"There is no salvation without faith, and no salvation without Baptism. So it would be surprising if we could not somewhere find these two elements coordinated or juxtaposed in the same passage. The classic text, and the one which is most explicit, is that at the conclusion of Mark: 'He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned' (Mk 16: 16; Mt 28: 19) The second part of this passage omits the phrase 'and is not baptized.' The reason for this, and we shall see, is that since faith is the condition for the reception of baptism its absence necessarily implies the absence of baptism as well."
(Baptism in the New Testament, trans. by David Askew. 1956)
"There have been certain errors concerning this sacrament. The first was that of the Solentiani, who received a baptism not of water but of the spirit. Against them the Lord says: Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."
(Explanation of the Seven Sacraments. St. Thomas) He wrote this before the Summa Theologica.
"This learned theologian (Fr. Tanquerey), who taught dogmatic theology in the Catholic Institute of Paris in the last decade of the nineteenth century, shows that the sacrament of Baptism was useful to the soul of the Blessed Virgin, not indeed to purify her of the stain of Original Sin, or from any sin of any kind, but in order to incorporate her externally and officially into the Mystical Body of Christ which is the Church; also in order to bestow on her an increase of sanctifying grace, and, above all, in order to imprint on her soul the indelible character of Baptism which is, according to St. Thomas, a 'potentia passiva' enabling a Christian to receive validly the other sacraments. If Mary had not been baptized she would have been deprived (when later on she received Holy Communion at the hands of the Apostles) of the special fruits which sacramental communion produces ex opere operato only in a baptized person, according to the well-known axiom: "Baptismus est janua aliorum sacramentorum, baptism is the gate of the other sacraments."
(Rev. J.B. Terrien, La Mere de Dieu et la Mere des Hommes, pp. 238-239)
And the late Msgr. Fenton, who taught at Catholic Univ., is more precise:
"Part of this confusion has come from an amateurish and unscientific use of technical theological terminology. The great classical ecclesiologists frequently spoke of men being saved either through being in the Church, or through being members of the Church, 'in voto.' Later and less brilliant writers tended to imagine that there were two ways of being members of the Church, 'in re' and 'in voto.' As a matter of fact, the man who is a member of the church 'in re' is really and actually a part of the true Church. He is one of the persons who compose the society. The man who is a member 'in voto' is one who is in the Church in desire. The thing desired is always an absent good. The man who desires to be a member of the Church is precisely one who does not, at the moment, enjoy this privilege. By making it appear that membership in the Church and desire of attaining membership were two ways of being within the Church as parts of this society, the proponents of the theory which Dr. Jalland has employed have been of little service to the cause of Catholic theology."
("Membership in the Church," The American Eccl. Review)
"This is the position taken by the Fathers in their insistence that the Holy Spirit is given at Baptism, and that only those are just who maintain the unity with the Holy Spirit brought about by that sacrament. Baptism, which justifies man for the first time, is identified with the transmission of the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is not given and is not present to the unbaptized soul" (Grace. Rev. Robert Gleason, SJ. pg. 162)
Topic: BoD and justification (Read 34856 times)