Baptism

Having completed His redemptive work on earth, just before He returned to His Father, the Lord Jesus commissioned His disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all people, and to baptize new believers in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The rite is performed by immersing the disciple in water.

Who should receive this rite? Christ commanded that “disciples” and those who “believe” should be baptized. Infant baptism was introduced gradually in the early church but there is no convincing evidence that it was practiced in the apostolic churches. All recorded baptisms in the New Testament follow personal conversion to Christ, as indicated by such words as believe, repent and calling on His name.

Baptism is God’s sign to the new disciple of fellowship with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, and of remission of sins. Baptism is a sign (symbol, picture) because it shows spiritual realities by means of physical elements and actions (immersion in water). That baptism is a sign is acknowledged by all, including Roman Catholics. However, for the Catholic Church, baptism is something more than a sign. It is an “efficacious” sign; it “makes present” the grace that it “signifies.” Baptism is both a “sign” and the “instrumental cause” of justification, and brings about the new birth. This doctrine, known as baptismal regeneration, confuses the sign with the reality it signifies.

Baptismal Regeneration

The Catholic Church teaches that baptism is necessary for salvation because it causes regeneration and justification. “Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God.” Moreover, as with other sacraments, baptism acts “ex opere operato” - literally, by the very fact of the action being performed. The right application of the outward sign is always followed by the gift of internal grace if the sacrament is received with the right dispositions.

In the case of infants, baptism removes original sin and brings about regeneration even though the infant does not personally believe in Christ. In adults, faith is necessary, but it is not sufficient on its own for forgiveness or eternal life. Faith is considered as one of the factors constituting the “right disposition” for baptism. “Besides a wish to be baptized, in order to obtain the grace of the Sacrament, faith is also necessary.” It is implied that the believer does not receive grace (forgiveness or regeneration) until and unless he is baptized with water.

A few Bible verses are cited as evidence for the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. John 3:5 is perhaps the key “proof text.” Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” For instance, the Catechism states that the Church “takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are ‘reborn of water and the Spirit.’”

We notice immediately that the word “baptism” does not appear in the text. Jesus speaks of being born “of water and the Spirit” and not “of baptism and the Spirit.” Catholics tacitly assume that “water” means “baptism.” But there is no compelling reason why it should be so. Jesus speaks of ordinary things like the birth process and the blowing of the wind to illustrate great spiritual realities; why can’t we also understand water in its scriptural symbolic meaning of cleansing and life? Moreover Jesus chides Nicodemus for not understanding that a man must be born of water and the Spirit: “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” Are we to believe that Nicodemus was rebuked for not comprehending Christian baptism which had not yet been introduced?

The new birth is the sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” And again, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Man cannot determine when and who will be born again; God regenerates whenever and whoever He wishes. The new birth is not “according to the will of man.” Now if water baptism automatically causes regeneration, we must say that the wind blows where man wishes, who can tell exactly where it goes because the administration of baptism is very much a matter of the human will.

Other verses mention baptism in relation to salvation, but none of them remotely prove baptismal regeneration. It is not enough to show from Scripture that “faith and baptism” or “repentance and baptism” are closely related. Evangelical Christians also believe that “faith and baptism” are closely related without teaching the heretical error of baptismal regeneration.

Christians affirm that a person is saved by faith while baptism is the sign of salvation. Catholics cannot show that faith is insufficient to save, a mere predisposition, or that cleansing is actually brought about by baptism. They need to demonstrate that baptism without personal faith saves (as in the case of infant baptism); and for adults, that faith does not save before baptism. This they cannot do!

Take Mark 16:16 as an example: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Jesus commands that baptism should be administered after personal belief in the gospel message; but infants, by reason of their age, cannot exercise personal faith in Christ. At best this verse is irrelevant as evidence for baptismal regeneration of infants. As for adults, the same verse says nothing about the specific roles of faith and baptism in salvation. Is faith the instrument of salvation, or simply a predisposition; is baptism the sign of salvation or the instrumental cause? These questions cannot be answered from the immediate context. Therefore, Mark 16:16 cannot be forced to teach that “faith is insufficient” or “baptism regenerates”. If anything, Jesus emphasizes the primacy of faith, for He singles out unbelief as the cause of damnation.

