You Have Been Saved

 Salvation

Even though we were dead because of our sins,
he gave us life when he raised Jesus from the dead.
It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved.
Ephesians 2, 5

St. Paul perceived salvation as embracing the three aspects of time: past, present, and future. In the original Greek, the statement “By grace you have been saved” reads χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι (chariti este sesōsmenoi); χάριτί or “grace” comes from chairo which means “graciousness, of manner or act.” The present indicative active – 2nd person plural – existential perfect verb form ἐστε or “have been” indicates a collective “ongoing existence” that has resulted from a past event. What has resulted from the past and continues to exist in the present is being “saved” or σεσῳσμένοι. The present indicative active verb carries with it the affirmation that “You exist” or, more precisely, “You are saved.” The perfect participle σεσῳσμένοι literally means “saved, delivered, or shielded.” Thus, the persons who are saved or delivered through God’s gracious act (grace or favor) continue in this state of existence as a result of a past event that is safeguarded from being nullified.

With respect to the past result that continues in the present, Paul is referring to the reason for our salvation and its condition: removal from guilt and the remission of sin. Christ’s formal redemption of the world continues. The grace of justification and forgiveness that our Lord alone has merited for humanity is the permanent result of his passion, death, and resurrection. God has reconciled the world to Himself through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Rom 5:10-11).

It is when we are baptized that we actively receive the grace of justification and forgiveness for our own interior renewal. This grace has been merited for us by Christ alone in strict justice and not by any preceding merit of ours. (2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:5). The ongoing and dynamic process of justification and sanctification begins here in our journey of faith. By the redeeming merits of Jesus Christ, we are transformed internally from the state of being born a child of Adam into the state of being reborn in the Spirit. What happens here isn’t a single event in our life of faith, which is now complete and eternally guarantees our individual salvation from that point on, but the beginning of an ongoing process of growing in holiness and striving for spiritual perfection despite the occasional falls from grace and acts of contrition following one’s baptism (2 Cor 7:1).

For we are the aroma of Christ to God
among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 2, 15

By reading “those who are being saved” in English, we might have the impression that St. Paul is addressing a community of believers who are in the act of being saved but haven’t conclusively been saved yet or that to be saved is an ongoing number of actions in sequences of time rather than an acquired and existing state that is ongoing and progressive because of a single act. We mustn’t confuse the ancient Greek present tense with the modern English present continuous tense. The present tense verb in NT Greek doesn’t necessarily mean a continual or objective kind of action (saving someone from drowning) that is momentarily continuing within a restricted time frame until it concludes (Aktionsart). As we saw above, the grace of justification and forgiveness that our Lord alone has merited for humanity is the permanent result of his passion, death, and resurrection. Christ paid the ransom for sin once and for all and reconciled humanity to God at a moment in time that occurred in the past with a complete and lasting effect.

Therefore, the verb that Paul uses (“being saved”) is in the present tense. In koine Greek, we have σωζομένοις (sōzomenois). The apostle addresses those who are “saved or rescued and safeguarded.” Still, when reading the NT in the original Greek, we must consider the author’s vantage point on the action or on “being saved” (aspect). Greek verb tenses indicate the subjective portrayal of that action or state by the writer, which is called aspect. The aspectual tense mark of a Greek verb helps us see what the subjective portrayal of the action is, but not without the aid of the analogy of Scripture. Let’s proceed to see what Paul says to those who ‘are saved’ and how their salvation might not be without any qualifications or conditions.

By doing so, we will discover that Christ has formally saved us all in a collective sense, but instrumentally, our salvation is still something we must “work out” for ourselves and finally attain in a distributive sense. We read in the King James Bible: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). In other words, we must cooperate with our Lord in saving ourselves from drowning (subjective redemption) with his principal help now that he has taken charge of our eternal destiny by his single self-sacrifice (objective redemption).

