You Must Be Born Again

 Baptism & Born Again

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the
dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing
upon thine offspring.
Isaiah 44, 3

[H]e saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness,
but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through
Jesus Christ our Savior.
Titus 3, 5-6

Since ancient times, Catholics rightly understood that “born again” refers to water baptism. What Catholics mean by being born again is the interior transformation achieved upon baptism in water and the Holy Spirit. It means much more than affirming Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior who died for our sins and consciously deciding to accept Christ in our hearts and be his disciple. Being born again means much more than believing in who Jesus is and what he has accomplished for those who believe in him. The expression, in fact, is the mental equivalent of “regeneration.”

Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us “holy and without blemish,” just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is “holy and without blemish.” Nevertheless, the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of the Christian life. This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us. - Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1426

Regeneration (being “born again”) is the transformation from death to life that occurs in our souls when we first come to God and are justified through the sacrament. He washes us clean of our sins and gives us a new nature, breaking the power of sin over us so that we will no longer be its slaves but its enemies, who must combat it as part of the Christian life and our baptismal commitment (cf. Rom. 6:1–22; Eph. 6:11–17).

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…
Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3, 3- 5

In the conversation that Jesus is having with Nicodemus, our Lord says to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3). The Greek phrase often translated as “born again” (γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν or gennatha anothen in the English transliteration) also occurs in V.7 in which Jesus says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The Greek word anothen sometimes can be translated “again,” but in the New Testament, it most often means “from above” or “from heaven.” In the King James Version, which I am using, the only two times it is translated “again” are in John 3:3 and 3:7. Every other time it is given a different rendering. However, we have our mental equivalent in Vv.5-6, in which Jesus says, ““Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Now, in V.3, our Lord declares that one must be “born again” to enter the kingdom of God, while in V.5, he reiterates more clearly that one must be “born of water and spirit” to enter the kingdom of God. Thus, the expression “born again” refers to the Sacrament of Baptism in water and Spirit, which is salvific. One who is born or reborn “of Spirit” is born “from above” or “from heaven.” Jesus does say on another occasion, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16). One cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless they are saved, and this requires not only belief in Jesus but also the sacrament of initiation that washes away the stain of original sin and marks a new life in the Spirit.

St. Paul describes the Sacrament of Baptism as a “washing of regeneration” that is “poured out on us” regarding water baptism. The original Greek verb for “washing” is loutron (λουτρόν), which generally refers to a ritual washing of purification (Titus 3:5-6). Paul also wrote, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4). Baptism unites us with Christ’s death and resurrection so that we might die to sin and receive new life.

In Colossians 2:11–13, he tells us, “In [Christ] you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision [of] Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God.” These NT passages evoke the words Jesus spoke to Nicodemus: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Being born again is a movement from being a child of Adam to a child of God.

Soon after Paul had converted, he was told, “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16). This “washing away” distinctively refers to water baptism. Ananias’ phrase “wash away” comes from the Greek word apolouo (ἀπολούω) Apolouo means an actual cleansing that removes sin. It is not a symbolic covering up of sin. Paul’s faith in Jesus wasn’t enough to save him. He also had to be baptized to have his sins forgiven or “blotted out” and to receive the Holy Spirit, who justifies us in our collaboration with Him. So, baptism is necessary for our salvation and isn’t merely a symbolic ritual that serves as a testimony of faith.  In fact, Paul says we are “washed, sanctified, and justified” in the name of the Lord Jesus about water baptism. The “washing” of baptism gives birth to sanctification and justification, which proves baptism is not just symbolic (1 Cor 6:11).

In Acts 2:38, Peter tells us, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). We must not only repent but also be baptized for the forgiveness of sin so that we receive the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit for a new life with God. Simply believing in Jesus and accepting him as our personal Lord and Savior won’t regenerate us. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). Jesus suffered and died to expiate sin, but he also merited for us the dispensation of divine grace. We aren’t saved by faith alone.

