 Early Teachings on
Infant
Baptism
Sprinkling?
"And what are we to do
when a soldier lies dying on
the battlefield and asks to be baptized? Will we look for a river or a
lake?
Will we search for a stream? No! We will use the water in our canteen,
we will
say the words and he will be saved. Or will we tell him that it cannot
be done
because we do not have enough water? a
river, stream or lake? Just as the Spirit gives life to those who ask
in grace
and our baptized to the Father Son and Holy Spirit so to do these
following
words have meaning …… We have a just God
you can be sure!" rh
Although many Protestant traditions baptize babies, Baptists—and
"Bible
churches" in the Baptist tradition—insist that baptism is only for
those who have come to faith. Nowhere in the New Testament, they point
out, do we read of infants being baptized.
On the other hand, nowhere do we read of children raised in believing
households reaching the age of reason and then being baptized.
The only explicit baptism accounts in the Bible involve converts
from Judaism or paganism. For children of believers there is no
explicit mention of baptism—either in infancy or later.
This is especially striking in view of what "baptism" meant to
first-century Jews. Water baptism was not invented by Jesus or John the
Baptist; Gentile converts to Judaism had long been "baptized" as well
as circumcised. But this baptism was only for the first generation of
converts; subsequent children and grandchildren were considered Jews
and only circumcised, not baptized.
"Baptism," to Jews, was a rite of conversion for those raised outside
the faith—not for children of believing households. (That’s why
John’s "baptism of repentance" was so controversial: It implied even
lifelong Jews had come to need "conversion" like pagans!)
This poses a problem for Baptists and Bible Christians: On what
basis do they require children of believers to be baptized at all?
Given the silence of the New Testament regarding any divergence from
the historic Jewish practice, why not assume Christian baptism is only
for adult converts?
This, of course, would be utterly contrary to all historical Christian
practice. But so is rejecting infant baptism. As we will see, there is
no doubt that the early Church practiced infant baptism; and no
Christian objections to this practice were ever voiced until the
Reformation.
The New Testament itself, while it does not explicitly say when (or
whether) believers should have their children baptized, is not silent
on the subject.
Luke 18:15–16 tells us that "they were bringing even infants" to Jesus;
and he himself related this to the kingdom of God: "Let the children
come to me
. . . for to such belongs the kingdom of God."
When Baptists speak of "bringing someone to Jesus," they mean leading
him to faith. But Jesus says "even infants" can be "brought" to
him. Even Baptists don’t claim their practice of "dedicating" babies
does this. The fact is, the Bible gives us no way of bringing anyone to
Jesus apart from baptism.
Thus Peter declared, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and
to your children" (Acts 2:38–39).
The apostolic Church baptized whole "households" (Acts 16:33; 1 Cor.
1:16), a term encompassing children and infants as well as servants.
While these texts do not specifically mention—nor exclude—infants, the
very use of the term "households" indicates an understanding of the
family as a unit. Even one believing parent in a household makes the
children and even the unbelieving spouse "holy" (1 Cor. 7:14).
Does this mean unbelieving spouses should be baptized? Of course not.
The kingdom of God is not theirs; they cannot be "brought to Christ" in
their unbelief. But infants have no such impediment. The kingdom is
theirs, Jesus says, and they should be brought to him; and this means
baptism.
Baptism is the Christian equivalent of circumcision, or "the
circumcision of Christ": "In him you were also circumcised with . . .
the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and
raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him
from the dead" (Col. 2:11–12). Thus, like circumcision, baptism can be
given to children as well as adults. The difference is that
circumcision was powerless to save (Gal. 5:6, 6:15), but "[b]aptism . .
. now saves you" (1 Pet. 3:21).
The first explicit evidence of children of believing households
being baptized comes from the early Church—where infant baptism was
uniformly
upheld and regarded as apostolic. In fact, the only reported
controversy on the subject was a third-century debate whether or not to
delay baptism until the eighth day after birth, like its Old Testament
equivalent, circumcision! (See quotation from Cyprian, below; compare
Leviticus 12:2–3.)
Consider, too, that Fathers raised in Christian homes (such as
Irenaeus) would hardly have upheld infant baptism as apostolic if their
own baptisms had been deferred until the age of reason.
For example, infant baptism is assumed in Irenaeus’ writings below
(since he affirms both that regeneration happens in baptism, and also
that Jesus came so even infants could be regenerated). Since he was
born in a Christian home in Smyrna around the year 140, this means he
was probably baptized around 140. He was also probably baptized by the
bishop of Smyrna at that time—Polycarp, a personal disciple of the
apostle John, who had died only a few decades before.
Irenaeus
"He [Jesus] came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through
him are reborn in God: infants, and children, and youths, and old men.