Writing in the present tense, what Paul has in mind is the ongoing process of being made holy and righteous as opposed to habitually living in the state of sin like those who are “perishing” (Present participle: ἀπολλυμένοις or apollymenois “are destroyed” or “do destroy”) in their obstinacy. Their baptismal commitment marks the next life-long stage of their justification and sanctification. In their journey of faith, the Corinthians who have received the grace of justification and forgiveness in their baptism may merit by right of friendship with God, as a reward, more grace and an increase in sanctification and charity as they grow towards a more perfect image of God in the conduct of their lives through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Sanctification is the essence or formal cause of justification. For us to be just before God, we must be made inherently holy and righteous. We couldn’t be the “aroma of Christ” or Christ-like as members of his mystical Body unless our righteousness personally belonged to us by the infusion of sanctifying grace into our souls (2 Cor 13:15). And this requires work on our part in collaboration with the Holy Spirit. We are ultimately responsible for and deserving of the eternal reward or punishment that we receive. Christ does not save each of us personally by his work on the cross alone, though he alone has made it possible for us to be saved by his grace, which he alone has produced for us by his redeeming merits.

To be just in God’s sight is to be intrinsically holy by the power of the Spirit who dwells in our souls. Thus, if we commit a mortal sin (i.e., the act of adultery or bearing false witness against our neighbor), we risk forfeiting the salvation Christ gained for us since our souls would no longer be in the state of sanctifying grace until we confess our sins and make an act of contrition and do penance preferably through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For this reason, we must repent of our post-baptismal sins and do penance to be fully restored to friendship with God. “We must look to ourselves that we lose not the things which we have wrought (a meritorious increase in grace or bearing fruit) but that we receive a full reward” (1 Jn 2:8). John underscores the importance of cooperating with divine grace to ensure the instrumental application of our own salvation and its attainment by persevering in grace to the end, now that our Lord and Savior has made this possible for everyone by his passion, death, and resurrection.

Certainly, Paul didn’t believe that justification is a static, single event in the lives of Christians that happened in the past and was completed by their baptism through faith in Christ. For him, it was an ongoing process that required human collaboration with the work of God in the Holy Spirit and involved constructive transformations of the soul and daily renewal (2 Cor 3:18; 4:16; Eph 4:22-24; Phil 2:13). Our own salvation is something we must faithfully “work out in fear and trembling” lest we fall from grace and revert to our former sinful ways at the cost of our salvation. We should have no reason to fear eternal condemnation and tremble by the thought of it if all we had to do was simply put our faith in Christ’s redeeming merits and accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. The grace of justification and forgiveness is a gift. This grace is not, however, a license to sin (Rom 6:1).

So, it’s imperative that all baptized members in the Body of Christ persevere in faith to their last day. Jesus himself warns us that we must endure to the end if we hope to be saved now that he alone has produced for us at one time the gift of salvation. (Mt 10:22; 24:13; Mk 13:13). We mustn’t allow ourselves to be destroyed or to destroy what Christ has gained for us like those who are perishing.

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is;
time is running out. Wake up for our salvation is nearer now than
when we first believed. The night is past and the day is at hand. Let
us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.
Romans 13, 11

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul speaks of salvation as pending future attainment that’s approaching ever nearer from the time his flock first professed their faith in Christ. Salvation, therefore, is something they must continually hope for in their pilgrimage of faith. It isn’t something they have already obtained individually in their personal lives and can’t ever lose, notwithstanding the conduct of their lives. The apostle is concerned that they continually apply the Gospel truths in their daily lives to ensure that they finally receive what they hope for. Apparently, some members of the Roman church have reverted to their pre-baptismal sinful habits and behaved unworthily as disciples of Christ despite their professions of faith.

Thus, Paul is exhorting these lapsed members to conform once again to their renewed way of life and persevere in grace before it’s too late. Their particular judgment may arrive at any moment when it’s least expected, so it’s time for them to “wake up” and stop deceiving themselves so that they won’t be caught off guard and lose the salvation they hope for. There is no need for Paul to exhort the Roman Christians if they’ve already been assuredly saved upon their initial profession of faith in Christ (1 Cor 6:9-11). By calling them to “put on the armor of light” Paul means that they should continue to persevere in grace so that they might be reckoned as righteous and saved at the time of death. The apostle understood very well that one’s own salvation isn’t guaranteed but is hoped for despite the formal redemption of all the descendants of Adam (1 Cor 4:4). How we conduct our lives is instrumental in the personal application of the salvation that Christ has gained for us on the Cross in strict justice.

