196 Dimensions of Baptism
become like little children...' is Christ's own explanation of what Mat-
thew 19 means. In terms that might almost seem deliberately to exclude a
baptismal reference, he denies that the Lord was 'speaking figuratively of
regeneration', but merely 'setting before us, for our imitation, the simplic-
ity that is in children'.^25
Clement at no point in his works mentions infant baptism. His more
illustrious successor in Alexandria, Origen, does so openly, and yet his
more extended expositions of the blessing of the children show no
inclination to link it with children's baptism. A brief citation of Mt. 19.14
in his commentary on the Song of Songs sets it in the context of the spiri-
tual infancy of 1 Cor. 3.1-2. A fragment of his commentary on Lamenta-
tions depicts 'the little children' of the Matthean text as 'Jews childish in
their understanding' whom the disciples of Jesus sought to net as 'fishers
of men'.^26 Then in a lengthy section of his commentary on the Gospel
itself, the tone is set early on:By 'children' we mean those who in Christ are still carnal and infantile,
such as Paul the apostle knew the Corinthians to be when he said, 'And I
could not speak to you as spiritual...' (1 Corinthians 3.1). Children of this
kind both were then and are continually 'offered to Jesus'. A sign of the
'bringing of infants' is the multitude in the church who are infants and
sucklings in Christ, 'needing milk, not solid food' (Heb. 5.12).Paul said the same of suchlike in 1 Cor. 3.2, and spoke of nursing them as
one's own children in 1 Thess. 2.7. Origen has ample scope to enlarge on
that numerous body of Christians whom he designated 'the simpler souls'
(cxTTAouoTepoi; in Latin simpliciores). They are not to be despised, for did
not Jesus not only historically but also figuratively become a child in
humility and meekness? These childish or childlike ones will be saved as
we ourselves become children with children. Origen rings the changes on
more than one interpretative framework, but never gets near to a baptismal
allusion touching real babies.^27- Trans. William Wilson, Clement of Alexandria, Volume I (Ante-Nicene Chris-
tian Library, IV; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867), p. 122. - Commentaire sur le Cantique des Cantiques (ed. L. Bresard et al.; SC, 375;
Paris: Cerf, 1991), pp. 324-25 (extant only in Rufinus's Latin); Origenes Werke III:
Jeremiahomilien... (ed. Erich Klostermann; Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller, 6;
Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1901), p. 275, nr. CXIV. - Origenes Werke X: Matthduserkldrung I (ed. Erich Klostermann; Griechischen
Christlichen Schriftsteller, 40; Leipzig: J.C. Hinrich, 1935), pp. 361-73. A much
abridged translation is given by Harold Smith, Ante-Nicene Exegesis of the Gospels, IV
(Translations of Christian Literature, ser. VI; London: SPCK, 1928), pp. 224-27.