The idea that Baptism is involved in the salvation process was universally taught for the first 1500 years…. And it was only 500 years ago … when Zwingli came along in the middle 1500s that it began to be taught as a sign and a seal only.
Zwingli said, “in this matter of baptism--- if I may be pardoned for saying it—I can only conclude that all of the doctors have been in error from the time of the apostles. “ Page 130 Bromiley, G. W. Zwingli and Bullinger; Selected Translations With Introductions and Notes. The Library of Christian classics, ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953.
In other words, according to Zwingi... He was the first one to get it right in 1500 years when he taught that Baptism was a sign and a seal.
In 2000 years of church history, the modern evangelical understanding of Baptism as only sympolic is only 500 years old.
Did the apostles and the church fathers really have it wrong for the first 1500 years and some are only just now getting it right?
I don’t think so….