Indeed, many passages in the Old Testament foreshadow the regenerative power of baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. For instance, Naaman took seven dips in the Jordan and, as a result, his flesh was restored like a child's (2 Kings 5:14). Being born again is a restorative experience of the heart and mind of the human soul through the power of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah prophesies that the time is coming when the Lord pours out His water and His Spirit, which refers to the institution of the Sacrament of Baptism by Christ our Lord. Water and Spirit are always joined in the Scriptures. We are cleansed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, who moves through the water. Ezekiel (36:25-27) concurs that the Lord will sprinkle us with water to cleanse us from our sin and give us a new heart of flesh and spirit. We must be born again (of water and the Spirit) or from above if we hope to be saved.

Early Sacred Tradition

“For Christ also said, ‘Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of

heaven.’ Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into

their mothers’ wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent

shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus

speaks: ‘Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your

souls; learn to do well…And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white

like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow…And for

this [rite] we have learned from the apostles this reason. Since at our birth we were

born without our own knowledge or choice, by our parents coming together, and

were brought up in bad habits and wicked training; in order that we may not remain

the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice

and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly

committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has

repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe; he who

leads to the layer the person that is to be washed calling him by this name alone

And this washing is called illumination because those who learn these things are

illuminated in their understandings. And in the name of Jesus Christ, who was

crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Ghost, who through the

prophets foretold all things about Jesus, he who is illuminated is washed.”

St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, 61

(A.D. 155)

” ‘And dipped himself,’ says [the Scripture], ‘seven times in Jordan.’ It was not for
nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his
being baptized, but it served as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are
made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our
old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the
Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’”
St. Irenaeus, Fragment, 34
(A.D. 190)

“But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the
fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with healing. The Father of
immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in
order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and He, begetting us again to
incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the breath (spirit) of life, and
endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal,
he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the
regeneration of the layer he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the
resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds
of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism.”
St. Hippolytus, Discourse on the Holy Theophany, 8
(A.D. 217)

“[W]hen they come to us and to the Church which is one, ought to be baptized, for
the reason that it is a small matter to ‘lay hands on them that they may receive the
Holy Ghost,’ unless they receive also the baptism of the Church. For then finally, can
they be fully sanctified, and be the sons of God, if they be born of each sacrament;
since it is written, ‘Except a man be born again of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God.’…[O]nly baptism of the Holy Church, by divine
regeneration, for the kingdom of God, may be born of both sacraments, because it is
written, ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.’”
St. Cyprian of Carthage, To Stephen, 71:72
(A.D. 253)

“We are circumcised not with a fleshly circumcision but with the circumcision of
Christ, that is, we are born again into a new man; for, being buried with Him in His
baptism, we must die to the old man, because the regeneration of baptism has the
force of resurrection.”
St. Hilary of Poitiers, Trinity, 9:9
(A.D. 359)

“And with reason; for as we are all from earth and die in Adam, so being regenerated
from above of water and Spirit, in the Christ we are all quickened.”
St. Athanasius, Discourse Against the Arians, III:33
(A.D. 360)

“[T]he birth by water and the Spirit, Himself led the way in this birth, drawing
down upon the water, by His own baptism, the Holy Spirit; so that in all things He
became the first-born of those who are spiritually born again, and gave the name of
brethren to those who partook in a birth like to His own by water and the Spirit.”
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, 2:8
(A.D. 382)

“The Word recognizes three Births for us; namely, the natural birth,
that of Baptism, and that of the Resurrection…”
St. Gregory of Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism, I
(A.D. 388)

“Therefore, read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the
Spirit, 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.’”
St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries, 4:20
(A.D. 391)

“It is this one Spirit who makes it possible for an infant to be regenerated through
the agency of another’s will when that infant is brought to Baptism; and it is through
this one Spirit that the infant so presented is reborn…’Unless a man be born again of
water and the Holy Spirit.’ The water, therefore, manifesting exteriorly the
sacrament of grace, and the Spirit effecting interiorly the benefit of grace, both
regenerate in one Christ that man who was in one Adam.”
St. Augustine, To Boniface, Epistle 98:2
(A.D. 408)

Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3, 5

Pax vobiscum

Your Sins Shall Be as White as Snow

Baptism & Original Sin

Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 1, 18

 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44, 3

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse
you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you
to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Ezekiel 36, 25-27

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed,
you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the LORD
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Corinthians 6, 11

In Catholic theology, original sin is regarded as the general state of sinfulness, the absence of sanctity and perfect charity into which all human beings are born. We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that original sin is the natural state of “deprivation of the original holiness and justice,” which we inherit as descendants of Adam and Eve. It is a sin contracted by all human beings by natural propagation, not a sin they committed. Because original sin is a state or condition of our human nature and not a sinful act on our part, it “does not take on the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405).

All Adam’s descendants are conceived and born in the state of original sin (Ps 51:7). St. Paul tells us: “As sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men in as much as all men sinned” (Rom 5:12). The apostle adds: “Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men” (Rom 5:18). Physical death is a sign of spiritual death. Though physical death remains a temporal penalty for our common sins against God, Christ restored humanity to spiritual life with God through his passion and death on the Cross. The second death – eternal damnation or separation from God – is no longer an irrevocable prospect for all human beings.

At any rate, original sin is the state of being deprived of supernatural grace. Adam fell into a defective state when he fell from the supernatural life with God. Having fallen from grace, the supernatural life was something that he should have possessed as God destined him to. But since he lost it, his lower natural condition is what we call the state of original sin: the deprivation of the original sanctity and justice in which Adam was initially created by God in His goodness. Since the Fall, all his biological descendants are thus inclined, as natural members in the organic body of Adam, to evil: concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh, and the pride of life.

Not unlike their primordial father, human beings tend to want to be like God but, apart from God, before God, and not following the will of God. Human acts from this attitude may constitute mortal sins that deprive the soul of sanctity and justice before God through the original fall from grace. Thus, original sin is called sin only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed” – a state and not an act. Only one’s own personal sins carry with them the character of a personal fault and guilt by the natural proclivity to sin as a member of fallen humanity.

In the redemption of humankind, God restored sanctifying or justifying grace to all humanity by Christ’s merits. Without this merciful act of God, man could never have retrieved that supernatural state above nature, which is the end for which God destined him. The grace of redemption blots out the sin of Adam, although the moral and physical ill-effects of original sin remain after we are baptized. Dom Bruno Webb describes original sin as “some disease that has infected the original cell of the human body,” which may “permeate every organ and cell of the body, as it grows forth from that [first] cell.” The original sin we contract is like a “poison” that has “passed into every member of the human race.” The sin of Adam, therefore, is something that belongs to each member of the human race as such and is “our common heritage.”

In Romans 5:19, Paul writes: “Many (polloi) were made sinners. He isn’t contradicting himself by not using the word “all” (pantes) since what he means to say here, as in verse 18 is that all people are subjected to original sin, but not everyone rejects God. He certainly doesn’t mean to say in the distributive sense that everyone who has ever lived has sinned without exception since infants and mentally disabled people cannot sin, at least not subjectively or with moral responsibility. The act of sin requires full knowledge and complete consent on the part of the subject. But given the right circumstances, they might sin since they fall short of God’s glory by their lower nature as collectively part of humanity.

Infants and young children below the age of moral reason do, in fact, suffer and die. However, they have never committed any personal sins in their short lives because all humans are guilty of Adam’s sin by association. For this reason, the Sacrament of Baptism is required for all of us, including infants and young children who haven’t yet attained the age of moral reasoning, since the baptismal water washes away original sin and restores the soul to the original state of holiness and justice, despite the remaining moral ill-effects of this stain of sin.

