Episode 8: Year A–Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word, we look at the Gospel and second reading for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A. Of the three apologetical details that we’re going to look at, two of them—the images of “water and spirit” and the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”—come from the Gospel, which is John 1:29-34. The third detail—Paul’s use of “saints”—comes from the second reading, which is 1 Corinthians 1:1-3.
The Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011523.cfm
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The Sunday Catholic Word
Episode 8
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year A
Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to be looking at the Gospel and second reading for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A. Of the three apologetical details that we’re going to look at (details that are relevant for doing apologetics), two of them come from the Gospel, which is John 1:29-34. The third detail comes from the second reading, which is 1 Corinthians 1:1-3.
Let’s start with the Gospel. Again, this is John 1:29-34.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30 He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” 32 John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. 33 I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’ 34 x Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
The first detail from the Gospel that’s relevant for doing apologetics is the combination of the images of “water” and “spirit” in connection with Jesus’ baptism. Although this detail doesn’t give any direct evidence for the understanding that baptism saves us, and that Our Lord wills for us to be baptized in order to be saved, it does establish an interpretative context for Jesus’ born again discourse in John 3:3-5. Recall, in John 3:3-5 Jesus tells Nicodemus that “unless a man is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,” to which Nicodemus asks, “must a man enter his mother’s womb a second time?” Jesus responds, “unless a man is born again of water and spirit.”
Christians who believe that baptism is an instrument of salvation argue that Jesus’ phrase “water and spirit” refers to baptism. But some Christians don’t accept this interpretation. This being the case, it’s necessary that we who believe this refers to baptism provide evidence for our interpretation. Here’s where the Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday comes into play.
Note how both the images of “water” and “spirit” are present here in the Gospel passage, and both are associated with baptism. It speaks of John baptizing with water and Jesus as one who will baptize with the Spirit. Also, the passage records John the Baptist’s reference to Jesus’ baptism, an event where both water and spirit are present together. John the Baptist tells his hearers, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven and remain on him.”
Given that both “water” and “spirit” are present in this passage in connection with baptism, it establishes a baptismal context in which we can interpret the images of “water” and “spirit” in John 3:3-5. With this evidence, we can add John 3:23 and John 4:1-2. In John 3:23, the Gospel writer records how John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon near Salim. In John 4:1-2, we’re told that the apostles went about baptizing.
If the instruction to be born again of water and spirit is surrounded both before (the Gospel passage for this upcoming Sunday Mass) and after by the theme of baptism, then it’s reasonable to conclude that baptism is what Jesus has in mind when he speaks of the necessity to be born of water and spirit for entrance into heaven.
Again, the reference to the images of “water” and “spirit” within the context of Jesus’ baptism present in this week’s Gospel doesn’t provide direct evidence for our understanding of baptism, but it does contribute to the overall argument that many Christians construct in favor of the view that baptism is necessary for salvation.
The second detail from the Gospel that has some relevance for doing apologetics is John’s reference to Jesus as the one who will “baptize with the Holy Spirit.” This is a phrase that we find on the lips of Jesus himself in Acts 1:5, where He tells the disciples to remain in Jerusalem and to wait for the Father’s promise, which He identifies as “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
Now, many Charismatic Christians—both Protestant and Catholic—think that Jesus is referring here to a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit that someone has, which is often, so they argue, accompanied by an outward manifestation of certain spiritual gifts, like speaking in tongues.
But for Catholics, the language of “being baptized in the Holy Spirit” need not be reduced to a subjective experience that we may have of Him or the ability to speak in strange tongues. It arguably refers to a sacrament: namely, the Sacrament of Confirmation.
In Acts 1:4-5, Jesus instructs the apostles not to leave Jerusalem until they receive the promise of the Father to be “baptized with the Holy Spirit,” which, according to Peter in Acts 11:15-16, is a reference to the descent of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
Now, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in paragraph 1288 that the Sacrament of Confirmation “in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church.” This is confirmed in Acts 8 when Peter and John lay hands on the newly baptized Christians in Samaria and give them a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit similar to that of the Christians in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost.
If Pentecost was the event where the early Christians received their “baptism” of the Holy Spirit, and the laying on of hands in Confirmation perpetuates the graces of Pentecost, then it follows that to be confirmed is to be “baptized in the Holy Spirit” insofar as by means of the sacrament we receive the same outpouring of the Spirit that allows us courageously to spread and defend the faith in word and deed.
