ST604 Final Paper: “The Validity of Roman Catholic Baptism”

Jeff Smith
October 21, 2018

Summary: Jesus’ Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20) implies that the visible church alone is

authorized to baptize Christians. A valid baptism is made with water, in the Triune name, by a

minister of the gospel, lawfully called. Despite its condemnation of justification by faith alone at

the Council of Trent in 1547, the Roman Catholic Church remains part of the visible church, and

its baptisms should be regarded as valid in the sight of God by all churches.

Reformed churches frequently admit to membership those who have been baptized in the

Roman Catholic Church (“RCC”). Leaders of such churches must decide whether to administer

baptism to such incoming members, based on their understanding of whether the RCC

administers a baptism that is deemed valid by God. This theological and highly practical matter

must be resolved according to Biblical criteria.

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines baptism as

a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not

only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible
Church; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of
grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of
sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk
in the newness of life. 1

The subjects of baptism properly include “[n]ot only those that do actually profess faith

in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one, or both, believing parents….”2

Practically speaking, the prospective member of a Reformed church under present consideration

1
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics,
https://reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/index.html (accessed October 21, 2018), 28.1.
2
Westminster Confession, 28.4.

© Jeffrey David Smith

was baptized as an infant in the RCC, and now, as an adult, gives a credible profession of faith in

Christ alone for salvation.

The matter of whether a former Roman Catholic has been legitimately baptized is made

all the more important by Confession’s teaching, inferred from Titus 3:5, that baptism be

administered once and only once to a person.3 A baptism that satisfies all the necessary

characteristics Scripture requires for the ordinance should not be disregarded, repudiated, or

repeated.

The Confession teaches three criteria for the valid administration of this sacrament: “The

outward element to be used in this sacrament is water, wherewith the party is to be baptized, in

the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by a minister of the Gospel,

lawfully called thereunto.”4 We will now examine objections to the claim that the RCC fulfills

the three criteria of baptism, specifically, that it be administered (1.) by water, (2.) into the

Triune name, (3.) by a lawfully called gospel minister.

Let us first and briefly examine the RCC’s fulfillment of the first two criteria. Turretin

points out various corruptions involving RCC baptism, including its alleged removal of sins

committed prior to baptism, and “many rites and ceremonies going before, attending and

following baptism,” such as the sign of the cross, exorcism, tasting of salt, anointing with oil,

and others.5 Charles Hodge notes that oil is mixed into the waters of RCC baptism.6 Do these

irregularities negate the validity of the water used in RCC baptism, and the performance of the

sacrament in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

3
Westminster Confession, 28.5 and 28.7 (with prooftext).
4
Westminster Confession, 28.2.
5
Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, edited by James T. Dennison, Jr., translated by George Musgrave
Giger, The Library of Christian Classics, XX-XXI (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1992), 3.405.
6
The Reformed Churches and Roman Catholic Baptism: an Anthology of Principle Texts, Peru Mission Press, 2004,
https://reformedbooksonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/the-reformed-churches-and-roman-catholic-baptism-
an-anthology-of-principle-texts.pdf (accessed October 21, 2018), 58.

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 Despite the RCC’s extraneous and distorting rites to baptism, Turretin teaches that the

“baptism performed in the [RCC] is considered valid and is not repeated,” as such additions do

not negate its essence.7

As for the elements used in RCC baptism, Hodge reasons that

water with oil thrown on it is still water. How many things are
mixed with the wine we use at the Lord’s supper? Is wine
adulterated with water no longer wine? Did not our Saviour call
the paschal cup wine, though mixed with water? This objection is
trivial. So long as the element used is water, and so long as the
significancy [sic] of the rite is made to consist washing with water,
the matter of the ordinance is retained.8

And without question, RCC baptism is given “in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.”9 Unlike the Mormon and Unitarian faiths, the Roman Catholic Church

indisputably holds to the orthodox Trinitarian teaching of the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian

Creeds.10 The second criterion of a valid baptism, that it be administered in the Triune name, is

thus satisfied by the RCC.

The third criterion for a valid baptism, that it be performed by a lawfully called gospel

minister, merits careful consideration. To evaluate whether RCC baptism satisfies this criterion,

let us examine the action by the 1845 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA that

declared Roman baptism invalid, and the subsequent criticism of this declaration by Princeton

Seminary’s chair of theology at the time, Charles Hodge. This pronouncement by the General

Assembly marked a reversal of a majority view in the Reformed tradition; the declaration passed

overwhelmingly, by a vote of 169 to 8.11 More recently, the majority report of the Study

7
Turretin, 3.405.
8
Reformed Churches, 58.
9
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, https://www.kofc.org/en/catechism/index.html
(accessed October 21, 2018), Paragraph 189.
10
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 1, Section 2 (in entirety).
11
Reformed Churches, 52-53.

