§11Sed ecce, inquiunt, uenit dominus et non tinxit. legimus enim: et tamen is non tinguebat, uerum discipuli eius. quasi reuera ipsum suis manibus tincturum Iohannes praedicasset.
"But behold," they say, "the Lord came and did not wash." For we read: "And yet He Himself did not wash, but His disciples." As if indeed John had preached that He Himself would wash with His own hands!
non utique sic intellegendum est, sed simpliciter dictum more communi, sicut est uerbi gratia: imperator proposuit edictum aut praefectus fustibus cecidit: numquid ipse proponit aut numquid ipse caedit? semper is dicitur facere, cui praeministratur.
It is certainly not to be understood in this way, but was said simply in the common manner, just as, for example: "the emperor proposed an edict," or "the prefect beat him with clubs"—does he himself propose it, or does he himself beat? He is always said to do it, for whom it is ministered.
ita erit accipiendum, ipse uos tinguet, pro eo quod est, per ipsum tinguemini uel in ipsum. sed ne moueat quosdam quod non ipse tinguebat.
Thus it will have to be accepted, "He Himself will wash you," in place of "by Him you are washed," or "into Him." But let it not trouble some that He Himself did not wash.
in quem enim tingueret? in paenitentiam? quo ergo illi praecursorem? in peccatorum remissionem, quam uerbo dabat? in semetipsum, quem humilitate celabat? in spiritum sanctum, qui nondum ad patrem ascenderat? in ecclesiam, quam nondum apostoli struxerant? itaque tinguebant discipuli eius ut ministri, ut Iohannes antepraecursor, eodem baptismo Iohannis, ne qui alio putet, quia nec exstat alius nisi postea Christi, qui tunc utique a discentibus dari non poterat, utpote nondum adimpleta gloria domini, nec instructa efficacia lauacri per passionem et resurrectionem, quia nec mors nostra dissolui posset nisi domini passione nec uita restitui sine resurrectione ipsius.
For into whom would He wash? Into repentance? To what purpose then a precursor for Him? Into remission of sins, which He was giving by His word? Into Himself, whom He was hiding in humility? Into the Holy Spirit, who had not yet ascended to the Father? Into the church, which the apostles had not yet built? Therefore His disciples were washing as ministers, as John the pre-precursor, with the same baptism of John, lest anyone should think it was another, since indeed there is no other except afterwards that of Christ, which at that time certainly could not be given by His disciples, inasmuch as the glory of the Lord was not yet fulfilled, nor the efficacy of the bath prepared through His passion and resurrection, since neither could our death be dissolved except by the passion of the Lord, nor life restored without His resurrection.
§12Cum uero praescribitur nemini sine baptismo competere salutem, ex illa maxime pronuntiatione domini qui ait: nisi natus ex aqua quis erit, non habet uitam, suboriuntur scrupulosi, immo temerarii retractatus quorundam, quomodo ex ista praescriptione apostolis salus competat, quos tinctos non inuenimus in domino praeter Paulum.
But when it is prescribed that salvation belongs to no one without baptism, especially from that pronouncement of the Lord who says: "Unless one is born of water, he does not have life," there arise scrupulous, or rather rash, reconsiderations of some, as to how, from this prescription, salvation belongs to the apostles, whom we do not find washed in the Lord except Paul.
immo cum Paulus solus ex illis baptismum Christi induerit, aut praeiudicatum esse de ceterorum periculo qui careant aqua Christi, ut praescriptio salua sit, aut rescindi praescriptionem, si etiam non tinctis salus statuta est.
Indeed, since Paul alone of them put on the baptism of Christ, either the danger of the rest who lack the water of Christ is pre-judged so that the prescription may remain safe, or the prescription is rescinded if salvation is established even for the unwashed.
audiui, domino teste, eiusmodi, ne quis me tam perditum existimet, ut ultro excogitem libidine stili, quae aliis scrupulum incutiant.
I have heard, with the Lord as my witness, things of this kind, lest anyone should think me so depraved as to devise voluntarily, out of a desire for writing, things that strike a scruple into others.
et nunc illis, ut potero, respondebo, qui negant apostolos tinctos.
