Letter I
Why Fairfield Changed His View
How these letters came to be written, his Baptist background, and the study that led him to change his position.
14 min readRead
First published in 1893
Letters on Baptism
Edmund B. Fairfield, D.D.
A digital reading and study edition of Fairfield’s examination of baptism, written after more than twenty-five years as a Baptist minister and an extended reexamination of the subject.
Boston and Chicago
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society
1893
He set out to defend immersion.
Fairfield had been a Baptist for more than a quarter of a century and had preached immersion as the only valid baptism. A Baptist publishing house asked him to prepare a volume of roughly four hundred pages in defence of Baptist views, and he accepted without misgiving.
“I accepted this appointment with the fullest assurance that an argument could be made in that compass that nobody could fairly answer.”
“I found tower after tower of my Baptist fort tumbling down!”
Two years later, he had changed his mind.
Fairfield says he spent more than two years trying to maintain his former position. He concluded instead that immersion was not the only baptism, and that in the New Testament baptizo did not simply mean “immerse.”
Start with Letter IRead the original argument, letter by letter.
Letter II
What Does "Baptize" Mean?
Fairfield frames the central question: whether baptizo specifies a mode or describes ceremonial purification more generally.
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Letter III
Classical Greek Usage
Fairfield examines how classical writers used baptizo and asks what such usage can and cannot settle for the New Testament.
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Letter IV
Bapto and Semantic Change
Fairfield uses bapto as an example of how a Greek word's meaning develops beyond its earliest physical sense.
13 min readRead
Letter V
Baptism in the Septuagint
Fairfield turns to the Greek Old Testament to examine how Jewish religious writers used the language of washing and baptism.
17 min readRead
Letter VI
Ceremonial Purification
Fairfield sets out ceremonial cleansing as the semantic context he believes governs baptism language.
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Letter VII
Washings and the Traditions of the Elders
Fairfield examines Jewish washing customs in the Gospels and what they show about the words used for them.
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Letter VIII
New Testament Baptisms
Hebrews, Mark 7, Jewish purification, John's baptism, and the language of entering and leaving the water.
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Letter IX
John's Baptism, the Jordan, and Ænon
Fairfield analyzes the accounts of John's baptizing and the geographical arguments drawn from them.
15 min readRead
Letter X
The Apostolic Baptisms
Pentecost, the eunuch, the Philippian jailer, Cornelius, and Lydia are examined as recorded cases.
17 min readRead
Letter XI
Romans 6 and the Burial Figure
Fairfield answers the argument drawn from being buried with Christ in baptism.
16 min readRead
Letter XII
Baptism with the Spirit
Fairfield examines the promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit and the language of pouring out.
14 min readRead
Letter XIII
The Early Christian Writers
Fairfield reviews patristic testimony on how baptism was administered in the earliest centuries.
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Letter XIV
Objections Answered
Fairfield replies to the strongest objections raised against the position he has reached.
15 min readRead
Letter XV
Conclusion
Fairfield draws his conclusions together and states what he believes baptism signifies.
12 min readRead
Study the argument, not just the pages.
Scripture references
Every passage Fairfield leans on, gathered per letter.
Greek terms
baptizo, bapto, baptismos, eis, ek, en.
People and sources cited
Carson, Campbell, Josephus, Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Chrysostom.
Argument outline
Question, evidence, objections, conclusion — per letter.
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Full-text search across the whole book.
Original scan comparison
Verify any passage against the 1893 printing.
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Fifteen letters, a preface, and a study companion — free and in the public domain.
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