Yes, the universal church. But the catholic church is not the universal church, even though there have been so many saints in it throughout the centuries. There are many saints outside the catholic church as well.
The Holy Spirit does not lead someone to believe one thing about baptism in the first century and then lead someone else to believe something else about baptism in the 21st century
That same Holy Spirit was alive and well in Old Testament times and did not require baptism for salvation. What is perceived as the Holy Spirit may not be so regardless of how many people claim it is. Cultural circumstances DO lead to different practices.
Scripture is clear, in baptism you receive forgiveness of your sins
Jesus in Mark 2:5 told the paralytic his sins were forgiven when he saw faith. There was no mention of baptism. Same for the thief on the cross.
Jesus in Mark 2:5 told the paralytic his sins were forgiven when he saw faith. There was no mention of baptism. Same for the thief on the cross
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So if you take that view, do you believe that Jesus did not have to die for them? There is no mention of Jesus Death.
Read Romans 6, Baptism is in the likeness of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, The two cases you gave Jesus had not died and arose yet, they only knew the baptism of John then.
I think Church 1st - Acts people were added to the Church, also many of the scriptures were written to Churches so they had to exist before.
But it was not written 300 year later, these letter were written long before the council in 300’s AD. There were arguments before that referenced the 4 gospels, others listed the writings to the churches, even in some of the epistles they were aware of the other writings.