Monday, February 16, 2015

Irenaeus on Baptism in 180CE

Man, with respect to that formation which was after Adam, having fallen into transgression, needed the bath of regeneration. Therefore, the Lord said to [the blind man] after He had smeared his eyes with the clay, “Go to Siloam and wash.” By this means, He restored to him both confirmation and that regeneration that takes place by means of the bath. …


[Scripture] says, “And he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan.” It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from Leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized. Rather, this was a symbol for us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean from our old transgressions by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord. We are spiritually regenerated as newborn babies, just as the Lord has declared: “Unless a man is born again through water and the Spirit, he will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

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