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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 August 2024
‘And he said to them: “Go out over the whole world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who refuses to believe will be condemned”’ (Mark xvi, 15). Our Lord shows us in these words that there are three stages on the way of salvation. First there must be preaching: the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ must be proclaimed to all creation; the revelation made to prophets and apostles must be passed on by preachers to all human beings. But God's revelation demands response on the part of man. That response is faith. God has taken the initiative: he has revealed himself to us and sent his only-begotten Son to die for our sins, that we may be saved; but as St Augustine says, ‘God who made you without your assistance, will not save you without your co-operation'. In response to his initiative he requires our faith.
For many of the ideas used in this article, I am indebted to the excellent book by Fr T. Camelot, o.p., Spiritualité du Baptême, in the collection ‘Lex Orandi’ no. 30 (Cerf, i960).
2 The question of the salvation of men who, through no fault of their own, do not come into contact with the Church, does not concern us here.
3 A similar form of baptismal ceremony is described by St Ambrose and St Cyril of Jerusalem in the fourth century and is found in the seventh-century Gelasian Sacramentary. From the writings of Tertullian and St Cyprian evidence can also be drawn that indicates that they also used the rite. There are more ways than one of interpreting the words: ‘Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost'. In the Eastern Churches, however, a formula similar to the one we use now was already in use by the fourth century.
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