Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It seems that children do not receive grace and virtues in Baptism. For grace and virtues are not possessed without faith and charity. But faith, as Augustine says (Ep. xcviii), "depends on the will of the believer": and in like manner charity depends on the will of the lover. Now children have not the use of the will, and consequently they have neither faith nor charity. Therefore children do not receive grace and virtues in Baptism.

Objection 2: Further, on Jn. 14:12, "Greater than these shall he do," Augustine says that in order for the ungodly to be made righteous "Christ worketh in him, but not without him." But a child, through not having the use of free-will, does not co-operate with Christ unto its justification: indeed at times it does its best to resist. Therefore it is not justified by grace and virtues.

Objection 3: Further, it is written (Rm. 4:5): "To him that worketh not, yet believing in Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reputed to justice according to the purpose of the grace of God." But a child believeth not "in Him that justifieth the ungodly." Therefore a child receives neither sanctifying grace nor virtues.

Objection 4: Further, what is done with a carnal intention does not seem to have a spiritual effect. But sometimes children are taken to Baptism with a carnal intention, to wit, that their bodies may be healed. Therefore they do not receive the spiritual effect consisting in grace and virtue.

On the contrary, Augustine says (Enchiridion lii): "When little children are baptized, they die to that sin which they contracted in birth: so that to them also may be applied the words: 'We are buried together with Him by Baptism unto death'": (and he continues thus) "'that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.'" Now newness of life is through grace and virtues. Therefore children receive grace and virtues in Baptism.

I answer that, Some of the early writers held that children do not receive grace and virtues in Baptism, but that they receive the imprint of the character of Christ, by the power of which they receive grace and virtue when they arrive at the perfect age. But this is evidently false, for two reasons. First, because children, like adults, are made members of Christ in Baptism; hence they must, of necessity, receive an influx of grace and virtues from the Head. Secondly, because, if this were true, children that die after Baptism, would not come to eternal life; since according to Rm. 6:23, "the grace of God is life everlasting." And consequently Baptism would not have profited them unto salvation.

Now the source of their error was that they did not recognize the distinction between habit and act. And so, seeing children to be incapable of acts of virtue, they thought that they had no virtues at all after Baptism. But this inability of children to act is not due to the absence of habits, but to an impediment on the part of the body: thus also when a man is asleep, though he may have the habits of virtue, yet is he hindered from virtuous acts through being asleep.

Reply to Objection 1: Faith and charity depend on man's will, yet so that the habits of these and other virtues require the power of the will which is in children; whereas acts of virtue require an act of the will, which is not in children. In this sense Augustine says in the book on Infant Baptism (Ep. xcviii): "The little child is made a believer, not as yet by that faith which depends on the will of the believer, but by the sacrament of faith itself," which causes the habit of faith.

Reply to Objection 2: As Augustine says in his book on Charity (Ep. Joan. ad Parth. iii), "no man is born of water and the Holy Ghost unwillingly which is to be understood not of little children but of adults." In like manner we are to understand as applying to adults, that man "without himself is not justified by Christ." Moreover, if little children who are about to be baptized resist as much as they can, "this is not imputed to them, since so little do they know what they do, that they seem not to do it at all": as Augustine says in a book on the Presence of God, addressed to Dardanus (Ep. clxxxvii).

Reply to Objection 3: As Augustine says (Serm. clxxvi): "Mother Church lends other feet to the little children that they may come; another heart that they may believe; another tongue that they may confess." So that children believe, not by their own act, but by the faith of the Church, which is applied to them: by the power of which faith, grace and virtues are bestowed on them.

Reply to Objection 4: The carnal intention of those who take children to be baptized does not hurt the latter, as neither does one's sin hurt another, unless he consent. Hence Augustine says in his letter to Boniface (Ep. xcviii): "Be not disturbed because some bring children to be baptized, not in the hope that they may be born again to eternal life by the spiritual grace, but because they think it to be a remedy whereby they may preserve or recover health. For they are not deprived of regeneration, through not being brought for this intention."

Articulus 6

Argumentum 1

Ad sextum sic proceditur. Videtur quod pueri in baptismo non consequantur gratiam et virtutes. Gratia enim et virtutes non habentur sine fide et caritate. Sed fides, ut Augustinus dicit, consistit in credentium voluntate, et similiter etiam caritas consistit in diligentium voluntate, cuius usum pueri non habent, et sic non habent fidem et caritatem.

