![]() ![]() The theological problem is real: given the teaching of the New Testament on the necessity of Holy Baptism for salvation, is it possible, how is it possible, for children to be saved who die without Baptism? The easy answer, of course, is simply to deny the problem-all children who die before they reach the age of reason are saved-yet the Church has refused to give the easy answer, precisely because the easy answer does not appear to be authorized by Scripture. The Church knows more than she can speak, and this speaking may takfe many lifetimes, many generations, before she finds the needed language and achieves the needed clarity to say what she must say. Some folks are pointing to this development as a counter-example to the claim of the Catholic Church to be the authoritative and reliable steward of revelation but I do not see it this way. We are watching the development of Catholic doctrine in action. I am fascinated by the current discussion on limbo. If this necessity is no longer felt as keenly, and asserted as emphatically, as it once was, does this not indicate a development of doctrine? The Eastern Church has also long taught the necessity of baptism for salvation. Orthodox readers should not be too quick to dismiss the teaching. ![]() It’s a curious doctrine, yet its curiosity evidences the commitment of the Latin Church to the dominical mandate of Holy Baptism (Mark 16:15-16). Fourteen years ago (or was it an eternity ago?), during my short stint in the Roman Catholic Church, I did a goodly amount of reading on the doctrine of limbo and wrote five articles on the subject for my old blog Pontifications. ![]()
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