Early Sacred Tradition

“And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men;
for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God.
For ‘cannot he that falls arise again, and he may attain to God.’”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians, 10
( A.D. 110)

“But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will,
and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from
all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness;
‘not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,’ or blow for blow, or cursing for
cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: ‘Judge not, that
ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful, that ye
may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again; and once more, “Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.’”
St. Polycarp, To the Philippians, 2
(A.D. 135)

“And as many of them, he added, as have repented, shall have their dwelling in
the tower. And those of them who have been slower in repenting shall dwell
within the walls. And as many as do not repent at all, but abide in their deeds,
shall utterly perish…Yet they also, being naturally good, on hearing my
commandments, purified themselves, and soon repented. Their dwelling,
accordingly, was in the tower. But if anyone relapses into strife, he will be cast
out of the tower, and will lose his life.”
Hermas, The Shephard, 3:8:7
(A.D. 155)

“We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments,
and chastisements, and good rewards, are rendered according to the merit of
each man’s actions. Since if it be not so, but all things happen by fate, neither is
anything at all in our own power…But this we assert is inevitable fate, that they
who choose the good have worthy rewards, and those who choose the opposite
have their merited awards. For not like other things, as trees and quadrupeds,
which cannot act by choice, did God make man: for neither would he be worthy
of reward or praise did he not of himself choose the good, but were created for
this end; nor, if he were evil, would he be worthy of punishment, not being evil of
himself, but being able to be nothing else than what he was made.”
St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, 6
(A.D. 155)

“‘And other sheep there are also,’ saith the Lord, ‘which are not of this fold ‘
deemed worthy of another fold and mansion, in proportion to their faith. ‘But
My sheep hear My voice,’ understanding gnostically the commandments. And
this is to be taken in a magnanimous and worthy acceptation, along with also
the recompense and accompaniment of works. So that when we hear, ‘Thy faith
hath saved thee, we do not understand Him to say absolutely that those who
have believed in any way whatever shall be saved, unless also works follow. But
it was to the Jews alone that He spoke this utterance, who kept the law and lived
blamelessly, who wanted only faith in the Lord. No one, then, can be a believer
and at the same time be licentious; but though he quit the flesh, he must put off
the passions, so as to be capable of reaching his own mansion.”
St. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, 6:14
(A.D. 202)

“Whoever dies in his sins, even if he profess to believe in Christ, does not truly
believe in Him, and even if that which exists without works be called faith, such
faith is dead in itself, as we read in the Epistle bearing the name of James.”
Origen, Commentary on John, 19:6
(A.D. 232)

“He, in administering the righteous judgment of the Father to all, assigns to each
what is righteous according to his works….the justification will be seen in the
awarding to each that which is just; since to those who have done well shall be
assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given
eternal punishment. And the fire which is un-quenchable and without end
awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm which dieth not…But the righteous
will remember only the righteous deeds by which they reached the heavenly
kingdom, in which there is neither sleep, nor pain, nor corruption”
St. Hippolytus, Against Plato, 3
(ante A.D. 235)

“For both to prophesy and to cast out devils, and to do great acts upon the earth
is certainly a sublime and an admirable thing; but one does not attain the
kingdom of heaven although he is found in all these things, unless he walks in
the observance of the right and just way. The Lord denounces, and says, ‘Many
shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and
in Thy name have cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that
work iniquity.’ There is need of righteousness, that one may deserve well of God
the Judge; we must obey His precepts and warnings, that our merits may
receive their reward.”
St. Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church, 16
(A.D. 251)

