It is the initiation into membership in the church. The Eucharist (a term meaning “to show thanks giving”) uses bread and wine to symbolize the body and blood of Christ. For Roman Catholics, however, the consecrated bread and wine are more than symbols. In the doctrine of transubstantiation, the Eucharistic elements miraculously become the body and blood of Christ while keeping the appearance of bread and wine. It is considered the sacrament by which Christians sustains themselves in the faith. Confirmation is a rite that uses anointing with oil as a physical sign, along with the laying on of hands by a bishop. It is usually conferred on children at the start of adolescence to allow them to reaffirm the baptism that they received as infants.
Penance is a rite originally reserved for those who had sinned seriously enough to be excluded from the Lord's Supper. Today it is continued almost exclusively in the practice of private confession to a priest and the absolution bestowed as an act of forgiveness. Marriage is administered as an exchange of consent it represents a claim to complete jurisdiction of the church over the married lives of its members and rejects implicitly the authority of the state in the matter. Ordination, or holy orders, confers upon priests the power t administer the sacraments. Anointing of the sick is done with oil. Also called extreme unction, it is conferred by anointing the eyes, ears, lips, nose, and hands of the sick.
Along with many other Protestants, Presbyterians accept two sacraments - baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are not regarded as having any power in themselves, but they are used because they are commanded in the New Testament. Preaching and sacraments cannot be separated because it is by the word of God that the sacraments received their validity. Baptism incorporates a believer into the church. The notion of the church is significant. It implies that being a Christian is not only an individual matter; it means becoming part of a community. The Lord's Supper is a visible symbol of Christ's death. The bread and wine, in contrast to Roman Catholic teaching, have no significance in themselves. Nothing in them is changed during the ritual. Like baptism, the Lord's Supper is to be administered only during public worship by a congregation.
Like others, Christians used two rites that had often commanded of them by Jesus Christ. And like the others religions, the rites are called sacraments, or holy acts, were baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism, an immersion in water to represent the washing away of sin, was the initiating rite by which became a member of the church, as with the Protestants and the Catholics. The Lord's Supper was originally a community meal, followed by the receiving of bread and wine. This meal was a remembrance of Jesus' last meal with his disciples before he died. Today these rites are so variously defined by the many denominations that no single interpretation of them is possible.
During the 16th century reformation in Europe, the Protestant Anabaptist, or Christian Brethren, movement flourished on Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and other countries. The basic belief of the Anabaptists was in adult baptism, but they also supported the separation of church and state and voluntary church membership. While there was no direct development from the Anabaptists to the growth of the Baptist churches in England, it is very likely that the latter were influenced in their beliefs and attitudes by the continental Brethren.
The Greek baptisma refers to the process of immersion, including submersion and emergence; it is derived from the verb bapto, meaning “dip.” in the Bible, “to baptize” is the same as “to immerse.” in illustration of this, The Holy Bible, An Improve Edition, renders Romans 6:3, 4 as follows: “Or, are ye ignorant, that all we who are baptized (immersed) into Christ Jesus were baptized (immersed) into his death? We were buried therefore with him through our baptism (immersion) into his death.” The Greek Septuagint uses a form of the same word for “dip” at Exodus 12:22 and Leviticus 4:6. When one is immersed in water, one is temporarily “buried” out of sight and then lifted out.
The first human authorized by God was John the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. The very fact that he was known as “John the Baptist” or “the baptizer” implies tat baptism or water immersion came to the attention of the people especially through John, and the Scriptures prove that his ministry and baptism came from God; they were not of John's origin. His works were foretold by the angel Gabriel as from God (Luke 1:13-17), and Zechariah prophesied by the holy spirit that John would be a prophet of the Most High to make Jehovah's way ready. John knew that his works were merely a preparing of the way before God's Son and Messiah and would give way to the greater ministry of that One. The reason for John's baptizing was that the Messiah might be made manifest to Israel. (John 1:31) According to John 3:26-30, the Messiah's ministry would increase, but John's ministry was to decrease. Those who were baptized by Jesus' disciples during Jesus' earthlyministry and who therefore also became Jesus' disciples were baptized in symbol of repentance in the manner of John' baptism.
