Monday, November 7, 2022

Baptismal Regeneration in "Adversus Arium" by Gaius Marius Victorinus (290-364)

The following are excerpts from Adversus Arium where Victorinus teaches baptismal regeneration. The Latin comes from:

 

Marii Victorini Opera, Pars I: Opera Theologica (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum Editum Consilio Et Impensis Academiae Scientiarum Austricae LXXXIII, Pars 1; Vindobonae: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1971)

 

The translation of the Latin will be in blue and comes from Marius Victorinus, Theological Treatises on the Trinity (trans. Mary T. Clark; The Fathers of the Church 69; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1981)

 

Adversus Arium I.17:

 

Totius mysterii virtus in baptismo est, eius potentia in accipiendo spiritu, utique spiritu sancto. Hoc si its est dictum est: vos in spiritu estis, utique quem sanctus spiritus dedict vobit. (pp. 79-80)

 

The whole force of the mystery is in Baptism, his power in the receiving of the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit. Since this is so, it was said: "You are in the Spirit," that is, what whom the Holy Spirit gave you. (p. 112)

 

Adversus Arium I.20:

 

Eamus vero ad alia. Quod in Christo creatura sed non una-sunt enim creaturae test: una quidem cum creata sunt omnia per Christum; secunda creatura nostra in Christo secundum baptismum, sed in Christo; et alia in Christo commutatio fit--unde si qua in Christo nova creatura dictum est. Quod antequam esset Christus in carna: qui peccatum non noverat, pro nobis peccatum fecit; quod fuit tempus in quo peccatum non noverat, antequam esset in carne. (p. 88)

 

Let us indeed  pass to other texts. That in Christ is the creation but not one creation. For there are three creations: one indeed when all things are created through Christ; the second creation is our own in Christ according to baptism, but in Christ; and there was another transformation in Christ; whence it was said: "If any man is in Christ he is a new creation." That Christ existed before he was in the flesh: "He who did not know sin, he was made sin for us;" because there was a time in which he did not know sin, before he was in the flesh. (pp. 119-20)

 

Adversus Arium III.16:

 

Dictum ergo in actis apostolorum: Iohannes baptizavit aqua. Vos autem spiritu sancto tinguemini, quod superfudit se illis ad scientam. Nam iam sanctificati fuerant baptismo, invocato deo. Christo, spiritu sancto. Etenim sic dictum est: sanctifica eso in veritate. Et veritas Christus est, paraclitus etiam spiritus est veritatis. Ergo onmis qui baptizatur et credere se dicit et fidem accipit, spiritum accipit veritatis, id est spiritum sanctum, fitque sanctior ab spiritu sancto. Et ideo dictum in actis apostolur: sed accipietis virtutem, adveniente in vos spiritu sancto, non ad sanctificationem, sed scientiam, et ad ea quae promisit in evangelio Christus, de spiritu sancto, id est de paraclito. (p. 220)

 

Therefore it was said in the Acts of the Apostles: "John baptized with water. But you, you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit," because he pours himself out on them to bring them knowledge. For they have been already sanctified by baptism, under the invocation of God, of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. And indeed this was thus expressed: "Sanctify them in truth." and the truth in Christ; the Paraclete is also the Spirit of truth. Therefore, everyone who is baptized and says that he believes and receives faith, receives the Spirit of truth, that is, the Holy Spirit, and is made holier by the Holy Spirit. And for that reason it was said in the Acts of the Apostles: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you," not for sanctification but for knowledge, and for those things which Christ promised, in the Gospel, concerning the Holy Spirit, that is, concerning the Paraclete. (p. 248)