Baptism: The Gateway to Life

So now let us look at what the Catechism has to say about the necessity of Baptism and the various situations one must consider when speaking of its necessity.

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation (Jn 3:5). He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them (Mt 28:19-20). 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 (Mk 16:16). The Church does not know any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she 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.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death of the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.

1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

1260 “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.” (Vatican II) Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,” (Mk 10:14, cf 1 Tim 2:4) allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism. (CCC para. 1258-1261, pgs. 320-321)

So in discussing the need for Baptism the Church clearly teaches that it is absolutely necessary, yet that there can exist circumstances that the sacrament of Baptism, being not available, may not be the determining factor of salvation.

So what are the benefits of Baptism? Yes, it is the “gateway to life” but what effects does it cause to those baptized?

The Grace of Baptism

1262 The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit. (cf. Acts 2:38, Jn 3:5)

For the forgiveness of sins…

1263 By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God.

1264 Yet certain temporal consequences of sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence, or metaphorically, “the tinder for sin” (formes peccati); since concupiscence “is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the grace of Jesus Christ.” (Council of Trent) Indeed, “an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Tim 2:5).

”A new creature”
1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte “a new creature,” an adopted son of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature,” (2 Cor 5:17; 2 Pet 1:4; cf. Gal 4:5-7) member of Christ and co-heir with him, (cf. 1 Cor 6:15; 12:27; Rom 8:17) and a temple of the Holy Spirit. (cf. 1 Cor 6:19)

1266 The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification:
- enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;
- giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;
- allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues.
Thus the whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
CCC para. 1262-1266

The Catechism goes on to list “incorporation into the Church, sacramental bond of the unity of Christians, and an indelible spiritual mark” as other effects of Baptism.

It is important to understand that in the Sacraments the primary “actor or agent” is God. The effects of Baptism are carried out by God. He removes the sins, He makes us a “new creature”, He places upon our souls “an indelible spiritual mark”. That is why the Church has always practiced infant Baptism.

The Baptism of infants

1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.

1251 Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.

1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole “households” received baptism, infants may also have been baptized. (Acts 16:15, 33; 18:8; 1 Cor 1:16)
(CCC para. 1250-1252, pg 319)

Baptism opens up to us the “gateway of life”, we step through the “narrow gate” (Mt 7:13-14) that leads to life. As Christians we should all be thankful for this tremendous gift. And to those reading this who have not been baptized I proclaim to you, with St. Peter so long ago:

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. – Acts 2:38

In Christ,
Joe