The Necessity of Baptism
Christians have always interpreted the Bible literally
when it declares, "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt
from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:21; cf. Acts 2:38, 22:16, Rom.
6:3–4, Col. 2:11–12).
Thus the early Church Fathers wrote in the Nicene
Creed (A.D. 381), "We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins."
And the Catechism of the Catholic Church
states: "The Lord himself affirms that baptism is necessary for salvation
[John 3:5]. . . . Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom
the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking
for this sacrament [Mark 16:16]" (CCC 1257).
The Christian belief that baptism is necessary
for salvation is so unshakable that even the Protestant Martin Luther affirmed
the necessity of baptism. He wrote: "Baptism is no human plaything but
is instituted by God himself. Moreover, it is solemnly and strictly commanded
that we must be baptized or we shall not be saved. We are not to regard
it as an indifferent matter, then, like putting on a new red coat. It is
of the greatest importance that we regard baptism as excellent, glorious,
and exalted" (Large Catechism 4:6).
Yet Christians have also always realized that the
necessity of water baptism is a normative rather than an absolute
necessity. There are exceptions to water baptism: It is possible to be
saved through "baptism of blood," martyrdom for Christ, or through "baptism
of desire", that is, an explicit or even implicit desire for baptism.
Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church
states: "Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all
those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration
of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, are saved
even if they have not been baptized" (CCC 1281; the salvation of unbaptized
infants is also possible under this system; cf. CCC 1260–1, 1283).
As the following passages from the works of the
Church Fathers illustrate, Christians have always believed in the normative
necessity of water baptism, while also acknowledging the legitimacy of
baptism by desire or blood.
Hermas
"‘I have heard, sir,’ said I [to the Shepherd],
‘from some teacher, that there is no other repentance except that which
took place when we went down into the water and obtained the remission
of our former sins.’ He said to me, ‘You have heard rightly, for so it
is’" (The Shepherd 4:3:1–2 [A.D. 80]).
Justin Martyr
"As many as are persuaded and believe that what
we [Christians] teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live
accordingly . . . are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated
in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the
name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus
Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.
For Christ also said, ‘Except you be born again, you shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]" (First Apology 61 [A.D. 151]).
Tertullian
"Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing
away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into
eternal life. . . . [But] a viper of the [Gnostic] Cainite heresy, lately
conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most
venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism—which is
quite in accordance with nature, for vipers and asps . . . themselves generally
do live in arid and waterless places. But we, little fishes after the example
of our [Great] Fish, Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety
in any other way than by permanently abiding in water. So that most monstrous
creature, who had no right to teach even sound doctrine, knew full well
how to kill the little fishes—by taking them away from the water!" (Baptism
1 [A.D. 203]).
"Without baptism, salvation is attainable by none"
(ibid., 12).
"We have, indeed, a second [baptismal] font which
is one with the former [water baptism]: namely, that of blood, of which
the Lord says: ‘I am to be baptized with a baptism’ [Luke 12:50], when
he had already been baptized. He had come through water and blood, as John
wrote [1 John 5:6], so that he might be baptized with water and glorified
with blood. . . . This is the baptism which replaces that of the fountain,
when it has not been received, and restores it when it has been lost" (ibid.,
16).
Hippolytus
"[P]erhaps someone will ask, ‘What does it conduce
unto piety to be baptized?’ In the first place, that you may do what has
seemed good to God; in the next place, being born again by water unto God
so that you change your first birth, which was from concupiscence, and
are able to attain salvation, which would otherwise be impossible. For
thus the [prophet] has sworn to us: ‘Amen, I say to you, unless you are
born again with living water, into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ Therefore, fly
to the water, for this alone can extinguish the fire. He who will not come
to the water still carries around with him the spirit of insanity for the
sake of which he will not come to the living water for his own salvation"
(Homilies 11:26 [A.D. 217]).
Origen
"It is not possible to receive forgiveness of sins
without baptism" (Exhortation to the Martyrs 30 [A.D. 235]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"[T]he baptism of public witness and of
blood cannot profit a heretic unto salvation, because there is no salvation
outside the Church." (Letters 72[73]:21 [A.D. 253]).
"[Catechumens who suffer martyrdom] are not deprived
of the sacrament of baptism. Rather, they are baptized with the most glorious
and greatest baptism of blood, concerning which the Lord said that he had
another baptism with which he himself was to be baptized [Luke 12:50]"
(ibid., 72[73]:22).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"If any man does not receive baptism, he does not
have salvation. The only exception is the martyrs, who even without water
will receive the kingdom.
. . . For the Savior calls martyrdom a baptism,
saying, ‘Can you drink the cup which I drink and be baptized with the baptism
with which I am to be baptized [Mark 10:38]?’ Indeed, the martyrs too confess,
by being made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men [1 Cor.
