BAPTISM - The Life Changing Force
HOW BAPTISM CHANGES YOUR SOUL
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Baptism has become something of a symbolic ritual, in our time, often little more than a cultural tradition. But it is far more than either of these - it is Sacrament of literal transformation.
It is a contract with God, a pact, and a supernatural event that leaves a permanent mark on the soul.
Since Abraham, God has always invoked a consecrating pact between Himself and His people. Circumcision was one of these visible signs of Gods pact with a human child. The same for presenting babies to God in the temple, to receive His blessing and to form the life-covenant between the child and God.
From the moment the baptismal waters touch you, and the priest or presider says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,”* your soul is changed forever.
* This tri-part form - "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," - is crucial. It is the one, single requisite that MUST be met, or the baptism is considered invalid.
1. Baptism Washes Away Original Sin
Every human being is born with original sin—the inherited state of disobedient separation from God passed down from Adam and Eve. Baptism removes that stain, restoring the soul to grace and making it pure in the sight of God. It’s the first step toward salvation, because no one can enter heaven without first being cleansed of sin.
This is why Catholics baptize infants. Just as parents provide physical nourishment for their children, they also obey the ancient commission to give them divine, spiritual life as early as possible.
Now, the Church has dealt with many heretic movements through the ages - from the very beginning, in fact - outliers which have tried to redefine it's teachings to suit themselves. We see this with baptism, too.
For example, modern, "Bible-only" sects, have developed the peculiar notion that if something is not specifically found in the Bible, it is to be thrown out. Scripture doesn't tell you tie your shoes, or avoid car wrecks, either, but somehow this standard has been applied in the Bible-only churches.
So, since there is no specific passage that describes infant baptism in the Bible, they conclude that it's a false, even idolatrous, practice.
But, there is not a single biblical passage that inhibits baptizing infants. It is nowhere forbidden in Scripture, and is actually very strongly inferred several times in the Scripture...
14. One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.15. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.
- ACTS 16:14-15
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12. I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”
13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14. I give thanks [to God] that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15. so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.
16. (I baptized the household of Stephanas also; beyond that I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,* so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.j
- 1 Corinthians 1:12-17
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30. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31. And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”
32. So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
33. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once.
34. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
- Acts 16:30-34
Likewise, Jesus made it quite clear that children are NOT to be kept away from Him:
Blessing of the Children.
13. And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.
14. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
15. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
16. Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
And notice these people WANTED their children to be included, embraced and blessed by Jesus.
From what we know of Jewish culture of the time, that would be the norm. Kids were viewed as a blessing from God....
3 Certainly sons are a gift from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb, a reward.
4. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons born in one’s youth.
5. Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
He will never be shamed for he will destroy his foes at the gate.
Children of both sexes were to be included as part of the family unit, and taught from the earliest age the ways of God. Again, it was the custom of the OT religion to view children as a gift from God.
So would you assume from all this that the entire households being baptised by the Apostles just tossed the kids out into the yard during the baptism? Of course not!
Therefore, infant baptism is not to be shunned solely on the basis of the Bible alone.
2. It Makes You a Child of God
Through baptism, you are spiritually reborn. You become a child of God, adopted into His divine family.
As St. Paul says in Galatians 3:27, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Baptism is not just a symbol of joining a community—it’s a real participation in the life of Christ.
This new identity cannot be taken away, either. Were you to never sin again AFTER baptism, you would remain cleansed and prepped for entrance into heaven until your death. But, we humans DO sin, even wilfully turning away from God in life. For that, there is forgiveness available through Christ's mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Regardless, the mark of baptism remains indelibly on one's soul. Such is the great gift God has given us in baptism.
Here again, though, we find many of the sects outside The Church getting caught up in another heretical notion they've created:
One must willingly choose to be baptised, so only those of reasoning age can do it.
From what we've already seen in Scripture, that is also a concoction of their own design.