Ergo pueri in baptismo non recipiunt gratiam et virtutes.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, super illud Ioan. XIV, maiora horum faciet, dicit Augustinus quod ut ex impio iustus fiat, in illo, sed non sine illo christus operatur.

Sed puer, cum non habeat usum liberi arbitrii, non cooperatur christo ad suam iustificationem, immo quandoque pro posse renititur. Ergo non iustificatur per gratiam et virtutes.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, Rom. IV dicitur, ei qui non operatur, credenti autem in eum qui iustificat impium, reputabitur fides eius ad iustitiam, secundum propositum gratiae dei.

Sed puer non est credens in eum qui iustificat impium.

Ergo non consequitur gratiam iustificantem neque virtutes.

Argumentum 4

Praeterea, quod ex carnali intentione agitur, non videtur habere spiritualem effectum. Sed quandoque pueri ad baptismum deferuntur carnali intentione, ut scilicet corporaliter sanentur. Non ergo consequuntur spiritualem effectum gratiae et virtutum.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Augustinus dicit, in enchirid., parvuli renascendo moriuntur illi peccato quod nascendo contraxerunt, et per hoc ad illos etiam pertinet quod dicitur, consepulti sumus cum illo per baptismum in mortem, (subditur autem) ut, quomodo resurrexit christus a mortuis per gloriam patris ita et nos in novitate vitae ambulemus.

Sed novitas vitae est per gratiam et virtutes.

Ergo pueri consequuntur in baptismo gratiam et virtutes.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod quidam antiqui posuerunt quod pueris in baptismo non dantur gratia et virtutes, sed imprimitur eis character christi, cuius virtute, cum ad perfectam aetatem venerint, consequuntur gratiam et virtutes.

Sed hoc patet esse falsum dupliciter. Primo quidem, quia pueri, sicut et adulti, in baptismo efficiuntur membra christi.

Unde necesse est quod a capite recipiant influxum gratiae et virtutis. Secundo, quia secundum hoc pueri decedentes post baptismum non pervenirent ad vitam aeternam, quia, ut dicitur Rom. VI, gratia dei est vita aeterna.

Et ita nihil profuisset eis ad salutem baptizatos fuisse.

Causa autem erroris fuit quia nescierunt distinguere inter habitum et actum. Et sic, videntes pueros inhabiles ad actus virtutum, crediderunt eos post baptismum nullatenus virtutem habere.

Sed ista impotentia operandi non accidit pueris ex defectu habituum, sed ex impedimento corporali, sicut etiam dormientes, quamvis habeant habitus virtutum, impediuntur tamen ab actibus propter somnum.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod fides et caritas consistunt in voluntate hominum, ita tamen quod habitus harum et aliarum virtutum requirunt potentiam voluntatis, quae est in pueris; sed actus virtutum requirunt actum voluntatis, qui non est in pueris.

Et hoc modo Augustinus dicit, in libro de baptismo parvulorum, quod parvulum, etsi nondum illa fides quae in credentium voluntate consistit, iam tamen ipsius fidei sacramentum, quod scilicet causat habitum fidei, fidelem facit.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, sicut Augustinus dicit, in libro de caritate, nemo ex aqua et spiritu sancto renascitur nisi volens.

Quod non de parvulis, sed de adultis intelligendum est. Et similiter de adultis intelligendum est quod homo a christo sine ipso non iustificatur. Quod autem parvuli baptizandi, prout viribus possunt, reluctantur, non eis imputatur, quia in tantum nesciunt quid faciunt, ut nec facere videantur, ut Augustinus dicit, in libro de praesentia dei ad Dardanum.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod, sicut Augustinus dicit, parvulis mater ecclesia aliorum pedes accommodat ut veniant, aliorum cor ut credant, aliorum linguam ut fateantur.

Et ita pueri credunt, non per actum proprium, sed per fidem ecclesiae, quae eis communicatur.

Et huius fidei virtute conferuntur eis gratia et virtutes.

Ad 4

Ad quartum dicendum quod carnalis intentio deferentium pueros ad baptismum nihil eis nocet, sicut nec culpa unius nocet alteri, nisi consentiat.

Unde Augustinus dicit, in epistola ad bonifacium, non illud te moveat quod quidam non ea fide ad baptismum percipiendum parvulos ferunt ut gratia spirituali ad vitam regenerentur aeternam, sed hoc eos putant remedio corporalem retinere vel recipere sanitatem. Non enim propterea illi non regenerantur, quia non ab istis hac intentione offeruntur.