Baptism by Blood
“When any die for the confession of Christ without having received the washing of regeneration [baptism], it avails as much for the remission of their sins as if they had been washed in the sacred font of baptism.” St. Augustine in City of God, 300th c..
Jesus states that there is a saving power in martyrdom [baptism of blood] in Matthew 10:32, 39, “Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. He that shall lose his life for me shall find it.” Christ’s words ring with such conviction, that anyone who should proclaim the name of Jesus, even at the expense of their own life, shall have their name exclaimed for them, by Christ, to the Father in heaven. Why is baptism of blood the greatest? Because to lay down your life for another is the greatest love (John 15:13).
What more assurance can we have than the promise of security in the graces of Christ’s salvation to those who lose their life for Christ being eternally with Christ in heaven?
This is baptism by blood, in which a son or daughter of God the Father lay down their life in martyrdom, being baptized in blood in the name of Jesus Christ, and receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 20:22-23 states, “’You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’ ‘We can,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father’.” What was the cup? The cup of martyrdom, in which all the apostles drank, all being martyred save St. John the Beloved. Mark 10:38-39 reiterates Matthew. How do we know this cup is the cup of martyrdom? Because Luke 12:50 discloses this information, “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” Wasn’t Christ already baptized by John the Baptist? Yes, but He had the baptism of blood [martyrdom] yet to be completed. 1 John 5:6-7 enlightens us with knowing, “This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water alone, but by water and blood.” Some will say that blood means He came to life through Incarnation. But wasn’t the opening of His flesh and the spilling and anointing of Christ’s most sacred blood the true baptism that washes us of our sins?
Tertullian in Against the Valentinians 2 speaks of the infants slaughtered by Herod as martyrs. This correlates with the long held teachings of the Church. If we look back to the time in which Herod slew every child of the age two and younger, we see that Herod was seeking the infant child, Jesus Christ, who was to become King. Herod killed all these children because of Christ. To be killed for Christ is martyrdom. These children were received into Christ’s bosom, baptized of blood.
Father of the early Church, St. Cyprian, writes “…the most glorious and greatest baptism of blood”, meaning it is truly the most glorious and greatest baptism, to be baptized by blood.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ only once stood up from His throne, and it was for the first one in the Church to be baptized in blood, St. Stephen.
Your’s,
Drew Castel