It is not about the capacity to "choose" baptism based on logical decisions of our own design. This, in fact, is not a prerequisite of baptism at all. The Bible DOES make it clear that belief is to be part of one's conversion. But the belief of parents in Gods saving grace stands in for the infant, since the parents are the custodians of God's gift - their children. And they want nothing more than that their children should be united with God from the beginning of their life.
(In another, even further twist on this, there are some sects that say even baptism is unnecessary for salvation - faith alone is enough.
That is clearly not the case.)
While there is some logic behind the cognizance of choice in baptism, is not just about a child (or any person) choosing God.
Rather it is a gracious blessing FROM God, available to all of any capacity, adult or child. We can, in fact, baptise an unconscious, mortally wounded man, or the mentally incapacitated, both of which are unable to, "choose" for themselves.
We must, therefore, see baptism as a stand-alone action that is literally the gift of a new identity - a divine human Sonship.
If we see it that way, we are not inclined to argue about the where's, why's, and who.
So how does The Church approach the issue of deliberate choice of faith?
By instituting another sacrament:
Confirmation.
Baptism, by its nature, demands a follow on catechumenate, or fatih formation. There is a need for on-goin instruction and the flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth.
In Confirmation, we culminate this instruction by uniting ourselves to God with the verbal and literal promise to live as He commands.
We adopt His love and grace into our lives.
We sincerely reject satan and his works, and we walk with God and His Son, Jesus Christ, thereafter.
Confirmation, then is our opportunity to personally confim a life in Christ on our own recognizance. So that base of "choice," is covered in Conformation.
Now, this can be done during a baptism, of course.
But there's no reason the make someone wait to have their soul expiated of Original Sin until they are deemed worthy of it by a church Sunday School council.
In short, both forms, infant and adult baptism, are valid. So there's no valid reason to delay.
3. It Unites You to the Body of Christ
Baptism is the gateway to the Church. It joins you to the universal Body of Christ, connecting you not only with believers on earth, but also with the saints in heaven. It’s the beginning of your sacramental journey—it is a door that opens the way to the Eucharist, Confirmation, and a life rooted in grace.
This unity goes beyond race, language, or nation. As Ephesians 4:5–6 says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
So, baptism is more than a figurative action to show you've, "joined up and been saved," as many of the fundametalist sects promote. No, it must be understood divinely, as a unique and divine gift-in-action from God, in which we participate through His grace.
That is exactly what ALL the Sacraments are, by the way.
4. It Imprints a Spiritual Seal
Baptism leaves a spiritual seal on the soul that cannot be erased. This seal is a sign of belonging to God — it marks you as one devoted and claimed by Christ, forever set apart for Him. This is why baptism is never repeated: it’s a one-time event with eternal consequences.
Some people leave The Church for various reasons, usually lured away to find themselves in one of the modern protestant movements, like Baptists, or one of the many Bible-only sects. There, they are compelled to have a baptismal, "do-over" - a sort of baptismal mulligan.
But as is so often the case with these sects making up their own ways, this is both unecessary and spurious.
The Catholic Church, by contrast, recognizes all baptisms as valid, from any Christian church, so long as they are documented as being of the tri-part form. Which means that nearly all baptised Christians coming from outside The Church are accepted as having a valid baptism, and a "do-over baptism" is wholly unneccesary.
Baptism is not just a beginning, or some box to be checked on your, "list of Christian living." Just as you have only one physical birth in this life, baptism is literally a one-time SPIRITUAL birth into a new, divine life
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Reflection: Have you embraced the incredible gift you received in baptism?
If you have not been baptized, why?
And would you like to be?
- Edited and expanded from an essay by Mary Frye
Sources
1. "Truth Be Told - Basics in Catholic Apologetics," Mark Hart and Joe Cady
2. "Why Do Catholics Do That," Kevin Orlin Johnson, PhD.
3. Catechism of The Catholic Church, 405, 1231-33, 1250-52, 1282, 1290
4. Scriptural quotations from the United States Confraternity of Catcholic Bishops
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