Explain Christian
initiation of baptism as a “rebirth” (Jn 3). Compare this interpretation with
Paul’s view on the ritual of Christian baptism in which we “go into the tomb
with Jesus and join him in death so that we might live a new life” (Rom 6: 4).
Baptism[1]
Christian
life begins with Baptism. It is a new birth, a re-birth. The explicit command
of the Lord is in Mt 28:19ff. Baptism blots out original sin and our personal
sins. It gives us adoptive sonship and priestly status. What happens at baptism
is explained by our Lord himself in his conversation with Nicodemus (Jn
3:1-10). It is a new form of existence in which divinity and humanity are
engaged.
The
divine-human engagement in baptism is explained in concrete terms through two
views.
- Baptism as a rebirth (new birth) following the Johannine view:
"Jesus answered him (Nicodemus): 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can
see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.'" (Jn 3:3)
- Baptism as 'death, burial, and resurrection' in line with the
Pauline teaching: "Do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Rom 6:3)
In
the vision of baptism as rebirth, Christ's baptism in Jordan is considered as
the source and fountainhead of Christian baptism. In the vision of baptism as
death and resurrection, Christ's own death and resurrection are seen as the
source and power of Christian baptism.
The two
views of Baptism
(i)
Baptism as 'Rebirth' in the Johannine Perspective (Jn 3:1-10): At each Christian baptism, the sanctified water of
Jordan extends its sanctification at the blessing of the water in the baptismal
font. It is the Holy Spirit who effects this sanctification by bringing
together in sacred time each Christian in baptism with Christ's baptism. Ephrem
considers that Christ has been baptized in the womb of Jordan. Hence, that
institution of baptism itself became a 'womb' that gives birth to Christians at
their baptism. Baptism is a 'spiritual womb' for humanity. Christ dwelt in the virgin's
womb and then became baptized in the Jordan in order to sanctify for us the
womb of waters that regenerate us in life. The womb of the baptismal font is
contrasted with the womb of Eve. The womb of Eve produced children who are
mortal and corruptible. But the womb of water produces children who are
heavenly, spiritual, and immortal. In this perspective, baptism is described as
a 'spiritual womb' or 'the new and spiritual mother' who gives birth
spiritually.
(ii)
Baptism as 'Death and Resurrection' in the Pauline Perspective (Rom 6:3-5): In various
baptismal commentaries, the threefold immersion in the font is associated with
the three days, which Christ spent in the tomb. The font is the tomb of Christ.
The person going down into the water is going down into a grave. Baptism
represents a death to sin and to 'the old man', and the rising up from the font
represents the resurrection of Christ and resurrection of each Christian. The
Johannine and Pauline views on baptism have to be combined. One of the biblical
episodes and images for this is the pierced side of Christ (Jn 19:34). This
episode gives a very rich network of typological interpretations with rich
implications for Baptism, Eucharist, and the Church in the history of
salvation.
The
pierced side of Christ, and the blood and water that flowed from His side (Jn
19:34): water signifies: baptism and blood signifies: Eucharist. Through the
sacrament of Baptism, we are proclaiming that we are children of God. We also
need nutrition from time to time, given by other sacraments like the Eucharist.
Cyril says that the two
symbols are connected in baptism. The death and resurrection of Christ are
somehow present in baptism. The symbol of the candidate’s sharing in the death
of Christ was his immersion in the water-tomb. The symbol of the candidate’s
sharing in the resurrection of Christ is his emersion from the water-tomb.
First the candidate’s death is symbolized, in relationship to Christ’s death:
he is buried as Christ was buried. Then the candidate’s resurrection is
symbolized: he arises from his death as Christ rose. But to this second place
of the symbolism, rising from the font as symbol of rising with Christ,
something additional enters in order to explain symbolically what this rising
means, and this something additional is precisely the symbol of new birth, new
life, which is necessary to describe the mysterious phenomenon of baptism as
new life, a phenomenon accessible only to the eyes of faith. The water-tomb now
becomes the water-womb.
St. Ambrose takes the Pauline
theology that Christ receives His full prerogatives as Son of God at His
resurrection, that, this, therefore is Christ’s “birth” as Son of God, and he
uses it as point of departure for the mystagogy of baptism as second birth.
Since the christian shares in christ’s resurrection, he also shares in christ’s
“birth” as Son of God, since this is what the resurrection is. And he hears God
say also to him, as He said to Jesus: “You are my Son, this day have i begotten
you.” The water of baptism is a fitting element for the new, supernatural
re-creation, effected through God’s word.
A second application of the
idea of regeneration to the baptismal act is the implication that the baptismal
font is womb, which is capable of producing a supernatural birth. Ambrose
combines the fact of the blessing of the font upon which the Holy Spirit comes,
with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the womb of the Virgin Mary. In both
cases a miraculous generation takes place. In the baptismal font a process in
which the mortal man is transformed and an immortal being is the result that
takes place and is brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit.
For Theodore, baptism itself
is a second birth, but in hope and containing really the potentialities which
will be actualised at the resurrection, when the real second birth takes place.
