's love. It is a way of growing in understanding.

29. Thus inculturation is a complex process. It comes out of the community in which it is happening and cannot be imposed from outside.

30. Because inculturation has also the potential of obscuring the Christian message, careful discernment is necessary.17. For this the following principles and criteria may be helpful.

A. The Inculturation of worship in general

31. The Ditchingham report developed a number of principles for the inculturation of worship.18 These principles have the following practical implications:
The starting point for inculturation is the basic ordo or "shape" of worship as a gift of God. Appropriate inculturation cannot occur without an understanding of the meaning of Christian worship, as the purpose of inculturation is to lead to a deeper understanding of that meaning. Inculturation also requires a deep knowledge of, and familiarity with, the specific culture in which it occurs, paying attention to the ethos, cultural values and needs of particular communities. Inculturation must take account of the fact that "culture" itself is a difficult concept. Cultures are complex and developing, dynamic rather than static. Many cultures today face extreme pressures, both external and internal, from economic forces and challenges to traditional values and practices. In some settings there is conflict between dominant and sub-ordinate cultures, and within a specific culture some voices may have been silenced.

The inculturation of worship should not encourage ethnocentrism or cultural imperialism, both of which are contrary to the Christian Gospel. Basic to inculturation is the understanding that the whole creation is given to us as a means of coming into communion with God. Therefore in Christian worship material elements such as water, bread and wine are used to bring people into this communion. In the process of inculturation, language, symbols and signs of a specific culture are used in Christian worship in a way that goes beyond their original meaning. They are transformed as they are used for professing Jesus Christ.

But inculturation includes also a counter cultural aspect. Baptism calls Christians into a new life: the baptised live in the world but do not belong to it (Jn 15:19). This means the transformation of their former life and religious and ethical orientation.19 It may even mean a break with the family, in cases where there is a conflict between the values of the family and those of the Gospel. Therefore the line between church and society, and the relationship between them, has to be clear. We must carefully distinguish which cultural elements are helpful and which are not. The main criterion for this has to be whether these elements serve Jesus' double commandment to love God and neighbour (Mt. 22:34-40).

Inculturation therefore is dynamic and has to happen in continuous dialogue between the Gospel and local culture. The process of inculturation requires a certain humility which is open to learn from others and their insights. Churches can learn from one another's experience in this process. This therefore requires an ecumenical awareness of belonging together with other churches to the one body of Christ. The process of inculturation needs to occur in dialogue with other churches in a spirit of mutual accountability.

B. Baptism in the Christian tradition

32. Christian baptism arose from the baptism of John the Baptist and has therefore a reference to other washing rites existing at that time. But Christian baptism had, from the beginning, some specific characteristics which distinguished it from purification or initiation rites. In this sense Christian baptism is itself the result of inculturation. We see this process continued in the development of baptismal space, including baths or fonts of different kinds as appropriate to the particular cultural setting.

33. As seen in paragraphs 17-22 above, emerging from the tradition is a basic ordo or pattern of baptism: formation in faith and baptizing in water leading to participation in the life of the community. This ordo has been developed liturgically in different ways in the different Christian traditions.

34. Of special interest is the celebration of the water rite. The Ditchingham report points out that the basic liturgical components of this rite which emerge from tradition are: "proclamation of the scripture; invocation of the Holy Spirit; renunciation of evil; profession of faith in the Holy Trinity; and the use of water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".20 Over time, as the rite became incultured, these elements were expressed in different ways. In some cases additional rites and symbols were added, such as an introductory rite to welcome and name the candidate, prayers over the water, and some post-baptismal symbols like anointing, vesting, and the handing over of lighted candles.

35. Cultural elements such as music, musical instruments, architecture, language using specific images and allusions according to the context, and other symbols have also been added. This process continues to the present day.

C. Criteria for the inculturation of baptism

36. As emphasized in paragraphs 16 and 22 above, baptism is not a punctiliar event but a process of growth. The inculturation of baptism includes all stages of this process.

37. Criteria are needed to discern which cultural elements may help to illuminate the fundamental meaning of baptism and which would otherwise obscure it. The responses to BEM reported "contextual challenges in baptism" coming especially from churches in Africa and Asia. However, all churches live in specific cultural contexts and therefore all are challenged to exercise discernment.

38. The following criteria for the inculturation of baptism follow the principles for inculturation of worship in general. They result from reflection on the actual process of inculturation occurring in different churches today.

