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.
