The Catholic Christian Church teaches that Baptism “is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.”
I will try to break down each of these.
Outward Sign: Jesus often would use tangible things when doing His spiritual work in those who encountered Him. He used spit and mud to heal a blind man (John 9:6-7). In Baptism, “water not only symbolizes death and purification [of sins], but also new birth in the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1262).
The Council of Florence (1314 A.D.) referred to Baptism as “the gateway to life in the Spirit.”
Instituted by Christ: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (v. 5).
Jesus goes on in verse 7, “Do not be surprised that I told you, ‘you must be born from above.’”
Nowhere in early Christian writings prior to the twelfth century has John 3 ever been understood to mean anything other than Baptism.
Furthermore, “The Didache” (sometimes referred to as “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” written at the end of the first or beginning of the second century) describes how one is to be Baptized. It also states that no one is to receive the Eucharist who is not Baptized.
To Give Grace: Our Savior did not only tell us to do these things, He also showed us by doing them. Jesus did not need to be Baptized. Fr. Mike Schmitz says, “Where Jesus leads, we are all called to follow. The water did not make Him holy, Jesus made the waters holy. It’s like when Jesus touches the leper, Jesus does not become sick, but the one who is sick is healed.” Amazing!
When Jesus was on the Cross, after He had taken His last breath, a soldier (traditionally named Longinus) thrusted his spear into Jesus’ side and what flowed out was water and blood (John 19:34). Many Catholic Christians believe this is a symbol of Baptism and Eucharist, where Christ’s salvific work on the Cross is made present to us here now.
Fun Fact: The same Greek word for “torn” when Jesus hands over His spirit on Calvary (in Matthew 27:51) is the same verbiage as when Jesus is Baptized, rises from the Jordan River and the Heavens were “torn open” (Mark 1:10).
In Chapter 5 of “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis says that a life in Christ is “something much more than our trying to follow His teaching…” This life that Christ gives “has already happened… and the new kind of life which began in Him is to be put into us. How is this to be done? Now, please remember how we acquired the old, ordinary kind of life. We derived it from others, from our father and mother and all our ancestors, without our consent [referring to natural birth]… Now the God who arranged that process is the same God who arranges how the new kind of life—the Christ life—is to be spread…
There are three things that spread the Christ life to us: baptism, belief, and that mysterious action which different Christians call by different names—Holy Communion, the Mass, the Lord’s Supper. At least, those are the three ordinary methods. I am not saying there may not be special cases where it is spread without one or more of these.”
Baptism is a gift.
You might look at this gift and say, it is just water, and not see this gift for what it truly is. It is a life in Christ. We believe that when we are Baptized, Christ is truly working in us. It is not “a work of men,” as some Protestants wrongly portray it as. We believe that Christ is actually changing us; not just deeming us holy, but actually helping us become holy (Ephesians 2:5-10).
St. Peter says that in Baptism “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, he writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
What we do with this gift is up to us.
Can you give a gift to a baby? Yes. As this baby grows can this child (of God) reject this gift? Yes. Can this child cherish this gift and honor the One who gave us this gift? Yes. Can one accept and later discard this gift after having received it or having been blessed with this gift? Yes.
Where as circumcision was how one entered into the Covenant with God in the Old Testament, Baptism is the sign of the New Covenant (Colossians 2:11).
Fun Fact: Jesus was circumcised when He was 8 days old.
Did the Apostles Baptize babies? We do know from Scripture that entire households were Baptized (Acts 16:14-15, Acts 16:33, and in 1 Corinthians 1:16). Whether or not this included children is unclear.
Fun Fact: The Bible never explicitly mentions that the Apostles were Baptized either, but I’d say it is pretty safe to presume that they were.
Do we have historical evidence that the Apostles and their successors Baptized babies? Yes. Origen, who was confirmed as the successor of Clement of Alexandria by the first Bishop of Alexandria, Demetrius, wrote about infant Baptism in his Homilies (Sermons) on Leviticus and in his Commentaries on Romans (245 A.D.)