39. Criteria for the inculturation of the ordo of baptism:

  • The inculturation of baptism needs fidelity to and preservation of the fundamental ordo of baptism as it was developed in the tradition and described above. No form of incultured baptism can dispense with the basic elements of the baptismal ordo: formation in faith, washing in water and participation in the life of the community.
  • he inculturation of baptism will look for gestures, signs and symbols in a specific culture which relate to the essential aspects of baptism, such as its meaning as incorporation into the body of Christ and as conferring a life-long new status. An example is a church in Burkina Faso whose entrance is built in the form of a traditional mask used for initiation. The congregation enters the church through the mouth of this mask. The original meaning of the mask, symbolising the other world, is transformed through a cross that is above it on the top of the church. The mask in its new, Christian context signifies: this is the place of being newly born.
    To give another example, in Zaire the candidate for baptism is passed or passes through the legs of the godfather or godmother. This sign of putting oneself in the protection of someone else is a particular cultural expression of sponsorship for baptism.

40. In some regions the use of traditional initiation symbols in baptism by some denominations creates new separations between churches. In order to avoid this, the inculturation of baptism should happen in mutual respect and mutual accountability to other churches, in such a way that local churches are united in cultural expressions rather than separated.

41. Criteria for the inculturation of the water rite:

  • The basic water rite may be embellished in different ways through inculturation, but anything added to the rite should draw attention to its fundamental meaning, illuminating and explicating this rather than obscuring it.
  • The ritual elaboration of the baptismal rite during the centuries of the early church should be respected, even if these elements are not adopted. Through such respect churches may acknowledge their common origin.
  • The inculturation of baptism will take into account the role of time and space for the celebration. Christians should be encouraged to baptize on a Sunday or a traditional Christian feast day even if there are cultural pressures against this.
  • The space and environment for baptism have to be culturally appropriate. For some situations this may mean the use of lakes or rivers, for others the use of baptismal baths or fonts. In some places in the early church, for example, baptismal fonts (pools in the ground) were built in the shape of a cross or a tomb in order to point to the meaning of baptism as incorporation into Christ's death.
  • Festal vestments can express and enrich the festal character of baptism. In some cultures, for example, baptismal vestments are white, but in others red is a more appropriate colour for celebration.
  • The inculturation of baptism will take into account the role of the minister, the parents and the congregation and will express the community-building potential of baptism. The community gathered for baptism represents the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church into which the candidate is admitted. Thus the inculturation of baptism should transcend any group allegiance, and lead into communion with God and with all Christian churches united in a common baptism. Prayers and hymns may be used to express this.
  • The inculturation of baptism involves the search for language in the formularies which is understood by the people in that specific context. For example in Korea, where filial piety plays an enormous role, the questions the candidate is asked in the baptismal rite should be formulated in a way that reflects this piety. A possibility would be a formulation like: "Will you commit yourself to Jesus Christ as the head of your new life?"
  • The inculturation of baptism will look for gestures, signs and symbols in a specific culture which relate to the essential aspects of baptism. A powerful example comes from Zaire, where the meaning of death and resurrection in the water rite of baptism is illuminated through an additional rite where the candidate is covered with banana leaves, while a penitential or mourning song is struck up. Then the priest takes the candidate's right arm, raising him and shouting: "Christ has risen from the tomb, living forever. You too, live with him; arise." Another example from Zaire is the anointing with white kaolin (a chalky substance) which is put on the arms, the cheeks, the feet, illustrating blessing, the attainment of a new status in life and the belonging to the new, victorious world.


42. Inculturation involves a risk, the risk of "the Word made flesh". As Christians we must take this risk, inspired by the Lord, the Holy Spirit, as we use all our human resources to express our faith.

