by Paul G. Matheson
God commanded all to be baptized, and the Council of Trent taught that “God does not command impossibilities.” The doctrine of baptism of desire entails the possibility that someone truly willing to fulfill the command to be baptized could die before they were able to actually receive the sacrament. If such circumstances were possible, wouldn’t this mean God commanded an impossibility? Does the teaching that “God does not command impossibilities” mean no one sincerely desiring to be baptized could die without being able to actually receive the sacrament, and that baptism of desire is, therefore, a false doctrine?
As we’ll see, there is no contradiction between the doctrine of baptism of desire and the teaching, “God does not command impossibilities”. To begin, here is how Bro. Peter Dimond makes the argument that there is a contradiction:
“OBJECTION- Baptism of desire supporters assert that for some people the command to be baptized is simply impossible to fulfill.
“ANSWER- God does not command impossibilities (de fide). Thus, it is not impossible for any man to get baptized.”
Dimond; emphasis in original.
Dimond is referring to this passage in the Council of Trent:
“But no one, how much soever justified, ought to think himself exempt from the observance of the commandments; no one ought to make use of that rash saying, one prohibited by the Fathers under an anathema,-that the observance of the commandments of God is impossible for one that is justified. For God commands not impossibilities, but, by commanding, both admonishes thee to do what thou are able, and to pray for what thou art not able (to do), and aids thee that thou mayest be able; whose commandments are not heavy; whose yoke is sweet and whose burthen light. For, whoso are the sons of God, love Christ; but they who love him, keep his commandments, as Himself testifies; which, assuredly, with the divine help, they can do.”
Sess. 6, Ch.11; bold emphasis added.
In light of this, what should we make of circumstances in which it seems to have been impossible for someone to accomplish a deed commanded by divine precept? Certainly, such instances are not uncommon. For instance, someone at the point of death may remember a debt they are bound to pay to another, and may truly wish they could repay the debt, yet lack the means to pay it before dying. Since God does not command impossibilities, and God commands us to repay our debts (Rom. 13:7-8, Ps. 36:21, Ex. 22:14, etc.), would that mean anyone who dies with unpaid debts actually had the means and opportunity to repay them before they died, and that they really just didn’t want to repay them? With regard to sacraments, Our Lord commands us to receive Holy Communion, staking our salvation on it in words that resemble the command to be baptized. He says, “except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you” (John 6:54). Yet, baptized children and converts die before the date set for them to receive their first Holy Communion, despite seeming full of innocence and eagerness to obey the law. Consider, also, the sacrament of penance, and that it’s a divine precept to confess all mortal sins committed after baptism, as explained in Theory and Practice of the Confessional (1905):
“I. It is of divine precept to confess all mortal sins committed after Baptism. 1. This follows from the words by which Christ instituted the Sacrament; by them He gave the Sacrament a judicial character. So teaches the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV. cp.5, De Confessione). From the institution of the Sacrament of Penance “the universal Church has always recognized that the complete confession of sins was also instituted by Our Lord, and is necessary jure divino for all who have sinned after Baptism.”
p. 154; bold emphasis added.
Yet the Council acknowledges that to actually confess all mortal sins committed may sometimes be morally or physically impossible.
“II. The material integrity, however, is not always necessary for the validity of confession and for obtaining its benefits. At times it is morally and even physically impossible, either through inculpable forgetfulness or for other reasons. Now God does not command impossibilities. Hence the Council of Trent teaches: ‘The remaining sins which escape the diligent inquiry of the penitent are considered as included in the same accusation,’ and so are forgiven, as though they had been confessed. Hence it is abundantly clear that the material integrity of the confession is not always necessary.”
p. 156.
Did the Council of Trent err, and contradict itself, in teaching that fulfilling the divine precept to confess all mortal sins after baptism can sometimes be impossible because the penitent forgets them? Are all those who die forgetting unconfessed mortal sins, or before being able to reach a priest to confess them to, truly just not ardent and sincere in wanting to fulfill God’s command? Does the statement, “God does not command impossibilities,” mean circumstances will never really prevent any sincerely obedient person from fulfilling them in deed? Does it mean anyone prevented from accomplishing the deed before dying was really insincere in their will and desire to fulfill the precept, and guilty of not keeping the commandment?
