Part II: Baptism — Chapter I §1: Divine Institution

Part II: Baptism

Chapter I: Baptism a True Sacrament

§1: Divine Institution

PART II BAPTISM The Catechism of the Council of Trent defines Baptism as the Sacrament of regeneration bywater in the word. 1 This definition has been amplified by Catholic theologians as follows: “Baptism is a Sacrament instituted by Christ, in which, by the outward washing of the body with water, with invocation of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, man is spiritually reborn and sanctified unto life everlasting.” Hence the names: Pairruriui* (from pdwrav, to immerse), ” laver of regeneration ; ”

CHAPTER I BAPTISM A TRUE SACRAMENT Baptism is a true Sacrament because it was instituted by Jesus Christ as an external sign for the communication of internal grace. 205 SECTION i DIVINE INSTITUTION The Council of Trent defines: “If any one saith that the Sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, or that they are more or less than seven, to wit: Baptism, etc., … or even that any one of these seven is not truly and properly a Sacrament, let him be anathema.” 1 i. Proof From Revelation. — Notwithstanding Harnack’s assertion that “it cannot be shown that Jesus instituted Baptism,” 2 a perfectly conclusive argument for the divine institution of this Sacrament may be construed from Scripture and Tradition. a) In the Old Testament Baptism was prefigured as a true Sacrament by many important types, — e. g., circumcision, the deluge, the passage of the Chosen People through the Red Sea, etc.3 l Sess. VII, De Sacram., can. i : proprie sacramentum, anathema “Si quis dixerit, sacramenta Novae sit.” (Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 844). Legis non fuisse omnia a Iesu 2 Dogmengeschichte, Vol. I, 2nd Christo instituta aut esse plura vel ed., p. 68, n. 3, Freiburg 1894. pauciora quam septem, vid. baptis- 8 Cfr. St. Ambrose, De Myst., cap. mum, etc., … aut etiam aliquod 3. horum septem non esse vere et 206 DIVINE INSTITUTION Cf r. Ez. XXXVI, 25 : “I will pour out upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness.” 4 Zach. XIII, 1 : “In that day [of the Messianic kingdom] there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman.” 5 When John the Baptist told the priests and Levites who had been sent from Jerusalem to question him, that he was not the Christ, they wonderingly inquired : ” Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? ” 6 John explained that he baptized not as the future Messias would baptize, i. e. ” with the Holy Ghost,” but merely as a preparation for His coming. ” I indeed baptize you in water unto penance, but he that shall soon come after me, is mightier than I, … he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.” 7 Shortly after Christ began His public life, He came to the Jordan and was baptized by John,8 thereby, as the Fathers explain, communicating to the baptismal water the power of forgiving sins. In his discourse with Nicodemus, Jesus declared that “unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” 9 At His command the dis4Ez. XXXVI, 25: “Effundam super vos aquatn mundam et mundabimini ab omnibus inquinamentis vestris.” 5 Zach. XIII, 1 : In die ilia erit fons patens dotnui David et habitantibus Jerusalem in ablutionem peccatoris et menstruatae « John I, 25 : * Quid ergo baptizas, si tu non es Christus neque Elias neque prophetaf * 7Matth. Ill, 11: “Ego quidem baptiso vos in aqua in poenitentiam; qui autem post me venturus est, fortior me est, … ipse vos baptiaabit in Spiritu Sancto et igni.* 8 Cfr. Matth. Ill, 13. 