 

IV. Baptism and Ethics


43. The Baptism section of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry stresses the ethical dimension of baptism, as well as the fundamental inter-relation of baptism and ethics. Thus BEM notes:

The New Testament underlines the ethical implications of baptism by representing it as an ablution which washes the body with pure water, a cleansing of the heart of all sin, and an act of justification (Heb. 10:22, I Peter 3:21, Acts 22:16, I Cor. 6:11).Thus those baptized are pardoned, cleansed and sanctified by Christ, and are given as part of their baptismal experience a new ethical orientation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.21

And again:

As they grow in the Christian life of faith, baptized believers demonstrate that humanity can be regenerated and liberated. They have a common responsibility, here and now, to bear witness together to the Gospel of Christ, the Liberator of all human beings. The context of this common witness is the Church and the world...they acknowledge that baptism, as a baptism into Christ's death, has ethical implications which not only call for personal sanctification, but also motivate Christians to strive for the realization of the will of God in all realms of life (Rom. 6:9ff; Gal. 3:27-28; I Peter 2:21-4:6).22

These passages state forcefully the ethical implications of Christian baptism, showing how both growth in personal sanctification, and ethical engagement within the world, are necessary expressions of the faith into which we are baptized.

44. But it is not only that baptism has certain ethical implications for both personal and social life. More fundamentally, the meaning of Christian baptism and the nature of the ritual acts associated with it, are normative for Christian ethics itself, and this in two ways. First, baptism as a life-long process of incorporation into Christ leads inevitably to an ethic rooted in, and oriented toward, life within community. Second, baptism as focussed in the ritual action of dying and rising again leads inevitably to an ethic rooted in, and oriented to, a life of self-giving service. What does it mean that baptism is a process of initiation into a community of faith? And what does it mean that the metaphor for the central ritual act of baptism is that of dying and rising to new life? These questions point the way to understanding the basic nature and quality of Christian ethics.

45. This perspective helps clarify the intrinsic relation of ethics to both the ordo and inculturation of baptism. The classic process or ordo of baptism, the recovery of which has been discussed in paragraphs 17-22 above, can be seen as a process of ethical formation. The candidates for baptism are invited to turn from the values of a world seen apart from God; they are concretely taught new values of justice and love. The very act of baptism involves an immersion in Christ and thus a dying to the old life. And the water-rite leads to community and to care for the poor, to participation in the life and mission of the community as it bears witness to the truth about God and the truth about the world which is beloved by God. The continued remembrance of baptism and the "life-long catechumenate" offer occasions for the refreshment of these values.

46. There is also an ethical dimension to the process of the inculturation of baptism. Every act of inculturation involves a choice - whether conscious or unconscious - about which cultural elements and values are best suited to embody, and illuminate, the meaning of baptism and its focal ritual acts. Such choices are not neutral, as we recognize increasingly from the history of Christian mission. Instead of enabling the Christian gospel to take root in local soil, inculturation may serve as the vehicle for the values of a dominant, foreign culture to suppress local culture, or it may help one element within local culture to become dominant over others. Thus a Christian ethical analysis of each process of inculturation is also needed, to ensure that inculturation reflects the values of the Gospel. This applies, of course, to far more than baptism, but baptism is of special importance because it is the way in which persons enter the church, and because of its relation to traditional rites of passage.

A. Baptism as Ethical Formation

47. Baptism is the well-spring of Christian ethics. Christian ethics comes into existence because Christians are born again of water and Spirit in the life of Christ Jesus crucified and resurrected. Nevertheless, Christian moral reflection and ethics has increasingly grown apart from the lex orandi (the rule of prayer) and has asserted its own autonomy. With an awareness of the dangers inherent in this trend, interest has arisen in some quarters to consider the Eucharist or Lord's Supper as the locus of moral formation and discernment, but very little has been said about baptism and ethics. This lack of ethical reflection on the meaning of baptism, and the baptismal practices of the churches, is puzzling in view of the fact that Scripture and the earliest Christian sources, whether Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan or John Chrysostom, strongly suggest the potential in baptism and associated catechetical instruction for moral formation in the churches.

48. Baptism is "moral pedagogy", ethical instruction for the people of God. Its ethic is an ethic of humility and love one for the other, a participation by grace in the divine life (2 Peter 1:4). The selfish self dies in the baptismal waters and a new self motivated by love (agape) is born, reconciled to God and to others, even the enemy, always dying in Christ in order to give birth to life.