Therefore he passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants,
sanctifying infants; a child for children, sanctifying those who are of
that age . . . [so that] he might be the perfect teacher in all things,
perfect not only in respect to the setting forth of truth, perfect also
in respect to relative age" (Against Heresies 2:22:4 [A.D.
189]).
"‘And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan’ [2 Kgs.
5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from
leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an
indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by
means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old
transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as
the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and
the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5]" (Fragment
34 [A.D. 190]).
Hippolytus
"Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let
them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for
them" (The Apostolic Tradition 21:16 [A.D. 215]).
Origen
"Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of
wickedness and sin. . . . In the Church, baptism is given for the
remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism
is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which
required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to
forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous" (Homilies
on Leviticus 8:3 [A.D. 248]).
"The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism
even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of
the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of
[original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit"
(Commentaries on Romans 5:9 [A.D. 248]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"As to what pertains to the case of infants: You [Fidus] said that they
ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their
birth, that the old law of circumcision must be taken into
consideration, and that you did not think that one should be baptized
and sanctified within the eighth day after his birth. In our council it
seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which you
thought should be taken. Rather, we all judge that the mercy and grace
of God ought to be denied to no man born" (Letters 64:2 [A.D.
253]).
"If, in the case of the worst sinners and those who formerly sinned
much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their
sins is granted and no one is held back from baptism and grace, how
much more, then, should an infant not be held back, who, having but
recently been born, has done no sin, except that, born of the flesh
according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of that old death
from his first being born. For this very reason does he [an infant]
approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins
forgiven him are not his own but those of another" (ibid., 64:5).
Gregory of Nazianz
"Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the
infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him
be consecrated by the Spirit. Do you fear the seal [of baptism] because
of the weakness of nature? Oh, what a pusillanimous mother and of how
little faith!" (Oration on Holy Baptism 40:7 [A.D. 388]).
"‘Well enough,’ some will say, ‘for those who ask for baptism, but what
do you have to say about those who are still children, and aware
neither of loss nor of grace? Shall we baptize them too?’ Certainly [I
respond], if there is any pressing danger. Better that they be
sanctified unaware, than that they depart unsealed and uninitiated"
(ibid., 40:28).
John Chrysostom
"You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its
heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have
enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even
infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there
may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance,
brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ’s] members" (Baptismal
Catecheses in Augustine, Against Julian 1:6:21 [A.D. 388]).
Augustine
"What the universal Church holds, not as instituted [invented] by
councils but as something always held, is most correctly believed to
have been handed down by apostolic authority. Since others respond for
children, so that the celebration of the sacrament may be complete for
them, it is certainly availing to them for their consecration, because
they themselves are not able to respond" (On Baptism, Against the
Donatists 4:24:31 [A.D. 400]).
"The custom of Mother Church in baptizing infants is certainly not to
be scorned, nor is it to be regarded in any way as superfluous, nor is
it to be believed that its tradition is anything except apostolic" (The
Literal Interpretation of Genesis 10:23:39 [A.D. 408]).
"Cyprian was not issuing a new decree but was keeping to the most solid
belief of the Church in order to correct some who thought that infants
ought not be baptized before the eighth day after their birth. . . . He
agreed with certain of his fellow bishops that a child is able to be
duly baptized as soon as he is born" (Letters 166:8:23 [A.D.
412]).
"By this grace baptized infants too are ingrafted into his [Christ’s]
body, infants who certainly are not yet able to imitate anyone. Christ,
in whom all are made alive . . . gives also the most hidden grace of
his Spirit to believers, grace which he secretly infuses even into
infants. . . . It is an excellent thing that the Punic [North African]
Christians call baptism salvation and the sacrament of Christ’s Body
nothing else than life. Whence does this derive, except from an ancient
and, as I suppose, apostolic tradition, by which 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. . . . If anyone wonders why children born of the
baptized should themselves be baptized, let him attend briefly to this.
. . . The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of
regeneration" (Forgiveness and the Just Deserts of Sin, and the
Baptism of Infants 1:9:10; 1:24:34; 2:27:43 [A.D. 412]).
Council of Carthage
V
"Item: It seemed good that whenever there were not found
reliable witnesses who could testify that without any doubt they
[abandoned children] were baptized and when the children themselves
were not, on account of their tender age, able to answer concerning the
giving of the sacraments to them, all such children should be baptized
without scruple, lest a hesitation should deprive them of the cleansing
of the sacraments. This was urged by the [North African] legates, our
brethren, since they redeem many such [abandoned children] from the
barbarians" (Canon 7 [A.D. 401]).
