Sect. 252Necessity and Effects of BaptismNecessity and Effects of Baptism
I. The Council of Trent has defined that baptism is necessary for salvation (sess. vii., De Bapt., can. 5). The proof of this doctrine and the various qualifications, or rather explanations, with which it must be understood, have now to be considered.
1. The words of our Lord to Nicodemus are the plainest proof of the necessity of baptism: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). He commanded His Apostles to baptize all nations, and promised that those who should believe and be baptized should be saved (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16). So St. Peter told the first converts that they must be baptized (Acts 2:37), and all the other converts mentioned in the Acts and Epistles submitted to the same rite (supra, p. 379). Hence the early Fathers insist on its necessity. “It is prescribed that no one can obtain salvation without baptism, according to that great saying of the Lord, ‘Unless a man,’ “ etc. (Tertull., De Bapt., c. 12; see also St. Irenæus, Adv. Hæres., lib. iii. cap. 17). We have already (supra, p. 380) quoted a passage from St. Justin, describing how the converts were received into the Church. But it was in the controversies with the Pelagians that the necessity of baptism and the reason thereof were especially insisted on: the necessity of baptism being appealed to as one of the proofs of Original Sin, or Original Sin being assigned as the reason why it was necessary. To these proofs may be added the argument adduced by St. Thomas: No one can be saved but through Christ; now, it is by baptism that we become members of Christ, and put on Christ; therefore baptism is necessary for salvation (q. 68, a. 1).
2. We have, in the first volume (§ 45), distinguished two kinds of necessity: necessity of means (necessitas medii), and necessity of precept (necessitas præcepti).
(a) Baptism is a necessary means of salvation; that is to say, without baptism a person cannot be saved, even though the omission is due to no fault on any one’s part. Those who are capable of receiving God’s commands (that is, all grown-up persons) are bound to seek baptism, and if they neglect to do so, they commit a grievous sin.
(b) The apparent harshness of this doctrine is mitigated when we bear in mind a further distinction recognized by the Council of Trent (sess. vi., De Justif., cap. iv.; sess. vii., De Sacr., can. 4), and thus explained by St. Thomas: “The sacrament of baptism may be wanting to a person in two ways: first, in fact and in desire (re et voto), as in the case of those who are not baptized and refuse to be baptized, which is manifestly a contempt of the sacrament, and therefore those who in this way are without baptism cannot be saved, seeing that they are neither sacramentally nor mentally (in spirit) incorporated in Christ, through Whom alone is salvation. Secondly, the sacrament may be wanting in fact but not in desire, as when a person wishes to be baptized, but is stricken by death before he can receive baptism, and such a one can without actual baptism be saved on account of the desire of baptism proceeding from faith working by love, by means of which God, Whose power is not restricted to visible sacraments, internally (interius) sanctifies him. Hence, Ambrose saith of Valentinian, who died while only a catechumen: ‘I have lost him whom I was about to regenerate; but he has not lost the grace which he asked for’ “ (q. 68, a. 2). This “baptism of desire” (flaminis), as opposed to actual baptism (baptismus fluminis), is treated of at great length by St. Augustine. “I find,” he says (De Bapt., iv. 22), “that not only suffering for the name of Christ can supply the defect of baptism (id quod ex baptismo deerat), but even faith and conversion of heart, if there be no time for celebrating the sacrament (mysterium) of baptism.”
(c) Martyrdom (baptismus sanguinis), also, in the case of those who have not been baptized, can supply the defect of the sacrament. “Whosoever, without having received the laver of regeneration, die for confessing Christ, obtain remission of their sins just as much as if they had been washed in the font of baptism. For He Who said, ‘Except a man be born again,’ etc., made an exception with regard to these when He said, not less universally, ‘Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in heaven,’ and ‘He that shall lose his life for Me shall find it’ (Matt. 10:32, 39)” (St. Aug., De Civ. Dei, xiii. 7; cf. St. Thomas, 3, q. 66, a. 12).
II. In the course of this section and the preceding one we have had occasion to refer frequently to the effects of baptism. A summary treatment will here be sufficient.
1. The first effect is the removal of all sin, whether original or actual, from the soul. This is indicated by the two metaphors of a new “birth” and “washing;” and is more expressly stated in the texts: “Do penance (μετανοήσατε), and be baptized every one of you … for the remission of your sins (εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν)” (Acts 2:38); “Rise up and be baptized, and wash away thy sins” (ibid. 22:16). “From the child just born,” says St. Augustine, “even to the decrepit old man, as none is to be prohibited from baptism, so none is there who does not die to sin in baptism; but infants to original sin only but older persons die also to all sins whatsoever, which by living ill they have added to that which they derived from their birth” (Enchirid. De Fide, n. 13, al. 43; cf. Serm. De Symbolo ad Catechum., c. 10). And the Council of Trent (sess. v. can. 5): “If any one denieth that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even asserteth that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but saith that it is only rased (radi), or not imputed, let him be anathema. For in those who are born again there is nothing that God hateth, because there is no condemnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ by baptism unto death (Rom. 8:1; 6:4), who walk not according to the flesh, but putting off the old man and putting on the new, who is created according to God (Eph. 4:22, 24), are made innocent, immaculate, pure, harmless, and beloved of God; heirs, indeed, of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17).”