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Committee on Questions Relating to the Validity of Certain Baptisms to the 1987 General

Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America likewise declared RCC baptism invalid, and for

essentially identical reasons as those stated by the 1845 Assembly (though the Committee’s

recommendations were not adopted).12

Hodge summarizes the 1845 General Assembly’s thinking as follows:

On what grounds then is [RCC baptism] declared to be null and

void? The grounds are two. First, it is not administered by ordained
ministers of Christ; second, the Church of Rome is not a true
Church, and therefore its ordinances are not Christian sacraments.
The former of these arguments stands thus: No baptism is valid
unless administered by a duly ordained minister of Christ. Romish
priests are not such ministers. Therefore Romish baptism is
invalid.13

Since only the church of Christ can ordain ministers of Christ, we will first examine

whether the RCC is a true church before evaluating whether its ministers are valid.

The Westminster Confession defines the visible church as “all those throughout the world

that profess the true religion; and of their children.”14 This definition prompts us to consider the

qualifications of “the true religion.” Identifying the visible church is ultimately contingent on

correctly answering the question, What are the minimum truths that must be believed in order to

be saved?15

Hodge reasons that if “we deny to any man the character of a Christian, on account of the

profession which he makes, we must be prepared to show that such faith is incompatible with

salvation.”16

12
“The Report of the Study Committee on Questions Relating to the Validity of Certain Baptisms,” Studies &
Actions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1987. http://www.pcahistory.org/pca/2-
078.html (accessed October 21, 2018).
13
Reformed Churches, 62.
14
Westminster Confession, 25.2.
15
Reformed Churches, 72.
16
Reformed Churches, 71.

© Jeffrey David Smith 4 of 10

 The RCC’s official teaching is that “Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for

our sins to the Father” and that “the meritorious cause [of our justification] is His most beloved

only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, [who] … merited justification for us … by His most

holy passion on the wood of the Cross, and made satisfaction for us to God the Father.”17 At least

in these aspects, Rome expresses the Biblical orthodoxy of 1 Pet. 2:24 et al.

Further, the RCC declares, “Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for

our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. Since ‘without faith it is impossible to

please [God]’ and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever

attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘But he who endures to the end.’”18

Here, Rome’s teaching comports with John 3:16 and other evangelical passages in Scripture.

Where the RCC has gravely erred is in denying that justification is by faith alone, as it

did in the sixth session of the Council of Trent (1547); the Council’s resulting Canons 9, 12, 14,

23, 24, 30, and 33 teach against the doctrine of justification by faith alone and pronounce

damnation on those who profess it.19 Rome effectively denies the clear affirmations of Rom. 3:28

and Gal. 2:16, that justification is by faith in Christ “apart from works of law.” The RCC has

tainted its permanent corpus of doctrine with the very errors that Paul taught against in Gal. 3:1-

5,11; 5:1-11; and 6:12-15.

Significantly, Paul pronounced a curse on those who preached a gospel contrary to his

gospel of justification by faith alone (Gal. 1:8-9). The crucial question for us is whether Trent’s

overt denial of justification by faith alone renders Rome to be no church at all.

17
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 615 and Footnote 445.
18
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 161.
19
“The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Oecumenical Council of Trent,” Edited and translated by J.
Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848), http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/1545-
1545,_Concilium_Tridentinum,_Canons_And_Decrees,_EN.pdf (accessed October 21, 2018).

© Jeffrey David Smith 5 of 10

 John Calvin wrote a rebuttal specifically against the above-referenced Canons shortly

after their publication.20 And yet Calvin repeatedly affirmed in a variety of his writings that the

RCC is in some sense a legitimate church whose baptism is valid, despite Trent’s teachings.21

His Reformed successors John Knox, Theodore Beza, William Perkins, Samuel Rutherford, and

Richard Baxter also taught that Rome was in some sense a true church, with a valid baptism.22

The Westminster Assembly, while not explicitly affirming the RCC as part of the visible

church, implies such. In its 1646 edition, the Confession states that “the Pope of Rome … is that

Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ

and all that is called God.”23 Regardless of whether one agrees with the substance of this

statement in the Confession, it evidences the Westminster Assembly’s belief that the pope was

operating within the visible church of Christ.

Let us return to the question posed earlier, What are the minimum truths that must be

believed in order to be saved? When this question is asked in the New Testament, the simple

response is “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31). Does the RCC

affirm this response, assuming an orthodox understanding of the Triune God? It does.

Does the teaching of Rome that justification is a process, and not an act of God’s free

grace in which we receive forgiveness and the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith alone, so

conflict with the pure gospel taught in the Scriptures and recovered by the Reformation that the

RCC is now excluded from the visible church? The great majority of the Reformed tradition’s

20
John Calvin, Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote (Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2011), Kindle Edition,
Location 1429 ff. Calvin published this document in 1547, just after the RCC’s declaration against justification by
faith alone. It contains the texts of the canons of the Council through its seventh session.
21
Francis Nigel Lee, “Calvin on the Validity of ‘Romish’ Baptism,” excerpted from the author’s 1990 Doctor of
Sacred Theology dissertation, “Rebaptism Impossible!” https://www.semperreformanda.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/02/Calvin-on-the-Validity-of-Romish-Baptism-Dr.-F.N.-Lee.pdf (accessed October 21, 2018).
22
Reformed Churches, 11-29; 33-51.
23
Westminster Confession, 25.6, emphasis supplied.

© Jeffrey David Smith 6 of 10

most learned teachers and the Westminster Assembly would answer that such teaching, though

errant and harmful, does not thereby exclude the RCC from inclusion in the visible church.

The RCC’s teachings are corrupt and dangerously misguided. Its teachings prevent

assurance of salvation in the present life, and tempt their adherents to trust in their own

righteousness. Yet we are not saved because we believe that justification is by faith alone, but

rather because we trust Christ above all other would-be saviors. Roman Catholics are presented

with an orthodox understanding of the Triune God in the RCC’s official teaching, so that Christ

can be savingly trusted. If one is trusting in Christ for salvation, he will be saved (John 5:24),

even while incorrectly believing justification is a process in which he must cooperate with God

to accumulate a reservoir of grace and to purge sin, leading to final justification after this life.

Despite such false teaching by the RCC, one who is not “relying on works of law” but instead

trusting Christ’s redemption from the law’s curse in accordance with Gal. 3:10-13 will be saved.

Having determined that the RCC is a sufficient expression of the visible church, we turn

to the question of whether the RCC priests administering baptism are properly understood as

ministers of the gospel, lawfully called thereunto. This status does not imply that such teachers

are sound overseers and instructors of the flock of God. Hodge states that the issue is “simply,

whether in a body professing to hold saving doctrine, they are appointed and recognized as

presbyters.”24 He concludes that because

the Romish priests are appointed and recognized as presbyters in a

community professing to believe the Scriptures, the early creeds,
and the decisions of the first four general councils, they are
ordained ministers in the sense above stated; and consequently
baptism administered by them is valid.25

24
Reformed Churches, 67.
25
Reformed Churches, 67.

© Jeffrey David Smith 7 of 10

 Having established that Rome’s baptism meets the Westminster Confession’s three

criteria for a valid baptism, we conclude with two observations that reinforce this inference.

First, as Calvin observes, when Josiah and Hezekiah called God’s people to repentance of sin

and renewal of their covenant obligations, there is no evidence that circumcisions previously

performed by a corrupt and unbelieving church had been nullified. Nor was there a demand for a

second circumcision (though admittedly, such a demand would be hindered by anatomical

constraints). Rather, God simply called his people to a change of heart (cf. Rom. 2:28-29).26

While Calvin’s reasoning represents an argument from silence, it would imply that even a highly

corrupt visible church administers valid sacraments.

Lastly, a Christian baptism administered by a particular church is not the domain or

possession of any particular church. A baptism by the RCC does not taint the baptism or its

receiver with a second-class status. As Calvin points out in his comments on John 4:1-2, one’s

baptism is ultimately performed by Christ even if it is administered by those he has

commissioned to serve on his behalf.27 Baptism depicts unity and catholicity in the visible

church: one body, with one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism (Eph. 4:5).28

Although the RCC is in grave error by its ongoing condemnation of justification by faith

alone, the RCC remains part of the visible church. It holds to the first-millennium creedal

statements that affirm the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, such that Jesus Christ is presented

with sufficient fidelity to enable genuine faith in the genuine Savior. Its baptisms remain valid in

the sight of God, and should be so regarded by all of the visible church.

26
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, edited by John Thomas McNeill, translated by Ford Lewis
Battles, The Library of Christian Classics, XX-XXI (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), IV.15.16-17.
27
Reformed Churches, 2 (footnote).
28
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, edited by John Bolt, translated by John Vriend (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2011), 4.539.

© Jeffrey David Smith 8 of 10

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Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011.

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2011. Kindle Edition.

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Ford Lewis Battles. The Library of Christian Classics, XX-XXI. Philadelphia:

Westminster Press, 1960.

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translated by J. Waterworth. London: Dolman, 1848.

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http://www.pcahistory.org/pca/2-078.html (accessed October 21, 2018).

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