Baptism: I Renounce Satan

Part of baptism is the renunciation of Satan. This must be done before we commit ourselves to Christ. The rejection of Satan, of course, is the recognition of the existence of evil in the world. We cannot say that evil is in any way a part of faith. It is a negative reality, but still a very destructive force in human life. To live in faith means to turn our backs on evil and to devote ourselves to “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious. (Philippians 4:8)”  Just as we cannot come to faith in God without the power of his grace, so also we cannot defeat evil without the strength of the Holy Spirit. We are born into a world that is under the dominion of an evil that is stronger than us as individuals. St. Paul warns, “draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. (Ephesians 6:10-12)” Jesus would not have said, “Take courage, I have conquered the world, (John 16:33) ” unless there was a real enemy in the world and unless this threat was beyond our own powers.

The rite of baptism confirms the existence of the negative reality of evil and begins our struggle against it. We cannot overcome evil by our own human powers, victory requires the grace of God. The rite of baptism is preceded by the gift of faith and our free decision to trust in God. The first ritual action, then, is to separate us from evil. Therefore, baptism begins with exorcism, the expulsion of the “evil one” from our midst. Here we see that evil is not simply some abstract, impersonal force. We know this from our faith in God. God is not some impersonal ultimate creative force - he is person, indeed, Father, Son and Spirit, and has created us in his image as persons. Evil, then, can only spring from personal rebellion against God. In Eden, the devil seduces Eve and Adam to his first sin of pride by a lie, “You will be like gods. (Genesis 3:5)” Jesus, the Word of God, warns us, “He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)” This is not faith, for faith is life in the truth, but there is no truth in evil or in the evil one. When we pray the Our Father, we ask the Father to “deliver us from evil (literally, “from the evil one.”) (Matthew 6:13)”

We might have some misconceptions about the nature of exorcism. Unfortunately, our ideas have been colored by the popular culture depicting demon possession in the media. The media does witness to is a common perception that evil is personal, and that there are evil beings. However, sometimes the exorcisms are omitted in baptisms because we confuse individual demon possession with the dominion of evil in the world. Exorcism in baptism does not mean that a baby being presented is individually possessed, but that without God’s intervention, the evil dominating the world would eventually claim the will of this defenseless human being. We are born into sin, into a dark world, and can be saved only by the grace of Christ. The exorcism removes us from the dominion of evil and brings us into the kingdom of God. Therefore, the priest prays, “The Lord rebukes you, Satan: the Lord who came into the world and dwelt among us to destroy your tyranny and to deliver humanity .... Deliver now this creature from slavery to the enemy and receive him (her) into your heavenly kingdom.”  When there was a period of catechumenate, and many adults were being prepared for baptism, the three exorcisms were done was done on the three weeks before baptism. In this way the person coming to faith was prepared to renounce Satan and accept Christ. 

Evil is real, but it is a lie. Evil always tries to disguise its real nature. If we saw it in its true ugliness, no one would be tempted to evil. Evil enters the world only because it presents itself as something good and beautiful. Thus the devil tells Adam and Eve, “You will be like gods.” So the terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people had the delusion that they were serving God and striking a glorious blow at unbelievers. Secondly, the media sometimes portrays evil as absurdly and ridiculously ugly. We watch movies like “The Exorcist,” and are misled as to the nature of real evil. We can’t take the cartoon devil seriously. Finally, evil sometimes likes to hide under the cloak of non-existence. It deceives us into thinking that there is no real evil, its just a religious illusion to control our behavior, and that no one is really evil or makes evil decisions. It is true that an extreme and misguided adherence to some religious teachings can lead to intolerant and destructive behavior, and that prejudice against another because of who they are is reprehensible, and we cannot ignore the real power that evil has to mislead us. The fact is that it sometimes uses religious principles (remember always the snake, “you will be like gods”) to seduce us into hatred and psychological or even physical violence.  Evil is a negative reality, but it Shows how powerful faith truly is. On the Cross, Jesus took a supremely evil and unjust act, and turned it to bring salvation to all humankind. In faith, we are in union with our Lord, who said, “Take courage, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)” In faith, we find true beauty and glory, and the true fulfillment of the devil’s lie, for we become like God, filled with his life.