Council of Mileum II
"[W]hoever says that infants fresh from their mothers’ wombs ought not
to be baptized, or say that they are indeed baptized unto the remission
of sins, but that they draw nothing of the original sin of Adam, which
is expiated in the bath of regeneration . . . let him be anathema
[excommunicated]. Since what the apostle [Paul] says, ‘Through one man
sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so passed to all
men, in whom all have sinned’ [Rom. 5:12], must not be understood
otherwise than the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always
understood it. For on account of this rule of faith even infants, who
in themselves thus far have not been able to commit any sin, are
therefore truly baptized unto the remission of sins, so that that which
they have contracted from generation may be cleansed in them by
regeneration" (Canon 3 [A.D. 416]).
Baptismal Grace
Few truths are so clearly taught in the New Testament as the doctrine
that in baptism God gives us grace. Again and again the sacred writers
tell us that it is in baptism that we are saved, buried with Christ,
incorporated into his body, washed of our sins, regenerated, cleansed,
and so on (see Acts 2:38, 22:16; Rom. 6:1–4; 1 Cor. 6:11, 12:13; Gal.
3:26–27; Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 2:11–12; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet. 3:18–22). They
are unanimous in speaking of baptism in invariably efficient
terms, as really bringing about a spiritual effect.
Despite this wealth of evidence, Protestants are almost equally
unanimous in rejecting this truth. In general Protestants regard
baptism as something like an ordinance: an observance that does not
itself bring about any spiritual effect but merely represents that
effect. Its observance may be required by obedience, but it is not
necessary in any further sense—certainly not for salvation.
This view requires Protestants to explain away all the New
Testament passages on the nature of baptism as figurative language. It
is not baptism itself, they assert, but what baptism represents,
that really saves us. Yet the language of the New Testament on this
point is so uniform that they cannot even dredge up a couple of
"proof-texts" on baptism to support this view or their figurative
reading of all the other passages.
There is one text that Protestants occasionally mention. In 1
Corinthians 1:14–17 Paul wrote that he was glad that he himself had
baptized so few of the Corinthians, since they could not say that they
were baptized in his name; and he went on to say, "For Christ did not
send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. . . ."
Needless to say, this passage doesn’t say anything about baptism only
representing spiritual realities, or not really saving. It doesn’t say
anything about how those who accepted Paul’s preaching of the gospel
were then saved. Paul didn’t write, "For I was not sent to baptize but
to pray with people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior" (or even
"to lead people to faith"). Paul didn’t pit faith against baptism.
Nor did he pit preaching against baptism. He would hardly have
contradicted the great commission in Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Paul’s point was not that God
didn’t want him to baptize, only that preaching was the driving force
of his evangelistic ministry.
In short, Paul’s remark doesn’t remotely support the Protestant view of
baptism, or justify a figurative interpretation of all the other
passages. Yet this is the closest thing to a Protestant proof-text!
The early Fathers were equally unanimous in affirming baptism as a
means of grace. They all recognized the Bible’s teaching that "[In the
ark] a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
Baptism, which corresponds to this, 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. 3:20–21,
emphasis added).
Protestant early Church historian J. N. D. Kelly writes, "From the
beginning baptism was the
universally accepted rite of admission to the Church. . . . As regards
its significance, it was always held to convey the remission of sins .
. . we descend into the water ‘dead’ and come out again ‘alive’; we
receive a white robe which symbolizes the Spirit . . .the Spirit is God
himself dwelling in the believer, and the resulting life is a
re-creation. Prior to baptism . . . our heart was the abode of demons .
. . [but] baptism supplies us with the weapons for our spiritual
warfare" (Early Christian Doctrines, 193–4).
The Letter of
Barnabas
"Regarding [baptism], we have the evidence of Scripture that Israel
would refuse to accept the washing which confers the remission of sins
and would set up a substitution of their own instead [Ps. 1:3–6].
Observe there how he describes both the water and the cross in the same
figure. His meaning is, ‘Blessed are those who go down into the water
with their hopes set on the cross.’ Here he is saying that after we
have stepped down into the water, burdened with sin and defilement, we
come up out of it bearing fruit, with reverence in our hearts and the
hope of Jesus in our souls" (Letter of Barnabas 11:1–10 [A.D.
74]).
Hermas
"‘I have heard, sir,’ said I, ‘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]).
Ignatius of Antioch
"Let none of you turn deserter. Let your baptism be your armor; your
faith, your helmet; your love, your spear; your patient endurance, your
panoply" (Letter to Polycarp 6 [A.D. 110]).
Second Clement
"For, if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest; but if
otherwise, then nothing shall deliver us from eternal punishment, if we
should disobey his commandments. . . . [W]ith what confidence shall we,
if we keep not our baptism pure and undefiled, enter into the kingdom
of God? Or who shall be our advocate, unless we be found having holy
and righteous works?’ (Second Clement 6:7–9 [A.D. 150]).