49. We are claimed by Christ in baptism, signed and sealed by it, for the entirety of our lives. The sacrament of baptism is administered once to a person. The grace it bestows, however, and the transformation that it begins, encompass the whole of the Christian's life, and this not in isolation but joined to Christ and in the communion of his body. Our baptism takes us back to Christ's own baptism, and forward into the kingdom he announced and which is present in Christ's body, the church. At every baptism the Holy Spirit pours grace upon us, as at the river Jordan when the Spirit rested upon Jesus in the form of a dove and when, with wind and fiery tongues, the Apostles and others gathered at Pentecost. This is shown forth in the Armenian Rite of Baptism, in which the holy chrism is poured into the water of the font from a vessel that is in the shape of a dove, thus recalling Jordan and Pentecost, so that every baptism is also the "baptism of the church". Thus the church is renewed and reawakened to its mission. A hymn of the Holy Spirit completes this vision:

Blessing in the highest
to him that proceedeth from the Father,
to the Holy Spirit,
through whom the apostles
drank the immortal cup
and invited the earth to heaven.23

50. Baptism leads to the communion cup precisely because baptism is an entry into the eternal communion of saints, and the beginning of the church's mission to enlighten all of humankind with the light that is life. Those who practice conversion baptism remind the church that each time they gather around the table they remember how they got there. For them, as for others, the Lord's Supper recapitulates the moment of their conversion and decision to live the life in Christ. Baptism and the Lord's Supper so understood encompass the whole life of a Christian. That life, from new birth and beginning in baptism through physical death, is understood from the perspective of dying and being reborn in Christ and supping at the Lord's table. Life's living toward dying is a passage into full communion with God.

51. The baptismal process can be seen as an "ordination" of the whole community to be a people exercising a "royal priesthood" for the sake of the whole world (1 Peter 2:9). The baptized, together, come to share in the "triple office" of Christ as prophet, priest and king: witnessing, interceding and serving justice in the midst of the needs of all the world.

B. Christian Ethics as Baptismal Ethics

52. As noted in paragraph 44 above, baptism signifies a special quality of Christian ethics which distinguishes it from other ethical systems and perspectives. We do not mean that Christian ethics does not have much in common with other ethics, in so far as other ethics also reflect our common human condition with its needs and our obligations to one another. But what we mean when we say that Christian ethics begins in baptism is that Christian ethics comes into existence only after repentance and forgiveness of sins and incorporation by the Spirit into the eternal body of Christ. The horizon of Christian ethics is no earthly city but the heavenly realm of God.

53. Christian ethics belongs to the mystery of the Incarnation. Through baptism God makes a special claim upon the human being, a claim that ought forever to alter a person's moral vision. Baptism in Christ's death and resurrection is a daily event in the life of the Spirit. Daily we die into new life. Thus death is no longer the final horizon of human endeavour. Instead our eyes are opened by obedience to the everlasting life in Christ that God has secured through his own death on the cross.

54. A baptismal ethic is also an ecclesial ethic, not the ethic of the individual alone, but the fruit of the Spirit born within and through the koinonia of God's people. Baptismal ethics, indeed Christian ethics, is relational, not merely in the sense that it treats of our relations with others, but in that its inspiration and aspirations are rooted in the life of the community rather than just the individual.

55. Baptismal ethics affirms the pneumatological character of Christian life, an aspect which secular - and indeed some Christian ethics - leave out. The ground of our souls, washed clean with baptism and enriched by the blood of Christ, receives the gift of the Spirit and seeds of sanctification are sown within it. Thus a hymn of Charles Wesley beseeches:  

Holy Ghost, no more delay;
Come, and in thy temple stay;
Now thine inward witness bear,
Strong, and permanent, and clear;
Spring of life, thyself impart,
Rise eternal in my heart.24

56. Through washing with water, and in some traditions anointing with oil, the church signifies God's own prevenient grace, and our response - our turning away from evil and sin and toward goodness and perfection - which completes our adoption as sons and daughters of God. This adoption is the work of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit is present within the sacrament of baptism (2 Cor. 1:21-22). As the Christians of Ephesus were told in the first century, those who believe in Christ are "marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; who is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:13-14). This text is "enacted" in many baptismal liturgies, and thus made visible, tangible, within the life of the Christian community. For example, the rite of baptism of the Church of South India, like the rites of many Anglican and Lutheran churches throughout the world, states that those who are baptized are "sealed [by the Holy Spirit] as members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven".25

57. The Spirit imparts itself with gifts of holiness and virtue. St. Ambrose says simply that "all virtues...pertain to the Spirit".26

A Byzantine theologian sums it up in this way:

To those to whom He imparts of His own gifts, the Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might and of godliness", (Is. 11:2), and of the other gifts of which He bears the name.27

