God is specific in His instructions about religious authority. And the Bible is clear in it's unchanging doctrine concerning salvation. Contrary to the array of current practices, the biblical teaching is simple and clear. And the first-century Christians followed these teachings. To evaluate the practices of the early church, though, we will also be examining statements from a variety of sources outside the Bible.
None is an authority on spiritual matters.
We are only looking at what has been said as a result of study of history and the Greek language as well as the Bible. Only the Bible can be our guide for spiritual matters. Baptism is, justly, a focal point of most discussions deal ing with salvation. There are three things that we must consider concerning the views of the early church toward baptism. Indeed, the New Testament requires that a person believe before being baptized.