A Restorationist Understanding Of Baptism

Churches of the so-called Restoration Movement are often marked by their theological view of baptism, as well as the emphasis they place upon it. The Restoration Movement's theological position on baptism can be summarized in one sentence: adults are immersed for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Compared to most of the major theologies of Christendom, the combination of the Restoration Movement's emphasis on adult immersion and its view of the necessity of baptism is unique. The Restoration Movement referred to here is the Campbell/Stone movement of the nineteenth century. The emphasis of the movement was to restore primitive New Testament Christianity and to promote unity based on the Bible without the addition of human creeds or other tests of fellowship. The movement has grown to more than four million members since that beginning. Ironically, through the course of time the movement has also divided, with three major divisions being most prominent: the libe…