On Rebaptism 11–19

But what will you decide in the case of a hearer of the word who is perhaps arrested for the name of Christ, confesses at once, and is put to death before he is allowed to be baptized with water? Will you pronounce that he has perished because he was not baptized with water, or will you think that something from outside protects him for salvation, although he was not baptized with water? If you think that he has perished, the sentence of the Lord will confront you, who says: “Whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess him before my Father who is in heaven.” For it makes no difference whether the one who confesses the Lord is a hearer or one of the faithful, provided that he confesses Christ himself, whom he must confess; since the Lord, confessing in return, adorns his confessor before the Father with the honor of his own martyrdom, as he promised. This must certainly not be taken too broadly, as though it could be stretched to every case. For a heretic too, who nevertheless denies Christ himself, can confess the name of Christ, because he believes in another Christ; and when he confesses “Christ,” it can profit him not at all, since the Lord said that nothing but himself must be brought by us into confession before men, and that cannot be done without him and without his venerable name. And therefore both must stand whole and sincere, uncontaminated and inviolate, for the one who confesses, with no distinction made as to the confessor himself, whether he is righteous or a sinner, a complete Christian or still incomplete, who did not fear to confess the Lord at the greatest peril to himself. Nor is this contrary to the earlier treatment: for there, time remained to correct what was maimed or wrong, and certain things have been granted to the mere name of our Lord; but martyrdom cannot be completed except in the Lord himself and through him. And therefore no one can confess Christ without his name, nor can the name of Christ, without Christ himself, protect anyone in confession.

Therefore this whole question must be divided into its parts, so that it can become clearer. For the invocation of the name of Jesus can protect only if it has afterward been duly completed, because both the prophets and the apostles preached so. For James says in the Acts of the Apostles: “Men, brothers, listen: Simon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name; and with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written: After this I will return, and I will rebuild that tabernacle of David which has fallen; what has been torn down of it I will rebuild, and I will raise it up again, so that the rest of men may seek God, and all the nations over whom my name has been invoked, says the Lord who does these things.” So both the rest of men, that is, some of the Jews, and all the nations over whom the name of the Lord has been invoked can and must seek the Lord, because the very invocation of the name gives them the occasion, or even lays on them the necessity, of seeking the Lord; and with them we are directed to discuss the holy Scriptures, whether all or some, more boldly concerning the truth than with the Gentiles, over whom the name of the Lord Jesus, the Son of the living God, has not been invoked, as it has not over the Jews, who receive only the old Scriptures. And therefore people of both these kinds, Jews and Gentiles, when they believe fully as they should, are baptized in the same way. But heretics, already baptized with water in the name of Jesus Christ, are to be baptized only in the Holy Spirit. And in Jesus, the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved, death is rightly despised; since if they persist as they are, they cannot be saved, because they have not sought the Lord after the invocation of his name over them, like those also … who perhaps refused to believe, of whom the Lord said: “Take care that no one leads you into error. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will lead many into error.” And again he says: “Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders, so as to lead into error, if it were possible, even the elect.” These mighty works they will then doubtless do under the name of Christ. In this name some seem even now to do certain mighty works and to prophesy falsely. But it is certain that, because they themselves are not Christ's, they do not belong to Christ; just as, if anyone departs from Christ and clings to his name alone, he is not much helped, but rather is even weighed down by this name, even though he was formerly most faithful or most righteous, or honored with some distinguished office, or endowed with the dignity of a confessor. For all these, by denying the true Christ and introducing or following another, though there is no other at all, leave themselves no hope or salvation, no differently from those who have denied Christ before men, who must be denied by Christ, with no account taken of their former life or understanding or dignity, just as they themselves dared to cast off Christ, that is, their own salvation. They are condemned by this clause, since the Lord said most plainly: “Whoever denies me before men, I too will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.” So this word “whoever,” in the clause about confession as well, shows us most fully that no condition of the confessor himself can stand in his way: even if he was formerly a heretic, or a hearer, or only beginning to hear, not yet baptized, or converted from heresy to the truth of the faith, or one who left the church and afterward returned, and then, when he was returning, before the bishop laid his hand on him, was arrested and had to confess Christ before men. Just so, again, no former dignity of his own can protect for salvation one who denies Christ.

For whatever is found last in a person in this respect is what each of us will have to be judged by, all that he did before being abolished and blotted out. And therefore, since in martyrdom there is so great a change of things in a moment of time that everything can be changed in a very swift event, let no one flatter himself who has lost the occasion of a glorious salvation, if perhaps he has shut himself out of it by his own fault, like Lot's wife, who likewise, in a moment of crisis, against the angels' command, only looked back behind her and became a mound of salt. By the same reasoning, the heretic who is slaughtered for confessing the name of Christ can correct nothing afterward, if he has thought wrongly of God or of Christ, since by believing in another God or another Christ he has deceived himself: he is a confessor not of Christ but of the mere name of Christ. For the apostle too says, consistently: “Even if I hand over my body to be burned with fire, but have not love, I gain nothing.” For by this act he gains nothing who does not have love for that God and Christ who is preached through the law and the prophets and in the Gospel in this way: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. For on these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.” As John the evangelist also says: “And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, because God is love.” And as God also says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” So it appears plainly that he who does not have in himself this love, the love by which he loves us and is loved by us, gains nothing by an empty confession and suffering; since it is plain and established that he is a heretic who believes in another God, or accepts another Christ than the one whom the Scriptures of the New and the Old Testament plainly preach, which proclaim without obscurity the Father almighty, creator of all things, and his Son. For it will happen to them, expecting salvation from another God, that then at last, against their expectation, they will be condemned to eternal punishment by Christ, the Son of God the Father almighty, the creator, whom they have blasphemed, when God begins to judge the secrets of men according to the gospel through Christ Jesus, because they did not believe in him, although they were washed in his name.