In some Christian churches these "gifts of virtue" are named and signified by the anointing or signing of the organs, senses or limbs of the baptized. Thus, for example, in the Roman Catholic Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the ears of catechumens are signed "that you may hear the voice of the Lord", the hands, "that Christ may be known in the work which you do", and the feet, "that you may walk in the way of Christ".28

58. Baptism is metanoia (repentance), a truly radical reorientation of personal existence so that life is lived always dying into immortal life with God. The ethic it brings into existence is a divine-human ethic, as each Christian, and the entire church, are reconciled to God and begin to participate in the divine life (2 Peter 1:4). As Karl Barth states: "To those who are not ignorant, the sign of baptism speaks of death". Barth continues:

Baptism bears witness to us of the death of Christ, where the radical and inexorable claim of God upon men triumphed...The void brought into being by the death of Christ is filled with the new life which is the power of the Resurrection.29

Thus Christian ethics is the newness of life in Christ of which St. Paul speaks, lived in the power of the Spirit.

59. Baptismal ethics is an ethics of martyrdom which outstrips the fear of losing one's life, so that death no longer overshadows and frustrates every effort to live life fully. Nicholas Cabasilas makes a remarkable statement about this in his fourteenth-century work The Life in Christ. There he writes:

For this is the end of baptism, to imitate the witness of Christ under Pilate and His perseverance until the cross and death. Baptism is an imitation by means of symbols and images of these sacred acts, but also - for those who have the opportunity to risk their lives to show their religion - by the very same acts themselves.30

Many Christians throughout history have, in fact, lived out their baptism in this way, in martyrdom. In the early church some martyrs were baptized by blood, dying before they received water baptism.

60. An ethic of baptism is both mystical and ascetical (BEM).31 It is both liberation from sin and enjoining of responsibility toward oneself and others, a call to keep one's eyes on Christ and his kingdom, to struggle constantly with evil in oneself and in the world. Baptism is a call to holiness and perfection. But just as Christian baptism is not a classic "purity rite" (see paragraph 32 above), so this holiness is not the same as ritual purity. It is, rather, the surprising holiness of Jesus Christ, who was made "unclean" with us, who was with the outsiders and the ungodly in loving service, who suffered "outside the city gate" (Hebrews 13:12-14) that the world might be reconciled to God. Such is also to be the way of the baptized

. 61. Baptismal ethics is a movement of divine and human will, grounded and surrounded in the mystery of God's freedom and love. We increase in maturity to the measure of the full stature of Christ (Eph. 4:13). But this growth can be completed only through obedience to God and acceptance of the gift of the Spirit and the grace that baptism confers: "Baptism is both God's gift and our human response to that gift".32

62. The ethics of baptism is transformative. Nothing short of a transformation of heart and mind is sought (Ez. 36:26-28). Through baptism we begin a life-long process of transformation intothe life in Christ (Rom. 12:1-2), being conformed to his likeness from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). So too, the church, which is the gathering of those who have been and are being transformed in heart and mind, is mystery and prophetic sign,33 the vehicle of an ethic that witnesses to God's plan for the redemption of the whole of creation.

63. Christians do, of course, and too often, betray their baptismal promises. History is replete for example with instances of Christians doing violence against Christians, as in Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, and most recently Rwanda. Sometimes the blood of the ethnic group becomes thicker than the blood of the Lamb - or the water of baptism. Such events contradict our affirmation that we are all baptized with the same Holy Spirit into the same Christ. So when we speak of baptismal ethics and the relationship of love with one another, we cannot pretend that we are fully faithful to our baptism. The Father's call to peace among humankind through the sacrifice of his Son and the Gift of the Holy Spirit becomes a judgment that we must heed, trembling as we await Christ's coming in glory.

64. The vows of baptism point to the ethical task of making this world free from evil so that "the Spirit may abound" and may be known all the more. The ethics of baptism is finally mission in the world. While the kingdom of God is the horizon of our striving, the field of that striving is this world. In chapter 28 of Matthew's gospel we read of Christ's "great commission" to his disciples and so to the whole church. Jesus says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:18-20). This "great commission" may be seen as the summation and consummation of all the ethics that Jesus taught, and it is linked with baptism.

65. We have said at the beginning of this section that baptism makes Christian ethics both possible and necessary. But it is equally true that Christian ethics is fulfilled only if the church is in mission. This is what we learn from Matthew's text, and his message is all the more compelling when we note where Matthew tells us that Christ gathered the disciples in order to send them out into the world: "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them" (Matthew 28:16). In this way Matthew reminds us of other occasions in the gospel in which, on a mountain, Jesus both gave his commandments to his disciples (Mt 5-7) and revealed his true identity (Mt 17) - leading us to affirm that baptism is truly an occasion of the ethics of the church.

