The Nuptial Meaning of Baptism

From Brant Pitre’s, Jesus the Bridegroom:

“If Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is his bride, then Christian baptism is more than just a sign of repentance, an ordinance, or a ritual of initiation; it is the bridal bath by which Jesus cleanses us from sin so that we can be united to God” (138).

Christ’s “cleansing the Church through “the washing of water” refers to baptism. “Baptism is the Church’s bridal bath that prepares her to be united to her bridegroom” (Peter Williamson).

Also, from an ancient Christian perspective, the bride in the Song of Songs who disrobes, bathes, and is dressed in her bridal garment before being wed to her bridegroom is analogous to the candidate for baptism who is cleansed by the waters of the baptismal font, clothed in new garments, and united to Christ the Bridegroom.

From this point of view, the new garment given in baptism is a bridal garment, symbolizing the fact that the baptized person has now become part of the bride of Christ, and, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a new creation, free from sin” (141).

The great patristic scholar Jean Daniélou concludes that for the ancient Christian Church, “Baptism is seen in its fullness as a nuptial mystery. The soul, until now a simple creature, becomes the Bride of Christ. When she comes out of the baptismal water in which He has purified her in His Blood, He welcomes her in her white bridal robe and receives the promise which binds her to Him forever.” 142.

From this point of view, baptism is not the end of the individual Christian’s relationship with Jesus the Bridegroom but only the beginning. In one of the most beautiful lines from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read:

Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. (CCC 1617)