Baptism & Original Sin
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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.). All of us 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.
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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). We receive the initial grace of
forgiveness and justice that is merited by our Lord and Savior when we are
baptized. 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.
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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. By this interior
transformation, we become heirs of eternal life and adopted children of God who
partake of 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.
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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)
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“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)
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“‘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)
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“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)
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He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:
but he that believeth not shall he condemned.
Mark 16, 16