2. Besides taking away sin, baptism confers supernatural gifts, graces, and virtues upon the soul. “He saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, Whom He hath poured forth upon us abundantly” (Tit. 3:5, 6). It does not, however, entirely undo the effect of original sin and restore to man the integrity (supra, § 152) which our first parents possessed before their fall. “In the baptized there remains concupiscence or an incentive to sin (fomitem); which, whereas it is left for our trial, cannot injure those who consent not, but resist manfully by the grace of Jesus Christ; yea, he who shall have striven lawfully shall be crowned (2 Tim. 2:5). This concupiscence, which the Apostle sometimes calls sin (Rom. 6–8), the Catholic Church hath never understood it to be so called as being properly and truly sin in those born again, but because it is of sin and inclines to sin (ex peccato est et ad peccatum inclinat)” (Council of Trent, sess. v. can. 5).
3. It also impresses a character on the soul (supra, p. 375).
4. Finally, it makes the baptized person a member of Christ’s Church, with all the rights and duties of a Christian. “As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27); “Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?” (1 Cor. 6:15); “They, therefore, that received his word were baptized, and there were added [to the Church] that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
These various effects of the sacrament are beautifully summed up by St. Gregory of Nazianzum: “Baptism is the soul’s brightness; life’s amendment; the questioning of the soul towards God. Baptism is our weakness’s aid; the laying aside of the flesh; the attainment of the spirit; the participation of the word; the rectification of the creature; sin’s deluge; the communication of light; the dispersion of darkness. Baptism is a chariot (to bear us) to God; a pilgrimage with Christ; faith’s support; the mind’s perfection; the key to heaven’s kingdom; life’s change; freedom from bondage; the unloosing of chains; the transformation of our substance into a better. Baptism—what need of further enumeration?—is of God’s gifts the fairest and most excellent” (Or. xl.). See St. Thomas, 3 q. 69; De Augustinis, op. cit., art. viii.
I. The Council of Trent has defined that baptism is necessary for salvation (sess. vii., De Bapt., can. 5). The proof of this doctrine and the various qualifications, or rather explanations, with which it must be understood, have now to be considered.
1. The words of our Lord to Nicodemus are the plainest proof of the necessity of baptism: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). He commanded His Apostles to baptize all nations, and promised that those who should believe and be baptized should be saved (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16). So St. Peter told the first converts that they must be baptized (Acts 2:37), and all the other converts mentioned in the Acts and Epistles submitted to the same rite (supra, p. 379). Hence the early Fathers insist on its necessity. “It is prescribed that no one can obtain salvation without baptism, according to that great saying of the Lord, ‘Unless a man,’ “ etc. (Tertull., De Bapt., c. 12; see also St. Irenæus, Adv. Hæres., lib. iii. cap. 17). We have already (supra, p. 380) quoted a passage from St. Justin, describing how the converts were received into the Church. But it was in the controversies with the Pelagians that the necessity of baptism and the reason thereof were especially insisted on: the necessity of baptism being appealed to as one of the proofs of Original Sin, or Original Sin being assigned as the reason why it was necessary. To these proofs may be added the argument adduced by St. Thomas: No one can be saved but through Christ; now, it is by baptism that we become members of Christ, and put on Christ; therefore baptism is necessary for salvation (q. 68, a. 1).
2. We have, in the first volume (§ 45), distinguished two kinds of necessity: necessity of means (necessitas medii), and necessity of precept (necessitas præcepti).
(a) Baptism is a necessary means of salvation; that is to say, without baptism a person cannot be saved, even though the omission is due to no fault on any one’s part. Those who are capable of receiving God’s commands (that is, all grown-up persons) are bound to seek baptism, and if they neglect to do so, they commit a grievous sin.
