Irenaeus

156 Irenaeus: Life, Scripture, Legacy

Doest thou believe in God the Father?

Doest thou believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God who was incarnate and died

and rose again?

Doest thou believe in the Holy Spirit of God?^39

The basis for this is a further statement of the rule of faith from Dem. 6. Kelly writes:
“Manifestly this is not the baptismal creed. It is rather a kind of short commentary on
it. It gives the gist of the pre-baptismal catechetical instruction and illustrates how it
was modelled on the pattern of the baptismal questions.”^40 Power makes similar state-
ments regarding this passage, so stating that belief in God the Father is “the first article
professed by the candidate”^41 and “the principal point for the liturgy of baptism is its
connection with the rule of faith. The creed, as handed down by the apostolic tradition,
is proclaimed in the baptismal rite.”^42 It certainly seems to be the case that there is a
connection between catechesis and baptismal ritual though Power is (perhaps wisely)
less than clear about what he considers to be the nature of the connection.
In testing Kelly’s hypothesis that the rule represented here reflects an interrogation,
we may note that no mention is actually made of interrogation. Whereas Kelly states
that “the clear implication of his (Irenaeus’s) language is that he knew a series of bap-
tismal questions,” there is no such implication, unless one assumes the interrogation as
given. On the other hand, it does seem that there is a link between the trinitarian form
of the regula as given here and some kind of trinitarian form (if not formula) of bap-
tism, as witnessed in Didache 7.1 and in Matthew 28:19. This we may deduce from the
clear statement at Dem. 3 that baptism is received “in the name of God the Father, and
in the name of Jesus Christ... ” However, nothing is said regarding baptismal inter-
rogation, or indeed of a baptismal profession of trinitarian faith. Indeed, the statement
that baptism is “In the name... ” sounds as if it might represent a baptismal formula.
A baptismal formula, we may suggest, is possible if there is no interrogation, and if the
statement of faith by the candidate had preceded the moment of baptism. This is cer-
tainly the case in later rites in which a confession of faith is made prior to baptism and
baptism itself is then delivered with a formula whilst the candidate is silent.
It is thus possible that the candidate makes a declaration rather than simply answers
questions. Here we may note again the statement that the faith is “received” in the bap-
tismal ritual. If a historian might be allowed to engage his imagination, we may see the
manner in which this takes place from the clue left by Chrysostom in his statement
that the candidates are instructed to make a declaration. The candidate, we suggest,
receives the faith as part of the baptismal ritual by being instructed or prompted to
make a declaration of faith, a declaration, we may suggest, that is christological and is
reflected in the christological supplement to the regula fidei given here.

The Syntaxis
In later baptismal rituals there are two points at which declarations of faith might be
found, namely at the syntaxis before baptism and at the moment of baptism itself in