The Baptism of the Lord

The Baptism of the Lord
APOLOGETICS
There are many who do not understand and even criticize the Catholic Church’s practice of baptizing infants. Some Christians believe that baptism is for adults and older children, not infants, because it is to be administered only after one has a “born again” experience. This means that someone has “accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.” According to those believers, the instant one has been “born again,” the person becomes a Christian and his salvation is assured forever. Baptism follows, however, it is merely a public witness of the person’s conversion and nothing more.
 
So how does a Catholic explain and share the Church’s practice of baptizing infants?

• Point out that nowhere does the Bible say that infants cannot or should not be baptized.
• Use one of the many passages from the Bible that say entire families were baptized (Acts 16:33).
• Jesus tells us that no one can enter into the kingdom of God without being baptized, and it does not logically follow to withhold the kingdom of God from an infant by not baptizing them (John 3:5).
• Many councils throughout history have affirmed infant baptism as far back as the Council of Carthage A.D. 419.
• Writings of the Early Church Fathers, including St. Irenaeus and Origen, show how the Church was baptizing infants from the very beginning of Christianity.

“Jesus came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through him are baptized in God: infants, and children, and youths, and old men. Therefore he passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, sanctifying infants.” - St. Irenaeus A.D. 189
 
Why is this writing so important? Well, St. Irenaeus was born in Smyrna around the year A.D. 140 and would have been baptized by the Bishop of Smyrna, who at that time was a man named Polycarp. Why does this matter? It matters because Polycarp was a personal disciple of the apostle John! St. Irenaeus learned the teachings of the Church from Polycarp who learned from John himself.
 
The BIG picture is this: St. Paul, being a Jew, as well as one of the apostles, understood the idea that true religion is a family affair. A Jew became a Jew when he was circumcised on the eighth day and entered into the Old Covenant with God. They did not have to first “accept Moses as their personal prophet” before they could be circumcised. And St. Paul tells us in the Bible that baptism is the fulfillment of circumcision (Col. 2:11-12). As the Old Covenant was for infants at eight days old, the New Covenant continues to still be for infants as the New Covenant is for ALL!
 
“The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants”
- Origen A.D. 248
 
CATECHESIS
Baptism is the first of the three Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist. It is the vital gateway to the Christian life and the necessary gift of the Most Holy Trinity, by which the baptized receives sanctifying grace and the grace of justification (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1266). The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop, the priest, and, in the Latin Church, the deacon. In the case of emergency, anyone, even a non-baptized person with the proper intention can baptize using the Trinitarian Formula (I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit).

Jesus affirms to us that Baptism is necessary for salvation and commanded His disciples to baptize all nations, as they worked to proclaim the Gospel. There is no other means known of attaining life in heaven, except through Baptism, which is why the Church takes the mission so seriously to invite all to the Sacrament. The only exceptions where a non-baptized person might find salvation is if they lived a moral and virtuous life, but had been invincibly ignorant of the Gospel or had been unable to request the Sacrament. God has bound salvation to the Sacrament of Baptism, but He Himself is not bound by His Sacraments (CCC 1257). The Gospel affirms this in Jesus’ promise of salvation to Dismas, the Penitent Thief. Jesus told him “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
 
According to CCC 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.” Baptism not only purifies from sins, but makes the baptized a “new creature,” an adopted son of God, a member of Christ, co-heir with Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1265).
 
THEOLOGY
One of the great passages on Baptism is found in Romans chapter 6. This passage is a fantastic reminder of not only how powerful Baptism is but also what it actually does: wipe away original sin and inherit the Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5).
 
How often do we think about why Christ himself was baptized? Why do we as faithful members get to experience the same death he did and be united with him in the same resurrection? In A.D. 107, St. Ignatius of Antioch said this as it relates to this question: “For our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary, of the seed of David, but by the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by His passion He might purify the water.”
 
Dr. David Anders, a well-known speaker, catechist and theologian for Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), added this reflection on the statement from St. Ignatius of Antioch:
 
“This notion that Christ purified the waters is found in other Church Fathers as well, but this is the earliest record we have of the statement. Christ was not purified by being baptized, since Christ was already pure. Rather, in His baptism, the waters were purified for our sake, that when we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we are purified, not by the removal of dirt from the body, but by the forgiveness of sin and the reception of the Life of God within us.”
 
Through the power of Christ we have been given the reception of life within us, the Holy Spirit. Reading this should make you excited and rejoice in your Baptism!