No, the statement, “God does not command impossibilities,” means it’s not impossible to keep God’s commandments, but it does not mean everyone will always have the possibility to accomplish the deed. As we will see, God’s commandments are kept and fulfilled through obedience, even when the deed isn’t accomplished.
Context
The teaching that “God does not command impossibilities” is taught in the Council of Trent’s session on justification, within the chapter on the “Necessity and possibility of keeping the commandments.” It is not about the actual accomplishment of deeds, but about the ability of the justified to act righteously with divine assistance, and keep God’s commandments, in response to those who think they are, “exempt from the observance of the commandments,” because, they say, “the observance of the commandments of God is impossible for one that is justified” (Trent, Sess. 6, Ch.11). The Council teaches that “God does not command impossibilities,” since those who love Christ can keep God’s commandments with divine help.
“For whoso are the sons of God, love Christ; but they who love him, keep his commandments, as Himself testifies; which assuredly, with the divine help, they can do.”
Sess. 6, Ch.11.
The Council’s teaching is summarized in a canon on justification, reiterating that it’s false to say the commandments of God are “impossible to keep”:
“CANON XVIII.-If any one saith, that the commandments of God are, even for one that is justified and constituted in grace, impossible to keep; let him be anathema.”
Sess. 6.
The Council’s purpose in formulating this canon is to combat protestant errors that asserted that it is truly impossible for men to keep the commandments, and thereby avoid falling into sin. The Council’s response, “God does not command impossibilities”, is not about accomplishing deeds, but means it’s not impossible to observe and keep God’s commandments, because those who love Christ will be aided by divine assistance. St. Alphonsus Liguori explains this, and provides some more background on the Council’s teaching.
“It is certain, in contradiction to the blasphemies of Luther and Calvin, that God does not impose a law that is impossible to be observed. On the other hand, it is certain, that without the assistance of grace the observance of the law is impossible; as Innocent I declared against the Pelagians when he said, ‘It is certain, that as we overcome by the aid of God, so without His aid we must be overcome’. Pope Celestine declared the same thing. Therefore, if God gives to all men a possible law, it follows that He also gives to all men the grace necessary to observe it, whether immediately, or mediately, by means of prayer, as God gives Grace for Salvation.
“The Council of Trent has most clearly defined: ‘God does not command impossibilities; but by commanding He admonishes you both to do what you can, and to ask for that which is beyond your power, and by His help enables you to do it’ – Session 6, Cap. 11. Otherwise, if God refused us both the proximate and remote grace to enable us to fulfill the law, either the law would have been given in vain, or sin would be necessary, and if necessary would be no longer sin, as we shall shortly prove at some length.”
Prayer, The great means of obtaining salvation and all the graces from God, pp. 133-134.
In short, “God does not command impossibilities,” refers to keeping his commandments, which is not impossible, for God will provide the grace to enable us to keep them, and thereby fulfill the law.
Precepts Fulfilled in Two Ways
How is it possible to keep and fulfill a precept of God without actually accomplishing the deed it commands? It is because “a precept is fulfilled in two ways; perfectly, and imperfectly,” as the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas explains.
“A precept is fulfilled perfectly, when the end intended by the author of the precept is reached; yet it is fulfilled, imperfectly however, when although the end intended by its author is not reached, nevertheless the order to that end is not departed from. Thus if the commander of an army order his soldiers to fight, his command will be perfectly obeyed by those who fight and conquer the foe, which is the commander’s intention; yet it is fulfilled, albeit imperfectly, by those who fight without gaining the victory, provided they do nothing contrary to military discipline.”
ST, II-II, Q.44, A.6.
