That the need of water is absolute and indispensable (ἀναγκαία καὶ ἀπαραίτητος),
you may learn in this way. On one occasion, when the Spirit had flown down
before the water was applied, the Apostle did not stay at this point, but, as
though the water were necessary and not superfluous, observe what he says; “Can
any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received
the Holy Ghost as well as we?” (Acts 10:47.)
What then is the use of the water? This too I will tell you hereafter,
when I reveal to you the hidden mystery. There are also other points of
mystical teaching connected with the matter, but for the present I will mention
to you one out of many. What is this one? In Baptism are fulfilled the pledges
of our covenant with God (θεῖα τελεῖται ἐν αὐτῷ σύμβολα. So in Euseb. Hist.
Ecc. x. 3. Baptism is said to be σωτηρίου πάθους ἀπόῤῥητα σύμβολα. See also
Rufinus. de Constant. 9. 9); burial and death, resurrection and life; and these
take place all at once. For when we immerse our heads in the water, the old man
is buried as in a tomb below, and wholly sunk forever; then as we raise them
again, the new man rises in its stead (πάλιν). As it is easy for us to dip and
to lift our heads again, so it is easy for God to bury the old man, and to show
forth the new. And this is done thrice, that you may learn that the power of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost fulfilleth all this. To show that what
we say is no conjecture, hear Paul saying, “We are buried with Him by Baptism
into death”: and again, “Our old man is crucified with Him”: and again, “We
have been planted together in the likeness of His death.” (Rom. 6:4, 5, 6.) And
not only is Baptism called a “cross,” but the “cross” is called “Baptism.”
“With the Baptism,” saith Christ, “that I am baptized withal shall ye be
baptized” (Mark 10:39): and, “I have a Baptism to be baptized with” (Luke
12:50) (which ye know not); for as we easily dip and lift our heads again, so
He also easily died and rose again when He willed or rather much more easily,
though He tarried the three days for the dispensation of a certain mystery.
(John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 25.2 [NPNF1
14:89])