Justin Martyr
"Whoever are convinced and believe that what they are taught and told
by us is the truth, and professes to be able to live accordingly, are
instructed to pray and to beseech God in fasting for the remission of
their former sins, while we pray and fast with them. Then they are led
by us to a place where there is water, and they are reborn in the same
kind of rebirth in which we ourselves were reborn: ‘In the name of God,
the Lord and Father of all, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the
Holy Spirit,’ they receive the washing of water. For Christ said,
‘Unless you be reborn, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven’" (First
Apology 61:14–17 [A.D. 151]).
Theophilus of
Antioch
"Moreover, those things which were created from the waters were blessed
by God, so that this might also be a sign that men would at a future
time receive repentance and remission of sins through water and the
bath of regeneration—all who proceed to the truth and are born again
and receive a blessing from God" (To Autolycus 12:16 [A.D.
181]).
Clement of
Alexandria
"When we are baptized, we are enlightened. Being enlightened, we are
adopted as sons. Adopted as sons, we are made perfect. Made perfect, we
become immortal . . . ‘and sons of the Most High’ [Ps. 82:6]. This work
is variously called grace, illumination, perfection, and washing. It is
a washing by which we are cleansed of sins, a gift of grace by which
the punishments due our sins are remitted, an illumination by which we
behold that holy light of salvation" (The Instructor of Children 1:6:26:1
[A.D. 191]).
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]).
"Baptism itself is a corporal act by which we are plunged into the
water, while its effect is spiritual, in that we are freed from our
sins" (ibid., 7:2).
Hippolytus
"And the bishop shall lay his hand upon them [the newly baptized],
invoking and saying: ‘O Lord God, who did count these worthy of
deserving the forgiveness of sins by the laver of regeneration, make
them worthy to be filled with your Holy Spirit and send upon them thy
grace [in confirmation], that they may serve you according to your
will" (The Apostolic Tradition 22:1 [A.D. 215]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"While I was lying in darkness . . . I thought it indeed difficult and
hard to believe . . . that divine mercy was promised for my salvation,
so that anyone might be born again and quickened unto a new life by the
laver of the saving water, he might put off what he had been before,
and, although the structure of the body remained, he might change
himself in soul and mind. . . . But afterwards, when the stain of my
past life had been washed away by means of the water of rebirth, a
light from above poured itself upon my chastened and now pure heart;
afterwards, through the Spirit which is breathed from heaven, a second
birth made of me a new man" (To Donatus 3–4 [A.D. 246]).
Aphraahat the
Persian Sage
"From baptism we receive the Spirit of Christ. At that same moment in
which the priests invoke the Spirit, heaven opens, and he descends and
rests upon the waters, and those who are baptized are clothed in him.
The Spirit is absent from all those who are born of the flesh, until
they come to the water of rebirth, and then they receive the Holy
Spirit. . . . [I]n the second birth, that through baptism, they receive
the Holy Spirit" (Treatises 6:14:4 [A.D. 340]).
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
baptism, for the Savior calls martyrdom a baptism [Mark 10:38]. . . .
Bearing your sins, you go down into the water; but the calling down of
grace seals your soul and does not permit that you afterwards be
swallowed up by the fearsome dragon. You go down dead in your sins, and
you come up made alive in righteousness" (Catechetical Lectures 3:10,
12 [A.D. 350]).
Basil the Great
"For prisoners, baptism is ransom, forgiveness of debts, the death of
sin, regeneration of the soul, a resplendent garment, an unbreakable
seal, a chariot to heaven, a royal protector, a gift of adoption" (Sermons
on Moral and Practical Subjects 13:5 [A.D. 379]).
Council of
Constantinople
"We believe . . . in one baptism for the remission of sins" (Nicene
Creed [A.D. 381]).
Ambrose of Milan
"The Lord was baptized, not to be cleansed himself but to cleanse the
waters, so that those waters, cleansed by the flesh of Christ which
knew no sin, might have the power of baptism. Whoever comes, therefore,
to the washing of Christ lays aside his sins" (Commentary on Luke 2:83
[A.D. 389]).
Augustine
"It is an excellent thing that the Punic [North African] Christians
call baptism salvation and the sacrament of Christ’s body nothing else
than life. Whence does this derive, except from an ancient and, as I
suppose, apostolic tradition, by which 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]).
"The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of
regeneration" (ibid., 2:27:43).
"Baptism washes away all, absolutely all, our sins, whether of deed,
word, or thought, whether sins original or added, whether knowingly or
unknowingly contracted" (Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3:3:5
[A.D. 420]).
