Baptismal regeneration
doctrines held by major Christian denomination
Baptismal regeneration is the name given to doctrines which maintain that salvation is intimately linked to the act of baptism, without necessarily holding that salvation is impossible apart from it. Baptismal regeneration is held by the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox traditions, among others, such as certain Anglicans. Etymologically, the term means "being born again" (regeneration, or rebirth) "through baptism" (baptismal). Etymology concerns the origins and root meanings of words, but these "continually change their meaning, ... sometimes moving out of any recognisable contact with their origin ... It is nowadays generally agreed that current usage determines meaning." While for Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof, "regeneration" and "new birth" are synonymous, Herbert Lockyer treats the two terms as different in meaning in one publication, but in another states that baptism signifies regeneration.
The term is associated by some with John 3:1–21, where Jesus tells Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Jewish ruling council, that "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God ... unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God".
Churches originating out of the Stone–Campbell Restoration Movement, mainly the nondenominational Churches of Christ, are also commonly believed to hold to this doctrine, though they dispute this to be the case. One author from the Churches of Christ describes the relationship between faith and baptism this way, "Faith is the reason why a person is a child of God; baptism is the time at which one is incorporated into Christ and so becomes a child of God" (italics are in the source).
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