Christian Orthodoxy Understanding: The Sacrament Of Baptism: (Part four, one of two, Conclusion)
May 29, 2017 09:58:13 #
05/16/2017 On The Sacrament Of Baptism: (Part four, Conclusion)
Henry Karlson
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/sacrament-baptism-conclusion/?
This is the fourth and final post from a series on the sacrament of baptism.
On The Sacrament of Baptism: Part One
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/on-the-sacrament-of-baptism-part-one/
On The Sacrament Of Baptism: Part Two
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/on-the-sacrament-of-baptism-part-two/
05/15/2017 On The Sacrament Of Baptism: Part Three
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/on-the-sacrament-of-baptism-part-three/
Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, stained glass, St. Peter’s Basilica)
There is the need for regeneration from above, the need to be born again.
The grace behind such regeneration is given by through the Holy Spirit. What Jesus said of the Holy Spirit must apply here:
“The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8 RSV).
The Spirit is not controlled by us.
If we follow Jesus and do as he asked, that is, if we go forth baptizing others in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we know grace is imparted.
The one who has become baptized is born again.
This is not because we control the Holy Spirit, but because God has established baptism as the means by which the disciples of Christ are to go out into the world and bring people into a covenantal relationship with him.
A relationship which he promises will include the grace of the Holy Spirit and the regeneration from above for those who fulfill his request to be baptized.
We know grace is imparted because Christ promised that grace, and by engaging baptism, we take someone and place them into the new and everlasting covenant of Christ.
The action is called baptism because that is what is done by those who are brought into the body of Christ.
The Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, brings the forgiveness of sins and integration into Christ for those who thus go through the ritual of baptism.
It is a onetime ritual, a onetime event, so that it cannot be repeated again.
What is key is the grace of the Holy Spirit which is imparted from it.
That grace is what is imparted in baptism, and since it comes out of baptism, indeed, since it is what we know as the normal way we receive that grace, that grace itself is designated as baptism itself.
But, as the Holy Spirit is not controlled by us, as the Holy Spirit will go wherever it shall desire, the Holy Spirit can give the grace of baptism to those who have not undergone the ritual of baptism;
They have the thing itself, and so can be said to have been born again and even said to be baptized so long as we understand that to mean they have received the grace of baptism without the ritual itself.
If we understand what Christ wants us to do, we are bound to follow his expectations as long as it is possible for us to do so.
However, God is not bound by his expectations. He freely grants forgiveness to those who follow him and do as he asked, but he is able to give his grace to others as he sees fit.
The grace given not just in baptism, but in any and all of the sacraments, are not to be limited by the way the church is told to give it.
We know if we follow the sacraments in the way Christ set them up, he freely uses the sacraments as vessels of grace.
The church out of fidelity and love obeys Christ and distributes sacramental graces accordingly, not as a way to control God, but as a way to be faithful to God.
Nonetheless, if God wants to act with others in his own free pleasure, God is free to do so; his grace is not limited by the sacraments given in the church, as St. Bonaventure explained:
Lastly, because through such sensible signs the divinely instituted grace of the Holy Ghost is received and is discovered in them by those to whom they are presented.
The sacraments are called the vessel of grace, and the cause of grace.
This is not because grace is contained substantially in them or effected causally in them, since it can be made to reside in the soul alone and can be infused by God alone.
But because in them and through them the grace of our cure ought to be infused by the great physician, Christ, by divine decree.
“Although God does not bind His power in the sacraments” (Peter Lombard, Quattuor libri sententiarum, IV, 1, 5). [1]
There is, therefore, the act of baptism with its grace, but there is also the grace of baptism, the thing in itself, which can still be called baptism because it is the grace of baptism.
Which the Lord can give to those who, for no fault of their own, have not been ritually baptized.
The church knows the Lord can and has given such grace to others;
For example, those who lived before the time of Christ and so before the sacrament of baptism were able to be saved, and many of them have been declared saints which should serve as proper demonstration of this fact.
If the ritual was itself what was absolutely required, and not the grace, then those born before Christ would have not been able to attain salvation;
Likewise, his Mother, Mary, would also not have been purified by grace and could hardly have been “full of grace” at the conception of Christ.
Yet, as Godfrey of St. Victor explained, Mary had to have had the grace found in baptism, to be reborn through the Holy Spirit.
For her to be full of grace, and so she could and should be said to be reborn by baptism despite not having had the ritual itself:
For the blessed Virgin is believed to have been first among all persons eventually to be reborn through the grace of baptism, who alone are properly and specifically called persons or members of the Church.
For one should not believe that she, who, as it were, merited being the fount and bearer of grace, did not receive the grace of baptism in a supreme way.
We believe that she obtained this grace completely, if not at some other time than at the time when the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her and she conceived this very Grace in her womb.
