255. Who should be baptized
255. WHO SHOULD BE BAPTIZED
Should Baptism be given to everybody indiscriminately?
Whether sinners should be baptized?
A man may be said to be a sinner in two ways. First, on account of the stain and the debt of punishment incurred in the past; and on sinners in this sense the sacrament of Baptism should be conferred, since it is instituted specially for this purpose, that by it the uncleanness of sin may be washed away, according to Ephesians 5:26: Cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life.
Secondly, a man may be called a sinner because he wills to sin, and purposes to remain in sin; and on sinners in this sense the sacrament of Baptism should not be conferred.
First, indeed, because by Baptism men are incorporated in Christ, according to Galatians 3:27: As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Now so long as a man wills to sin, he cannot be united to Christ, according to 2 Corinthians 6:14: What participation hath justice with injustice? Wherefore Augustine says that no man who has the use of free will can begin the new life except he repent of his former life. . . . Augustine says: He Who created thee without thee will not justify thee without thee. . .
Secondly, because there should be nothing useless in the works of Christ and of the Church. Now that is useless which does not reach the end to which it is ordained; and . . . no one having the will to sin can at the same time be cleansed from sin, which is the purpose of Baptism; for this would be to combine two contradictory things.
Thirdly, because there should be no falsehood in the sacramental signs. Now a sign is false if it does not correspond with the thing signified. But the very fact that a man presents himself to be cleansed by Baptism signifies that he prepares himself for the inward cleansing; while this cannot be the case with one who purposes to remain in sin. Therefore it is manifest that on such a man the sacrament of Baptism is not to be conferred (III,68,4).
Baptism is not to be given automatically and indiscriminately, for it is not magic. It is not like putting fluoride in everyone’s water supply.
Who then should not be baptized? Should sinners? We are all sinners, so if sinners should not be baptized, no one should be baptized. Baptism is precisely for sinners, as soap is for dirty people.
On the other hand, there are two kinds of sinners: reluctant, repentant sinners and willing, deliberate sinners. Everyone in the world belongs to one of those two classes. That is the dividing line between the blessed and the damned. Baptism is not for the damned. For the only reason anyone is damned is that their conscious, deliberate will is anti-God. They do not want God and what God is: righteousness. They do not want Heaven and what Heaven is: the place where God’s will is done. They want what Hell is: the place where their own will is done. So Baptism should not be imposed on them for the same reason Heaven should not, indeed cannot, be imposed on them. God Himself does not impose Himself on us. He seduces souls, He does not rape them.
This is only a more unusual way of stating the doctrine of free will. Augustine said: “He Who created thee without thee will not justify thee without thee.” For although Augustine was as strong as Calvin on predestination and divine sovereignty, he was also, unlike Calvin, equally strong on free will.
Because the sacraments are not magic and do not work against our will, Baptism given to deliberate sinners would be a waste, like watering a rock. And because of free will, this would be an attempted contradiction: cleansing from sin those who refuse cleansing from sin.
Contradictions cannot exist. The law of non-contradiction is not just a logical law, it is a real, metaphysical law. Truth and falsehood are also in real things, not just in ideas; that is what is behind St. Thomas’ third reason: unwilling Baptism would be false Baptism: fake, unreal. Honesty demands reality.