FERGUSON The Doctrine of Baptism 233
there is no change, and 'what you have not become, you are not'.^47 Return-
ing to the imagery of new birth, Gregory makes a stirring appeal: 'The
child who is born of one is assuredly of the same nature with the one who
begot him. If then you received God and became a child of God, show
through your choices that God is in you, show in yourself the One who
begot you!'^48 The Oratio Catechetica then closes on the eschatological
note, contrasting the 'unspeakable blessedness' of the wise who have
followed a godly life with the torment of sinners.
Of the names used for baptism—bath, enlightenment, regeneration
(TraXiyyeveoia)—Gregory preferred bath (Aouxpov),^49 taken from Tit.
3.5, 'the bath [or washing] of regeneration'. In his discussions of regenera-
tion he substitutes the language of 1 Pet. 1.3 and 23, 'rebirth' (avccyev-
vr|Gis)^50 and especially of Jn 3.3-7, born from above by the Spirit.^51 Note
his use of 'spiritual birth'^52 and 'spiritual rebirth'.^53 By associating the
rebirth of baptism with the resurrection to eternal life and describing the
resurrection as a rebirth to life,^54 Gregory has made a creative combination
- GNO 103.10-104.10 (PG, xlv, cols. 101D-104B). The examples of sins to be
corrected is similar in In diem luminum (GNO 9.238.11-17 [PG, xlvi, cols. 596B-C]),
which also cites the tax collector Zacchaeus as an example of change (GNO 9.238.20
[PG, xlvi, col. 596C]). - GNO 104.12-16 (PG, xlv, col. 104B). Children of God should have the char-
acteristics of their Father—In diem luminum (GNO 9.239.5-8 [PG, xlvi, cols. 596D-
597A]). - Used seven times with reference to baptism: GNO 82.2 (PG, xlv, col. 8ID);
91.4-9 ('grace from the bath'—cf. In diem luminum [GNO 9.223.2] [PG 9 xlvi, col.
580A], 'grace of the bath'), and 16 (PG, xlv, cols. 92A-B); 103.2,5, and 20 (PG, xlv,
col. 101D). Gregory in In diem luminum preferred TTCcAiyyEveaia and dvayevvriais,
which words he seems to have used as virtually interchangeable; see my 'Preaching at
Epiphany: Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom on Baptism and the Church',
Church History 66 (1997), pp. 1-17 (3 n. 10). - Note GNO 91.4-5 (PG, xlv, col. 92A), where Tit. 3.5 (AouTpov mxAiyyeveai as)
is paraphrased as Aouxpov avayevvrioecos; cf. 82.17 (PG, xlv, col. 84B); 83.12 (PG,
xlv, col. 84C); 85.23 (PG, xlv, col. 85C); 99.17-18 (PG, xlv, cols. 100A-B); 102.9 and
24 (PG, xlv, cols. 101B,C); 104.11 (PG, xlv, col. 104B) in reference to Jn 1.12-13. - GNO99.14-18(PG,xlv,col. 100A); 101.19-102.2-3,21 (PG,xlv,col. 101A-
B); cf. 104.10-12 (PG, xlv, col. 104B). - GNO 85.10-11 (PG, xlv, col. 85B).
- GNO 98.18-19 (PG, xlv, col. 97C) and 100.18-19 (PG, xlv, col. 100C).
- GNO 82.1-14; 87.12-14; 88.12-18; 91.4-5; 100.1-4 (PG, xlv, cols. 84A; 88B;
88D-89A; 92A; 100A). Note the use of the same word avacrroixeioco (avaaxoixetco-
ais) 'reconstitute, refashion, transform'—for the resurrection (GNO 88.16-18 [PG,
xlv, col. 89A]) and for the new birth of baptism (GNO 102.21-22 [PG, xlv, col. 101B]).