It is sometimes claimed that the early church fathers were unanimous in teaching that "water baptism saves;" the person who believes in Christ is saved through faith only when that faith is followed by baptism. But there is another historical question that deserves attention:
How did baptism become something that could be postponed for a lifetime by people who nevertheless considered themselves committed Christians, and then become urgently necessary when death was near?
The evidence of the practices of the church fathers themselves is surprisingly difficult to reconcile with such a simple claim.
Baptized at or immediately before death
Constantine the Great (337)
- baptized during final illness, died shortly afterward.
Constantius II (361)
- baptized when facing his final crisis/illness, died shortly afterward.
Baptized because death appeared imminent, but survived
Novatian (c. 250)
- catechumen, gravely ill, received clinical baptism on his sickbed, recovered, later became a prominent Roman presbyter.
Baptized during illness but lived for years afterward
Theodosius I (380)
- baptized while ill, but lived another ~15 years.
1. Augustine's writings penned before he was baptized:
Augustine converted to Christianity in 386 and was baptized by Ambrose at Easter in 387. During the months between his conversion and baptism, while he was still a catechumen, he composed the famous Cassiciacum dialogues:
- Against the Academics (Contra Academicos)
- The Happy Life (De Beata Vita)
- On Order (De Ordine)
- Soliloquies (Soliloquia)
He also wrote letters to Nebridius during this period. Augustine himself later refers to these works in the Confessions, describing what he had written at Cassiciacum before his baptism.
There is also On the Immortality of the Soul (De immortalitate animae), which is generally associated with this same pre-baptismal period, although its exact chronology relative to the Cassiciacum works is less secure.
So we're talking about at least four major surviving works, and probably five, written by one of Christianity's most influential theologians while he was still technically a catechumen, or by some people's theology, "unsaved."
2. Ambrose - baptized after becoming bishop of Milan
Ambrose is perhaps the most astonishing example.
He was raised in a Christian family but had not yet been baptized when, in 374, the people of Milan suddenly chose him to become their bishop.
Theodoret reports that when the people demanded Ambrose as bishop:
“up to this time he was still unbaptized.”
He was then baptized and subsequently ordained/consecrated bishop.
And, of course, this is the same Ambrose who later defended the salvation of the unbaptized Valentinian.
3. Basil the Great
Basil's delay wasn't because he rejected Christianity. Quite the opposite: he was raised within an intensely Christian household.
Interestingly, Basil later became strongly opposed to delaying baptism. He actually rebuked people who kept postponing it.
The practice of delayed baptism existed even among deeply committed Christian families, but later Christian leaders increasingly criticized the practice.
4. Gregory Nazianzen - baptized around age 30
Gregory is another especially interesting case.
Gregory's own writings are particularly revealing because he later became an extremely strong advocate for timely baptism.
In Oration 40, he warns people not to use Christ's baptism at age thirty as an excuse for delaying their own baptism. He says, in effect, that Christ had a unique reason for waiting, whereas ordinary Christians face real danger in dying without baptism.
This is fascinating historically: Gregory himself had delayed baptism, yet later strongly opposed the practice.
5. John Chrysostom
Chrysostom was also raised in a Christian environment. His widowed mother, Anthusa, was a devoted Christian.
The same Chrysostom who himself had been baptized relatively late later described martyrdom as a form of baptism.
6. Constantine the Great - baptized on his deathbed
He was not baptized until the final illness of his life, in 337.
Eusebius gives us an unusually detailed account. When Constantine became convinced that his death was approaching, he went to the church, confessed and prayed, and then summoned bishops to baptize him.
Constantine himself said:
“The hour has come in which I too may have the blessing of that seal which confers immortality.”
He had apparently hoped to be baptized in the Jordan, but instead was baptized at Nicomedia shortly before his death. This delay was deliberate on his part.
The practice was connected in part with the widespread fourth-century concern that baptism remitted sins and that serious sins committed after baptism created a grave spiritual problem. Contemporary and later historians specifically identify Constantine as the classic example of this practice.
7. Novatian - baptized during a serious illness
Novatian, a prominent third-century Roman theologian and later the leader of the Novatianist schism, was baptized while seriously ill and thought to be near death.
According to Cornelius of Rome, Novatian had been a catechumen when he became gravely ill:
“he was, therefore, given baptism by affusion as he lay on his bed.”
He survived, but apparently did not subsequently receive the other rites that normally accompanied baptism.
This is an early example of clinical baptism—baptism administered to someone on a sickbed because death seemed imminent.
Summary
These examples make the sweeping claim that the fathers simply taught “water baptism saves” far less adequate as a description of what they actually practiced. Their behavior suggests that the relationship between faith, baptism, forgiveness, and final absolution was considerably more complicated than that formula implies.
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