The water.—From a term used for
the baptismal water the noun υδωρ
developed to a certain extent into a name for baptism itself. This development is
indicated in the New Testament. When the Spirit descends upon the family of
Cornelius, Peter says that one cannot all the same refuse them ‘the water’: μήτι τὸ ὕδωρ δύναται κωλῦσαί τις τοῦ μὴ βαπτισθῆναι τούτου. Pseudo-Barnabas now intends to
examine what the Lord has revealed concerning the water and the cross: περι του υδατος και περι του σταυρου Ep. 11.1. Hermas calls the seal
the water in order to say that it is conferred in baptism: η σφραγις ουν το υδωρ εστιν Past. 93.4, and alludes to
baptism as the water: η ζωη υμων δια υδατος εσωθη και σωθησεται ib. 11.5, cf. 32.1. The term
becomes more technical when it is said that Paul promises the water to Thecla: ληψη το υδωρ Act. Paul. Thecl.
25. Origen says that one does not always receive the Holy Spirit after the
water: πνευματος . . . ου πασιν μετα το υδωρ εγγινομενου In Jo. 6.33.169. From Tertullian
onwards the same development of aqua is found in Latin: de sacramento
aquae nostrae Bapt. 1.1, cf. Paen. 6.18, Pass. Perp. 3.5. (Joseph Ysebaert,
Greek Baptismal Terminology: Its Origins and Early Development [trans. M.
F. Foran Hedlund; Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Dekker and Van De Vegt N.V., 1962],
77-78)