Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

FERGUSON The Doctrine of Baptism 229

destruction of the evil mixed with our nature.' The destruction is not yet

complete, but two things concur in the removal of evil that breaks its

continuity: 'the penitence of the transgressor and the imitation of [Christ's]

death'. 'The human being is set free from the natural inclination to evil; by

penitence he advances to a hatred of evil and alienation from it, and by

death he effects the destruction of evil'. If the death were complete, that

would be 'not an imitation but an identity' so that sin would completely

cease from our nature.^30 As Gregory in the discussion of the power of

Christ in spiritual rebirth calls attention to prayer and faith as the human

aspect, so in the discussion of Christ's death and resurrection, he calls

attention to repentance and death to sin as the human aspect.

The discussion of baptism as a likeness of the death of Christ leads into

the consideration of the likeness to his resurrection and so to the eschato-

logical dimension of baptism. Gregory reaffirms his earlier comparison,

shifting the emphasis now from the death to the resurrection: 'Being

poured over with water three times and coming up from the water, we

reenact dramatically the saving burial and resurrection that took place on

the third day. '^31 It is in our power to be in the water and to ascend out of it;

even so the sovereign of the universe 'was plunged into death and de-

parted again to his own blessedness'. As a human being may come into

contact with the water without danger, so it was infinitely easier for the

divine power to enter death and not to be changed by it to his injury. 'On

account of this it is necessary for us to rehearse beforehand in the water

the grace of the resurrection so that we might know that to ascend

[avocSGvai] again from death is equally easy for us as to be baptized in

water'.^32

This connection of baptism with the resurrection makes baptism neces-

sary for salvation. Baptism may be judged insignificant in comparison

with the resurrection, just as the seed that lays down the constitution of a

human being cannot be compared in glory to the resultant person; but just

as the person would not exist without that seed, so 'it is not possible apart

from the rebirth in the bath for a person to be in the resurrection'.^33 It is

not only the principle of life that makes baptism necessary but also the

principle of cleansing or purification. 'For common sense and the teaching

of the scriptures show that it is impossible for one not thoroughly cleansed

30. GNO 89.5-17 (PG, xlv, col. 89B).


31. GNO 89.20-24 (PG, xlv, col. 89C).


32. GNO 90.1-16 (PG, xlv, col. 89D).


33. GNO 90.16-91.5 (PG, xlv, cols. 89D-92A).