Ecclesiological and Ecumenical Implications of Baptism

The answers given in the churches differ. Vatican II -- while entirely acknowledging the necessity of baptism for salvation (LG 14; AG 7) -- referred to God's general desire for our salvation (1 Tim. 2:4), concluding that those not to "blame" for their ignorance of the gospel of Christ and his church, but seeking God with an honest heart and really striving to fulfill his will as discerned in the call of conscience, can achieve salvation (LG 16; cf. AG 7; GS 22). To justify this thesis one can point to the statement in the prologue of John's gospel that everything was created in the Logos which has become flesh in Jesus Christ, and that this Logos enlightens everyone coming into this world (John 1:2,9).

Roman Catholic theology therefore talks about a "conditional" necessity for baptism for those to whom the gospel has been preached and who can consequently decide for or against the faith. Thus the connection between faith and baptism becomes clear, as also the idea that the possibility of salvation of the unbaptized is founded not in what they do themselves, but in Jesus Christ whose Spirit is at work in the entire creation.

Finally, understanding baptism from the whole reality of salvation explains why, for the New Testament and for the whole Christian tradition, baptism is unrepeatable and can be received only once. This corresponds to the unrepeatable nature of God's saving act in Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 10:10); just as Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected once for all, so too the Christian can only die once with him and be raised to newness of life: a baptized Person has died to sin once for all (Rom. 6:10). "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away: see, everything has become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). In line with this, Ephesians refers to the one baptism which corresponds to the one God, the one Lord and the one faith, and is incorporated in the one body of Christ (Eph. 4:4).

Against this biblical background, rebaptism can only be described as a scandal and as sacrilege. To be sure, churches which do not recognize baptism in another church regard the previous baptismal act as invalid; they see their own, later baptismal action as a first baptism, and not as "re"-baptism. But for the other churches such action amounts to nothing other than a rebaptism, a disturbing praxis behind which lies a different understanding of the ecclesiological meaning of baptism.

3. The ecclesiological significance of baptism

According to Acts 2:41 baptism means being added to the Christian community: "in the one Spirit we were all baptized into" [the] "one body" [of Christ] (1 Cor. 12:13). In baptism more is involved than the personal salvation of the individual; baptism has an ecclesial dimension, incorporating the baptized person into the church as the body of Christ through the Spirit.(17) Not for nothing do the New Testament statements about baptism frequently occur in a liturgical context (1 Pet. 1:3ff.; Titus 3:5-7; Eph. 5:14). It is the church that celebrates baptism and, as it does so, the faith of the whole church is expressed and not just that of the person being baptized. The church is not brought into being by people gathering together to form a church. Thus, in my view we do not enter the church through baptism; rather we are accepted into the church as a pre-existing reality of salvation.