"This is the meaning of the great sacrament of baptism, which is
celebrated among us: all who attain to this grace die thereby to sin—as
he himself [Jesus] is said to have died to sin because he died in the
flesh (that is, ‘in the likeness of sin’)—and they are thereby alive by
being reborn in the baptismal font, just as he rose again from the
sepulcher. This is the case no matter what the age of the body. For
whether it be a newborn infant or a decrepit old man—since no one
should be barred from baptism—just so, there is no one who does not die
to sin in baptism. Infants die to original sin only; adults, to all
those sins which they have added, through their evil living, to the
burden they brought with them at birth" (Handbook on Faith, Hope,
and Love 13[41] [A.D. 421]).
Born Again in Baptism
One key Scripture reference to being "born again" or "regenerated" is
John 3:5, where Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is
born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
This verse is so important that those who say baptism is just a symbol
must deny that Jesus here refers to baptism. "Born again" Christians
claim the "water" is the preached word of God.
But the early Christians uniformly identified this verse with baptism.
Water baptism is the way, they said, that we are born again and receive
new life—a fact that is supported elsewhere in Scripture (Rom. 6:3–4;
Col. 2:12–13; Titus 3:5).
No Church Father referred to John 3:5 as anything other than water
baptism.
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, and
instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission
of their sins that are past, we pray and fast with them. Then they 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 of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit
[Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ
also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]" (First Apology 61 [A.D. 151]).
Irenaeus
"‘And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan’ [2 Kgs.
5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from
leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an
indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by
means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old
transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as
the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and
the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’" (Fragment
34 [A.D. 190]).
Tertullian
"[N]o one can attain salvation without baptism, especially in view of
the declaration of the Lord, who says, ‘Unless a man shall be born of
water, he shall not have life’" (Baptism 12:1 [A.D. 203]).
Hippolytus
"The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the
world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit;
and he, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed
into us the Spirit of life, and endued us with an incorruptible
panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God.
And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the
regeneration of the laver he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ
after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this
effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the
baptism" (Discourse on the Holy Theophany 8 [A.D. 217]).
The Recognitions of
Clement
"But you will perhaps say, ‘What does the baptism of water contribute
toward the worship of God?’ In the first place, because that which has
pleased God is fulfilled. In the second place, because when you are
regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your
former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so . . . you
shall be able to attain salvation; but otherwise it is impossible. For
thus has the true prophet [Jesus] testified to us with an oath:
‘Verily, I say to you, that unless a man is born again of water . . .
he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’" (The Recognitions of
Clement 6:9 [A.D. 221]).
Testimonies
Concerning the Jews
"That unless a man have been baptized and born again, he cannot attain
unto the kingdom of God. In the Gospel according to John: ‘Except a man
be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God’ [John 3:5]. . . . Also in the same place: ‘Unless ye eat the
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye shall not have life in
you’ [John 6:53]. That it is of small account to be baptized and to
receive the Eucharist, unless one profit by it both in deeds and works"
(Testimonies Concerning the Jews 3:2:25–26 [A.D. 240]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"[When] they receive also the baptism of the Church . . . then finally
can they be fully sanctified and be the sons of God . . . since it is
written, ‘Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God’" (Letters 71[72]:1 [A.D.
253]).
Council of Carthage
VII
"And in the gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with his divine voice,
saying, ‘Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God.’ . . . Unless therefore they receive saving
baptism in the Catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but
will be condemned with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ" (Seventh
Carthage [A.D. 256]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"Since man is of a twofold nature, composed of body and soul, the
purification also is twofold: the corporeal for the corporeal and the
incorporeal for the incorporeal. The water cleanses the body, and the
Spirit seals the soul. . . . When you go down into the water, then,
regard not simply the water, but look for salvation through the power
of the Spirit. For without both you cannot attain to perfection. It is
not I who says this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the power in
this matter. And he says, ‘Unless a man be born again,’ and he adds the
words ‘of water and of the Spirit,’ ‘he cannot enter the kingdom of
God.’ He that is baptized with water, but is not found worthy of the
Spirit, does not receive the grace in perfection. Nor, if a man be
virtuous in his deeds, but does not receive the seal by means of the
water, shall he enter the kingdom of heaven. A bold saying, but not
mine; for it is Jesus who has declared it" (Catechetical Lectures 3:4
[A.D. 350]).
Athanasius
"[A]s we are all from earth and die in Adam, so being regenerated from
above of water and Spirit, in the Christ we are all quickened" (Four
Discourses Against the Arians 3:26[33] [A.D. 360]).
