I will also explain the manner in
which we dedicated ourselves to God when we were made new through Christ, since
if we left this out in our exposition we would seem to falsify something. As many
as are persuaded and believe that the things we teach and say are true, and
undertake to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and ask God with fasting
for the remission of their past sins, while we pray and fast with them. Then
they are brought by us where there is water, and are born again in the same
manner of rebirth by which we ourselves were born again, for they then receive
washing in water in the name of God the Father and Master of all, and of our
Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. For Christ also said, “Except you
are born again, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” (Justin Martyr,
St. Justin Martyr: The First and Second Apologies (trans. Leslie William
Barnard; Ancient Christian Writers 56; Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1997], 66)
The
Greek of the above passage reads thusly:
Ὃν τρόπον δὲ καὶ ἀνεθήκαμεν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ
θεῷ καινοποιηθέντες διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐξηγησόμεθα, ὅπως μὴ τοῦτο παραλιπόντες
δόξωμεν πονηρεύειν τι ἐν τῇ ἐξηγήσει. Ὅσοι ἂν πεισθῶσι καὶ πιστεύωσιν ἀληθῆ ταῦτα
τὰ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν διδασκόμενα καὶ λεγόμενα εἶναι, καὶ βιοῦν* οὕτως δύνασθαι ὑπισχνῶνται,
εὔχεσθαί τε καὶ αἰτεῖν νηστεύοντες παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν προημαρτημένων ἄφεσιν
διδάσκονται, ἡμῶν συνευχομένων καὶ συννηστευόντων αὐτοῖς. Ἔπειτα ἄγονται ὑφʼ ἡμῶν
ἔνθα ὕδωρ ἐστί, καὶ τρόπον ἀναγεννήσεως, ὃν καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ ἀνεγεννήθημεν, ἀναγεννῶνται·
ἐπʼ ὀνόματος γὰρ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ὅλων καὶ δεσπότου θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου τὸ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι τότε λουτρὸν ποιοῦνται. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ
Χριστὸς εἶπεν· Ἂν μὴ ἀναγεννηθῆτε, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.
(Justin Martyr, The Apologies of Justin Martyr, to Which Is Appended the
Epistle to Diognetus [New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1877], 57)