In Paul, being baptised “into
Christ Jesus” means, a re-enactment for the believer of what once happened to
our Lord. The convert is plunged in the water: that means dying with Christ; he
remains there for a moment under the surface: that means being buried with him;
he emerges from the water: that means being raised up with him. Thus the
physical actions involved in baptism have no meaning unless they signify that
the man who has submitted to the rite has thereby died to sin and must
henceforth walk “in newness of life.” This means that God who raised Jesus can,
with him “raise” also the man, who has been baptised into Christ and give him
the power to live a new sort of moral life. This new moral life of the believer
is as it were an extension of the risen life of the Redeemer.
Baptism as a
“rebirth” in Jn 3
The theology of
baptism in the gospel of John can be seen in the passage about Jesus and
Nicodemus. Here John talks about being born from above. Nicodemus, a Jew leader
comes to Jesus because he believed in him from the signs he performs. It is
said that he came at night which means from darkness to light. This is to show
the growth of the faith of Nicodemus who became Jesus’ disciple. “No one can
see the reign of God unless a man is begotten from above.” And Jesus will
explain this in verse five: “being begotten from above means begotten from
water and spirit”. His explanation shows that the media of water and spirit is
not of human realm, but of God. It does not mean a physical birth from a man
and a woman action but from water and spirit, from God. It is a spiritual
birth, a rebirth in the new life of Christ. It is not a literal translation of
the Greek word “anothen” which means again or a second time, it means from
above or from God. Water is the
externalization of God’s action and the spirit is the internalization of God’s
action.
The important thing
in this conversation is the aspect of operating a change in a man’s inner life
that could only be described as a new birth. To be born anew is to undergo such
a radical change that is like a rebirth; it s to have something happen to the
soul which can only be described as being born all over again; and the whole
process is not a human achievement, because
it comes from the grace and the power of God.
This idea is an
important explanation of the Christian initiation of baptism as a “rebirth” in
the sense that, when this happen we are born of water and the spirit. There are
two thoughts there which clarify baptism as a “rebirth”: Water is the symbol of
cleansing when Jesus takes possession of our lives, the sins of the past are
forgiven and forgotten. The spirit is the symbol of power. When Jesus takes
possession of our lives, it is not only that the past sins are forgiven and
forgotten, but also and especially into life there enters a new power which
enables us to be what by ourselves we could never be and to do what by
ourselves we could never do. Water and spirit stand for the cleansing and the
strengthening power of Christ which wipes out the past, give victory in the
future and incorporates us in his body, the Church.
Theology of
Baptism according to Paul:
Paul’s
view on the ritual of Christian baptism is that we “go into the tomb with Jesus
and join him in death so that we might live a new life” (Rom 6: 4). The aspect of Christ’s
death-resurrection helps to explain a striking feature of Saint Paul’s doctrine
on baptism. For him sacramental death marks the point of departure for an altogether
new life, in which the Christian ever remains “dead to sin, but alive to God.”
This is possible only because in baptism, the Christian shares the very spirit
of Christ which dwells forever in the new member of Christ.
Saint Paul talks of being baptized
in Christ which means putting on Christ, newness of life, getting into Christ.
The conception of sin for Paul is that sin corrupts and destroys the body. For
him, baptism means to be cleansed in the blood of Christ or to die with him in
order to get a new life in God. We have to notice that Paul, giving the meaning
of baptism is defending the incorporation of the Gentiles into the Church with
the issue of circumcision and justification in Phil 3, of the Jewish law and the
law of Christ. The specifically Pauline understanding of baptism results from
the fact that the apostle calls special attention to those assertions
concerning justification. Rejecting the law of circumcision imposed of the
Gentile, Paul emphasizes that those who are baptized obtain in baptism a share
in the effect of the death of Christ; that they are sanctified through him and
obtain membership in the community. The baptized are crucified together with
Christ, and buried with him to the extent that the spirit of the living Christ
takes possession of them so that, as Paul formatively says, they now live in
Christ.
Baptism, therefore, is a union which
takes place between Christ and the baptized. This union is so vital and
intimates that Christ who died and rose again as corporate personality is able
to share with his member the salvific effects of his death and resurrection.
Thus through union with Christ the Christian is freed from subjection to the
Law from the shackles of the “body of sin”, from servile obedience to the
world, from the death of sin.
All
both Jews and Gentiles have reached the goal; faith and baptism have so
intimately united them to Christ that they are truly sons of God objects of his
full favor just like Christ himself. This union abolishes all national and
racial distinctions. Once a man is united to Christ, he takes on the
characteristics and personality of a son of God; no matter what may be his race
or status, all such distinctions vanish
Paul
stresses on the role of faith in man’s share in the Christ-event is adequately
understood only when it is linked to his teaching about Baptism. The Baptism
incorporates man in Christ and the Church. Paul teaches that the condition of
Christians as “sons of God through faith” is due to their baptism into Christ.
Human being attains salvation by identification with a salvific community by
incorporation into the “body of Christ”. Through baptism we all become mature
in Christ. Baptism in Christ removes social tensions; Jew and Greek, slave or free,
male or female, circumcised or uncircumcised.
[1] Thomas
Kollamparambil, CMI, “Christian Life and Sacraments”, in <http://www.syromalabar.com/the-church/sacraments/seven-sacraments/dvk-baptism.htm> , (accessed on 11 April 2011).
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