“Say not, none seeth me; think not, that there is no witness of the deed. Human
witness oftentimes there is not; but He who fashioned us, an unerring witness,
abides faithful in heaven, and beholds what thou doest. And the stains of sin also
remain in the body; for as when a wound has gone deep into the body, even if
there has been a healing, the scar remains, so sin wounds soul and body, and the
marks of its scars remain in all; and they are removed only from those who
receive the washing of Baptism. The past wounds therefore of soul and body God
heals by Baptism; against future ones let us one and all jointly guard ourselves,
that we may keep this vestment of the body pure, and may not for practicing
fornication and sensual indulgence or any other sin for a short season, lose the
salvation of heaven, but may inherit the eternal kingdom of God; of which may
God, of His own grace, deem all of you worthy.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 18:19,20
(A.D. 350)

“But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.”
Matthew 24,13

Pax vobiscum

You Must Be Born Again

 Baptism & Born Again

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the
dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing
upon thine offspring.
Isaiah 44, 3

[H]e saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness,
but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through
Jesus Christ our Savior.
Titus 3, 5-6

Since ancient times, Catholics have rightly understood that the expression “born again” refers to water baptism. What Catholics mean by being born again is the interior transformation that is achieved upon being baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. It means much more than affirming Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who died for our sins and consciously deciding to accept Christ in our hearts and be his disciple. Being born again means much more than believing in who Jesus is and what he has accomplished for those who do believe in him. The expression, in fact, is the mental equivalent of “regeneration.”

Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us “holy and without blemish,” just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is “holy and without blemish.” Nevertheless, the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of the Christian life. This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us. 
{Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1426}

Regeneration (being “born again”) is the transformation from death to life that occurs in our souls when we first come to God and are justified through the sacrament. He washes us clean of our sins and gives us a new nature, breaking the power of sin over us so that we will no longer be its slaves but its enemies, who must combat it as part of the Christian life and our baptismal commitment (cf. Rom. 6:1–22; Eph. 6:11–17).

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…
Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3, 3- 5

In the conversation that Jesus is having with Nicodemus, our Lord says to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3). The Greek phrase often translated as “born again” (γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν or gennatha anothen in the English transliteration) also occurs in V.7 in which Jesus says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The Greek word anothen sometimes can be translated “again,” but in the New Testament, it most often means “from above” or “from heaven.” In the King James Version, which I am using, the only two times it is translated “again” are in John 3:3 and 3:7. Every other time it is given a different rendering. However, we have our mental equivalent in Vv.5-6, in which Jesus says, ““Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Now, in V.3, our Lord declares that one must be “born again” to enter the kingdom of God, while in V.5, he reiterates more clearly that one must be “born of water and spirit” to enter the kingdom of God. Thus, the expression “born again” refers to the Sacrament of Baptism in water and Spirit, which is salvific. One who is born or reborn “of Spirit” is born “from above” or “from heaven.” Jesus does say on another occasion, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16). One cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless they are saved, and this requires not only belief in Jesus but also the sacrament of initiation that washes away the stain of original sin and marks a new life in the Spirit.

St. Paul describes the Sacrament of Baptism as a “washing of regeneration” that is “poured out on us” with reference to water baptism. The original Greek verb for “washing” is loutron (λουτρόν), which generally refers to a ritual washing of purification (Titus 3:5-6). Paul also wrote, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4). Baptism unites us with Christ’s death and resurrection so that we might die to sin and receive new life.

In Colossians 2:11–13, he tells us, “In [Christ] you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision [of] Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God.” These NT passages evoke the words Jesus spoke to Nicodemus: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Being born again is a movement from being a child of Adam to a child of God.

Soon after Paul had converted, he was told, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16). The “washing away” refers to water baptism. Ananias’ phrase “wash away” comes from the Greek word apolouo (ἀπολούω). Apolouo means an actual cleansing that removes sin. It is not a symbolic covering up of sin. Paul’s faith in Jesus wasn’t enough to save him. He also had to be baptized to have his sins forgiven or “blotted out” and to receive the Holy Spirit, who justifies us in our collaboration with Him. So, baptism is necessary for our salvation and isn’t merely a symbolic ritual that serves as a testimony of faith.  In fact, Paul says we are “washed, sanctified, and justified” in the name of the Lord Jesus in reference to water baptism. The “washing” of baptism gives birth to sanctification and justification, which proves baptism is not just symbolic (1 Cor 6:11).

