Theodoret of Cyrus (393-457) Teaching Baptismal Regeneration in his Commentaries on Jeremiah and Ezekiel

  

Jer 31:34 (LXX: 38:34):

 

They will no longer teach one another, each one their neighbor and each one their brother, saying, Know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them (v. 34). The future life achieves the fulfilment of these words: in it we shall no longer need instruction from one another, things being patently obvious, sufferings at an end, bodies incorrupt, souls immune to change. Now it is customary with the divine Scriptures to mix the prophecies together: it connects those about the recall with those about the captivity, and the Lord in the sacred Gospels cites at the one time the sayings about Jerusalem and those about the consummation. Because I shall be merciful to their iniquities, and shall no longer remember their sins. The grace of all-holy baptism grants this favor: after forgiveness, he does not remember the former sins. (Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentaries on the Prophets, 2 vols. [trans. Robert Charles Hill; Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006], 1:117-18, emphasis in bold added)

 

 

Ezek 36:25:

 

The blasphemy will be canceled though your being saved, which will demonstrate my power; learning how my name is great and sufficient for the assistance of my own, they will glorify and sing the praises of my lordship. He indicated as much, in fact, by saying, The nations will know that I am the Lord God when I am sanctified in you before their eyes. I shall take you from the nations, and gather you from all the races, and I shall bring you into your land (vv. 23-24).

 

While this applies to all who returned, since those wanting to return were granted the right of return, what follows applies not to everyone but only to those choosing to believe in the Gospel. He says, in fact, I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed of all your uncleanness, and I shall cleanse you of all your idols (v. 25). By clean water he referred to the water of rebirth, in which we are baptized and receive the forgiveness of sins. (Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentaries on the Prophets, 2 vols. [trans. Robert Charles Hill; Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006], 2:242, emphasis in bold added)

 

As Robert Charles Hill, the translator, noted about Theodoret reading baptismal regeneration into various Old Testament texts:

 

The bishop can always find a baptismal reference in a text. (1:220 n. 15)

 

Theodoret is simply reflecting the unanimous consent of the earliest Christians on water baptismal regeneration.

Examples of "Non-Calvinistic" Interpretations of Passages in Theodoret of Cyrus's (393-457) Commentary on Jeremiah

  

Jer 1:4-5:

 

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you left the womb I consecrated you (vv. 4-5). The election was not without basis: knowledge preceded it. He had knowledge, note, and then he consecrated; for he knows everything before its coming to be. (Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentaries on the Prophets, 2 vols. [trans. Robert Charles Hill; Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006], 1:23)

 

 

Jer 18:7-8:

 

Do not despair of salvation, he is saying: even if I condemn a nation and threaten ultimate punishment, I extend mercy. On the other hand, if I promise an abundance of good things, but they scorn me and embrace wickedness, I shall not fulfill the promise of good things. Knowing this, then, do not despair of better things, but apply repentance and reap salvation. (Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentaries on the Prophets, 2 vols. [trans. Robert Charles Hill; Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006], 1:85)

 

Matthew J. Grey and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel on the Use of εγω ειμι in John 18:6

  

Jesus’s simple response, “I am he,” is more theologically loaded than the King James Version suggests. First, note that “he” is italicized. In the King James Bible, words that were added by the translators but that are not found in the original Greek manuscripts are placed in italics. These added words were meant to make the translation more readable when it was difficult to find a corollary word in English. To ensure that the reader knows that these words were not in the original manuscripts, they are printed in italics.

 

While in some instances this type of clarification is helpful, in others it can obscure the intended nuances of the Greek text. In the case of Jesus’s utterance in the garden, removing the italicized word renders Jesus’s response as “I AM” (Greek: ego-eimi). Therefore, Jesus’s response is not merely an indication that he is the one the arresting party is looking for; rather it is a declaration of the divine name of God from the Old Testament. For instance, the story of Moses’s encounter with God at the burning bush reads: “Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me not you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:13-14).

 

In uttering the name I AM, therefore, Jesus seems to be referring to himself as the God who appeared to Moses and who desires the full trust of his people. Jesus applied this same name to himself earlier in John’s Gospel (see, for example, John 8:58), and in this moment in the garden, he applies it to himself again. To heighten the impact o this declaration during Jesus’s arrest, John notes that the large, armed party of Roman soldiers and Jewish temple police all step backward and fall to the ground in response (see John 18:6; cf. Psalms 27:2; 35:4). In doing so, John describes Jesus’s adversaries as falling to the ground in the garden, rather than Jesus falling to the ground as recorded in the Gethsemane narratives of Mark and Matthew.

 

These details in John’s Gospel suggest that Jesus, as God, has power over the forces of darkness that have come out to arrest him in the middle of the night with torches. His statement of “I AM” reinforces the idea that Jesus could not have been arrested unless he permitted it. That belief is further substantiated by Jesus when he later stands before Pilate and says: “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:11). In these remarkable ways, John’s account of Jesus’s final night replaces the synoptic emphasis on Jesus’s suffering in Gethsemane with an emphasis on Jesus’s revelation of his divine identity in the garden. (Matthew J. Grey and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, A Place Called Gethsemane: Seeing the New Testament Story and Site in Its First-Century Context [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2025], 58-59)

 

The TRUTH About Eucharistic Miracles? A Catholic Chemist Investigates (w/ Dr. Stacy Trasancos)

 

The TRUTH About Eucharistic Miracles? A Catholic Chemist Investigates (w/ Dr. Stacy Trasancos)

Trasancos is a Catholic, but, unlike some, not obsessed with prepubescent children, unlike some people . . . 

