Water Baptism for the remission of sins is the occasion, the point in time at which the benefits of the
work of Christ are conveyed to the repentant sinner.
(a) Union with Christ: Galatians 3:27; (b) Justification: Acts 3:38; (c) Regeneration: Colossians 2:12;
(d) Sanctification: Romans 6:3-11.
A candidate for baptism; a repentant adult.
The requirements of understanding faith ( Matthew 28:19, 20 ) would exclude infants.
Infant baptism was introduced by Augustine as the logical requirement of "original sin" by the RCC.
Adhering to Augustine's theory that Adam before the fall was righteous.
After the fall, old daddy Adam's human nature became corrupt.
By this, Augustine believed in complete moral inability ( total depravity ).
The RCC and all Protestant churches ( Calvin and the Reformers ) teach that man has inherited Adam's sin,
therefore, man must be forgiven through a miraculous infusion of the Holy Spirit.
Why? because Augustine believed that man cannot on his own merit do anything toward his salvation.
This reflects his neo-Platonist belief of "dualism." metaphysical dualism. epistemological dualism.
and anthropological dualism.
An infant baptized in the RCC has received the vehicle of God's prevenient grace.
The child at baptism is miraculously infused with the grace of God and thereby has the ability to cooperate
with God in salvation.
Reflecting Plato's antropological dualism for attainment both of knowledge and of virtue which depends on
lessening the power of the body over the soul.
Immersion in water by a repentant believer for the remission of sins would be seen as a "work"
by those who have been "miraculously infused" with faith, justification, sanctification, and of course perseverance
as formulated in Catholicism and Protestantism.
This of course leads into the doctrine of the Sacraments believed to be the "vehicle of grace" in Catholicism.
and in Protestantism "a visible sign of an invisible grace."
