Chapter 3: Incorporation into the Body of Christ: Ecclesial Dimensions 3.1 Structure of the Argument (1) As the first and second chapters have shown, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran churches believe that the sacrament of baptism was instituted by Christ. They celebrate baptism according to Christ’s intention when they administer it with water in the name of the Triune God with the understanding that through baptism the baptized participate in Christ and are in communion with all other baptized. This allows for the mutual recognition of their baptisms as incorporation into the body of Christ. However, the ecclesial consequences of this insight have yet to be fully identified. (2) In the sixteenth century, despite acknowledging each other’s baptism, Catholics and Lutherans refused to acknowledge each other as either churches or parts of the church. Indeed, in the Smalcald Articles Luther refused to “concede to them [the Roman church] that they are the church.”1 Catholics in turn rejected the Lutheran claim to be the true church, arguing that they simply did not have the marks of the one true church. Thus, Cajetan accused Luther of building “a new Church” and Robert Bellarmine concluded that Lutheran churches were “false” churches.2 This mutual refusal has not been totally overcome despite the mutual recognition of baptism. This present chapter argues that as a result of the mutual recognition of baptism and the identification of a shared ecclesial reality through the discernment of the fruit of the Spirit, not only individuals, but also faith communities, are to be seen as members of the body of Christ. This provides the foundation for a mutual recognition of churches. (3) If Lutherans and Catholics have been incorporated into the one body of Christ by baptism, they have become brothers and sisters to one another in the body of Christ. But they live their lives as baptized people in either the Lutheran churches or in the Catholic Church. These communities are not in full communion with one another. Since by baptism Lutherans and Catholics are members of the body of Christ, the communities in which they live are also members of the body of Christ. The ecclesial implications of the mutual recognition of baptism will be developed in five steps: 3.1 Since baptism is an incorporation into the body of Christ, it is not just the beginning of a new individual relation with God but in itself is a communal event that leads to a new life in communion with others. This fact has ecclesiological consequences that need to be explored. 3.2 Since this communal dimension of baptism is explained in the New Testament as incorporation into the body of Christ, the understanding of “body of Christ” in the New Testament writings will be examined. 3.3 The New Testament witness of the body of Christ is held in common. However, the history of the concept and its ecclesial implications has been problematic. The Second Vatican Council clarified this concept in a way that today is useful in ecumenical dialogue. 3.4 Even though both Catholics and Lutherans perceive baptism as incorporation into the body of Christ, their concepts of church differ. This section describes the shared ecclesial reality of Catholics and Lutherans by focusing on the many common elements of sanctification and truth 1
Smalcald Articles, XII, The Book of Concord, 324.
Tommaso de Vio, Cajetan Responds: A Reader in Reformation Controversy, edited and translated by Jared Wicks, S.J. (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1978), 55. Robert Bellarmine, S.J., Disputationes Roberti Bellarmini Politiani Societatis Jesu, de Controversiis Christianae Fidei, adversus hujus temporis Haereticos (Paris: Triadelphorum, 1613), 2:164. 2
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