As St. Thomas explained, when circumstances prevent the perfect fulfillment from being reached, God’s commandment is fulfilled by obeying the order to its end. And since God does not command impossibilities, grace enables all men to obey his commands. It is, therefore, never impossible to keep and fulfill the command by obeying the order to its end, even when circumstances prevent their actual, perfect fulfillment through accomplishing the deed.
So it is with the command to repay a debt, receive Holy Communion, confess all mortal sins to a priest, be baptized, and so on and so forth. God does not command impossibilities. He gives the grace necessary to keep and fulfill these commands through obedience, even if circumstances prevent actually repaying a debt, actually receiving Holy Communion, actually confessing to a priest in the sacrament of confession, actually receiving the sacrament of baptism, or actually accomplishing the deed for any of God’s commands. If circumstances outside someone’s control prevent a command from being perfectly fulfilled in deed, that person keeps and fulfills the command in their will when they resolve to obey the precept.
God Accepts the Will for the Deed
If the deed is not accomplished, how can the reward be received? As Father and Doctor of the Church, St. Bernard of Clairvaux explains, the reward is given because God accepts the will for the deed:
“What is plainer than that the will is taken for the deed, when necessity excludes the deed? Unless perhaps it is thought that the will is found more efficacious in evil than in good with God, who is love; and that the merciful and compassionate Lord is more ready to punish than to reward. As he who perhaps at the point of death remembers that he is bound by a debt to another, if he lacks the wherewithal to pay it off, is believed nevertheless to obtain pardon solely by repentance and contrition of heart, so that he is not condemned for it. Even so will faith and turning the mind to God solely, without the shedding of blood, and without the pouring of water, without a doubt work salvation for whosoever has the will but, prevented by death, is unable to be baptized.”
Letter No.77.
As the commander awards their soldiers who courageously obey orders, though they fail to accomplish the goal in battle; or as a loving parent rewards an obedient child, though obeying with all their efforts they fail to accomplish a command to the letter, so too does God reward the will, though the deed is not accomplished. Moreover, man is only able to punish and reward what is seen, whereas God punishes and rewards the unseen will to carry out deeds. As St. Thomas explains, man sees and judges externals, but God sees and judges the heart:
“As it is written (I Kings xvi. 7), ‘man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.’ Now a man who desires to be ‘born again of water and the Holy Ghost’ by Baptism, is regenerated in heart though not in body; thus the Apostle says (Rom. ii. 29) that ‘the circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God.’”
ST, III, Q.68, a.2, ad.1.
Now, for things essential to salvation, such as the sacraments of baptism and penance, when God takes the will for the deed, God supplies the defect, as Fr. Michael Müller succinctly explains in his 1888 book, The Catholic Dogma: “Extra Ecclesiam Nullus omnino Salvatur”.
“St. Thomas teaches with regard to these, in case they have faith working by charity, that all they lack is the reception of the visible sacrament in reality; but, if they are prevented by death from receiving it in reality before the Church is ready to administer it, that God supplies the defect, accepts the will for the deed, and reputes them to be baptized.”
Ch.V, Part II, § 6.
Knowing this, we can see that “God does not command impossibilities” is consistent with the doctrine of baptism of desire, not an argument against it. In fact, it is actually an argument for baptism of desire, as the Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventure teaches:
“First, God obliges no one to do the impossible; and second, He does not deny Himself to anyone who seeks Him. So if someone who cannot be baptized turns to God, God turns to them. But this can not happen except through the communion with the Holy Spirit, and this is to be baptized with the baptism of the wind.
In Sent. IV, d.4,p.2, a.I, q.I
“… However, the baptism of the river, or of water, is necessary because God instituted it, and because He instituted it under command, and since what is commanded is necessary for salvation, therefore such a baptism is necessary for salvation. But since God obliges no one to do the impossible by His command, as Jerome says, and reiterates, they who cannot do it, if they will to do it, it is considered as done, as Gregory the Great says on the Psalm: “Indeed, you work iniquities in your heart,” etc. What you cannot do, and will to do, God considers it as done. Therefore, baptism of water is not so necessary that if the will is present, and the possibility is absent, no one will be saved without it. Therefore, it is granted that the baptism of the wind suffices without the baptism of water, provided that the person has the will and is hindered from receiving it before death due to necessity, as the last reasons show.”