Basil the Great
"This then is what it means to be ‘born again of water and Spirit’:
Just as our dying is effected in the water [Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12–13],
our living is wrought through the Spirit. In three immersions and an
equal number of invocations the great mystery of baptism is completed
in such a way that the type of death may be shown figuratively, and
that by the handing on of divine knowledge the souls of the baptized
may be illuminated. If, therefore, there is any grace in the water, it
is not from the nature of water, but from the Spirit’s presence there" (The
Holy Spirit 15:35 [A.D. 375]).
Ambrose of Milan
"Although we are baptized with water and the Spirit, the latter is much
superior to the former, and is not therefore to be separated from the
Father and the Son. There are, however, many who, because we are
baptized with water and the Spirit, think that there is no difference
in the offices of water and the Spirit, and therefore think that they
do not differ in nature. Nor do they observe that we are buried in the
element of water that we may rise again renewed by the Spirit. For in
the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge
of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses
the body as it were in a kind of tomb, that we, by the power of the
Spirit, may be renewed from the death of sin, being born again in God" (The
Holy Spirit 1:6[75–76] [A.D. 381]).
"The Church was redeemed at the price of Christ’s blood. Jew or Greek,
it makes no difference; but if he has believed, he must circumcise
himself from his sins [in baptism (Col. 2:11–12)] so that he can be
saved . . . for no one ascends into the kingdom of heaven except
through the sacrament of baptism.
. . . ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God’" (Abraham 2:11:79–84 [A.D.
387]).
"You have read, therefore, that the three witnesses in baptism are one:
water, blood, and the Spirit (1 John 5:8): And if you withdraw any one
of these, the sacrament of baptism is not valid. For what is the water
without the cross of Christ? A common element with no sacramental
effect. Nor on the other hand is there any mystery of regeneration
without water, for ‘unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God’" (The Mysteries 4:20 [A.D.
390]).
Gregory of Nyssa
"[In] the birth by water and the Spirit, [Jesus] himself led the way in
this birth, drawing down upon the water, by his own baptism, the Holy
Spirit; so that in all things he became the firstborn of those who are
spiritually born again, and gave the name of brethren to those who
partook in a birth like to his own by water and the Spirit" (Against
Eunomius 2:8 [A.D. 382]).
John Chrysostom
"[N]o one can enter into the kingdom of heaven except he be regenerated
through water and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the
Lord and drink his blood is excluded from eternal life, and if all
these things are accomplished only by means of those holy hands, I mean
the hands of the priest, how will any one, without these, be able to
escape the fire of hell, or to win those crowns which are reserved for
the victorious? These [priests] truly are they who are entrusted with
the pangs of spiritual travail and the birth which comes through
baptism: by their means we put on Christ, and are buried with the Son
of God, and become members of that blessed head [the Mystical Body of
Christ]" (The Priesthood 3:5–6 [A.D. 387]).
Gregory of Nazianz
"Such is the grace and power of baptism; not an overwhelming of the
world as of old, but a purification of the sins of each individual, and
a complete cleansing from all the bruises and stains of sin. And since
we are double-made, I mean of body and soul, and the one part is
visible, the other invisible, so the cleansing also is twofold, by
water and the Spirit; the one received visibly in the body, the other
concurring with it invisibly and apart from the body; the one typical,
the other real and cleansing the depths" (Oration on Holy Baptism 7–8
[A.D. 388]).
The Apostolic
Constitutions
"Be ye likewise contented with one baptism alone, that which is into
the death of the Lord [Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12–13]. . . . [H]e that out of
contempt will not be baptized shall be condemned as an unbeliever and
shall be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says,
‘Except a man be baptized of water and of the Spirit, he shall by no
means enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And again, ‘He that believes
and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be
damned’" [Mark 16:16] (Apostolic Constitutions 6:3:15 [A.D.
400]).
Augustine
"It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be
regenerated . . . when that infant is brought to baptism; and it is
through this one Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn. For it
is not written, ‘Unless a man be born again by the will of his parents’
or ‘by the faith of those presenting him or ministering to him,’ but,
‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit.’ The water,
therefore, manifesting exteriorly the sacrament of grace, and the
Spirit effecting interiorly the benefit of grace, both regenerate in
one Christ that man who was generated in Adam" (Letters 98:2
[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,’ 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]).
Trinitarian Baptism
For a sacrament to be valid, three things have to be present: the
correct form, the correct matter, and the correct intention. With
baptism, the correct intention is to do what the Church does, the
correct matter is water, and the correct form is the baptizing "in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt.
28:19).
Unfortunately, not all religious organizations use this form. In fact,
Jehovah’s Witnesses sometimes use no formula at all in their baptisms,
and an even larger group, the "Jesus Only" Pentecostals, baptize "in
the name of Jesus." As a result, the baptisms of these groups are
invalid; thus, they are not Christian, but pseudo-Christian.
