Dist. 3, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 3
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/3/q/bon-sent-IV-d3-p1-a1-q3
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### Question III. *Whether for the complete and entire being of baptism faith in some article is necessary.*

Thirdly it is asked whether for the complete and entire being of baptism faith in some article is necessary. And that it is, seems [so]:

1. Because Ambrose says, and it is found in the text, that «baptism is the Sacrament of faith»: therefore if faith is lacking, there is lacking that which baptism principally and specially regards: therefore it is not a complete Sacrament.

2. Likewise, Augustine says, and it is found in the text: «Whence this so great power of the water, that it should touch the body and wash the heart, except by the working of the word — not because it is spoken, but because it is believed»: therefore if it is necessary that it be spoken, it is also necessary that it be believed.

3. Likewise, to the Romans, chapter six: *Whoever of us have been baptized in Christ Jesus, have been baptized in his death;* the Gloss: «In his death he says that we are baptized, because the death of Christ is the cause of our purification»; but the death of Christ *is* not [now]: therefore if it does something, it must do it through that which in some way is. But faith is that according to which the Passion still abides, because it is believed: therefore for the integrity of baptism faith in the article of the Passion is necessary.

4. Likewise, in the act of baptizing and in the word there is a profession of faith; but a profession of faith, when there is no faith, is false and ineffectual: therefore in order that baptism be a complete and effectual Sacrament, faith is necessary.

**On the contrary:**
1. Baptism is prior to the virtues as the first of the Sacraments, which, by imprinting a character, disposes to faith; but the prior can exist without the posterior: therefore the Sacrament of baptism is entire even with a defect of faith.

2. Likewise, since charity is nobler than faith and more effectual for meriting; if baptism has its efficacy from some virtue, it rather seems that it ought to have it from charity than from faith.

3. Likewise, if faith is of the necessity of baptism in order that it be a perfect and effectual Sacrament; since the Sacraments of the old law also had their efficacy when faith was joined to them: it seems that baptism does not differ from the Sacraments of the old law.

4. Likewise, it seems that faith in the article of the Passion is not necessary, but rather [faith in the article] of the Trinity: because in baptism the word is expressed, in which there is a profession of faith in the Trinity: therefore if it is most of all necessary to believe what faith expresses in that Sacrament; it then seems that not faith in the article of the Passion, but [faith in the article] of the Trinity is of the necessity of baptism.

On account of this, therefore, there is the question how the Sacraments are said to have power from faith. And if the other Sacraments have [it], as baptism also does; why is baptism itself rather called the Sacrament of faith than the other Sacraments?

> **Conclusion.** For baptism faith in some article is necessary, since baptism is received in the faith of the Church.

**I respond:** It must be said that faith is necessary not only to the Sacrament of baptism, but to all the Sacraments, yet especially to the Sacrament of baptism, because «all the Sacraments have their power from faith», as Hugh says. — Now the ground of this is taken *generally* with respect to all the Sacraments, namely [the ground] of *necessity* and of *fittingness.* The ground of *necessity* is, because

in faith is the first ground of *uniting* and the first ground of *elevating* above nature. On account of the first ground, that of *uniting,* it is necessary in the Sacraments, because sacramental grace is related to the power of the Passion as to its merit, but to the power of the Trinity as to its effective principle. But in order that the power of the Passion should operate and dispose more in the Sacraments than elsewhere, it is necessary that it be in some way joined to signs of this kind. And this cannot be without that in which there is the first union; and this is faith, through which the merit of the Head becomes [the merit] of the members. For while we believe that he suffered for us, the merit of Christ becomes the Church's. — Likewise, in order that the divine power should *flow in* specially and wonderfully above nature, the virtue of faith is necessary, in which is the first ground of elevating the power above nature; and this is faith, on account of which also the power of working miracles is most of all attributed to it.

Now the ground of *fittingness* is: because, just as the Sacraments express a certain *veil of the interior grace,* which nevertheless in some way illumines unto knowing; so faith *expresses a veil of the future contemplation,* and yet this veil is rather illuminating than obscuring. And again, just as in the Sacraments there is something *mystical* and something *gratuitous;* so something in faith regards not only the *intellect,* but also the *affection*. — This, therefore, is the general ground why faith is necessary to all the Sacraments.

But it is *specially* appropriated to baptism, because baptism is the *first* among the Sacraments and the *gate* of the Sacraments, just as faith is the gate of the virtues; and again, because in this Sacrament the profession of faith is more explicit than in any other Sacrament, both in the *act* and in the *word,* and in the *act* there is a profession of faith in the *Passion,* namely through immersion, but in the *word* a profession of faith in the *Trinity.* Hence too there is greater efficacy in this Sacrament than in any other.

And from this it is clear of which article faith is necessary, namely [the article] of the *Passion,* from which the merit comes, and of the *Trinity,* which is the effective principle. — Therefore the arguments which show that for baptism faith in some article is necessary are to be conceded. Yet just as baptism is the Sacrament not of a single man, but of the Church; so it has its efficacy from the faith of the Church, and this through the unity of the bride and the dove.

**To the objections:**

*To 1.* To that which is objected, that baptism is prior to the virtues; it must be said that, although it is prior with respect to the recipient, it is nevertheless not prior with respect to the Church, in which the Sacrament is received.

*To 2.* To that which is objected concerning charity, the answer is already clear: because it does not so fittingly agree as faith, for the aforesaid reasons; and yet the faith of the true Church is not without charity.

*To 3.* To that which is objected, that it does not differ from the Sacraments of the old law; it must be said that, on the contrary [it does], because those had their efficacy from the faith of a *particular person,* whence an infant was justified in the faith of its parents; but these have it from the faith of the *Church.* — There is also another difference, because those had their whole efficacy from *faith,* but these have it not only from faith, but also from the divine *covenant,* which ordained the work-itself-done unto the receiving of grace; whereas those justified only *per accidens,* with circumcision alone excepted, which had its power from the *faith of the Church* and from the *covenant of God.* For the Lord made a covenant when he said, in the last [chapter] of Mark: *Whoever shall have believed and been baptized shall be saved;* and likewise Genesis, chapter seventeen: *I will set my covenant* etc.