He wrote, “The Church received from the Apostles the tradition of giving Baptism even to infants. For the Apostles, to whom were committed the divine mysteries, knew that there is in everyone the innate stains of sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit.”
Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, and some of his fellow-Bishops wrote in a letter to Fidus (253 A.D.), “If in the case of the worst sinners and of those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is 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 reason does he approach more easily to receive the remission of sins [merited by Christ, ‘who is merciful and kind and loving to all’]: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another.”
St. Augustine wrote in his commentary on Genesis (composed from year 401-415 A.D.) the following, “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 age of infancy also has a great weight of witness; for it was the infant age that first merited to pour out its blood for Christ” (referring to the Massacre of the Innocents described in the Gospel of Matthew).
Luke 18:15 says, “Now they were bringing even infants (“brephe” in the Greek) to Him that He might touch them, and when the disciples saw this they rebuked them. Jesus, however, called the children to Himself…”
Jesus then says, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
St. Peter, in his letter to the provinces of Asia Minor compared the waters of Noah’s flood to Baptism, “which saves you now, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:20-21).
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen made an analogy between Baptism and the metamorphosis of a caterpillar. A caterpillar is born a caterpillar and is reborn into a butterfly, but without the sun (or The Son in the case of Baptism), this transformation seldom can occur. If the caterpillar is raised in the midst of frost, she will likely die, either as a caterpillar or even as a butterfly.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who actually got to see and hear Polycarp (a disciple of the Apostle John) speak when he was young, made the following analogies in 180 A.D., “Just as dry wheat without moisture cannot become one dough or one loaf, so also, we who are many cannot be made one in Christ Jesus, without the water from Heaven. Just as dry earth cannot bring forth fruit unless it receive moisture, so also we, being at first a dry tree, can never bring forth fruit unto life, without the voluntary rain from above.”
“Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark of his belong to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.” — CCC 1272 (Romans 8:29; Council of Trent (1547 A.D.)
This brings us to “The Nicene Creed, which expresses, “We confess ONE Baptism for the forgiving of sins.”
The Creed began as a Profession of Faith by 318 Early Church Fathers in year 325 A.D. This version was different though.
The First Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.) refined the Creed of Nicaea, which is the one commonly used today.
The Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) wrote a letter to John of Antioch letting him know that they agree on the Creed, “Having read these holy phrases and finding ourselves in agreement (for ‘there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism’), we have given glory to God who is the saviour of all and rejoice together that our churches and yours are at one in professing the same faith as the inspired Scriptures and the tradition of our holy fathers.”
When one is Baptized, he becomes incorporated into the mystical Body of Christ (the church). If Jesus can re-attach the ear of an unbeliever, how much more can Jesus heal a severed member of His own body?
In Baptism, we become children of God. And we know that Jesus told a parable about a son who squandered his inheritance, but the Father celebrated his son’s return and welcomed him back with open arms. If we have walked away from Christ and His church and chosen to live a lifestyle of sin, God will surely welcome us back with open arms!
Baptism remits original sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin and death came about the Earth. But, when Jesus obeyed “The Heavenly Father unto death, He brought forth forgiveness and life into our World. Because of this, when we are Baptized, we are not only washed of our past sins, but also freed from original sin. Jesus conquered death and suffering by entering into it, and restored life by rising anew.
St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, that when we are Baptized, we too in a sense die to ourselves, are buried, and raised from the dead “by the glory of the Father, so that we too might live in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
Can Jesus save those who have not been Baptized? Of course! We believe there are examples in Scripture of Baptism by desire, meaning individuals who are not Baptized, but have faith in Him and a desire to follow Him. We also talk about a Baptism through blood, which refers to someone who has not been Baptized, but has died for their faith in Jesus Christ (CCC 1258 & 1281).