9 John III, 5: Nisi quis rena208 BAPTISM ciples also baptized with water.10 Before His Ascension He commanded them to go into the whole world, to preach the gospel to all men, and to baptize. “All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost/’ 11 b) How firmly the belief in the divine institution of Baptism was rooted among the faithful in the primitive Church, is clear from the fact that, with but few exceptions,12 all heretical sects admitted the Sacrament, though some of them misunderstood its nature or denied its necessity. This well-nigh universal consensus renders it superfluous to work out a detailed argument from Tradition. We will merely adduce a passage from Tertullian. Commenting on the opposition between the Old and New Testaments, that writer says : ” In days gone by there was salvation by means of bare faith, before the passion of the Lord. But now that the faith has been enlarged, … there has been an amplification of the Sacrament, [namely], the sealing act of Baptism… . For the law of baptizing has been imposed, and the formula prescribed: Go, saith [Jesus], teach all nations, baptizing tus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, non potest introire in regnum Dei, 10 Cfr. John III, 26. nMatth. XXVIII, 19: Data est tnihi omnis potestas in coelo et in terra, Euntes ergo docete omnes gentes baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spirit us Sancti.” (Cfr. Mark XVI, 15 sq.). On the authenticity of this text see Riggenbach, Der trinitarische Taufbefehl nach seiner ursprunglichen Textgestalt und seiner Authentie, Gutersloh 1903, and the Journal of Theological Studies, 1905, pp. 481 sqq. 12 The only exceptions we know of, are the ancient Gnostics and Manichaeans, certain spiritualistic sects of the Middle Ages, and the modern Socinians. them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” 18 2. When Did Christ Institute Baptism? — While the Fathers and theologians are unanimous regarding the fact of the divine institution of Baptism, they differ as to the precise time when this Sacrament was instituted. a) Some 14 think that Baptism was instituted on Ascension day, when our Lord said to His disciples : * Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 15 The advocates of this view contend that the institution of a Sacrament is a legislative act, and that no such act with regard to Baptism is on record anywhere in the Gospels outside of Matth. XXVIII, 19. This agrees with the idea that the Church was formally established on Pentecost, and that it was only after its formal establishment that Baptism became necessary as a ” door of entrance ” into the Church. It is objected to this view that the Apostles were alike Christians and priests before Christ’s Passion and death, and that the power of consecrating bread and wine, which they received at the Last Supper, manifestly supposes that they were baptized. The defenders of the theory just isDe BapU, c. 13: “Retro quidem salus fuit per fidem nudam ante Domini passionem. At ubi fides aucto est credendi, addita es’t ampliatio sacramenti: obsignotio baptismi… . Lex enim tingendi imposita est ei forma praescripta: Ite, inquit, docete omnes nationes, tingentes eas in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.” Further Patristic texts infra, No. 2. uTertullian (De Bapt., c. 11 sqq.), St Chrysostom {Horn, in loa.t 28), St Leo the Great (Ep. 16 ad Sic, Episc.)f Alexander of Hales {Comment, in Sent., IV, dist 4, qu. 12, m. 3, art 1), Melchior Cano (De Locis Theol., VIII, 5), Berlage, Oswald, Bisping, Schanz, et al. 15 Matth. XXVIII. 19. 2IO BAPTISM outlined reply that a mere act of the will on the part of the God-man was sufficient to make the Apostles Christians, nay priests and bishops, and that the only one who needed Baptism was St. Paul, because he came later. Cf r. Acts IX, 18 : ” And rising up, he was baptized.” 16 b) Others hold that our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Baptism before His sacred passion, either at the time of His own Baptism by St. John, or in his discourse with Nicodemus.17 That the act of institution began with Christ’s own Baptism as terminus a qua, was the opinion of such eminent Fathers as St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Augustine, and St. Ambrose.18 It is also the teaching of St. Thomas. ” A Sacrament is then instituted,” he says, ” when it receives the power of producing its effect. Now Baptism received this power when Christ was baptized. Consequently Baptism, considered as a Sacrament, was truly instituted at that time.” 19 Suarez 20 explains this more fully as follows : What happened when our Lord was baptized in the Jordan was merely the designation of matter and form. The formal institution of the Sacrament required a positive act or command, which must have followed soon after, as we read in the third and fourth chapters of St. John’s Gospel that the disciples of Jesus baptized.21 The Baptism they 16 Act. IX, 18: “Et surgens baptizatus est.’ 17 That the Sacrament of Baptism was instituted by our Lord in His discourse with Nicodemus, was held by very few theologians, notably St. Bernard and Estius. Modern writers quite generally reject this view because of the private character of that discourse. 