Adam and Eve died spiritually when they ate the fruit on the forbidden tree of knowledge against God’s command (Gen 2:17). And, as a result, their spiritual deprivation was transmitted to all their biological descendants, except the Blessed Virgin Mary by her Immaculate Conception (Gen 3:15; Lk 1:28; 42, etc.). We are thus inclined to sin and eventually do sin because of the moral ill-effects of original sin. We further read in the Old Testament that a “man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” (Job 14:1, 4). All humanity is afflicted by the stain of original sin, including infants and young children, by natural propagation.

In acknowledgment of his sins, David cries out, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:5). The Psalmist owns he wasn’t conceived and born in a natural state of innocence and remained in this state until he had committed his first sin. After all, Jesus himself tells us that our personal sins originate from the heart (Mt 15:18-20). We have inherited the sin of Adam upon being conceived in our mothers’ wombs. From infancy, we are in dire need of being baptized to be saved from our sinful condition.

Moreover, St. Paul teaches us that sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and because of his sin, death entered the world (Rom 5:12). We can’t help but acknowledge our propensity toward evil and the need for God’s grace to be restored to friendship with him. Spiritual and physical death is the result of Adam’s sin, in which we are all implicated by association. We all fall under the same condemnation together with Adam and Eve (Rom 5:16). The apostle adds that “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (Rom 5:19). He is affirming that original sin is passed on as part of our human condition. The hidden premise is that only God in the flesh could atone for our sins by the eternal sacrifice of Himself. Through this sacrifice, God has re-opened the gates of heaven. Access to the Tree of Life is no longer barred from us because of the Tree of the Cross. By one man, Adam came death, and by one man, the new Adam came renewed life with God (1 Cor 15:21).

All humanity was spiritually dead because of sin, having lived in the disordered passions of the flesh until Christ not only sacrificed Himself to expiate sin and propitiate the Father but also merited the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit to heal and restore us to friendship with God (Eph 2:1-3). When we are baptized, we receive the initial grace of forgiveness and justice merited by our Lord and Savior. Through the sacrament of initiation, we actually die with Christ so that we, like Him, might be raised to the newness of life through the operation of the Holy Spirit (Rom 6:4).

By our baptism, we no longer suffer and die in vain. Since we now join our suffering and death with Christ, what were the physical penalties for original sin are now an efficacious means to be saved. In baptism, we die with Christ so that we may be raised with him on the last day (Col 2:12). What has transpired in our baptism is a supernatural reality. Baptism is a sacrament and not merely a symbolic ritual. It is a sign that points to an actual spiritual transformation in the physical world.

Hence, St. Paul is referring to the Sacrament of Baptism when he says that we are “washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 6:11). Our baptism restores us to the original state of justice and holiness that our primordial father had forfeited for all his progeny. The entrance to heaven is accessible to us by baptism with water and the Spirit. The washing or cleansing of baptism gives rise to our sanctification and justification. By being baptized in Christ, we “put on Christ” who himself isn’t just a symbol but a living person who dwells in our souls so that we can be righteous as he is righteous and pure as he is pure by the working of the Holy Spirit and His many gifts of grace in our lives (Gal 3:27; 1 Jn 3:3, 7). Through baptism, we are reborn from above and become children of God.

The Sacrament of Baptism applies the salvation that Christ alone has merited for the whole world personally to us. St. Paul writes: “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ so that we might be justified (or sanctified) by his grace and become heirs of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). Baptism is salvific because the sacrament regenerates our souls. The cleansing water purifies us from the stain of sin. The Holy Spirit justifies us with His infused grace that produces an interior renewal without which we have no hope of being saved. Through this interior transformation, we become heirs of eternal life and adopted children of God who partake in the divine image. Baptism marks a new life with God and begins a new life in Christ. By receiving this sacrament, we can supernaturally merit eternal life by our deeds of grace and charity (Eph 2:8-10). Our righteous deeds are now necessary for the gift of salvation to be complete in and through Christ’s redeeming merits.