In Acts 2:38, Peter tells us, “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). We must not only repent but also be baptized for the forgiveness of sin so that we receive the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit for a new life with God. Simply believing in Jesus and accepting him as our personal Lord and Savior won’t regenerate us. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). Jesus suffered and died to expiate sin, but he also merited for us the dispensation of divine grace. We aren’t saved by faith alone.

Indeed, there are many passages in the Old Testament that foreshadow the regenerative power of baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. For instance, Naaman took seven dips in the Jordan and, as a result, his flesh was restored like a child's (2 Kings 5:14). Being born again is a restorative experience of the heart and mind of the human soul through the power of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah prophesies that the time is coming when the Lord pours out His water and His Spirit, which refers to the institution of the Sacrament of Baptism by Christ our Lord. Water and Spirit are always joined in the Scriptures. We are cleansed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, who moves through the water. Ezekiel (36:25-27) concurs that the Lord will sprinkle us with water to cleanse us from our sin and give us a new heart of flesh and spirit. We must be born again or from above through the Sacrament of Baptism if we hope to be saved.

Early Sacred Tradition

“For Christ also said, ‘Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.’ Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into
their mothers’ wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent
shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus
speaks: ‘Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn
to do well…And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though
they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow…And for this [rite] we have learned from
the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were born without our own knowledge or
choice, by our parents coming together, and were brought up in bad habits and wicked
training; in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may
become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of
sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and
has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who
leads to the layer the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone And this
washing is called illumination because those who learn these things are illuminated in their
understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the prophets foretold all things about
Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.”
St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, 61
(A.D. 155)

” ‘And dipped himself,’ says [the Scripture], ‘seven times in Jordan.’ It was not for
nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being
baptized, but it served as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean,
by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions;
being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a
man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.’”
St. Irenaeus, Fragment, 34
(A.D. 190)

“But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life,
and to view the fountain that gushes with healing. The Father of immortality sent the
immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and
the Spirit; and He, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us
the breath (spirit) of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has
become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit
after the regeneration of the layer he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the
resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the
nations, to the immortality of the baptism.”
St. Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany, 8
(A.D. 217)

“[W]hen they come to us and to the Church which is one, ought to be baptized, for the
reason that it is a small matter to ‘lay hands on them that they may receive the Holy Ghost,’
unless they receive also the baptism of the Church. For then finally, can they be fully
sanctified, and be the sons of God, if they be born of each sacrament; since it is written,
‘Except a man be born again of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God.’…[O]nly baptism of the Holy Church, by divine regeneration, for the kingdom of
God, may be born of both sacraments, because it is written, ‘Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’”
St. Cyprian of Carthage, To Stephen, 71:72
(A.D. 253)

“We are circumcised not with a fleshly circumcision but with the circumcision of
Christ, that is, we are born again into a new man; for, being buried with Him in His
baptism, we must die to the old man, because the regeneration of baptism has the
force of resurrection.”
St. Hilary of Poitiers, Trinity, 9:9
(A.D. 359)

“And with reason; for as we are all from earth and die in Adam, so being regenerated
from above of water and Spirit, in the Christ we are all quickened.”
St. Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians, III:33
(A.D. 360)

“[T]he birth by water and the Spirit, Himself led the way in this birth, drawing
down upon the water, by His own baptism, the Holy Spirit; so that in all things He
became the first-born of those who are spiritually born again, and gave the name of
brethren to those who partook in a birth like to His own by water and the Spirit.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 2:8
(A.D. 382)

“The Word recognizes three Births for us; namely, the natural birth,
that of Baptism, and that of the Resurrection…”
St. Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism, I
(A.D. 388)

“Therefore, read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the
Spirit, are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not
exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any
sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: ‘For
except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.’”
St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries, 4:20
(A.D. 391)