And every such baptism of heretics can be corrected to this extent, if some interval of time intervenes and the person survives and corrects his faith, because our God spoke to his disciples in the Gospel according to Luke, saying: “But I have another baptism to be baptized with”; and likewise, according to Mark, he said on the same principle to the sons of Zebedee: “Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” For he knew that people would have to be baptized not only with water but also with their own blood, so that those baptized with this baptism alone can obtain whole faith and the sincere favor of the washing, and those baptized in both ways can nevertheless obtain equally the one baptism of salvation and honor, alike and on equal terms. For what the Lord said, “I have another baptism to be baptized with,” does not signify here a second baptism, as though there were two baptisms, but shows that a baptism of another kind too, contributing to the same salvation, has been given to us. Both these kinds had first to be begun and sanctified by our Lord himself, so that for us too either kind, or both, might provide one baptism, not a double one, saving and honorable; and so that certain ways of the one baptism might be opened to us in such a way that sometimes one of them could be lacking without harm. So for martyrs who are hearers of the word, the baptism of water is lacking without harm (yet we are certain that they are usually baptized with water too, if they have any respite); and likewise for those who have been made lawful believers, the baptism of their own blood is lacking without harm, because, baptized in the name of Christ, they have been redeemed by the most precious blood of the Lord. For both these rivers of the Lord's baptism proceed from one and the same source, so that everyone who thirsts may come and drink, as Scripture says: “Rivers of living water flowed from his belly.” These rivers first appeared in the Lord's passion, when blood and water flowed from his side, pierced by a soldier's spear, so that it sent forth two rivers of different kinds, yet from one and the same side, so that whoever believes and drinks from both rivers may be filled with the Holy Spirit. For in speaking of these rivers the Lord was showing this, signifying the Holy Spirit whom those who would believe in him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So, as to how there can be a baptism that the apostle proclaims to be one, it is surely plain on this principle: there are different kinds of one and the same baptism, flowing from one wound as water and blood; whereas in the other case there would be two baptisms of water, of which we have spoken, that is, of one and the same kind, when the baptism of each kind ought to be one, as we have said more fully.

And since we seem to have divided all spiritual baptism in three ways, let us also come to the proof of the account we proposed, lest we seem to have done this by our own judgment and rashly. For John says of our Lord, teaching us in his letter: “This is he who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not in water only, but in water and blood. And the Spirit is the one who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are one.” From these we may gather that water customarily gives the Spirit, and that one's own blood customarily gives the Spirit to people, and that the Spirit himself also customarily gives the Spirit. For since water is poured out, and so is blood, and the Spirit too was poured out by the Lord on all who believed, people can surely be baptized both with water and no less with their own blood, and then also with the Holy Spirit. For Peter says: “But this is what was said through the prophet: It shall be in the last days, says the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, and the young men shall see visions and the old men shall dream dreams; and indeed on my servants and my handmaids I will pour out of my Spirit.” This Spirit we find in the Old Testament, not everywhere or abundantly, but shared with others, or leaping of his own accord upon certain people, or clothing them, or being upon them; as we see that the Lord said to Moses about the seventy elders: “And I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and put it upon them.” Accordingly, as he had promised, God put on them some of the Spirit that had been upon Moses, and they prophesied in the camp; and Moses, as a spiritual man, rejoiced that it had so happened, although Joshua son of Nun urged him to intervene in the matter, against his will; and so he was not disturbed. Further, in the book of Judges and likewise in the books of Kingdoms we see that the Spirit of the Lord either was upon very many or leapt upon them, as upon Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Saul, David, and others. This is so true that the Lord taught us most plainly the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit to come of his own accord, saying: “The Spirit blows where he wills, and you hear his voice, and you do not know where he comes from or where he goes.” So the same Spirit is sometimes found to be even upon those unworthy of him, not idly, surely, nor without reason, but for the sake of some necessary work; as he was upon Saul, upon whom the Spirit of God came, and he prophesied. This was at a later time, after the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, when he had come last of all, for this purpose, after the messengers whom he had repeatedly sent ahead to kill David; and these therefore fell into the company of the prophets and prophesied, so that they could not, or would not, do what they had been ordered. We believe that the Spirit who was upon them all brought this about by a wonderful plan, through the will of God. This Spirit also filled John the Baptist even from his mother's womb, and rested on those who were with Cornelius the centurion before they were baptized with water. So, since the Spirit either accompanies people's baptism, or goes before or follows it, or rests on those who believe when the baptism of water is lacking, he gives us this counsel: either we should keep baptism duly entire from the start, or, if baptism has perhaps been given by anyone in the name of Jesus Christ, we should supply what is lacking, preserving the most holy invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, as we have most fully explained, and preserving besides the custom and authority, venerable to us, of so long a time and so many men.