Both groups also reject the Trinity. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that
Jesus is not God, a heresy known as Arianism (after its fourth-century
founder), and the "Jesus Only" Pentecostals claim that there is only a
single person, Jesus, in the Godhead, a heresy known as Sabellianism
(after its inventor in the third century; see the Catholic Answers
tract, God in Three Persons).
"Jesus Only" Pentecostals note that Jesus told the apostles to baptize
in "the name" (singular) of the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit, but they make the mistake of assuming that name is Jesus.
In reality, the single name shared by the three is almost certainly Yahweh
(the personal name of God in the Bible).
This name is applied to both the Father and the Son in the New
Testament. In Acts 2:34–36, Peter quotes Psalm 110:1, applying the term
"Lord" to the Father, but in the Old Testament original, the term
"Lord" is actually Yahweh.
In Philippians 2:10–11, Paul quotes Isaiah 45:19–24, applying a
prophecy about the Lord to the Son. And in the Old Testament original,
the term "Lord" in this passage is actually Yahweh. Jesus also
applied the name Yahweh ("I Am") to himself in John 8:58, and
his audience understood exactly what he meant and tried to stone him
for claiming equality with God.
Since the Bible applies the name Yahweh to the Father and the
Son, it is almost certainly possessed by the Spirit, and thus is a name
of all three persons of the Trinity.
"Jesus Only" Pentecostals also argue that the New Testament talks about
people being baptized "in the name of Jesus," but there are only four
such passages (Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, and 19:5). Further, these
passages do not use the same designation in each place (some say "Lord
Jesus," other say "Jesus Christ"), indicating that they were not
technical formulas used in the baptism but simply descriptions by Luke.
These four descriptions are not to be considered as a substitute for or
contradiction of the divine command of the Lord Jesus Christ to: "make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19).
Rather, the phrase "baptized in the name of Jesus" is simply Luke’s way
to distinguish Christian baptism from other baptisms of the period,
such as John’s baptism (which Luke mentions in Acts 1:5, 22, 10:37,
11:16, 13:24, 18:25, 19:4), Jewish proselyte baptism, and the baptisms
of pagan cults (such as Mithraism). It also indicates the person into
whose Mystical Body baptism incorporates us (Rom. 6:3).
The early Church Fathers, of course, agreed. As the following quotes
illustrate, Christians have from the beginning recognized that the
correct form of baptism requires one to baptize "in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
The Didache
"After the foregoing instructions, baptize in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living [running] water. If
you have no living water, then baptize in other water, and if you are
not able in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, pour water three
times on the head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Before baptism, let the one baptizing and the one to
be baptized fast, as also any others who are able. Command the one who
is to be baptized to fast beforehand for one or two days" (Didache
7:1 [A.D. 70]).
Tatian the Syrian
"Then said Jesus unto them, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven
and earth; and as my Father has sent me, so I also send you. Go now
into all the world, and preach my gospel in all the creation; and teach
all the peoples, and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit; and teach them to keep all whatsoever I commanded
you: and lo, I am with you all the days, unto the end of the world’
[Matt. 28:18-20]" (The Diatesseron 55 [A.D. 170]).
Hippolytus
"When the one being baptized goes down into the water, the one
baptizing him shall put his hand on him and speak thus: ‘Do you believe
in God, the Father Almighty?’ And he that is being baptized shall say:
‘I believe.’ Then, having his hand imposed upon the head of the one to
be baptized, he shall baptize him once. Then he shall say: ‘Do you
believe in Christ Jesus . . . ?’ And when he says: ‘I believe,’ he is
baptized again. Again shall he say: ‘Do you believe in the Holy Spirit
and the holy Church and the resurrection of the flesh?’ The one being
baptized then says: ‘I believe.’ And so he is baptized a third time" (The
Apostolic Tradition 21 [A.D. 215]).
Tertullian
"After his resurrection he promises in a pledge to his disciples that
he will send them the promise of his Father; and lastly, he commands
them to baptize into the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, not
into a unipersonal God. And indeed it is not once only, but three
times, that we are immersed into the three persons, at each several
mention of their names" (Against Praxeas 26 [A.D. 216]).
Origen
"Why, when the Lord himself told his disciples that they should baptize
all peoples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, does this apostle [Paul] employ the name of Christ alone in
baptism, saying, ‘We who have been baptized into Christ’; for indeed,
legitimate baptism is had only in the name of the Trinity" (Commentary
on Romans 5:8 [A.D. 248]).
The Acts of
Xantippe and Polyxena
"Then Probus . . . leapt into the water, saying, ‘Jesus Christ, Son of
God, and everlasting God, let all my sins be taken away by this water.’
