Why does Christian baptism use water?
How much water do you need? Who can baptize? Why do we baptize babies? What’s the word
“baptize” mean anyway? We’ll answer all these questions in this episode. Baptism is the Christian sacrament
where one person washes another person with water while saying that the person is
being baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Why does baptism use water? First of all, Jesus instituted baptism when he was baptized
with water in the river Jordan by John. And this is fitting, because baptism cleanses us from
sin and gives us a share in God’s life. Water signifies the spiritual cleansing of the soul,
and the gift to it of new spiritual life. Even on the natural level, water is key
for life. Think of a hot desert without water: it’s very hard for life to exist there. But if
you find a shady oasis in that desert, you’ll see a big difference. Life thrives around water.
Also, besides deserts, water is found pretty much everywhere on earth. About 71%
of the earth is covered with water, and rain or snow gets to most other places.
Water is universal, it’s everywhere, and this itself suggests the universality of salvation
that Christ wants to give to all peoples, salvation that comes to us through baptism.
Also, if you’re tired, hot, and thirsty from work and if you see a glass of water, that
water signifies coolness and rejuvenation. Also, for us human beings, for our skin type,
water signifies cleansing. Unlike chickens who clean themselves in dust, we clean ourselves
with water. That’s why, to baptize, we use clean water free of dirt and impurities.
Furthermore, water is translucent. We can see through it because light passes through
it. Water can thus signify the light of faith, the passage of God’s grace to our intellects
such that we can assent to God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
But baptism is not just about having water. If you’re lost in the desert,
and you see an oasis, but you can’t reach it, then that water is not helpful. If you’ve got a
pitcher of water over here and an unbaptized baby is over there, but they never physically come
in contact, there is no baptism! For baptism to signify active cleansing and rejuvenation,
one person has to wash another with water.
The Church instructs us to wash
the recipient’s head during baptism. Why? The head is our noblest part, and it
signifies our highest acts of thinking and willing. To signify human thriving, baptism
entails a clean face and a clean head. How much water do we have to use? You
need enough to really signify a washing. It’s not enough to have a drop of water fall on
you. A drop doesn’t clean. Water must flow over the head. We need moving water, which can
symbolize the washing away of dirt. So, baptism takes place by pouring
water over the head or by immersing the person, dunking them underwater. Western Christians have
tended to baptize by pouring water over the head; Eastern Christians have tended
to baptize by immersion. Shifting our attention from the sacramental
matter to the sacramental form, an interesting feature is the verb “baptize,” as when a baptizer
says, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The word
“baptize” comes from the Greek word baptizein, which means to “plunge” or “immerse.”
The baptismal recipient is being plunged, immersed into the Name, the inner life, of the
Most Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the baptismal recipient is
being plunged into the death of Christ so as to rise with Christ, as St. Paul said.
So, the verb “baptize” specifies that this washing with water is not about getting
physically clean, such as after a long hike. It’s about entering something, being plunged
into the life of God, being incorporated into the life of Christ and His Church.
When someone is baptized, there is a minister of baptism: the baptizer, the baptist. You can’t
baptize yourself. No one causes his own salvation. The sacraments are something you receive.
The minister washes the recipient with water and says the baptismal formula. The baptizer
acts as the instrument of God. In doing the baptismal rite instituted by God Incarnate,
Jesus Christ, the baptizer cooperates in Christ’s salvific mission of giving grace.
Ideally, the baptizer would be a Catholic bishop, priest, or deacon. This is because the
Catholic clergy signify Jesus Christ in their ordained personhood. But if a cleric is not
available, the baptizer can be any baptized Christian, who signifies Christ as one of
Christ’s lay faithful. In an emergency, even a non-Christian can baptize.
What’s essential is that the baptizer, whoever he or she may be, baptizes according
to the intention of Christ and His Church. That means that they physically wash with water
and say the Trinitarian baptismal formula and intend to do the sacrament. Insofar as God
is the primary agent, He can even work with baptizers who understand only imperfectly the
full implications of what they are doing. This dynamic between God as the primary
agent and the human baptizer as the instrumental agent is so strong that baptism can even work
when done by a grave sinner. Saint Augustine wrote that whether the Apostle St. Peter
baptized or St. Paul baptized or even the traitor Judas baptized, so long as it was
Christian baptism, Christ baptized. Whether the minister of baptism is good
or bad, he is acting as an instrument of God – and God can use that instrument to bring about a true
and effective baptism as long as the minister really washes a person with water and says the
baptismal formula, intending to baptize.
Baptism involves the conversion of a sinner
through faith, belief, in Jesus and His Gospel. In the case of an adult recipient, conversion implies
a personal, informed response by the sinner. But what is the role of God? Baptism, indeed, involves
something more fundamental than the convert’s personal act. Baptism is primarily a gratuitous
divine act whereby God converts a sinner. God always has priority in saving us.
This is why baptism can save even infants, who, by their conception after Adam and Eve, are
subject to the stain of original sin. Infants below the age of reason cannot will something
against God, as adults can. But infants can receive the divine baptismal blessing to be freed
of original sin and to be enlivened in grace, just as cooperating adults can be.
As the Letter of St. Paul to Titus says, Christ “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.” Thanks be to God for his
mercy in the sacrament of baptism! For readings, podcasts, and more videos like this, go to Aquinas101.com. While you're there, be sure to sign up for
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