18 In Luc, 1. II, n. 83: ” Baptisatus est ergo Dominus non mundari volens, sed mundare aquas, ut ablutae per carnem Christi, quae peccatum non novit, baptismatis ius haberent.” lVSumma Theol., 3a, qu. 66, art 2 : ” Tunc videtur aliquod sacrament utn institui, quando accipit virtutem producendi suum effectum. Hanc autem virtutem accepit baptismus, quando Christus est baptisatus. Unde tunc vere baptismus institutus fuit quantum ad ipsum sacramentum.” 20 De Sacram., disp. 19, sect. 2, n. 3 21 John III, 26; IV, 2. administered cannot have been a mere Baptism of proselytes, nor yet a Baptism unto penance, like that of the Precursor, but it must have been that Baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire * which John himself had so sharply distinguished from his own.22 According to this theory, therefore, the institution of the Sacrament of Baptism coincides with the beginning of our Lord’s public career.2 Scotus says : ” The disciples of Christ baptized before the passion; whence it follows that the Sacrament was instituted before that event, though the Gospel tells us nothing about the exact time.”24 There is an ancient legend that Jesus Himself baptized St Peter, St. Peter baptized St. Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, and these in turn baptized the remaining Apostles, while the seventy disciples received the Sacrarament at the hands of Peter and John.25 c) Which of the opinions just reviewed is the more probable one? Both are supported by solid arguments. Sacramental Baptism may have been instituted by our Lord before His Passion without those characteristics of universality and necessity {necessitas medii) which attached to it after the Ascension. It was only when He spoke the words : ” Euntes ergo/’ etc., that He solemnly promulgated this Sacrament as an indispensable means of salvation for all men. Hence the two views can easily be 22Cfr. Matth. Ill, u; Mark I, 8; Luke III, 16; John I, 33. 23 Cfr. J. Grimm, Das Leben Jesu, Vol. II, pp. 364 sq., Ratisbon 1878. 24 Comment, in Sent., IV, disk 3, qu. 4: ” Discipuli Christi ante passionem Christi baptizabant. Convincitur ergo tempus institutions fuisse ante Mud tempus, quo discipuli Christi baptizabant, licet hora institutionis non legatur in Evangelic” Similarly Gabriel Biel, Suarez, Holzklau (Wirceb.), and more recently Chr. Pesch {Praelect. Dogmat.y Vol. VI, 3rd ed., p. 156, Freiburg 1908). 25 Cfr. Nicephorus Callistus, Hist. Eccles., II, 3. reconciled by assuming that Baptism was instituted for a limited circle and without superseding circumcision, at the beginning of our Saviour’s public career, but was not solemnly promulgated nor invested with the characteristics of universality and necessity until after His Ascension. St. Bonaventure, finding a grain of truth in each of these hypotheses, happily blends them as follows: ” When was Baptism instituted? With regard to its matter, it was instituted at the time when Christ was baptized in the Jordan ; with regard to its form, when He arose from the dead and designated the form (Matth. XXVIII, 19) ; with regard to its effects, when He suffered, because it is from His passion that the virtue of the Sacrament springs; and with regard to its final end and object, when He foretold its necessity and utility by saying (John III, 5) : ’ Unless a man be born again/ etc.* 26 26 Comment in Ioa., c. 3, n. 19: * Quando institutes est baptismusf Dicendum quod materialiter, quum baptizatus fuit Christus; formaliter, quum resurrexit et formam dedit {Matth. XXVIII, 19); effective, quum passus fuit, quia inde habuit virtutem; sed finoliter, quum eius necessitatem praedixit et utilitatem (Ioa. Ill, 5): Nisi quis renatus fuerit, etc.’* Cfr. the Innsbruck Zeitschrift fur kath. Theologie, 1905, PP. S3 sqq.