“It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be regenerated through the
agency of another’s will when that infant is brought to Baptism; and it is through this one
Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn…’Unless a man be born again of water and the
Holy Spirit.’ The water, therefore, manifesting exteriorly the sacrament of grace, and the
Spirit effecting interiorly the benefit of grace, both regenerate in one Christ that man who
was in one Adam.”
St. Augustine, To Boniface, Epistle 98:2
(A.D. 408)

Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3, 5

Pax vobiscum

Your Sins Shall Be as White as Snow

  Baptism & Original Sin

Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1, 18

 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44, 3

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse
you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you
to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Ezekiel 36, 25-27

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed,
you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the LORD
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Corinthians 6, 11

In Catholic theology, original sin is regarded as the general state of sinfulness, that is the absence of sanctity and perfect charity into which all human beings are born. We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that original sin is the natural state of “deprivation of the original holiness and justice,” which we inherit as descendants of Adam and Eve. It is a sin that is contracted by all human beings by natural propagation, not a sin committed by them. Because original sin is a state or condition of our human nature and not a sinful act on our part, it “does not take on the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405).

All Adam’s descendants are conceived and born in the state of original sin (Ps 51:7). St. Paul tells us: “As sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men in as much as all men sinned” (Rom 5:12). The apostle adds: “Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men” (Rom 5:18). Physical death is a sign of spiritual death. Though physical death remains a temporal penalty for our common sins against God, Christ restored humanity to spiritual life with God through his passion and death on the Cross. The second death – eternal damnation or separation from God – is no longer an irrevocable prospect for all human beings.

At any rate, original sin is the state of being deprived of supernatural grace. When Adam fell from the supernatural life with God, he fell into a defective state. Having fallen from grace, the supernatural life was something that he should have possessed as God destined him to. But since he lost it, his lower natural condition is what we call the state of original sin: the deprivation of the original sanctity and justice in which Adam was originally created by God in His goodness. Since the Fall, all his biological descendants are thus inclined, as natural members in the organic body of Adam, to evil: concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh, and the pride of life.

Not unlike their primordial father, human beings tend to want to be like God, but apart from God, before God, and not by the will of God. Human acts that originate from this attitude may constitute mortal sins that deprive the soul of sanctity and justice before God through the original fall from grace. Thus, original sin is called sin only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed” – a state and not an act. Only one’s own personal sins carry with them the character of a personal fault and guilt by the natural proclivity to sin as a member of fallen humanity.

In the redemption of humankind, God restored sanctifying or justifying grace to all humanity by Christ’s merits. Without this merciful act of God, man could never have retrieved that supernatural state above nature, which is the end for which God destined him. The grace of redemption blots out the sin of Adam, although the moral and physical ill-effects of original sin remain after we are baptized. Dom Bruno Webb describes original sin as “some disease that has infected the original cell of the human body,” which may “permeate every organ and cell of the body, as it grows forth from that [first] cell.” The original sin that we contract is like a “poison” that has “passed into every member of the human race.” The sin of Adam, therefore, is something that belongs to each member of the human race as such and is “our common heritage.”

In Romans 5:19, Paul writes: “Many (polloi) were made sinners. He isn’t contradicting himself by not using the word “all” (pantes) since what he means to say here, as in verse 18 is that all people are subjected to original sin, but not everyone rejects God. He certainly doesn’t mean to say in the distributive sense that everyone who has ever lived has sinned without exception since infants and mentally disabled people cannot sin, at least not subjectively or with moral responsibility. The act of sin requires full knowledge and full consent on the part of the subject. But given the right circumstances, they might sin since they fall short of God’s glory by their very lower nature as collectively part of humanity.

Infants and young children below the age of moral reason do, in fact, suffer and die, though they have never committed any personal sins in their short lives because all human beings are guilty of Adam’s sin by association. For this reason, the Sacrament of Baptism is required for all of us, including infants and young children who haven’t yet attained the age of moral reasoning, since the baptismal water washes away original sin and restores the soul to the original state of holiness and justice, despite the remaining moral ill-effects of this stain of sin.