Baptism has a twofold effect: the forgiveness of sin and regeneration. Justification and sanctification go hand-in-hand. Our position before God is mended, and our relationship with Him is restored as it was meant to be before Adam’s fall from grace. We read in the New Testament that in baptism, “our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Heb 10:22). A clean conscience comes from sincerely repenting and being spiritually renewed. The gifts of the Holy Spirit help transform our interior disposition. With forgiveness comes inner cleansing and healing. Without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, we can never hope to cast off the old self and put on the new, as St. Paul puts it. Baptism isn’t about the exterior components of our salvation but about our interior lives. The sacrament is the “circumcision” of the New Covenant or the heart (Col 2:11-12).

Thus, the initial grace of justification and forgiveness doesn’t benefit us unless our interior self is renewed daily. With repentance must come a firm desire for amendment as we grow in holiness and continue to strive for divine perfection. We aren’t saved simply by converting and putting our faith in what Christ has formally gained for us all but by persevering in grace now that our Lord and Savior has opened the gates of heaven for us to hopefully pass through. Baptism is necessary for our salvation because we receive the graces we need for our interior transformation through the sacrament. It isn’t a symbolic ritual that demonstrates we have placed our faith in our personal Lord and Savior and are thereby irrevocably saved. Baptism begins a life-long process of justification for each of us, made possible by the redeeming merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

EARLY SACRED TRADITION

“He stood in need of baptism, or of the descent of the Spirit like a dove; even as He
submitted to be born and to be crucified, not because He needed such things, but because
of the human race, which from Adam had fallen under the power of death and the guile of
the serpent, and each one of which had committed personal transgression. For God,
wishing both angels and men, who were endowed with freewill, and at their own disposal,
to do whatever He had strengthened each to do, made them so, that if they chose the things
acceptable to Himself, He would keep them free from death and from punishment; but that
if they did evil, He would punish each as He sees fit.”
St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 88:4
(A.D. 155)

“Every soul, then, by reason of its birth, has its nature in Adam until it is born
again in Christ; moreover, it is unclean all the while that it remains without this
regeneration; and because unclean, it is actively sinful, and suffuses even the
flesh (by reason of their conjunction) with its own shame.”
Tertullian, On the Soul, 40
(A.D. 208)

“Baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage of the
Church, Baptism is given even to infants. And indeed, if there were nothing in
infants which required a remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to
forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous.”
Origen, Homily on Leviticus, 8:3
(post A.D. 244)

“If, in the case of the worst sinners and of those who formerly sinned much
against God, when afterward they believe, the remission of their sins is granted
and no one is held back from Baptism and grace, how much more, then, should
an infant not be held back, who, having but recently been born, has done no sin,
except that, born of the flesh according to Adam. He has contracted the
contagion of that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does
he approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven
him are not his own but those of another [from Adam].
”St. Cyprian, Epistle to Fidus, 68[64]:5
(c. A.D. 250)

“Adam sinned and earned all sorrows;–likewise the world after His example, all
guilt.–And instead of considering how it should be restored,–considered how its
fall should be pleasant for it.–Glory to Him Who came and restored it!”
St. Ephraem, Hymns on the Epiphany, 10:1
(A.D. 350)

“‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God.’ No one is expected: not the infant, not the one prevented
by necessity.”
St. Ambrose, Abraham, 2,11:79
(A.D. 387)

“This grace, however, of Christ, without which neither infants nor adults can be
saved, is not rendered for any merits, but is given gratis, on account of which it
is also called grace. ‘Being justified,’ says the apostle, ‘freely through His blood.’
Whence they, who are not liberated through grace, either because they are not
yet able to hear, or because they are unwilling to obey; or again because they did
not receive, at the time when they were unable on account of youth to hear, that
bath of regeneration, which they might have received and through which they
might have been saved, are indeed justly condemned; because they are no
without sin, either that which they have derived from their birth, or that which
they have added from their own misconduct. ‘For all have sinned’–whether in
Adam or in themselves–“and come short of the glory of God.’
”St. Augustine, On Nature and Grace, 4
(A.D. 415)

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved:
but he that believeth not shall he condemned.
Mark 16, 16

Pax vobiscum