O how truly did the Spirit come upon her baptize her in spirit and in fire. [2]
Henry Karlson
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/sacrament-baptism-conclusion/?
This is the fourth and final post from a series on the sacrament of baptism.
On The Sacrament of Baptism: Part One
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/on-the-sacrament-of-baptism-part-one/
On The Sacrament Of Baptism: Part Two
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/on-the-sacrament-of-baptism-part-two/
05/15/2017 On The Sacrament Of Baptism: Part Three
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2017/05/on-the-sacrament-of-baptism-part-three/
Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, stained glass, St. Peter’s Basilica)
There is the need for regeneration from above, the need to be born again.
The grace behind such regeneration is given by through the Holy Spirit. What Jesus said of the Holy Spirit must apply here:
“The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8 RSV).
The Spirit is not controlled by us.
If we follow Jesus and do as he asked, that is, if we go forth baptizing others in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we know grace is imparted.
The one who has become baptized is born again.
This is not because we control the Holy Spirit, but because God has established baptism as the means by which the disciples of Christ are to go out into the world and bring people into a covenantal relationship with him.
A relationship which he promises will include the grace of the Holy Spirit and the regeneration from above for those who fulfill his request to be baptized.
We know grace is imparted because Christ promised that grace, and by engaging baptism, we take someone and place them into the new and everlasting covenant of Christ.
The action is called baptism because that is what is done by those who are brought into the body of Christ.
The Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, brings the forgiveness of sins and integration into Christ for those who thus go through the ritual of baptism.
It is a onetime ritual, a onetime event, so that it cannot be repeated again.
What is key is the grace of the Holy Spirit which is imparted from it.
That grace is what is imparted in baptism, and since it comes out of baptism, indeed, since it is what we know as the normal way we receive that grace, that grace itself is designated as baptism itself.
But, as the Holy Spirit is not controlled by us, as the Holy Spirit will go wherever it shall desire, the Holy Spirit can give the grace of baptism to those who have not undergone the ritual of baptism;
They have the thing itself, and so can be said to have been born again and even said to be baptized so long as we understand that to mean they have received the grace of baptism without the ritual itself.
If we understand what Christ wants us to do, we are bound to follow his expectations as long as it is possible for us to do so.
However, God is not bound by his expectations. He freely grants forgiveness to those who follow him and do as he asked, but he is able to give his grace to others as he sees fit.
The grace given not just in baptism, but in any and all of the sacraments, are not to be limited by the way the church is told to give it.
We know if we follow the sacraments in the way Christ set them up, he freely uses the sacraments as vessels of grace.
The church out of fidelity and love obeys Christ and distributes sacramental graces accordingly, not as a way to control God, but as a way to be faithful to God.
Nonetheless, if God wants to act with others in his own free pleasure, God is free to do so; his grace is not limited by the sacraments given in the church, as St. Bonaventure explained:
Lastly, because through such sensible signs the divinely instituted grace of the Holy Ghost is received and is discovered in them by those to whom they are presented.
The sacraments are called the vessel of grace, and the cause of grace.
This is not because grace is contained substantially in them or effected causally in them, since it can be made to reside in the soul alone and can be infused by God alone.
But because in them and through them the grace of our cure ought to be infused by the great physician, Christ, by divine decree.
“Although God does not bind His power in the sacraments” (Peter Lombard, Quattuor libri sententiarum, IV, 1, 5). [1]
There is, therefore, the act of baptism with its grace, but there is also the grace of baptism, the thing in itself, which can still be called baptism because it is the grace of baptism.
Which the Lord can give to those who, for no fault of their own, have not been ritually baptized.
The church knows the Lord can and has given such grace to others;
For example, those who lived before the time of Christ and so before the sacrament of baptism were able to be saved, and many of them have been declared saints which should serve as proper demonstration of this fact.
If the ritual was itself what was absolutely required, and not the grace, then those born before Christ would have not been able to attain salvation;
Likewise, his Mother, Mary, would also not have been purified by grace and could hardly have been “full of grace” at the conception of Christ.
Yet, as Godfrey of St. Victor explained, Mary had to have had the grace found in baptism, to be reborn through the Holy Spirit.
For her to be full of grace, and so she could and should be said to be reborn by baptism despite not having had the ritual itself:
For the blessed Virgin is believed to have been first among all persons eventually to be reborn through the grace of baptism, who alone are properly and specifically called persons or members of the Church.
For one should not believe that she, who, as it were, merited being the fount and bearer of grace, did not receive the grace of baptism in a supreme way.
We believe that she obtained this grace completely, if not at some other time than at the time when the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her and she conceived this very Grace in her womb.
O how truly did the Spirit come upon her baptize her in spirit and in fire. [2]
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