Adam and Eve died spiritually when they ate the fruit on the forbidden tree of knowledge against God’s command (Gen 2:17). And, as a result, their spiritual deprivation was transmitted to all their biological descendants, except the Blessed Virgin Mary by her Immaculate Conception (Gen 3:15; Lk 1:28; 42, etc.). We are thus inclined to sin and eventually do sin because of the moral ill-effects of original sin. We further read in the Old Testament that a “man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” (Job 14:1, 4). All humanity is afflicted by the stain of original sin, including infants and young children, by natural propagation.

In acknowledgment of his sins, David cries out, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). The Psalmist owns he wasn’t conceived and born in a natural state of innocence and remained in this state until he had committed his first sin. After all, Jesus himself tells us that our personal sins originate from the heart (Mt 15:18-20). We have inherited the sin of Adam upon being conceived in our mothers’ wombs. From infancy, we are in dire need of being baptized to be saved from our sinful condition.

Moreover, St. Paul teaches us that sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and because of his sin, death entered the world (Rom 5:12). We can’t help but acknowledge our propensity toward evil and the need for God’s grace to be restored to friendship with him. Spiritual and physical death is the result of Adam’s sin, in which we are all implicated by association. We all fall under the same condemnation together with Adam and Eve (Rom 5:16). The apostle adds that “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (Rom 5:19). He is affirming that original sin is passed on as part of our human condition. The hidden premise is that only God in the flesh could atone for our sins by the eternal sacrifice of Himself. Through this sacrifice, God has re-opened the gates of heaven. Access to the Tree of Life is no longer barred from us because of the Tree of the Cross. By one man, Adam came death, and by one man, the new Adam came renewed life with God (1 Cor 15:21).

All humanity was spiritually dead because of sin, having lived in the disordered passions of the flesh until Christ not only sacrificed Himself to expiate sin and propitiate the Father but also merited the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit to heal and restore us to friendship with God (Eph 2:1-3). When we are baptized, we receive the initial grace of forgiveness and justice that is merited by our Lord and Savior. Through the sacrament of initiation, we actually die with Christ so that we, like Him, might be raised to the newness of life through the operation of the Holy Spirit (Rom 6:4).

By our baptism, we no longer suffer and die in vain. Since we now join our suffering and death with Christ, what were the physical penalties for original sin are now an efficacious means to be saved. In baptism, we literally die with Christ so that we may be raised with him on the last day (Col 2:12). What has transpired in our baptism is a supernatural reality. Baptism is a sacrament and not merely a symbolic ritual. It is a sign that points to an actual spiritual transformation in the physical world.

Hence, St. Paul is referring to the Sacrament of Baptism when he says that we are “washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 6:11). Our baptism restores us to the original state of justice and holiness that our primordial father had forfeited for all his progeny. The entrance to heaven is accessible to us by being baptized with water and by the Spirit. The washing or cleansing of baptism gives rise to our sanctification and justification. By being baptized in Christ, we “put on Christ” who himself isn’t just a symbol but a living person who dwells in our souls so that we can be righteous as he is righteous and pure as he is pure by the working of the Holy Spirit and His many gifts of grace in our lives (Gal 3:27; 1 Jn 3:3, 7). Through baptism, we are reborn from above and become children of God.

The Sacrament of Baptism applies the salvation that Christ alone has merited for the whole world personally to us. St. Paul writes: “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ so that we might be justified (or sanctified) by his grace and become heirs of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). Baptism is salvific because the sacrament regenerates our souls. The cleansing water purifies us from the stain of sin. The Holy Spirit justifies us with His infused grace that produces an interior renewal without which we have no hope of being saved. Through this interior transformation, we become heirs of eternal life and adopted children of God who partake in the divine image. Baptism marks a new life with God and is the beginning of a new life in Christ. By receiving this sacrament, we are now able to supernaturally merit eternal life by our deeds of grace and charity (Eph 2:8-10). Our righteous deeds are now necessary for the gift of salvation to be complete in and through Christ’s redeeming merits.

