13 Church Fathers Defend the Catholic Teaching on Baptism
“This sacrament is also called ‘the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,’ for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one ‘can enter the kingdom of God.’” (CCC 1215)
The early Church Fathers consistently affirmed the Catholic (and scriptural) belief about baptism, viewing it as a sacrament for the remission of sins and the regeneration of the soul.
Rather than document each citation I make with names of primary sources, readers can find each patristic source via a link from their names to articles on my blog. The primary citations are almost always to the standard 38-volume collection of the Church Fathers edited by Protestant historian Philip Schaff (1819-1893), and available online. Using these renderings supervised by him immediately takes away the possible Protestant objection of Catholic translation bias.
I aim to offer a crystallized summary of these fathers’ teachings on baptism (much as Anglican patristic scholar J. N. D. Kelly does in his work, Early Christian Doctrines), and so I will cite key portions as briefly as I can without sacrificing essential content.
Epistle of Barnabas (bet. 70-132) taught that baptism “leads to the remission of sins” and that we “descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart.”
Shepherd of Hermas (bet. c. 90-140) states that “there is no other repentance than that which takes place when we descended into the water and received remission of our former sins.”
St. Justin Martyr (100-165) taught that we are “washed” and “regenerated” by baptism, and that it uniquely brings about “the remission of sins formerly committed” and “forgiveness of sins” and “illumination.” Baptism “is alone able to purify those who have repented” and is “the water of life.”
St. Theophilus of Antioch (fl. 185-191) taught that, through baptism, we “receive repentance and remission of sins” and “regeneration” and that as a result of it, we’re “born again.”
St. Irenaeus (130-202) held that “baptism … is regeneration to God”; effective “for the remission of sins.”
St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) thought that baptism is a work of “grace” that brings about “illumination, and perfection, and washing”, by it “we cleanse away our sins,” “transgressions are remitted,” “remission of sins” occurs, we are “purified,” and we behold the “holy light of salvation.” Baptism “wiped off the sins” and makes us “full of light,” with “the Holy Spirit flowing down to us.”
Tertullian (c. 160-c. 225) taught that in baptism, “washing away the sins of our early blindness” occurs, and that “we are set free and admitted into eternal life.” Baptism brings us “the peace of God.” Indeed, “without baptism, salvation is attainable by none” because Jesus said, “Unless one be born of water, he has not life.” Jesus, in so speaking, “tied faith to the necessity of baptism.” “Sins” and “uncleanness” are “washed away” and “we are taken up (as new-born children)” and “the soul” is “cleansed.” Baptism brings about “the regeneration of man,” “the remission of sins,” “deliverance from death,” and “the bestowal of the Holy Ghost.”
Origen (c. 185-c. 254) refers to “saving baptism” and “the Holy Spirit … given by the imposition of the apostles’ hands in baptism.” Historian J. N. D. Kelly sums up his theology of baptism as follows: “It is the unique means of obtaining remission of sins, it frees us from the power of the Devil and makes us members of the Church as Christ’s body. Even little children, … being defiled with sin, must be baptized. His normal teaching is that the Spirit is received in baptism.”
St. Cyprian (210-258) believed that baptism causes us to be “born again” and enters into “a second birth” and is “quickened to a new life in the layer of saving water … changed in heart and soul.” It’s “the water of new birth” where “the stain of former years had been washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, had been infused.” The “saving water” of baptism brings about a “reconciled heart” and “a new man” and “remission of sins” and “the forgiveness of sins” and “the Holy Spirit” and allows us to be “animated by the Spirit of holiness.” “Past sins” are “done away” in “the saving grace” and “sanctification” of baptism. He thought that baptism “is not to be refused to anyone born of man … whether infants or those who are older.” It’s “the water of life eternal” and “water of salvation” and able to “wash away … sins.” From baptism “springs the whole origin of faith and the saving access to the hope of life eternal, and the divine condescension for purifying and quickening the servants of God” and “divine regeneration.” Sins are “put away” and we are “spiritually reformed into a new man … fitted for receiving the Holy Spirit.”
St. Dionysius of Alexandria (d. c. 264) held that we are “cleansed by baptism from the filth of the old and impure leaven” and that “the Holy Spirit” is “received.”
St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315-368) thought that “being buried with His Death in Baptism” we “may return to the life of eternity (since regeneration to life is death to the former life), and dying to our sins be born again to immortality.” It brings about “regeneration” and by it we “put on … Christ” and become “a new man.”
St. Ephraim (c. 306-373) taught that in baptism we are “washed” and “perfected” and “cleansed” and “sanctified” and “clothed with glory” and “pardoned” and that “the water of baptism … alone is able to atone.” Our “offenses are blotted out” and “there is reconciliation made with Heaven.” It’s “the well-spring of life.”
St. Athanasius (c. 297-373) referred to “the Holy Spirit who is given to those who believe and are being born again ‘through the laver of regeneration’” and to “the divine grace” received in baptism and to being “regenerated from above of water and Spirit” and “quickened.”
The Church Fathers taught these things because they were following the plain teaching of Holy Scripture regarding baptism, as I explained in past Register articles:
