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Ambrose (c. 336-397) On Baptism

Ambrose (c. 336-397) On Baptism

Last updated on: August 6, 2024 at 10:03 am by Dave Armstrong

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Ambrose (c. 336-397) On Baptism 2024-08-06T10:03:13-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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Photo credit: Late antique mosaic in St. Ambrogio church in Milan which could be an actual portrait made while Ambrose was living. [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

In order that being renewed by baptism you might hold to that manner of life which beseems those who are washed. . . . Open, then, your ears, inhale the good savour of eternal life which has been breathed upon you by the grace of the sacraments . . . (On the Mysteries, ch. 1, 1, 3)

There is also a third testimony, as the Apostle teaches us: For all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea. [1 Corinthians 10:1-2] And further, Moses himself says in his song: You sent Your Spirit, and the sea covered them. [Exodus 15:10] You observe that even then holy baptism was prefigured in that passage of the Hebrews, wherein the Egyptian perished, the Hebrew escaped. For what else are we daily taught in this sacrament but that guilt is swallowed up and error done away, but that virtue and innocence remain unharmed? (On the Mysteries, ch. 3, 12)

That water does not cleanse without the Spirit is shown by the witness of John and by the very form of the administration of the sacrament. (On the Mysteries, ch. 4, 18)

Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit, [1 John 5:7] are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [John 3:5] Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins nor gain the gift of spiritual grace. (On the Mysteries, ch. 4, 20)

You died to the world, and rose again to God. And as though buried to the world in that element, being dead to sin, you rose again to eternal life. Believe, therefore, that these waters are not void of power. (On the Mysteries, ch. 4, 21)

Our own sins are remitted through baptism. (On the Mysteries, ch. 6, 32)

After this white robes were given to you as a sign that you were putting off the covering of sins, and putting on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said: You shall sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed, You shall wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow. For he who is baptized is seen to be purified both according to the Law and according to the Gospel: according to the Law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; [Exodus 12:22] according to the Gospel, because Christ’s garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel He showed forth the glory of His Resurrection. He, then, whose guilt is remitted is made whiter than snow. So that God said by Isaiah: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. [Isaiah 1:18] (On the Mysteries, ch. 7, 34)

No offenses pollute the baptized, . . . (On the Mysteries, ch. 7, 41)

Matthew says: She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. [Matthew 1:18] If, then, the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Virgin wrought the conception, and effected the work of generation, surely we must not doubt but that, coming down upon the Font, or upon those who receive Baptism, He effects the reality of the new birth. (On the Mysteries, ch. 9, 59)

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Why do you baptize if sins cannot be remitted by man? . . . baptism is certainly the remission of all sins, . . . (Concerning Repentance, Book I, ch. 8, 36)

We are renewed by means of the laver of baptism, whereby we are born again, as Paul says himself: For we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that, like as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we, too, should walk in newness of life. [Romans 6:4] And in another place: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which is created after God. [Ephesians 4:23] And elsewhere again: Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle, because the eagle after death is born again from its ashes, as we being dead in sin are through the Sacrament of Baptism born again to God, and created anew. (Concerning Repentance, Book II, ch. 2, 8)

. . . called to baptism, that they may put away the guilt . . . (Concerning Repentance, Book II, ch. 4, 26)

But the apostles, having this baptism according to the direction of Christ, taught repentance, promised forgiveness, and remitted guilt, as David taught when he said: Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin. He calls each blessed, both him whose sins are remitted by the font, and him whose sin is covered by good works. (Concerning Repentance, Book II, ch. 5, 35)

We are buried in the element of water that we may rise again renewed by the Spirit. For in the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses the body as it were in a kind of tomb, that we, by the power of the Spirit, may be renewed from the death of sin, being born again in God. (On the Holy Spirit, Book I, ch. 6, 76)

And well in the beginning of creation is there set forth the figure of baptism whereby the creature had to be purified. (On the Holy Spirit, Book II, Introduction, 1)

So, then, the Father sanctifies, the Son also sanctifies, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies; but the sanctification is one, for baptism is one, and the grace of the sacrament is one. (On the Holy Spirit, Book III, ch. 4, 28)

Who is he who is born of the Spirit, and is made Spirit, but he who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind? [Ephesians 4:23] This certainly is he who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, since we receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. [Titus 3:5] And elsewhere the Apostle Peter says: You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. [Acts 11:16] For who is he that is baptized with the Holy Spirit but he who is born again through water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again by water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And therefore He declared that we are born of Him in the latter case, through Whom He said that we were born in the former. This is the sentence of the Lord; I rest on what is written, not on argument. (On the Holy Spirit, Book III, ch. 10, 64)

And it is not doubtful that sin is forgiven by means of baptism, . . . (On the Holy Spirit, Book III, ch. 18, 138)

In the sacrament of baptism the whole outer man perishes . . . Our old man is crucified, [Romans 6:6] the Apostle exclaims . . . (On the Duties of the Clergy, Book III, ch. 18, 107)

And this is the baptism whereby sins are forgiven, . . . Let the water receive us, which is wont to regenerate. (Concerning Virginity, Book III, ch. 7, 34)

. . . the baptism which Christ has granted us to redeem our sins. (On the Giving Up of the Basilicas, 37)

And so, when He came, being born of a Virgin, He sent forth His grace, that sin might be forgiven in baptism in order to make us more grateful to Himself. (Letter 41, 6)

Indeed all faults and sins are washed away; so that if anyone have polluted his body with very many whom he has bound to himself by no law of marriage, all the sins are forgiven him . . . (Letter 63, 63)

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Photo credit: Late antique mosaic in St. Ambrogio church in Milan which could be an actual portrait made while Ambrose was living. [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

Summary: I document the views of St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 336-397) on baptism (particularly baptismal regeneration): all of which are perfectly consistent with Catholic theology.

Fathers of the Church

Ambrose & baptism

baptismal regeneration

church fathers & baptism

infant baptism

patristic sacramentology

sacraments

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