4:9]" (Catechetical Lectures 3:10 [A.D. 350]).
Gregory Nazianz
"[Besides the baptisms associated with Moses, John,
and Jesus] I know also a fourth baptism, that by martyrdom and blood, by
which also Christ himself was baptized. This one is far more august than
the others, since it cannot be defiled by later sins" (Oration on the
Holy Lights 39:17 [A.D. 381]).
Pope Siricius
"It would tend to the ruin of our souls if, from
our refusal of the saving font of baptism to those who seek it, any of
them should depart this life and lose the kingdom and eternal life" (Letter
to Himerius 3 [A.D. 385]).
John Chrysostom
"Do not be surprised that I call martyrdom a baptism,
for here too the Spirit comes in great haste and there is the taking away
of sins and a wonderful and marvelous cleansing of the soul, and just as
those being baptized are washed in water, so too those being martyred are
washed in their own blood" (Panegyric on St. Lucian 2 [A.D. 387]).
Ambrose of Milan
"But I hear you lamenting because he [the Emperor
Valentinian] had not received the sacraments of baptism. Tell me, what
else could we have, except the will to it, the asking for it? He too had
just now this desire, and after he came into Italy it was begun, and a
short time ago he signified that he wished to be baptized by me. Did he,
then, not have the grace which he desired? Did he not have what he eagerly
sought? Certainly, because he sought it, he received it. What else does
it mean: ‘Whatever just man shall be overtaken by death, his soul shall
be at rest [Wis. 4:7]’?" (Sympathy at the Death of Valentinian [A.D.
392]).
Augustine
"There are three ways in which sins are forgiven:
in baptism, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance; yet God
does not forgive sins except to the baptized" (Sermons to Catechumens
on the Creed 7:15 [A.D. 395]).
"I do not hesitate to put the Catholic catechumen,
burning with divine love, before a baptized heretic. Even within the Catholic
Church herself we put the good catechumen ahead of the wicked baptized
person. . . . For Cornelius, even before his baptism, was filled up with
the Holy Spirit [Acts 10:44–48], while Simon [Magus], even after his baptism,
was puffed up with an unclean spirit [Acts 8:13–19]" (On Baptism, Against
the Donatists 4:21:28 [A.D. 400]).
"That the place of baptism is sometimes supplied
by suffering is supported by a substantial argument which the same blessed
Cyprian draws from the circumstance of the thief, to whom, although not
baptized, it was said, ‘Today you shall be with me in paradise’ [Luke 23:43].
Considering this over and over again, I find that not only suffering for
the name of Christ can supply for that which is lacking by way of baptism,
but even faith and conversion of heart [i.e., baptism of desire] if, perhaps,
because of the circumstances of the time, recourse cannot be had to the
celebration of the mystery of baptism" (ibid., 4:22:29).
"When we speak of within and without in relation
to the Church, it is the position of the heart that we must consider, not
that of the body. . . . All who are within [the Church] in heart are saved
in the unity of the ark [by baptism of desire]" (ibid., 5:28:39).
"[According to] apostolic tradition . . . the churches
of Christ hold inherently that without baptism and participation at the
table of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain either to the
kingdom of God or to salvation and life eternal. This is the witness of
Scripture too" (Forgiveness and the Just Deserts of Sin, and the Baptism
of Infants 1:24:34 [A.D. 412]).
"Those who, though they have not received the washing
of regeneration, die for the confession of Christ—it avails them just as
much for the forgiveness of their sins as if they had been washed in the
sacred font of baptism. For he that said, ‘If anyone is not reborn of water
and the Spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5], made
an exception for them in that other statement in which he says no less
generally, ‘Whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess him before
my Father, who is in heaven’ [Matt. 10:32]" (The City of God 13:7
[A.D. 419]).
Pope Leo I
"And because of the transgression of the first
man, the whole stock of the human race was tainted; no one can be set free
from the state of the old Adam save through Christ’s sacrament of baptism,
in which there are no distinctions between the reborn, as the apostle [Paul]
says, ‘For as many of you as were baptized in Christ did put on Christ;
there is neither Jew nor Greek . . . ‘ [Gal. 3:27–28]" (Letters 15:10[11]
[A.D. 445]).
Fulgentius of Ruspe
"From that time at which our Savior said, ‘If anyone
is not reborn of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven’ [John 3:5], no one can, without the sacrament of baptism, except
those who, in the Catholic Church, without baptism, pour out their blood
for Christ, receive the kingdom of heaven and life eternal" (The Rule
of Faith 43 [A.D. 524]).
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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