 

V. Conclusion


66. Recognizing the fundamental importance of baptism as "a basic bond of unity"34 among the churches, this report has explored the ecumenical implications of our common baptism, in both its theological and liturgical dimensions, into the one body of Christ. We have considered the significance of the classic ordo (pattern or structure) of baptism shared by many churches today, suggested criteria for expressing the meaning of baptism in forms proper to local cultures (inculturation), and explored how the meaning, and ritual actions, of baptism are determinative for Christian ethical reflection and action.

67. We hope that our deliberations on the ordo (pattern or structure) of baptism may help the churches move, where this is not yet the case, towards mutual recognition of baptism. We hope that our deliberations on inculturation may help the churches understand the baptismal practises of others, as well as helping churches develop, where necessary, creative and responsible new forms of baptismal practise. We hope that our deliberations on the implications of baptism for Christian ethics may help the churches find a common basis for their ethical reflection and action, as well as helping them face together complex, and potentially divisive, ethical issues.

68. In worship at the Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order delegates affirmed and celebrated together "the increasing mutual recognition of one another's baptism as the one baptism into Christ".35 Indeed such an affirmation has become fundamental for the churches' participation in the ecumenical movement. Yet the situation is complex, and sometimes more difficult than expected. It is not always clear precisely what is being "recognized"36 - especially when the recognition of baptism does not mean admission to the Table of the Lord. And of course there continue to be churches, including some deeply committed to the ecumenical quest, who in fact do not recognize the baptism administered by others.

69. Thus to Christians and churches who affirm the recognition of one another's baptism we ask: How far have we drawn the implications of that recognition, that common awareness of being claimed by Christ and belonging to Christ's one body? What does that recognition mean for our life together? How can it draw us to common confession, worship and witness? To Christians and churches who deny such recognition we ask: What obstacles remain to our full recognition of one another's baptism, and how can we pray and work together to overcome them? And to all Christians and churches we ask: How can our baptismal practise express, and nurture, the degree of unity which is already ours as members together of the one body of Christ? What can we learn, from our own baptismal experience, understanding and practise, about that full unity to which Christ is calling us?

 

Recommendations from the Consultation


Members of the consultation on "Becoming a Christian: The Ecumenical Implications of our Common Baptism" affirm the central importance of worship within the ecumenical movement and in ecumenical study and discussions. We therefore recommend:

1. That the report of this consultation be widely distributed to churches, ecumenical groups, theological colleges, liturgists, pastors, theologians and ethicists for study and reflection.We affirm the importance of the Faith and Order study on the role of worship within the search for the visible unity of the churches and recommend to the Faith and Order Commission:

  • 1. That the study begun at Ditchingham and further developed at Faverges be continued;
  • 2. That the ongoing Faith and Order studies on ecclesiology, hermeneutics, ethics and ecclesiology pay attention to matters of worship in general, and to the results from Ditchingham and Faverges in particular.
  • 3. That the links which Faith and Order has begun to make with ecumenical liturgical groups (e.g. the Societas Liturgica, the English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), and the Joint Liturgical Group) be furthered and developed.

Participants


Rev. Neville Callam
Jamaica, WI
Baptist

Professor ChangBok Chung
Korea
Presbyterian

Rev. Dr Janet Crawford (Moderator)
Aotearoa/New Zealand
Anglican

Rev. Dr J. W. Gladstone
India
United

Dr Vigen Guroian
USA

Rev. Sen Kasek Kautil
Papua New Guinea
Lutheran

Rev. Fr K. Joseph Labi
Ghana
Eastern Orthodox

Rev. Professor Gordon Lathrop
USA
Lutheran

Dr F. Kabasele Lumbala
Zaire
Roman Catholic

Rev. Dr Jaci Maraschin
Brazil
Anglican

Dr Merja Merras
Finland
Eastern Orthodox

Rev. Dr Paul Sheppy
United Kingdom
Baptist

Staff of Faith and Order/Unit I,
World Council of Churches:

Rev. Dr Thomas F. Best
Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller
Mrs Carolyn McComish

 

Notes


1. Scriptural quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

2."See So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship", ed. by Thomas F. Best and Dagmar Heller, Faith and Order Paper No. 171, Geneva, WCC Publications, 1995.