And Paul said, ‘We baptize thee in the name of the Father and Son and
Holy Ghost.’ After this he made him to receive the Eucharist of Christ"
(Acts of Xantippe and Polyxena 21 [A.D. 250]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"He [Jesus] commanded them to baptize the Gentiles in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. How then do some say that
though a Gentile be baptized . . . never mind how or of whom, so long
as it be done in the name of Jesus Christ, the remission of sins can
follow—when Christ himself commands the nations to be baptized in the
full and united Trinity?" (Letters 73:18 [A.D. 253]).
Eusebius of Caesarea
"We believe . . . each of these to be and to exist: the Father, truly
Father, and the Son, truly Son, and the Holy Ghost, truly Holy Ghost,
as also our Lord, sending forth his disciples for the preaching, said,
‘Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ Concerning whom we confidently affirm
that so we hold, and so we think, and so we have held aforetime, and we
maintain this faith unto the death, anathematizing every godless
heresy" (Letter to the People of His Diocese 3 [A.D. 323]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"You were led by the hand to the holy pool of divine baptism, as Christ
was carried from the cross to this sepulcher here before us [the tomb
of Jesus at Jerusalem]. And each of you was asked if he believed in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And you
confessed that saving confession, and descended three times into the
water, and again ascended, and in this there was suggested by a symbol
the three days of Christ’s burial" (Catechetical Lectures 20:4
[A.D. 350]).
Athanasius
"And the whole faith is summed up, and secured in this, that a Trinity
should ever be preserved, as we read in the Gospel, ‘Go ye and baptize
all the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost’ (Matt. 28:19). And entire and perfect is the number of the
Trinity (On the Councils of Arminum and Seleucia 2:28 [A.D.
361]).
Basil the Great
"The Holy Spirit, too, is numbered with the Father and the Son, because
he is above creation, and is ranked as we are taught by the words of
the Lord in the Gospel, ‘Go and baptize in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.’ He who, on the contrary, places the
Spirit before the Son, or alleges him to be older than the Father,
resists the ordinance of God, and is a stranger to the sound faith,
since he fails to preserve the form of doxology which he has received,
but adopts some newfangled device in order to be pleasing to men" (Letters
52:4 [A.D. 367]).
Ambrose of Milan
"Moreover, Christ himself says: ‘I and the Father are one.’ ‘One,’ said
he, that there be no separation of power and nature; but again, ‘We
are,’ that you may recognize Father and Son, forasmuch as the perfect
Father is believed to have begotten the perfect Son, and the Father and
the Son are one, not by confusion of person, but by unity of nature. We
say, then, that there is one God, not two or three gods" (The Faith 1:1[9–10]
[A.D. 379]).
Gregory of Nazianz
"But not yet perhaps is there formed upon your soul any writing good or
bad; and you want to be written upon today. . . . I will baptize you
and make you a disciple in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost; and these three have one common name, the Godhead. And
you shall know, both by appearances and by words that you reject all
ungodliness, and are united to all the Godhead" (Orations 40:45
[A.D. 380]).
Jerome
"[S]eeing that a man, baptized in the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Ghost, becomes a temple of the Lord, and that while the
old abode is destroyed a new shrine is built for the Trinity, how can
you say that sins can be remitted among the Arians without the coming
of the Holy Ghost? How is a soul purged from its former stains which
has not the Holy Ghost?" (Dialogue Against the Luciferians 6
[A.D. 382]).
Gregory of Nyssa
"And we, in receiving baptism . . . conceal ourselves in [the water] as
the Savior did in the earth: and by doing this thrice we represent for
ourselves that grace of the resurrection which was wrought in three
days. And this we do, not receiving the sacrament in silence, but while
there are spoken over us the names of the three sacred persons on whom
we believed, in whom we also hope, from whom comes to us both the fact
of our present and the fact of our future existence" (Sermon For the
Day of Lights [A.D. 383]).
Augustine
"Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
has Christ for its authority, not any man, whoever he may be; and
Christ is the truth, not any man" (On Baptism, Against the Donatists
4:24 [57] [A.D. 400]).
"O Lord our God, we believe in you, the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. For the truth would not say, ‘Go, baptize all nations in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ unless you
were a Trinity" (The Trinity 15:28[51] [A.D. 408]).
Theodoret of Cyr
"And what need is there of many words, when it is possible to refute
falsehood in few? We provide that those who year by year come up for
holy baptism should carefully learn the faith set forth at Nicaea by
the holy and blessed Fathers; and initiating them as we have been
bidden, we baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost, pronouncing each name singly" (Letters 145
[A.D. 444]).
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, a conscious or even unconscious 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 [desire] 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]).
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