Baptism has a twofold effect: the forgiveness of sin and regeneration. Justification and sanctification go hand-in-hand. Our position before God is not only mended, but our personal relationship with Him is also restored as it was meant to be before Adam’s fall from grace. We read in the New Testament that in baptism, “our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Heb 10:22). A clean conscience comes from sincerely repenting and being spiritually renewed. The gifts of the Holy Spirit help transform our interior disposition. With forgiveness comes inner cleansing and healing. Without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, we can never hope to cast off the old self and put on the new, as St. Paul puts it. Baptism isn’t about the exterior components of our salvation but about our interior lives. The sacrament is the “circumcision” of the New Covenant or of the heart (Col 2:11-12).

Thus, the initial grace of justification and forgiveness doesn’t benefit us unless our interior self is renewed daily. With repentance must come a firm desire for amendment as we grow in holiness and continue to strive for divine perfection. We aren’t saved simply by converting and putting our faith in what Christ has formally gained for us all but by persevering in grace now that our Lord and Savior has opened the gates of heaven for us to hopefully pass through. Baptism is necessary for our salvation because we receive the graces we need for our interior transformation through the sacrament. It isn’t a symbolic ritual that demonstrates we have placed our faith in our personal Lord and Savior and are thereby irrevocably saved. Baptism is the beginning of a life-long process of justification for each of us made possible by the redeeming merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

“He stood in need of baptism, or of the descent of the Spirit like a dove; even as He
submitted to be born and to be crucified, not because He needed such things, but because
of the human race, which from Adam had fallen under the power of death and the guile of
the serpent, and each one of which had committed personal transgression. For God,
wishing both angels and men, who were endowed with freewill, and at their own disposal, to
do whatever He had strengthened each to do, made them so, that if they chose the things
acceptable to Himself, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but that
if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit.”
St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 88:4
(A.D. 155)

“Every soul, then, by reason of its birth, has its nature in Adam until it is born again in
Christ; moreover, it is unclean all the while that it remains without this regeneration; and
because unclean, it is actively sinful, and suffuses even the flesh (by reason of their
conjunction) with its own shame.”
Tertullian, On the Soul, 40
(A.D. 208)

“Baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage of the Church,
Baptism is given even to infants. And indeed, if there were nothing in Infants which required
a remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would
seem superfluous.”
Origen, Homily on Leviticus, 8:3
(post A.D. 244)

“If, in the case of the worst sinners and of those who formerly sinned much against God,
when afterward they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back
from Baptism and grace, how much more, then, should an infant not be 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
very reason does he approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins
forgiven him are not his own but those of another [from Adam]. ”
St. Cyprian, Epistle to Fidus, 68[64]:5
(c. A.D. 250)

“Adam sinned and earned all sorrows;–likewise the world after His example, all
guilt.–And instead of considering how it should be restored,–considered how its
fall should be pleasant for it.–Glory to Him Who came and restored it!”
St. Ephraem, Hymns on the Epiphany, 10:1
(A.D. 350)

“‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God.’ No one is expected: not the infant, not the one prevented
by necessity.”
St. Ambrose, Abraham, 2,11:79
(A.D. 387)

“This grace, however, of Christ, without which neither infants nor adults can be saved, is not rendered for any merits, but is given gratis, on account of which it is also called grace. ‘Being justified,’ says the apostle, ‘freely through His blood.’ Whence they, who are not liberated through grace, either because they are not yet able to hear, or because they are unwilling to obey; or again because they did not receive, at the time when they were unable on account of youth to hear, that bath of regeneration, which they might have received and through which they might have been saved, are indeed justly condemned; because they are no without sin, either that which they have derived from their birth, or that which they have added from their own misconduct. ‘For all have sinned’–whether in Adam or in themselves–“and come short of the glory of God.’”
St. Augustine, On Nature and Grace, 4
(A.D. 415)

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:
but he that believeth not shall he condemned.
Mark 16, 16

Pax vobiscum