Who is the Christian? What does it mean to be a
"new man" in Christ? What does it mean to be "born again"?
Is this the same as the Pentecostal expression "the baptism
in the Holy Spirit"? And what are we to make of the
phrase, "the baptism in/with the Holy Spirit"? What is the
relationship between water baptism and spirit baptism?
What is the relation of regeneration to baptism? Does
baptism alone constitute the complete rite of initiation,
or is something more required? How is a person's
initiation into the Christian way to be described and
understood? What is Christian baptism? What is its place
in the plan of salvation? When is the Holy Spirit given?In search of an authentic theology of the
Christian, we have treated the writings of the Fourth
Evangelist, Cyril of Jerusalem and Ambrose of Milan, John
Calvin, Karl Barth and modern day Pentecostalists and NeoPentecostalists.The work, although not divided into specific
parts, has two aspects. First of all, there is a full
exposition of how the term, regeneration, has been treated
in each of the above theologies. From this it can be seen
that various interpretations of the concept have emerged in
the church over the centuries.The second aspect is an examination of four
critical categories surrounding our theme, namely,
regeneration, initiation, water baptism and spirit baptism.
Today is an opportune time to understand the various inter¬
relationships of these categories, both from the point of
view of the pastoral ministry of the churches and the life
of the individual Christian.In the course of our study, various other topics
are touched upon: the nature of faith, the relation of
baptism to confirmation, the paedobaptist debate, the need
to restore a Spirit Christology either alongside, or
instead of, Logos Christology, the nature of the gift of
speaking in tongues and its place in the fellowship of the
church. Each of these subjects requires a thesis of its
own, and we have by no means exhausted their significance,
although they have necessitated comment because of their
relationship to our central theme
