On Baptism

Before the Council of Nicaea (325), no book has reached us about any of the Church's sacraments, except for the book of Tertullian, the apologist: "On Baptism". Tertullian wrote this book in opposition to a heretic woman who was mocking the sacrament and the folly of some of those who have obtained it! He set before himself a goal to show that Christianity, which uses materials from this world, such as water…, and sanctifies them with the Holy Spirit, expects those who are born anew in the water (in Baptism), to remain in it, that is, to be faithful in order to be saved. This rhetoric was confirmed by this African “teacher” since he held that baptism “came out of the side of Him Who was pierced” on the Cross. So, it is both water and blood, that is, it is constant faithfulness to God. This led him to consider that those who have sacrificed their blood for the love of God, before they got baptized, had actually been baptized, with their blood… "On Baptism" is one of the books classified as apologetic. Tertullian has opened it with his saying: “happy is our sacrament of water”. This is the starting point of our life up to the end.