Saved by Faith

While scriptural proof for baptismal regeneration is absent, evidence for the efficacy of faith in salvation is by no means lacking. “Your faith has saved you,” Jesus reassured the sinful woman who came to Him in the Pharisee’s house; and so will He say to every sinner who believes in Him.

The New Testament sets forth two men as typical examples of salvation by faith – Abraham the patriarch, and the first Gentile convert, Cornelius. Both were saved by faith; Abraham, of course, was never baptized; Cornelius was baptized only after he had been spiritually cleansed. One was saved without baptism; the other was saved before baptism. Faith, not baptism, is shown to be the “instrumental cause” of salvation.

It is significant that in order to illustrate the way of salvation in the New Testament era, the apostle Paul chooses an Old Testament character, Abraham. He writes, “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” The blessing of justification is received by faith in our time, just as Abraham had been justified by faith.

Elsewhere the apostle Paul writes, “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Abraham was justified by faith apart from the merits of any good works; and so is every person who will ever be saved.

The apostle Paul even goes a step forward to emphasize the efficacy of faith. He points out that Abraham was justified by faith years before he received the sign of circumcision. “For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.” All are justified like Abraham – by faith; not by an external rite, whether circumcision in the Old Testament or baptism in the New.

The apostle Peter presented Cornelius and his family, the first Gentile converts, as the pattern of salvation for everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike. He declared before the other apostles and the elders at the Jerusalem council: “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

The apostle Peter recounted the experience: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”

Peter interpreted the coming of the Holy Spirit on all those who heard the word as divine testimony that they had believed in Jesus and that their hearts had been purified by faith. It is true of course that the apostle Peter baptized Cornelius and the other converts. But he baptized them only after he was convinced that they had believed in Christ. Peter did not baptize them in order to cleanse them from sin because he knew that God had already accepted them and purified their heart by faith. “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Cornelius heard the Gospel’s promise: “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” He believed in Christ, he was forgiven and purified through faith, and last of all, he was baptized. We would do well to follow the same sequence, and not to attribute to baptism what the Word of God attributes to faith.

Faith and Baptism

We do not speak a single word against baptism. Every believer is duty bound to submit to baptism soon after conversion as the Lord has commanded. We do criticize, however, the wrong use of this holy ordinance. It is a terrible distortion of biblical truth when personal faith is effectively substituted by baptism, as happens in the Catholic Church. Worse still, faith is reduced to a mere predisposition, a paralyzed arm that cannot reach out and take hold of God’s salvation, contrary to the plain teaching of the Bible.

Faith saves. Not because faith is meritorious or powerful in itself. Faith saves because it unites the weak and guilty person with the all-powerful and righteous Saviour. Let baptism, and all sort of good works, follow and fill the life of every believer. But let no believer depend for salvation on anything he does. Faith must always be in Christ alone. Baptism does not cause what is already achieved by faith.

References:

Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16.

See CCC 628, 1239, 1262.

See Acts 2:38; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12,13; Acts 8:36, 37; Acts 10:47,48; Acts 16:14,15; Acts 16:32-34; Acts 18:8; Acts 19:4,5; Acts 22:16.

Romans 6:3, 4, 5; Colossians 2:12 and Acts 2:38; 22:16. 90 See CCC 1131, 1214.

118

Council of Trent, session 6, chapter 7: “The causes of this justification are: ... the instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which no man was ever justified finally...”

CCC 1277, 1213.

Catechism of Trent, The Sacrament of Baptism. 94 CCC 1257.

John 3:8; John 1:12, 13.

Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:21; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3, 4; Colossians 2:12. See www.justforcatholics.org/a114.htm for further discussion.

Luke 7:50.

Galatians 3:6-9.

Romans 4:1-5.

Romans 9-11.

Acts 15:11.

Acts 15:7-9.

Acts 10:47.

Acts 10:43.