Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Baptismal Regeneration in 2 Clement

  

Baptism

 

Baptism is called the seal (σφαγις); and this seal must be kept inviolate; ‘For of those who have not kept the seal he says: Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and he shall be a spectacle for all flesh’ (7, 6). ‘This therefore is what he says: Keep the flesh pure and the seal without sport that we may receive eternal life’ (8, 6). Pauline theology is here again in evidence. Cf. Eph. 4 and 2 Cor. 1, 21-22. (Johannes Quasten, Patrology, 4 vols. [Westminster, Md.: Christian Classics, Inc., 1992], 1:56)