Now since the first part of this discussion seems to have been set out, we must also touch on the next part, because of the heretics; for it is very necessary not to pass over a subject that has once come into our hands, lest some heretic dare to attack the simpler of the brothers with his cunning. For because John said that we are to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, since he added “and fire,” certain desperate men have dared to extend their depravity in every direction, and these very clever men therefore seek how to corrupt and violate the baptism of holiness so as even to empty it. They draw their origin from Simon Magus, practicing his manifold perversity through various errors. To this Simon Peter said in the Acts of the Apostles: “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the grace of God could be possessed by money. You have no part or share in this word, for your heart is not right before God.” And they do all these things in their desire to deceive the simpler or more curious, and some of them try to make out that they alone hand on a whole and perfect baptism, not a mutilated and truncated one like ours. They are said to confer it in such a way that as soon as the candidates have gone down into the water, fire at once appears on the water. Whether this can be done by some trick (and many such tricks are said to be those of Anaxilaus), or whether it is something natural by which this could happen, or whether they only think they see it, or whether the work of the evil one and magical poison can produce fire in water, they nevertheless proclaim such a deception and trick to be the perfect baptism. If believers have been pressed into receiving it, there will surely be no doubt that they have lost what they had; just as, if a soldier who has taken his oath should desert his own camp and wish to take a quite different oath in the enemy's far different camp, it is clear that by this he has been discharged from his old oath.

Likewise, if such a man comes back to you again, you will surely be in doubt whether he has baptism or not; and yet you will have to help him too, as he does penance, in whatever ways you can. Of this adulterous, or rather murderous, baptism, if there is any other author, there is also a book forged by these same heretics for the sake of this same error, entitled The Preaching of Paul. In this book, against all the Scriptures, you will find Christ, who alone did no wrong whatever, confessing his own sin, and being compelled by his mother Mary, almost against his will, to receive John's baptism; likewise that when he was baptized fire was seen upon the water, which is written in no Gospel; and that after so long a time Peter and Paul, after comparing the gospel in Jerusalem, and after mutual deliberation and dispute and arranging what was to be done, at last came to know each other in the City as though for the first time; and certain other things of this kind, absurdly and shamefully invented, all of which you will find gathered in that book. But those who are not ignorant of the nature of the Holy Spirit understand that what was said of fire was said of the Spirit himself. For in the Acts of the Apostles, in accordance with this same promise of our Lord, on the very day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had come down on the disciples so that they might be baptized in him, tongues as if of fire were seen resting on each of them, so that it was clear that they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and in fire, that is, in that Spirit who was either fire or like fire: such as the fire that burned in the bush and did not consume the bush, and such as that fire which is the spirit of the angels, as Scripture says: “Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a burning fire.” If you are like him, or his companion or sharer, you will be able to fear no fire, not even the fire that will go before the Lord on the day of judgment and burn up the whole world, except those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.

To people, indeed, the Spirit remains invisible today, as the Lord says: “The Spirit blows where he wills, and you do not know where he comes from or where he goes.” But at the beginning of the mystery of faith and of spiritual baptism this same Spirit was plainly seen to rest upon the disciples like fire, and, when the heavens were opened, to come down upon the Lord like a dove. For very many, indeed almost all, of the things that were to come were made manifest; things that would otherwise now be invisible have nevertheless been shown even now to people's eyes and to their unbelief, either in part, or at times, or in figure, to strengthen and confirm our faith. But I would not leave out another thing that the gospel rightly proclaims. For our Lord said to the paralytic: “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven,” to show that hearts are cleansed by faith for obtaining the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness of sins was also obtained by the woman who was a sinner in the city, to whom the Lord said: “Your sins are forgiven.” And when those who were reclining at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who forgives sins?” (as the scribes and Pharisees had murmured more bitterly about the paralytic), the Lord said to the woman: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” From all these it is shown that hearts are cleansed by faith, and souls washed by the Spirit; further, that bodies are washed by water, and that by blood one reaches the rewards of salvation more quickly, by a shorter way.

I think we have fully followed through the preaching of John the Baptist, from which we began our discourse, who said to the Jews: “I baptize you with water for repentance; but he who comes after me is mightier than I; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” And I think we have also set out, not unfittingly, the teaching of the apostle John, who says: “For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are one.” And, unless I am mistaken, we have also explained what our Lord said: “John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Moreover, I think we have given no weak account of the reason for the custom. Let us nevertheless defend it, even though we do so in the last place, lest anyone think that we stir up the present dispute on a single point, although this custom by itself ought to hold the chief place among people who fear God and are humble.