3. See the "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., paras. 45-49, pp. 15-16. Para. 49 notes the Commission'sstatement at its Louvain meeting in 1971 that: "in all Faith and Order studies the importance of considering the subject in close relation to its expression in worship should continually be remembered. Indeed sometimes such expression may form basic material without which the study cannot yield fruitful results." For this see the Report of Committee II on "Worship Today", 5, in Faith and Order: Louvain 1971: Study Reports and Documents, Faith and Order Paper No. 59, Geneva, WCC, 1971, p. 218, emphasis added.

4. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 9, p. 8.

5. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Faith and Order Paper No. 111, Geneva, World Council of Churches, 1982.

7. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 6, p. 3.

8. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 6, p. 3.

9. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 9, p. 4.

Cf. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 12, p. 4.

See para. 5 above.

12. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 4, p. 6.

13. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit.., para. 7, p. 7.

"Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 4, p. 6.

15. See para. 5 above.

16. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 36, p. 12.

17. See para. 46 below for a discussion of this point from an ethical perspective.

18. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 39, p.13: "Liturgical inculturation operates according to basic principles emerging from the nature of Christian worship, which is: a) trinitarian in nature and orientation; b) biblically grounded; hence the Bible is one indispensable source of worship's language, signs and prayers; c) at once the action of Christ the priest and of the church his people; hence it is a doxological action in the power of the Holy Spirit; d) always the anamnesis of the mystery of Jesus Christ, a mystery which centres on his death, resurrection, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and his coming again; e) the gathering of the priestly people who respond in faith to God's gratuitous call; through the assembly the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church is made present and signified; f) a privileged occasion at which God is present in the proclaimed word, in the sacraments, and in the other forms of Christian prayer, as well as in the assembly gathered in worship; and g) at once remembrance, communion and expectation; hence its celebration expresses hope of the future glory and dedication to the work of building the earthly city in the image of the heavenly. 40. In the process of inculturation it is important to consider seriously also those principles that are inherent in the church's liturgical tradition, e.g. baptism is normally administered during public worship, and eucharist is celebrated every Sunday."

19. See para. 43 below; see Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 4, p. 2.

20. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 41, p.14.

21. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 4, p. 2; cf. para. 32 above.

22. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 10, p. 4.

23. "Hymn to the Holy Spirit", Mode VII, Armenian Rite of Holy Baptism, see The Order of Baptism: According to the Rite of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Evanston, Illinois, 1964, p. 51.

24. The hymn is "Since the Son hath made me free", quoted in Geoffrey Wainwright, Methodists in Dialogue, Nashville, Tennessee, Kingswood Books, 1995, p. 205.

25. See The Church of South India: The Book of Common Worship, London, New York, Madras, Oxford University Press, 1963, p. 104.

26. From his "Sermons on the Sacraments", as cited in Edward Yarnold, S.J., The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation, London, St. Paul Publications, 1971.

27. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, trans. By Carmino J. deCatanzaro, New York, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974, Book Three, Chapter 4, p. 108.

29. Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, trans. From the Sixth edition by Edwyn C. Hoskyns, London, New York, Toronto, Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1933, p. 193, p. 195.

30. The Life in Christ, op. cit., Book Two, 17, p. 94, emphasis added.

31. Cf. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 9, p. 4.

32. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, "Baptism", op. cit., para. 8, p. 3.

33. See the Faith and Order Study Document Church and World: The Unity of the Church and the Renewal of Human Community, Faith and Order Paper No. 151, 2nd, revised printing, Geneva, WCC, 1992, pp. 25-32.

Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry 1982-1990: Report on the Process and Responses, op. cit., p. 51.

35. Daily worship, Santiago de Compostela, 9 August 1993, in Worship Book: Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order, Geneva, Commission on Faith and Order, 1993, English: p. 12, Spanish: p. 32, German: p. 53, French: p. 74; cf. "Report of the [Ditchingham] Consultation", in So We Believe, So We Pray: Towards Koinonia in Worship, op. cit., para. 67, p. 21.

36. See the papers and report from the consultation on "Baptism and the Unity of the Church" held in Hvittorp, Finland, in 1996 by the Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg in cooperation with the Lutheran World Federation (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, publication forthcoming).