(b) The apparent harshness of this doctrine is mitigated when we bear in mind a further distinction recognized by the Council of Trent (sess. vi., De Justif., cap. iv.; sess. vii., De Sacr., can. 4), and thus explained by St. Thomas: “The sacrament of baptism may be wanting to a person in two ways: first, in fact and in desire (re et voto), as in the case of those who are not baptized and refuse to be baptized, which is manifestly a contempt of the sacrament, and therefore those who in this way are without baptism cannot be saved, seeing that they are neither sacramentally nor mentally (in spirit) incorporated in Christ, through Whom alone is salvation. Secondly, the sacrament may be wanting in fact but not in desire, as when a person wishes to be baptized, but is stricken by death before he can receive baptism, and such a one can without actual baptism be saved on account of the desire of baptism proceeding from faith working by love, by means of which God, Whose power is not restricted to visible sacraments, internally (interius) sanctifies him. Hence, Ambrose saith of Valentinian, who died while only a catechumen: ‘I have lost him whom I was about to regenerate; but he has not lost the grace which he asked for’ “ (q. 68, a. 2). This “baptism of desire” (flaminis), as opposed to actual baptism (baptismus fluminis), is treated of at great length by St. Augustine. “I find,” he says (De Bapt., iv. 22), “that not only suffering for the name of Christ can supply the defect of baptism (id quod ex baptismo deerat), but even faith and conversion of heart, if there be no time for celebrating the sacrament (mysterium) of baptism.”
(c) Martyrdom (baptismus sanguinis), also, in the case of those who have not been baptized, can supply the defect of the sacrament. “Whosoever, without having received the laver of regeneration, die for confessing Christ, obtain remission of their sins just as much as if they had been washed in the font of baptism. For He Who said, ‘Except a man be born again,’ etc., made an exception with regard to these when He said, not less universally, ‘Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in heaven,’ and ‘He that shall lose his life for Me shall find it’ (Matt. 10:32, 39)” (St. Aug., De Civ. Dei, xiii. 7; cf. St. Thomas, 3, q. 66, a. 12).
II. In the course of this section and the preceding one we have had occasion to refer frequently to the effects of baptism. A summary treatment will here be sufficient.
1. The first effect is the removal of all sin, whether original or actual, from the soul. This is indicated by the two metaphors of a new “birth” and “washing;” and is more expressly stated in the texts: “Do penance (μετανοήσατε), and be baptized every one of you … for the remission of your sins (εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν)” (Acts 2:38); “Rise up and be baptized, and wash away thy sins” (ibid. 22:16). “From the child just born,” says St. Augustine, “even to the decrepit old man, as none is to be prohibited from baptism, so none is there who does not die to sin in baptism; but infants to original sin only but older persons die also to all sins whatsoever, which by living ill they have added to that which they derived from their birth” (Enchirid. De Fide, n. 13, al. 43; cf. Serm. De Symbolo ad Catechum., c. 10). And the Council of Trent (sess. v. can. 5): “If any one denieth that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even asserteth that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but saith that it is only rased (radi), or not imputed, let him be anathema. For in those who are born again there is nothing that God hateth, because there is no condemnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ by baptism unto death (Rom. 8:1; 6:4), who walk not according to the flesh, but putting off the old man and putting on the new, who is created according to God (Eph. 4:22, 24), are made innocent, immaculate, pure, harmless, and beloved of God; heirs, indeed, of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17).”
2. Besides taking away sin, baptism confers supernatural gifts, graces, and virtues upon the soul. “He saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, Whom He hath poured forth upon us abundantly” (Tit. 3:5, 6). It does not, however, entirely undo the effect of original sin and restore to man the integrity (supra, § 152) which our first parents possessed before their fall. “In the baptized there remains concupiscence or an incentive to sin (fomitem); which, whereas it is left for our trial, cannot injure those who consent not, but resist manfully by the grace of Jesus Christ; yea, he who shall have striven lawfully shall be crowned (2 Tim. 2:5). This concupiscence, which the Apostle sometimes calls sin (Rom. 6–8), the Catholic Church hath never understood it to be so called as being properly and truly sin in those born again, but because it is of sin and inclines to sin (ex peccato est et ad peccatum inclinat)” (Council of Trent, sess. v. can. 5).
3. It also impresses a character on the soul (supra, p. 375).
4. Finally, it makes the baptized person a member of Christ’s Church, with all the rights and duties of a Christian. “As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27); “Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?” (1 Cor. 6:15); “They, therefore, that received his word were baptized, and there were added [to the Church] that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
These various effects of the sacrament are beautifully summed up by St. Gregory of Nazianzum: “Baptism is the soul’s brightness; life’s amendment; the questioning of the soul towards God. Baptism is our weakness’s aid; the laying aside of the flesh; the attainment of the spirit; the participation of the word; the rectification of the creature; sin’s deluge; the communication of light; the dispersion of darkness. Baptism is a chariot (to bear us) to God; a pilgrimage with Christ; faith’s support; the mind’s perfection; the key to heaven’s kingdom; life’s change; freedom from bondage; the unloosing of chains; the transformation of our substance into a better. Baptism—what need of further enumeration?—is of God’s gifts the fairest and most excellent” (Or. xl.). See St. Thomas, 3 q. 69; De Augustinis, op. cit., art. viii.
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