After being confronted with the clear teaching of Trent on the necessity of faith for justification and the sacraments for salvation, the Liberal theologian will proceed to question the degree of necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation. After all, he will state, the Council of Trent does not say “For everyone without exception!” That the Council of Trent does not use these words is true, but that the Council of Trent does teach that there are no exceptions to the Sacrament of Baptism for salvation is equally true, as I will show in this short article.
Necessity of Precept and Necessity of Means
To begin this exposition, I will first define on what the Necessity of Baptism is based.
The necessity of Baptism is twofold: it is necessary by a necessity of means (necessitas medii ), and by a necessity of precept (necessitas praecepti ).
The necessity of precept is a necessity that is based on a positive precept, commanding something the omission of which, unless culpable, does not absolutely prevent the reaching of the end.
The necessity of means is a necessity that is said to be absolutely necessary when without it a certain end cannot possibly be reached.
On what are the necessity of precept and means based? These necessities for Baptism are based upon the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ while He was here on Earth (and not upon the intrinsic nature of Baptism itself.)
The necessity of precept is based upon the command of Our Lord found in St. Matthew, chapter 28, verses 19 and 20:
Teach ye 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; and behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.
The necessity of means is based upon Our Lord’s words (a command and a proposition) found in St. Mark, Chapter 16, verses 15-16:
Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.
As one theologian put it: “Here we have Christ’s plain and express declaration that while unbelief is sufficient to incur damnation, faith does not ensure salvation unless it is accompanied by Baptism.”
As well, the necessity of means is based on Our Lord’s statement (another proposition) found in the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 3, verse 5:
Amen, Amen, I say to you: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(A proposition is a statement affirming the truth or falsity of something. Now St. Mark 16:16 and St. John 3:5 are both affirmations by Truth Itself on what is required for salvation. And as universal or general truths spoken by God Himself, they, by nature, apply to each and every individual.)
Hypothetical or Relative Necessity?
Now, various theologians call into question the absolute necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation and they propose that other things can replace the Sacrament for salvation. These other things are the notions of baptism of desire and baptism of blood. As such, they qualify the necessity of means for the Sacrament of Baptism for salvation to be only of a relative or hypothetical necessity. For these theologians to substitute others things for the Sacrament of Baptism, it means that they interpret the passage of Our Lord found in St. John 3:5 in a metaphorical sense. Likewise, with the passage from St. Mark 16:15-16, these theologians must interpret “Baptism” metaphorically, if they don’t outright ignore it. Of course they must ignore the form of the Baptism as taught by Our Lord in Matthew 28:19 as well! Which brings us to the next point.
Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches the Absolute Necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation
When Our Lord Jesus Christ was about to ascend to His Father in Heaven, before He left us, He gave to His Apostles the Great Commission, using the following words [the words from St. Matthew and the words from St. Mark]. He said:
Teach ye 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; and behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.
Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. 1
Our Lord Himself gives us the form of the sacrament and the necessity of it, both at the same time. He makes no qualifications, and so I ask: how can one take these passages metaphorically?
After all, one cannot get the baptism of desire in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost!
Also, Our Lord said: “Amen, Amen, I say to you: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Here, He tells us that we need the Sacrament of Baptism in order to enter heaven. What else can be implied by “water and the Holy Ghost”?
The Council of Trent confirms Our Lord’s Teaching of the Absolute Necessity of the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation
The Council of Trent defined the following dogma for our belief:
If anyone says that true and natural water is not necessary for baptism and thus twists into some metaphor the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,” let him be anathema. [Canon 2 of the Canons on Baptism, 7th Session, Sacrament of Baptism]
Two things are stated in this Canon. (1) Water is necessary for Baptism, and (2) The Church is confirming that Our Lord’s words found in St. John 3:5 are not to be taken metaphorically, but as literally true. This means that there are no substitutes for the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation! The metaphorical baptisms of desire, blood, fire, etc. can no longer be considered apart from the necessity of the Baptism of Water for salvation.
Thus, as there are no substitutes for the water, then the necessity for the Sacrament of Baptism for Salvation is no longer of a relative or hypothetical nature, but of an absolute nature. And so, we see that Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Council of Trent both teach explicitly that the Sacrament of Baptism is absolutely necessary for Salvation. And when it is absolute it is for “everyone without exception.”
1 From the Catena Aurea , Bishop Theophylatus comments: “Or else; to every creature, that is, whether believing or unbelieving. It goes on: ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.’ For it is not enough to believe, for he who believeth and is not baptized, but is a catechumen, has not yet attained to perfect salvation.”
