The Gospel of the Forty Days: Baptism, Part 1
“Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:20). The verse tells us that Christ (now resurrected and
speaking with His Apostles before His ascension) commanded them to baptize all
peoples as they became disciples. With the same words, Jesus also spoke of
God’s revelation of Himself: baptism was to be in the Name (singular, one God)
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (three Persons), thus reinforcing what the
Apostles had learned being with Jesus: that God had, in Christ, revealed
Himself to be three divine Persons possessing simultaneously the one divine
nature of the one God as revealed to Israel. So Jesus’ command (Ac 1:2) and
teaching (Ac 1:3) here are part of his “gospel of the forty days.”
Jesus spoke on different occasions during
the forty days of the baptism He was commanding the Apostles to administer in the
future. During another appearance after the resurrection he said, “He who
believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16). And immediately prior to
His ascension He told them, “Before many days you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit” (Ac 1:5) – yes, Pentecost, but also baptism.
In St. Peter’s ad hoc witness on the day
of Pentecost he told the people (no doubt conveying some of Jesus’ teaching in
his discourse): “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit” (Ac 2:38) – that same Spirit poured out at Pentecost given in
baptism. And “those who received his word were baptized” (Ac 2:41). So baptism,
then, gives the Holy Spirit as well as forgiveness of sins. Ananias said to
Saul/Paul: “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His Name”
(Ac 22:16). Forgiveness of sins through baptism is also implied in Jesus’s
words (above) about becoming His disciples and being saved.
Jesus’ teachings on baptism also must have
remained deep in the heart of the Apostle John as his writings using many
water/baptismal images and reference the gift of the Holy Spirit: the enormous
amount of water turned into wine at Cana (Jn 2); Jesus giving water “welling up
to eternal life” (Jn 4:14); of “rivers of living water” indicating the Holy
Spirit (Jn 7:38-39); Jesus commanding the man born blind to wash in order to
see (Jn 9:7); Jesus’ discourse on the Holy Spirit (Jn 14-16); and the water and
blood flowing from the side of Christ (Jn 19:34).
St. John is most direct where he quotes
Jesus telling Nicodemus, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of
God,” and, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
Kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3, 5).
St. Paul puts it this way: God “saved us
... by the washing [baptism] of regeneration [rebirth/born again] and renewal
in the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). He also wrote, “Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were
buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of
life.... [W]e shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.”
(Ro 6:3-5.)
Baptism, then, is something God does for
us. Forgiveness of sin. Regeneration and new life. Gift of the Holy Spirit. Future
resurrection. And there’s more we will explore in future articles.
The very early Church understood these
things from Christ and the Apostles. Hermas, the Shepherd, writing c. 90-140,
says, “They go down into the water dead, and come out of it alive.” Theophilus
of Antioch, writing c. 180, says those “who proceed to truth and are born
again” and receive “repentance and remission of sins through water and the bath
of regeneration.” St. Irenaeus of Lyons, writing c. 165-180, says that Christ,
in “giving the disciples the power of regenerating in God ... said to them: ‘Go
and teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’” Tertullian, writing c. 200, says, “Happy is our
sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our earthly blindness,
we are set free and admitted into eternal life!”
Dibby Green
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.
References:
John Bergsma, Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Revealing the Jewish Roots of Christianity (New York: Image, 2019), p. 51-67, 71-74.
Wulstan Mork, OSB, Transformed by Grace, Scripture, Sacraments & the Sonship of Christ (Ciincinnati, OH: Servant/St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004; originally published 1965, Bruce Publ. Co.).
Wulstan Mork, OSB, Transformed by Grace, Scripture, Sacraments & the Sonship of Christ (Ciincinnati, OH: Servant/St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2004; originally published 1965, Bruce Publ. Co.).