Excerpt from the forthcoming book: The Truth of our Faith (Vol. II): On the Christian Mysteries
Chapter 2
On the Mystery of Baptism
Inquirer: In any case, not even Christ Himself received baptism as a child, but only when he had reached thirty years of age, since St. John the Baptist baptized none but adults. Shouldn’t we, then, accept baptism when we are of a mature age?
Elder Cleopa: The baptism with which Christ was baptized by John is not the same which we have received, since it did not have the same outcome. That baptism was only a baptism of water, and not a baptism “of water and the Spirit”, such as is the Christian baptism which was inaugurated by Christ. He was not baptized in order to be cleansed from sin, as is the case with our own baptism, since He was sinless and had no need to repent. The aim of that baptism was one thing, the aim of ours, another.
We know that the baptism “of water and the Spirit”, which came later, is undergone for the remission of sins. Jesus Christ, however, was not baptized with that baptism; to the contrary, Christ was sinless and had no need for such a baptism.
Inquirer: In this case, why, then, was Christ baptized with the baptism of John?
Elder Cleopa: St. John Chrysostom says the following: “When John the Baptist was baptizing, in the waters of the Jordan, he required repentance of all who approached. The very same baptism was called a baptism of repentance. In spite of this, John did not request Jesus to repent. On the contrary, standing before Him he felt humbled, saying that it was rather he himself who required baptism from Jesus, not the reverse (Mat. 3:14). Furthermore, he could not request repentance of Jesus, since Jesus had no sin, being “conceived of the Holy Ghost,” not of man, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man” (Mat. 1:20, Jn. 1:13, Lk. 1:34-35), and consequently, He was not an inheritor of the ancestral sin. Neither, however, did he have any personal sin (Jn. 8:16), since He had no need of a greater outpouring of the grace of the Holy Spirit upon Him, which, in any case, the baptism of John was not capable of offering. Why, then, was He baptized? Behold why:
First of all, for John to point Him out and make Him known to the people: “Behold the Lamb of God. . . This is he of whom I said. . .” (Jn. 1: 29-30). John witnesses to Him, presents Him to the people and points to Him, such that his witness for “He who is to come” after him is not held in doubt. What’s more, now God the Father and the Holy Spirit witness to Jesus, the later in the form of a dove (Mat. 3:16-17). From that point onward the masses of people would not question the witness given by John. Now, Jesus has become known, whereas before He was not even known to John (Jn.1:31), for, even though he was related to Him (Lk. 1:36), he had passed nearly his entire life in the desert, preaching and baptizing. God arranged matters thus, such that the world would not criticize John that he preached of Jesus on account of the kinship and friendship he maintained with Him.
Secondly, Jesus accepted baptism by John in order to fulfill “all righteousness” (Mat. 3:14-15). “Righteousness” here signifies the fulfillment of the commandments of God, whereas “righteous” was he who had fulfilled all the commandments (Lk. 1:6). Thus, the Lord was baptized by John so that not even this ordinance concerning baptism would remain unfulfilled by God, since He alone fulfilled “all righteousness.”
Behold the purpose of the baptism of the man Jesus and the reasons why He accepted to be baptized by John. The Christian baptism “of water and the Spirit” which began later was established and is carried out for other reasons and has a completely different aim.
If one speaks of age limitations, why is it that the heterodox don’t choose thirty years of age to be baptized? The Savior neither prescribed a particular age nor was He bound by an age limit. When He spoke of baptism, which He himself instituted, he indicated the Mystery’s great importance, thereby not making it necessary to declare that it should be bestowed upon everyone, and hence, upon children. If He did not say it directly, he said it indirectly with much clarity, for within the word “one” or “someone” is contained everyone.
As far as it pertains to John the Baptist, it is true that he preached repentance and baptized only those who repented and they could only have been adults. However, his baptism is not to be identified with ours, but was a baptism of preparation, a symbolic action, or an act with a ritual or formal character – as was shown above – without it being necessarily required of everyone. That is also why it was unnecessary to confer it upon children.
I might also be of the opinion to forgo baptizing children if they were to live however long they desired, whether men or women, deep into old age and to desire baptism whenever they wanted. Yet, what does your teacher tell you: are we sure that we will live until we are 30, 50, or 100? Are you not familiar with the passage in Holy Scripture which says: “ye know not what shall be on the morrow” (Jam. 4:14); and elsewhere: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Lk. 12:20); and elsewhere: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Mt. 25:13). . .
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Posted on 02/26/05.
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