Views on Baptism Augustine: from The City of God

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Book 1, Chapter 27
[Against suicide:]
"...we have a much simpler and effective method of deliverance from [additional] sin, by persuading those who are fresh from baptism to put an end to their lives, and so pass to their Lord PURE..."

It is clear from this and the quotes that follow that Augustine considers that sins are remitted and washed away in baptism. It is significant that he NEVER describes baptism as being a witness of sins being ALREADY forgiven and ALREADY removed.

"...as soon as they have been WASHED in the LAVER OF REGENERATION, and HAVE RECEIVED the FORGIVENESS OF ALL SIN. THEN is the time to escape all future sin, when ALL PAST SIN IS BLOTTED OUT."

If today's Evangelicals are correct that sins are forgiven by faith (and repentance), why does Augustine describe baptism as the moment when all past sin is blotted out? Did he not know that God's grace and the believer's faith had ALREADY accomplished this? (Apparently not!)

Book 13, Chapter 4
"if the body became immortal immediately after the SACRAMENT OF REGENERATION, faith itself would thereby lose its strength [since there would be no need of hope]."

"if after the LAVER OF REGENERATION, saints could not suffer bodily death,..."

In the three quotes above, Augustine follows the examples of the Fathers before him in describing baptism in terms of REGENERATION (i.e. being born again).

Book 13, Chapter 7
"For whichever UNBAPTIZED persons die, confessing Christ, this CONFESSION is as EFFECTIVE FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS as if they were WASHED in the sacred FONT OF BAPTISM. For He who said, "Except a man be BORN OF WATER and of the Spirit, he CANNOT ENTER into the kingdom of God" [Jn 3:5], made also an exception in their favor, in that other sentence where He no less absolutely said, "Whoever shall CONFESS me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven" [Mt 10:32]

This sounds like the doctrine of today's Evangelicals. Actually, this is a typical example of Augustine's faulty logic. Jesus' words in John EXCLUDED the disobedient person, while His words in Matthew INCLUDED the obedient person. If Jesus had said, "If a man is born of water and the Spirit, he shall enter the kingdom of God," then Augustine might have been correct. However, according to Jesus' words, a person must BOTH be born again (of water and the Spirit) AND confess Him before men. It is NOT an either/or situation!

Book 13, Chapter 23
"So he elsewhere says, "AS MANY of you as have been BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST have put on Christ" [Gal 3:27], but this shall be surely accomplished when that which is animal in us by our birth shall have become spiritual in our resurrection."

Since Paul speaks of this baptismal result as being ALREADY accomplished, why does Augustine deny Paul's words and say it will not happen until the ressurection? But his quotation of Paul is correct as to how and when we "enter Christ" and "put on Christ". Note too, Paul's stipulation that this blessed result is limited only to "as many as have been baptized..."

Book 15, Chapter 1
"each man...becomes good and spiritual only...when he is GRAFTED INTO CHRIST BY REGENERATION"

Here again is Augustine's clear statement of how and when we enter Christ, since both he and the more ancient Fathers all identified regeneration with baptism. See the next two quotes, also.

Book 20, Chapter 6 [commenting on the Revelation:]
"there are two REGENERATIONS...the one ACCORDING TO FAITH, which takes place in the present life BY MEANS OF BAPTISM; the other according to the flesh, which shall be accomplished...by means of the great and final judgment"

Book 20, Chapter 8
"some Christian children born, but not yet BAPTIZED...and if there be such, we cannot believe that their parents shall not find some way of bringing them to the LAVER OF REGENERATION."

Book 20, Chapter 26
"[Adam and Eve's] transgression and human nature was condemned in them, with the exception of the one Mediator, and THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED..."

Book 21, Chapter 14
"even the little children, who by the LAVER OF REGENERATION have been FREED from the bond of original sin in which alone they were held"

Book 21, Chapter 16
[Against those who taught that once one had been baptized and eaten the communion, eternal life was guaranteed, despite how they should live afterward (cf Rom 6):] "Whoever desires to escape eternal punishment, let him not only BE BAPTIZED, but also be justified in Christ [by faith which produces holy living], and so let him in truth pass from the devil to Christ."

Book 21, Chapter 25
"but ONLY to those who have been WASHED by the BAPTISM OF CHRIST, and have become partakers of His body and blood"

Book 21, Chapter 27
"For what does it profit a man that he is BAPTIZED, if he is not justified? Did not He who said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he shall NOT enter into the kingdom of God" [Jn 3:5], say also, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven?" [Mt 5:20] Why do many through fear of the first saying RUN TO BAPTISM, while only a few through fear of the second seek to be justified [by the righteousness of faith and holy living]?

Note that even Augustine follows the interpretation of the Fathers before him in identifying Jesus' "water" with baptism, making it mandatory for those who wished to enter God's kingdom.

Book 22, Chapter 8
[two of several stories of people who received, but did not testify:]
"A doctor with gout, when he had submitted his name for baptism, was prohibited the day before his baptism from being baptized that year, by black, woolly-hatted boys who appeared to him in his dreams (whom he understood to be devils). However, though they trod on his feet and inflicted the acutest pain he had ever yet experienced, he refused to obey them, but overcame them, and would not defer being WASHED IN THE LAVER OF REGENERATION, was HEALED in the very act of baptism, not only of the extraordinary PAIN he was tortured with, but also of the DISEASE itself, so that, though he lived a long time afterwards, he never again suffered from gout"

"An old comedian of Curubis was HEALED AT BAPTISM not only of paralysis, but also of hernia, and being delivered from both afflictions, came up out of the FONT OF REGENERATION as if he had had nothing wrong with his body."

How is it, if our sins are forgiven and removed when we believe, that these sort of healings did not take place when the two people believed, but only at the time of their baptism? That healing was a Biblical and historical sign of the forgiveness of sins is testified in Mark 2:1-12 and 1 Pet 2:24.

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