The Salvation and "Baptism" of Old Testament-Era Saints in "Greek Fragments: Abū Qurrah Was Questioned by an Unbeliever"

  

Unbeliever: Christ declared, “Whoever has not been begotten of water and Spirit will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” What of the righteous who lived before his coming and were not baptized? How can they enter it?

 

Christian: Christ was baptized for them, even as he died for all. It is as he said, “I sanctify myself for them.” At the same time, they too were baptized in a bodily manner.

 

Unbeliever: How can this be?

 

Christian: Don’t you know that those who die are not completely destroyed? Rather, they are dissolved into their composite elements.

 

Unbeliever: That’s true.

 

Christian: It is written that when he was pierced in the side by the lance, water and blood flowed from his side.

 

Unbeliever: Indeed.

 

Christian: Accordingly, when that water was dissolved into the elements, he sanctified all things and baptized those who had been dispersed and dissolved into the elements.

 

Unbeliever: On this account, unbelievers and absolutely all who died before his coming were baptized.

 

Christian: Not at all. Rather, only the bodies of believers, whose souls had faith in Christ when he (that is, his holy soul) descended into hell. Here’s an analogy. Imagine an aqueduct or river of fresh water, one with many trees planted along its banks. Some of these trees are dead and totally desiccated; others are still alive. What do you think? When the water touches them, will all the trees benefit by drawing up water and life, or only those with the ability to receive or attract it? Those that are completely dry will benefit not in the least from the water. In the same way, unbelievers will benefit not in the least from the dissolution of that water into the elements. (“Greek Fragments: Abū Qurrah Was Questioned by an Unbeliever,” in Theodore Abū Qurrah [trans. John C. Lamoreaux; Brigham Young University Middle Eastern Texts Initiative; Library of the Christian East 1; Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005], 254)

 

Witnesses Of The Resurrection Compared to Book of Mormon Witnesses

 

Witnesses Of The Resurrection Compared to Book of Mormon Witnesses

Harriet Jane Osborn’s Patriarchal Blessing from 1882 and "war [being] poured out upon all generations" in the Then-Future

 David Osborn (1807-1893), in his journal for September 6, 1882, recording his daughter’s patriarchal blessing:

 

While I was at Montpelier, Jane gave me a Patriarchal Blessing she received last spring, which I will here record for safe keeping, by Thos. R. McCaxin.

 

Sister Harriet J., in the name of Jesus of Nasareth, I place my hands upon thy head to bless you with a father's blessing. The heavens shall be opened to you and thou shalt converse with Angels and with the Church of the First Born, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon thee and it will lead thee into all truth. Thou shall receive much valuable information concerning the Genealogies of the dead, for thy lineage is of Joseph and thou shall go into the Temple of the Lord and receive thy washings and annointings, and shall represent thy Father's and Mother's House in the interests of humanity until thou art satisfied; for they have heard of thy privilege in as much as it is a Dispensation of building Temples, that thou wouldst remember them. And thou should go into the Sisters meeting and bear thy testimony of the goodness of God. And thou shalt pray in secret and be rewarded openly. And thou shalt have the gift of discernment, and have power over foul spirits, to rebuke them. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon thee. And thy mind shall be enlightened by its blessed influence. And thou shalt be able to discern thy cunning of Satan. Thy name shall be had in honorable remembrance among the Daughters of Israel, and shall be handed down from generation to generation, in as much as thou wilt seek unto the Lord and observe his commandments. Thou shalt see many signs of the coming of thy Redeemer. Thou shalt see many hearts fail them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth. Thou shalt see the Heavens clothed with blackness and war poured out upon all generations. Thou shalt see signs in the Sun and in the Moon. Thou shalt see Israel returned from the North where they have been hid up for a long time bringing with them the Records of Jesus, and an account of God's dealings with them. And thou shalt see the Lamanites become a white and delightsome people, and turn unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. And thou shalt teach thy children the ways of the Lord, and plant in their minds the Standard of Truth, and the time worn ages of Eternity will not obliterate it. I seal these Blessings upon Thee through thy faithfulness and I seal thee up to come forth in the morning of the first Resurrection, and against the powers of the destroyer. Amen. (David Osborn, Journal, September 6, 1882, in Personal Journal of David Osborn, c. 1964, [69], emphasis in bold added, Church History Library, MS 23445, copy in my possession)

 

Harriet Jane received her patriarchal blessing 18 years after the end of the U.S. Civil War. However, the patriarchal blessing uses the language of war being poured out at a then-future time (cf. D&C 87:2). This indicates that Latter-day Saints did not interpret D&C 87 to speak of one then-future war (i.e., the U.S. Civil War) that would spread all over the world (a criticism some critics raise against D&C 87).

 

Further Reading:

 

Resources on Joseph Smith’s Prophecies