# 01 - The Mystery of Baptism #### Definitions Baptism is the Holy Mystery through which we are "born again" by being immersed in the water three times in the name of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Mystery of Baptism is the **gate of the Mysteries**. Only after baptism is one given the right to partake of the rest of the Mysteries. Baptism is also known as the **Mystery of Enlightenment** βάπτισμα meaning "immersion" or "dipping in water" - Root Verb βάπτω meaning "to dip" or "to dye" - Active Verb βαπτίζω meaning "to immerse" or "to submerge" or "to go under" #### Institution of the Mystery of Baptism **The Great Commission** - **(Matthew 28:18-20)**: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, *even* to the end of the age.” - **(Mark 16:15-16)**: And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. **Nicodemus Discourse** - **(John 3:3) **Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” - **(John** **3:5)**: Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. **The Baptism of Christ and the Sanctification of the Waters** - Christ was baptized in order to Sanctify the Waters for our baptism, and to **point us** to baptism - "No Baptism was necessary for Christ, but He freely received the baptism of a servant \[John\] to draw us towards His baptism" (Tractate 5 on the Gospel of John - St Augustine) - "The Lord was baptized, not to be cleansed himself, but to cleanse the waters, so that those waters, cleansed by the flesh of Christ which knew no sin, might have the power of baptism. Whoever comes, therefore, to the washing of Christ, lays aside his sins." (Commentary on Luke 2:83 - St Ambrose of Milan) **What About the Cross?** - Some Protestant objections to baptism will say “We don’t need baptism, we only need the Blood of Christ!” - Baptism is not a "magical action" that works independently of God! It is the sacramental means established by Christ to grant us participation in His Blood - His Death and Resurrection. - Baptism was not instituted until **after the Resurrection**! - Christ called the Cross His Baptism! - “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50) - When James and John asked the Lord to sit on His right and left… the Lord Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38) - (Matthew 20:22) - Baptism by water and Spirit IS participating in the Sacrifice of Christ. It is dying with Him and being buried with Him, and rising from the tomb with Him. #### Conferred Grace - Born Again **(Titus 3:5)** not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the **washing of regeneration** and renewing of the Holy Spirit, > "We receive the hope of eternal life through the **laver of regeneration** and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (St Ambrose - On the Holy Spirit Book III, Chapter 10) > "And that Water of salvation was at once your grave and **your mother.**" (St Cyril of Jerusalem - Mystagogical Lectures 2.4) What does it mean to be Regenerated or Born Again or a New Creation? 1. Die and Rise with Christ 2. Forgiveness of Sins, Cleansing of Original Sin 3. Adoption as Children of God 4. Membership in the Body of Christ 5. Put on Christ Imagine a slave who his taken out of slavery to live in the king's palace as his son. 1. He leaves his slavery behind, and becomes a free man. 2. His former life is forgotten. 3. He is adopted by the king and becomes his son. 4. He lives in the house of the king, among the family of the king. 5. He is arrayed in the clothing of kings. This is baptism. ##### Death and Resurrection with Christ "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22) - Christ did this part "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death," (Philippians 3:10) - St Paul says that we should be conformed to Christ's death - Unless we undergo such death, we cannot be saved. How do we undergo this death? How do we share in the death of the Lord? "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4) - Baptism into Christ is baptism into His death - We are buried with Him in baptism - We are raised with Him - We should walk in the newness of life > St John Chrysostom: "What the cross and burial were to Christ, baptism is to us, though not in all respects. For Christ died and was buried in the flesh, whereas we have died and been buried to sin." (St John Chrysostom - Commentary on Romans 6:3) "In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with *Him* through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians 2:11-13) > This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus: And so are owned to be heirs of His Kingdom. For since you have "been baptized into the Lord's death" - Apostolic Constitutions > "There are two mortifyings and two deaths. One of them is accomplished by Christ in baptism, and the other is our duty to effect by earnestness afterwards. For it was Christ's gift that our former sins were buried, but remaining dead to sin after baptism must be the work of our own earnestness, however much we find that God gives us enormous help here as well. For baptism does not just have the power to obliterate our former transgressions; it also protects us against subsequent ones." - (St John Chrysostom - Commentary on Romans 6:5) > "And that Water of salvation was at once **your grave** and your mother." (St Cyril of Jerusalem - Mystagogical Lectures 2.4) ##### Forgiveness of Sins and Cleansing from Original Sin "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift *is* not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift *is* not like *that which came* through the one who sinned. For the judgment *which came* from one *offense resulted* in condemnation, but the free gift *which came* from many offenses *resulted* in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense *judgment came* to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act *the free gift came* to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:12-19) > "We confess one baptism, for the remission of sins" (Nicene Creed) > "And the bishop shall lay his hand upon them \[the newly baptized\], invoking and saying: 'O Lord God, who did count these worthy of deserving the forgiveness of sins by the laver of regeneration, make them worthy to be filled with your Holy Spirit and send upon them thy grace \[in confirmation\], that they may serve you according to your will." (Apostolic Tradition 22:1) "Renew their birth a second time by the washing of the New Birth and the forgiveness of sins; prepare them to be a temple of Your Holy Spirit" (Rite of Baptism) > “Since human beings are composite and not simple by nature, mixed from two things — namely, a body with senses and an intellectual soul — they need a twofold healing for the new birth, corresponding to both of the aforementioned. So the human spirit is sanctified by the Spirit, and the body is sanctified by the water, which in turn is also sanctified. Just as water that is poured into a kettle receives an impression of the fire’s power by association with the tips of the flame, so also through the energy of the Spirit, perceptible water is transformed into a divine and ineffable power and sanctifies those with whom it comes into contact” (St Cyril of Alexandria - Commentary on John IVP p.98) > “Christ rubs off all the filth of our soul through holy baptism. We were baptized through the Holy Spirit and fire, remember, and every form of wickedness in us, as it were, dissolved and was consumed like some useless rubbish, which is what fire does, after all.” (St Cyril of Alexandria - Commentary on Isaiah, HCOP, p. 41) > “Saving and holy baptism suffices for the washing away of sin, and erases the defilement of previous falls.” (St Cyril of Alexandria - Commentary on Isaiah, p.42) ##### Adoption as Children of God "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the **adoption as sons**. