Lesson 17 – Do You Need to Be Baptized to Be Saved?

In his first letter, St. Peter says that in the days of Noah, the eight persons in the ark “were saved through water.” “Baptism,” he continues, “which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 3:20-21 RSVCE)

Commenting on the Apostles’ Creed’s line about the holy Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “there is but one Church in which human beings are saved, just as outside of Noah’s ark no one could be saved.”

So what about those who are not baptized? Can one be saved without baptism?

Course Reading

Summa Theologiae III, q. 68, a. 1 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologiae III, q. 68, a. 2 | St. Thomas Aquinas

Excerpt from the Summa Theologiae III, q. 68, a. 1:

Men are bound to that without which they cannot obtain salvation. Now it is manifest that no one can obtain salvation but through Christ; wherefore the Apostle says (Rm. 5:18): "As by the offense of one unto all men unto condemnation; so also by the justice of one, unto all men unto justification of life." But for this end is Baptism conferred on a man, that being regenerated thereby, he may be incorporated in Christ, by becoming His member: wherefore it is written (Gal. 3:27): "As many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ." Consequently it is manifest that all are bound to be baptized: and that without Baptism there is no salvation for men.

Course Listening

The Heart of Salvation: Christ and the Christian in the Macarian Writings | Prof. Marcus Plested

Salvation by Faith or Works | Prof. Michael Root