Twofold Efficient Cause: Principal & Instrumental
Now, a sacrament is an instrumental cause of grace, and, for justification in particular, the “instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism…” (Trent, Sess. 6, Ch. 7). So, while we know that God takes the will for the deed, and supplies defects, we may still wonder how an effect (e.g., justification) can possibly occur without its instrumental cause (e.g., sacraments of baptism or penance). Doesn’t it defy logic to say an effect can occur without a cause? The simple answer is that while the effect occurs without the instrumental cause, it does not occur without any cause. It occurs by the power of the principal cause. As St. Thomas explains, the principal cause and the instrumental cause are two parts of the efficient cause, and the principal is the source from which the instrumental derives its power.
“An efficient cause is twofold, principal and instrumental. The principal cause works by the power of its form, to which form the effect is likened; just as fire by its own heat makes something hot. In this way none but God can cause grace: since grace is nothing else than a participated likeness of the Divine Nature… But the instrumental cause works not by the power of its form, but only by the motion whereby it is moved by the principal agent.”
ST, III, Q.62, a.1.
A sacrament, as an instrumental cause of grace, derives its power from from the principal cause of grace, God Himself:
“The principal efficient cause of grace is God Himself, in comparison with Whom Christ’s humanity is as a united instrument, whereas the sacrament is as a separate instrument. Consequently, the saving power must needs be derived by the sacraments from Christ’s Godhead through His humanity.”
ST, III, Q.62, a.5.
The principal cause (God) does not depend on the instrumental cause (sacrament).
“Now although the effect depends on the first cause, the cause far surpasses the effect, nor does it depend on it. Consequently, a man may, without Baptism of Water, receive the sacramental effect from Christ’s Passion, in so far as he is conformed to Christ by suffering for Him…In like manner a man receives the effect of Baptism by the power of the Holy Ghost, not only without Baptism of Water, but also without Baptism of Blood: forasmuch as his heart is moved by the Holy Ghost to believe in and love God and to repent of his sins: wherefore this is also called Baptism of Repentance.”
ST, III, Q.66, a.11.
God, the principal cause of grace in the sacraments, has not tied his power to the sacraments, and can sanctify man inwardly:
‘And such a man can obtain salvation without being actually baptized, on account of his desire for Baptism, which desire is the outcome of “faith that worketh by charity,” whereby God, Whose power is not tied to visible sacraments, sanctifies man inwardly.”
ST, III, Q.68, a.2.
Understanding that God hasn’t bound his grace to any sacrament, and gives grace without the sacrament, is important to understanding that “God does not command impossibilities”. It is, likewise, crucial to properly interpreting and understanding scripture, and forms part of the explanation of the Catholic interpretation of John 3:5 as given in the Church’s first official English translation of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible:
“5. Born again of water. As no man can enter into this world nor have his life and being in the same, except he be born of his carnal parents: no more can a man enter into the life and state of grace which is in Christ, or attain to life everlasting, unless he be born and baptized of water and the Holy Ghost. Whereby we see first, this Sacrament to be called our regeneration or second birth, in respect of our natural and carnal which was before. Secondly, that this Sacrament consisteth of an external element of water, and internal virtue of the Holy Spirit: wherein it excelleth John’s Baptism, which had the external element, but not the spiritual grace. Thirdly, that no man can enter into the kingdom of God, nor into fellowship of holy Church, without it. Whereby the Pelagians and Calvinists be condemned, that promise life everlasting to young children that die without Baptism, and all other that think only faith to serve, or the external element of water superfluous or not necessary: our Saviour’s words being plain and general. Though in this case, God which hath not bound his grace, in respect of his own freedom, to any Sacrament, may and doth accept them as baptized, which either are martyred before they could be baptized, or else depart this life with vow and desire to have the Sacrament, but by some remediless necessity could not obtain it. Lastly, it is proved that this Sacrament giveth grace ex opere operato, that is, of the work itself (which all Protestants deny) because it so breedeth our spiritual life in God as our carnal birth giveth the life of the world.”