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, **and if a son, then an heir of God** through Christ." (Galatians 4:4-7) - Christ is the Son of God by nature - We are sons of God by adoption "Blessed *be* the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly *places* in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to **adoption as sons** by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6) "For you were bought at a price;" (1 Cor 6:20) > This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus: And so are owned to be **heirs of His Kingdom**. For since you have "been baptized into the Lord's death" - Apostolic Constitutions "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:26-29) ##### Membership in the Body of Christ "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also *is* Christ. For by one Spirit **we were all baptized into one body**—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many." (1 Cor 12:12-14) - Fellowship with the faithful - Serving one another according to our gifts - "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, *being* many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." (Romans 12:5) - As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10) - "If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body." (1 Cor 12:15-20) - Strengthen one another - "Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11) - "And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another." (1 Cor 12:21-26) - Caring for one another in love - "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." (1 Cor 12:27) - We are not called to live as isolated Christians - Even solitary monks assemble with the rest of the believers to commune - Even solitary monks pray for one another - Having the Church as my Mother - “He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother." - Cyprian of Carthage - Participation in the Sacramental Life - Receiving the Eucharist - Receiving Repentance & Confession and the Absolution ##### Putting on Christ - "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27) - A new identity and life - In our modern society, people try to find their identity in a group/movement, an experience, a diagnosis, a desire (even sinful), etc. but as Christians, our identity is in Christ. - Like wearing a uniform, it makes it clear who you are - so also, our baptismal garment should distinguish us and make it clear we belong to Christ - "But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:20-24) - "Put on the new man in true righteousness and holiness" - "keep holiness in all your members, as having put on Christ. "For," it is said, "as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Wherefore let all your members be holy as becomes their investment in a raiment of holiness and light." (St Basil - Letter 292) - That means I should have righteousness in all my members - and we will discuss this when we talk about Living the Baptismal Life. - "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10) #### Visible Sign - Three Immersions - Three days in the tomb - If we are dying and being buried with Christ, then just as he was in the tomb three days, so also we will immerse three times - Name of the Trinity - Immerse three times in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit #### Living the Baptismal Life "Beloved, be it known to you that those who are baptized into the death of our Lord Jesus are obliged to go on no longer in sin; for as those who are dead cannot work wickedness any longer, so those who are dead with Christ cannot practice wickedness. We do not therefore believe, brethren, that any one who has received the washing of life continues in the practice of the licentious acts of transgressors. Now he who sins after his baptism, unless he repent and forsake his sins, shall be condemned to hell-fire." (Apostolic Constitutions - Book II, Section 3, VII) St Gregory of Nyssa when he talks about baptism he said “many of you boast about being baptized, about being renewed… but SHOW ME after the sacramental grace, the change in your ways. SHOW ME the purity of your conversion.” Baptism is not just a ritual... It’s not just something we have to do. It is a change in my life. - What we see after baptism, with our eyes, is the same person. He doesn’t look different. He still has the same skin color, he has the same hair, same height, etc. Physically, he hasn’t changed. So, he says, how do I know that you have changed? - By the intentional motions of the soul - the soul separates itself from its old life. And this word "separates" is the word HOLY. - I become HOLY. SEPARATED from my old life. SEPARATED from the world. To the point that my old self is not even recognizable. - Before, I was a liar. Now I am truthful. - Before, I was without order in my life. Now, I have structure and order and routine. - Before, I was envious of what others have. Now, I am content with my possessions - and not just content but impart from what I have to those who need it. - Before, I was a gossiper. Now I am affable. Now I am courteous. - Before, I used certain language. Now, my language is clean. - Before, I dressed in a certain way - certain clothes, certain hairstyle, piercings. Now I put those away. Now I dress as a prince, the son of a King. - Like darkness - if a light is ignited, the darkness disappears. It’s no longer recognizable. Like black paint. If you put a single drop of white in it, it’s no longer black. No longer recognizable as black. - This is what it means - take off the old man and put on the new and superior one ##### Letter to Diognetus > For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. > > They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. > As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. > Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. > They marry, as do all; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. > They have a common table, but not a common bed. > They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. > They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. > They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. > They love all men, and are persecuted by all. > They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. > They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; > they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. > They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; > they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; > they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. > When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; > they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. > > To sum up all in one word — what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world. > > The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. > The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. > The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible. > The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. > The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and \[loves also\] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. > The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet keeps together that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they keep together the world. > The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible \[bodies\], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. > The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. > > God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.