Session 6

Visible Sign (Form and Matter)

Canon 849 - Baptism, the gateway to the sacraments and necessary for salvation by actual reception or at least by desire, is validly conferred only by a washing of true water with the proper form of words. Through baptism men and women are freed from sin, are reborn as children of God, configured to Christ by an indelible character, and are incorporated into the Church.

Form

1. CCC 1240 In the Latin Church this triple infusion is accompanied by the minister's words: "N., I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." In the Eastern liturgies the catechumen turns toward the East and the priest says: "The servant of God, N., is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." At the invocation of each person of the Most Holy Trinity, the priest immerses the candidate in the water and raises him up again.

Matter

1. Unbaptized person

2. Water

Internal Grace

We have actually previously discussed these:

1. They are purged of the original sin (and actual sin if applicable)

2. It makes one a new creature or neophyte in the sense a new Spirit is bestowed, and they are purged of the original (and actual sin if applicable).

3. The baptized is joined to the spiritual body of Christ and united to the rest of the baptized sacramentally. 

4. They are so spiritually conformed to Christ that the mark on the soul is called indelible.

Instituted by Christ

This was demonstrated by His being baptized and mentioning it in the great commission of Matthew 28:19. This sacrament is one explicitly instructed by the Lord to do.

Prefigured in the Old Testament

This was our first session, which will be reviewed shortly.

Used by the Early Church

This was our third session - where we see the first Apostles doing baptisms. However, they were not the only ones. this is from the Church Fathers site:

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 Clement6:7–9 [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).

For review The "In Brief" section of the Catechism

1275 Christian initiation is accomplished by three sacraments together: Baptism which is the beginning of new life; Confirmation which is its strengthening; and the Eucharist which nourishes the disciple with Christ's Body and Blood for his transformation in Christ.

1276 "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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19-20).

1277 Baptism is birth into the new life in Christ. In accordance with the Lord's will, it is necessary for salvation, as is the Church herself, which we enter by Baptism.

1278 The essential rite of Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water on his head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

1279 The fruit of Baptism, or baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ.

1280 Baptism imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual sign, the character, which consecrates the baptized person for Christian worship. Because of the character Baptism cannot be repeated (cf. DS 1609 and DS 1624).

1281 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, can be saved even if they have not been baptized (cf. LG 16).

1282 Since the earliest times, Baptism has been administered to children, for it is a grace and a gift of God that does not presuppose any human merit; children are baptized in the faith of the Church. Entry into Christian life gives access to true freedom.

1283 With respect to children who have died without Baptism, the liturgy of the Church invites us to trust in God's mercy and to pray for their salvation.

1284 In case of necessity, any person can baptize provided that he have the intention of doing that which the Church does and provided that he pours water on the candidate's head while saying: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Meaning and Takeaways

Session 1 - Prefigurement

• Water symbolizes potential for (new) life, but in itself is not capable of creating or sustaining it. No less, statements like, "man does not  live by bread alone" assume water is already present and immediately necessary for life.

• "Spirit" is that which actualizes the new life, extending forth existence.

• Even newborns have come into the world through/in water and spirit.

• We can also see a connection to the number of days Noah was in the ark and the years after Israel was delivered from Egypt and in the desert.

• We also looked at the significance of water being found in a place that water is not usually found and will study this further in our next session.

Session 2 - When the Word Baptism is Mentioned in the Gospels

• Christ being subject to water and spirit enters decisively into man's spiritual experience (the consequences of sin although not sinning Himself) as well through a Baptism of repentance.

• Christ describes his Baptism as one of suffering, this would be consistent with the spiritual landscape He entered into through His Baptism which commissioned Him for His divine mission which the Whole Trinity witnesses to in the scene of Christ's Baptism, and John foretold.

• Thus, the nature of Christ's Baptism is not symbolic as John's was, it is deeper and more efficacious. Even as far as John was concerned a heart of repentance was necessary and those that lack it cannot understand Christ. It is thus that Christ "fulfilled all righteousness".

• We can also see a connection to the number of days Noah was in the ark and the years after Israel was delivered from Egypt and in the desert, and Christ's desert experience. It is clear, that he does so as He suffers in the desert for 40 days, fulfilling and validating the time that all those being purified have suffered.

Session 3 - Baptism in Acts of the Apostles and "urgency"

• We connected the water coming from an unexpected place in the Old Testament to Christ's definition of "living Water" in the New Testament.

• We see that the Apostles took Christ's command to Baptize all nations very seriously, and moreover that they did not believe there was a distinction from sacramental life and the meaning of the scriptures.

• We see how the Apostles did not hesitate to bring someone a step forward in faith nor to baptize when someone believed and resolved to change their life.

Session 4 - Baptism in the Epistles and their Context

• St. Peter and Paul are clear on the salvific effect of the sacrament and how it unites us to Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension.

• Paul declares that in Baptism we are united to Christ's death as well as His resurrection. 

Session 5 -The Catholic Understanding of Sacraments

• The Church Teaches that every sacrament is:

  • a visible sign: composed of both matter and form; the form answers questions of how it is celebrated?, who performs the sacrament?, and what is required to receive the sacrament?

  • of an inward grace: which categorizes the sacrament and is the purpose of its reception, meant to transform the person to be like Christ ("Christian") and make living the Christian life possible

  • instituted by Christ: every sacrament whether implicitly or explicitly was done, received, fulfilled in, or commanded to be done by Christ

  • prefigured in the Old Testament

  • used by the Early Church.

• There are three kinds of Sacraments: of Initiation, of Healing, and of Service.

• The levels of Holy Orders came from the practical needs of the Christian people in the Early Church, and each level has its own set of sacraments they can practice.

• All levels of the clergy can witness a marriage, baptize, and preside over Christian burial services. 

Session 6 - Baptism's Sacramentality, Church Fathers, and Review

• We see that Baptism adheres to the Sacramental Criteria

• We saw how this sacrament is prefigured in the Old Testament and instituted by Christ in our prior sessions.

• We understood how the Church Fathers not only knew what Baptism was, but practiced it universally; if not only through Acts of the Apostles, then through the Epistles, and still further, through quotes from members and leaders of the Early Church.