John 3:5 annotation; bold emphasis added.
Conclusion
In summary, there is no contradiction between the doctrine of baptism of desire and the Council of Trent’s teaching, “God does not command impossibilities”. The statement, “God does not command impossibilities,” is not about the possibility of actually accomplishing deeds. It means it’s not impossible to keep His precepts, since God will provide the grace to keep and fulfill them. A precept is fulfilled in two ways; perfectly, when the deed is actually accomplished; and imperfectly, when the deed is not accomplished, though the command is obeyed to that end. Man sees external things, but God sees the heart, accepts the will for the deed, supplies the defect, and rewards when his commandments are fulfilled through obedience, though the deed is prevented from being accomplished. This can occur with God’s commandments to receive the sacraments, such as baptism, because sacraments are the instrumental causes of grace that derive their power from God, the principal cause of grace, Whose power is not dependent on, tied to, or bound by the instrumental causes, the visible sacraments, and Who sanctifies man inwardly. If the command to be baptized cannot be fulfilled in deed, it is not impossible to fulfill through obedience to it, and desire to receive the sacrament. That is to say, God’s commands to receive the sacraments are not impossible to fulfill, at least in desire. Thus does the Council of Trent teach that men cannot obtain the grace of justification “without them, or without the desire thereof” (Sess. 7, Can. 4).
References
Aquinas, Thomas, St. (1224-1274). Summa Theologiae. (trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 1920). http://www.newadvent.org/summa/index.html
Bernard of Clairvaux, St. (1090-1153) “On Baptism.” Letter No.77, Letter to Hugh of St. Victor. Latin transcription from: Mabillon, Joannis. Sancti Bernardi, Opera Omnia, Vol. I, Part I. 4th ed. Tractatus De Baptismo, Cap II, #8. Apud Gaume Fratres, Bibliopolas: Parisiis 1839. https://archive.org/details/p1operaomniasanc01bern Trans. by Paul Matheson.
Bonaventure, St. (1221-1274). “In Quartum Librum Sententiarum.” (1252). Divi Bonaventurae, S.R.E. Episcopi Card. Albanensis. Doctoris Seraphici, Ord. Minorum. In Quartum Librum Sententiarum, Elaborata Dilucidatio. Collectis Universis Prioribus Editionibus. Venice, 1580. https://books.google.com/books?id=24loha2Ln0kC. Trans. by Paul Matheson.
Dimond, Bro. Peter. “The Argument That Baptism Is Impossible For Some To Receive.” 2006.
https://vaticancatholic.com/baptism-not-impossible-to-receive/
Liguori, Alphonsus, St. (1696-1787). “Prayer, The great means of obtaining salvation and all the graces from God.” The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, The Ascetical works, Vol.III. Redemptorist Fathers, 1927. https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteAsceticalWorksOfSt.Alphonsusvolume3
Müller, Rev. Michael, C.SS.R. The Catholic Dogma: ‘Extra Ecclesiam Nullus omnino Salvatur’. New York, NY: Benzinger Brothers, 1888. http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/ecumenism/muller.htm
Rheims, English College of. The New Testament of Iesus Christ. 4th ed. with pictures. Approbations: Abp. Petrus Remigius, Hubertus Morus, Ioannes Le Besgue, Gulielmus Balbus. John Cousturier, 1582, 1633. https://archive.org/details/newtestamentofie00engl
Schieler, Prof. Caspar, D.D. Theory and Practice of the Confessional. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Benzinger Brothers, 1905. https://archive.org/details/theorypracticeof00schirich
Trent, The Council of. (1545-1563). Trans. by Rev. J. Waterworth. The Canon and Decrees of the Sacred and Ecumenical Council of Trent. London: Burns and Oates, Ld., 1848. https://archive.org/details/cu31924029369760
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