Answers In-Depth to Questions about Christianity
Catholic Baptism IS Apostolic
QUESTION:  I have a Baptist friend. He says that baptism always means
immersion. He emphasizes that my Catholic baptism was not a real
baptism for two reasons: 1) the Bible does not teach that pouring water
over a part of the body is baptism, and 2) the Bible does not teach that
babies can be baptized. What can I tell my Baptist friend?  Answered by
Rev. Paul L. Rothermel
As a Catholic, you might start by pointing out his inconsistency. His Bible does not teach
that everything we are to believe and do is to be found on its pages. If he looks carefully at
his Bible, he may soon discover that Christians are to hold fast to everything that the
Apostles taught, not only what they wrote down (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Infant baptism is a precious Apostolic tradition. Without an appeal to "household" baptisms
(Acts 16:15,33, 18:8, 1 Cor. 1:16), a strong case can be made for the Apostolic origins of
this practice. In one of his many sermons, St. Augustine of Hippo said about infant baptism,
"This the Church always had, always held. This she received from the faith of the ancients.
This she preserves tenaciously to the end." Almost two hundred years before St. Augustine
died, Origen, the great Christian theologian, wrote, "The Church received from the Apostles
the tradition of baptizing infants, too" (from his commentary on Romans, chapter six). About
the time of Origen's birth, a staunch heresy-fighter named Irenaeus wrote of Jesus, "He
came to save all by means of Himself--all, I say, who through Him are born again to
God--infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men" (from his work, Against
Heresies, book 2, chapter 22). Everywhere the early Church used the phrase, "born again,"
to refer to baptism. Christ had said that absolutely no one could get to heaven without being
born again (John 3:3,5). So babies were included. St. Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp,
who was a disciple of John the Apostle. When Irenaeus was only a youth, Polycarp boldly
confessed before his pagan persecutors, "Eighty-six years have I served Him [Christ], and
He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" (from the
Martyrdom of Polycarp, chapter 9). When he spoke these words in 156 A.D., St. Polycarp
was scarcely much older than eighty-six. Before his arrest he stood praying for almost two
hours straight (chapter 7), and he proceeded "speedily" on foot to the stadium despite a
bruised shin (chapter 8). Finally, he undressed himself for the torture stake (chapter 13). So
Polycarp dates his Christian life from his infancy. Since he was baptized as a small child, he
was baptized about 70 A.D., long before St. John died. It seems that John never taught him
that his infant baptism was wrong!

Many Bible verses that Baptists use against infant baptism are words written to adults about
their own response to the Gospel. Whatever applies to adults does not always apply to
babies.

As for immersion, in Luke 11:38 the original Greek tells us that Jesus was expected to be
"baptized" before dinner. But this Jewish custom involved pouring less than a pint of water
over the hands. Since the "baptism with the Holy Spirit" (on Pentecost, at the house of
Cornelius, and in early Christian initiation--Titus 3:5-6) is described in the Bible as a
"pouring out" and a "falling upon," the immersion-only view seems wrong. The noun,
"baptismos," is used in Hebrews 9:10 to describe Old Testament ceremonial sprinklings and
pourings for purification. The very same author used the very same Greek word for
Christian baptism in Hebrews 6:2.  I hope your Baptist friend can now respect your view.  
THE END.
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