And just because some confirmed Christians might not have the gift of tongues, doesn’t mean they haven’t been “baptized in the Holy Spirit,” since, according to Paul in 1 Cor. 12:30, not all members of Christ’s Body have this gift.
So, to the question, “Have you been baptized in the Holy Ghost?” Christians who’ve been validly confirmed can say with some charismatic flare, “Amen, brotha!”
The final detail that we’re going to look at in this episode is Paul’s reference to the Corinthians as “holy,” or “saints,” which is found in the second reading for this upcoming Sunday Mass: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3. Paul writes, “[T]o you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” Some translations translate the Greek word for “holy,” hagios, as saints. Calling Christians “saints” or holy ones is a common practice for Paul in his letters.
For some Christians,[1] this is problematic for the common custom among many Christians of reserving the term saints for souls in heaven. If the Bible says that we’re all saints, so the argument goes, Christians shouldn’t reserve the title for a select few, like Catholics, Orthodox, and others do.
So how should we respond?
First, the word “saint” comes from the Latin word sanctus, which means “holy one.” The Greek equivalent hagios (which means “sanctified,” “set apart,” or “holy”) is used in a variety of ways in the Bible—both the Greek version of the Old Testament (known as the Septuagint) and the New Testament.[2] For example:
- Christians on earth are “saints” in 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:2; Phil.1:1; Rev. 5:8).
- The Israelites are “holy” in Lev. 20:26 and, therefore, are called “saints” in Ps. 34:9; Dan. 7:18, 8:24.
- Angels are called “holy ones” in Ps. 89:6; Dan. 4:13, 17, 23, 8:13.
- A person of notable holiness is called “holy” or “saint” in Isa. 4:3-4; Matt. 27:52-53.
- Jesus is the “Holy One” of God in Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; John 6:67-69.
- God is the “Holy One of Israel” in Ps. 71:22, 78:41, 89:18; Isa. 1:4; Jer. 50:29.
The Catholic Church uses the term saint in a few different ways, all of which have to do with those united to Christ. The most familiar use is with regard to those Christians who, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 2683, “have preceded us into the kingdom [of heaven]” and have their virtues publicly recognized and proclaimed when they are canonized “as saints”.
But the Church also extends application of the term saint to every soul united to Christ in baptism, which includes Christians on earth, souls in purgatory, and those souls in heaven who haven’t been canonized. The Catechism explains in paragraph 1475:
In the communion of saints, a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.
The Catechism elsewhere states in paragraph 948:
After confessing “the holy Catholic Church,” the Apostles’ Creed adds “the communion of saints.” In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: “What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?” The communion of saints is the Church. . . . The term “communion of saints” therefore has two closely linked meanings: communion in holy things (sancta)” and “among holy persons (sancti).
Since saint means “holy one,” and since all baptized Christians are “holy persons” (sancti in Latin), set apart unto the Lord, it follows that all baptized Christians—whether on this side of the veil or the other—are “saints.”
Now, it’s true that Catholics don’t go around calling each other Saint so and so. The Church typically uses the term in a narrower and more formal way for those individual Christians who are perfected in the heavenly kingdom. Why is that?
Since the blessed in heaven are perfected in righteousness, they are “saints” in the fullest sense of the term. They are completely holy, perfected by God and separated unto him. Unlike us, their saintliness is not mixed with sin and disordered inclinations. Our saintly status is a share in part of the saintly status of those in heaven. This seems to be how St. Paul describes it in Colossians 1:12: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
The Greek word for share in this verse is meris, which literally means “part or portion.” It can mean to take part in the same amount, but it can also mean to take part in partially, as opposed to possessing in full. For example, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:13–14, “I hope you will understand fully, as you have understood in part [Gk. merous], that you can be proud of us as we can be of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.”
Just as here on earth, we know only in part but will know in full at the end of time, so too we share in part in the inheritance of the saints who dwell in heaven. Because of this difference and the unique status that the “saints in light” have, it’s fitting that Catholics honor them with the title saint.
Well, that does it for this episode of The Sunday Catholic Word.
Thank you for subscribing to the podcast. Please be sure to tell your friends about it and invite them to subscribe as well. I hope that you have a great 2nd Sunday of ordinary time.
[1] See W. Robert Godfrey, “What Do We Mean By Sola Scriptura,” in Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible, ed. Don Kistler (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1995), 13.
[2] Research for these bible passages is taken from Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense, 130.