©2021 Victor R. Claveau, MJ
A brand is a mark of ownership. Branding is usually done on the thick hide of an animal, by burning with a hot iron. If we want to belong to Jesus, we too must be branded. Obviously, we do not brand people on their flesh, but God does brand them on their souls. Whenever a person receives the sacrament of Baptism, he receives upon his soul, as it were, the brand of God. He receives a mark that cannot ever be removed, under any circumstances. The brand or seal upon the soul sets that soul aside as a special member of God’s family. This seal is indelible regardless if one remains faithful or not. A child may be disloyal to his father, but he always remains his child.
One sect will prove from the Bible that baptism is unnecessary for children but is necessary for adults. Others will prove from the Bible that baptism is only a ceremony, an initiation such as required when one joins a fraternal group. Others believe that it is necessary to baptize the dead. Some will prove from the Bible that to be really baptized, one must be totally immersed in water, others pour or sprinkle. Still others prove from the Bible that the whole thing is unnecessary and ought to be abandoned.
The Catholic Church teaches that baptism is necessary for salvation. John 3:5: ‘Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ Every Biblical commentator prior to the sixteenth century Protestant Revolt understood this passage as referring to baptism, not simply the acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Baptism is not an act of willful accomplishment that has us ‘accept Christ’ and boast that one is ‘born again.’ Baptism is the incorporation into the Body of Christ; it is a sacrament. Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and the door, which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as a son or daughter of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.
“Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift. . .. We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s Lordship” (Gregory of Nazianzus, a bishop in the early church, written about 381 AD).
For Saint Paul baptism is the Christian’s experience of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Himself. (Rom. 6:3). Baptism is not only the beginning of a new life in Christ, but also the death of the old person, and a life of sin. By baptism the Christian is washed, sanctified and made righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11). According to Titus 3:5, the Christian is reborn or regenerated. The Christian is redeemed through the blood of Jesus and the water of baptism (1 John 5:6).
“The Catholic Church teaches that the principal effects of the Sacraments of Baptism are two. The first is sanctifying.
“The Apostle Paul most clearly taught when he said: ‘Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word’(Eph 5:25-26).
Here Saint Paul clearly states that baptism saves:
“He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit…” (Titus 3:5).
The second effect is the character, which it impresses on the soul. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians: “but it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”(2 Cor. 1:21-22).
Paul makes it quite clear by the word sealed, thata character or mark is impressed on the soul. This seal or mark is permanent. It is although Christ is placing His brand on us, similar to when cattle are branded to mark ownership.
In baptism a person receives the grace necessary to live as a child of God and a brother or sister of Jesus. The sacraments are the way that God reaches down to us to strengthen us. They are His way of saying, “Take my hand and we will walk together.”
Do you bear the brand of God?