238 Dimensions of Baptism
But what does God's creative power in water actually dol The answer is
that it makes disciples of us. It has power to make holy.
Hence baptism is commanded by God as a baptism of repentance (Depaen. 2). It is a death before death^4 and closely linked to martyrdom. It is
no use the lapsed going off to seek blessings from martyrs, for martyrdom
is itself the very second baptism that the lapsed need.^5 Cramer reminds us
of the outlook of Tertullian's contemporary, martyr and fellow Montanist,
Perpetua—baptism is a martyrdom put into ritual. Martyrdom is sacrament
(especially baptism) acted out to the extreme. In other words, sacrament
and martyrdom are 'different expressions of the same desire'.^6 For Ter-
tullian a slightly less rigorous option is to take baptism as a second degree
of perfection leading to a life of virginity {De exhort. 1, which many, no
doubt, would also regard as another form of death before death!). But this
also is an extreme option, for Tertullian was himself married. So for him,
and most other Christians, baptism simply makes fit for monogamy. In so
doing it makes the baptized into priests through God's power {De monog.
7). If Tertullian had been asked to adopt only one reason for baptism it
would have been the ethical one. Baptism is for the purity and moral
rigour of the Church in an age of dangerous persecution and pagan laxity.
It is from here that we must understand his anthem to water's purifying
effects in the work of baptism, and the clear view that baptism initiated a
life of moral seriousness. This was the reason for his belief in delaying
baptism until the time of' growing up' during which a clear moral decision
could be made (De bapt. 18).
Baptism, then, is an ethical crisis and turning point (although ethical
preparation is essential too).^7 He is not insisting on a novelty here. Tertul-
lian's descriptions echo standard practice. Before the baptism itself, the
candidate made a renunciation of the devil, his 'pomp' and his angels {De
corona 3, De paen. 5). J. Creehan even argues, fromDe anima 35, that
this renunciation constituted a formal contract. It is a paradoxical pact with
the devil to withdraw from all association with him as part of the pact of- Cf. Cramer, Baptism and Change, p. 86, on Perpetua: 'baptism...is both a
preparation for and a re-enactment of, death.' - See summary of this theme in De pudicitia in W.P. Le Saint, Tertullian:
Treatises on Penitence and Purity (London: Longmans, Green, 1959), note on p. 296. - Cramer, Baptism and Change, p. 28. Cramer thinks, however, that this
approach flowers in Ambrose not in Tertullian. - Le Saint, Penitence and Purity, pp. 152-53.