Dimensions of Baptism Biblical and Theological Studies

KEARSLEY Baptism Then and Now 239

faith with God.^8 Probably this is taking Tertullian's rhetoric too seriously

and overlooking his exuberant irony. But the renunciation itself is serious.

For Tertullian's radical ethic is serious. It would be as unpopular today as

then. Baptism makes the candidates servants of God, called to renounce

both lust and worldly ambition (Ad uxorem 4). Tertullian takes Christ's

cleansing of the church in Ephesians as a reference to baptism: 'Without

the stain of immorality.. .without the disgrace of sin, we are made clean'

(Depudic. 18). The flesh is impure until the waters cleanse it (Depudic.

6). Christian purity draws its power from the washing (De pudic. 1).

Admittedly the ethic, so far, seems to focus morbidly on sexual purity and

exaggerated unworldliness, no doubt due to pincer pressures of perse-

cution and paganism. But the chief thrust of Tertullian is that Christian

discipleship is not a picnic. It involves above everything else a stark choice

and a moral struggle. Baptism is an intensifier for this. But is that all?

Baptism and Freedom

The casual reader may, so far, be confirmed in the suspicion that Tertul-

lian is a rabid legalist whose thought should not be mentioned in the same

breath as such an enlightened theologian as Moltmann. But Tertullian is

not a writer for casual readers! Everywhere, paradoxes pop up to com-

plicate things. Hence on baptism he is a rich mix of works and grace and

to this degree a genuine influence on the succeeding, problematic western

tradition. A good example of this is the renunciation of the devil, already

mentioned. Alongside the renunciation (something the baptismal candidate

does) we find the release (something the baptismal candidate receives—

from the trinitarian God). The very modern liberation motif of Exodus

appears inDe bapt. 9. The destruction of Israel's pursuers in the sea, the

nation's liberation from bondage, is a type of baptism. As Israel was

liberated, 'the gentiles are set free from this present world by means of

water, and leave behind, drowned in the water, their ancient tyrant the

devil'.^9 The backdrop for this is the fact that the devil rules over tainted

8. J. Creehan, Early Christian Baptism and the Creed: A Study in Ante-Nicene
   Theology (London: Burns, Oates, and Washbourne, 1950), pp. 96-97. Creehan is proba-
   bly right to see the military oath behind the transformed bi-lateral pact of baptism (pp.
   102-103).


9. If Creehan is right to regard stipulatio as referring to baptismal responses then
   the words of Defuga 12 count here as well: 'The sun marked the day when we became
   indebted for our redemption. Our setting free was enacted in Hell and the formal con-
   tract was in Heaven.' Creehan's case, however, is far from firm. If successful it would