And now I shall answer them, as well as I can, who deny that the apostles were washed.
nam si humanum Iohannis baptismum inierant et dominicum desiderabant, quatenus unum baptismum definierat ipse dominus dicens Petro perfundi uolenti: qui semel lauit, non habet necesse rursum, quod utique non tincto non omnino dixisset, et haec est probatio exerta aduersus illos qui adimunt apostolis etiam Iohannis baptismum, ut destruant aquae sacramentum.
For if they had entered upon the human baptism of John and were desiring the Lord's, inasmuch as the Lord Himself had defined one baptism, saying to Peter when he wished to be sprinkled: "He who has washed once has no need again," which indeed He would not have said at all to an unwashed person; and this is an open proof against those who take away from the apostles even the baptism of John, so that they may destroy the sacrament of water.
an credibile uideri potest in his personis uiam tunc domini non praeparatam id est baptismum Iohannis, quae ad uiam domini per totum orbem aperiendam destinabantur? ipse dominus nullius paenitentiae debitor tinctus est: peccatoribus non fuit necesse? quod ergo alii tincti non sunt, non tamen comites Christi, sed aemuli fidei, legis doctores et Pharisaei? unde et suggeritur, cum aduersantes domini tingui noluerint, eos qui dominum sequebantur tinctos fuisse nec cum aemulis suis sapuisse, maxime quando dominus, cui adhaerebant, testimonio Iohannem extulisset, nemo, dicens, maior inter natos feminarum Iohanne baptizatore. alii plane satis coacte iniciunt tunc apostolos baptismi uicem implesse, cum in nauicula fluctibus adspersi operti sunt; ipsum quoque Petrum per mare ingredientem satis mersum.
Or can it seem credible that in these persons the way of the Lord was not prepared at that time—that is, the baptism of John—who were destined to open the way of the Lord throughout the whole world? The Lord Himself, debtor to no repentance, was washed: was it not necessary for sinners? Why then were others not washed, yet they were not companions of Christ, but rivals of the faith, teachers of the law and Pharisees? Whence also it is suggested, since the adversaries of the Lord refused to be washed, that those who followed the Lord had been washed and did not side with their rivals, especially when the Lord, to whom they cleaved, had extolled John by testimony, saying, "No one is greater among those born of women than John the Baptist." Others clearly, quite forcedly, suggest that the apostles fulfilled the place of baptism at that time when they were sprinkled and covered with waves in the little ship; and that Peter himself also, walking through the sea, was sufficiently immersed.
ut opinor autem, aliud adspergi uel intercipi uiolentia maris, aliud tingui disciplina religionis.
But in my opinion, it is one thing to be sprinkled or cut off by the violence of the sea, and another to be washed in the discipline of religion.
ceterum nauicula illa figuram ecclesiae praeferebat, quod in mari id est saeculo fluctibus id est persecutionibus et temptationibus inquietatur, domino per patientiam uelut dormiente, donec orationibus sanctorum in ultimis suscitatus compescat saeculum et tranquillitatem suis reddat.
Moreover, that little ship represented a figure of the church, because in the sea—that is, the world—it is troubled by waves—that is, persecutions and temptations—while the Lord is as it were sleeping through patience, until, aroused by the prayers of the saints in the end, He restrains the world and restores tranquility to His own.
nunc siue tincti quoquo modo fuerunt siue illoti perseuerauerunt, ut et illud dictum domini de uno lauacro sub Petri persona ad nos tantummodo spectet, de salute tamen apostolorum satis temerarium est aestimare, quia illis uel primae adlectionis et exinde indiuiduae familiaritatis praerogatiua compendium baptismi conferre posset, cum illi, opinor, sequebantur illum qui credenti cuique salutem pollicebatur.
Now, whether they were washed in whatever way or remained unwashed, so that even that saying of the Lord about one washing under the person of Peter looks only to us, nevertheless concerning the salvation of the apostles it is quite rash to judge, because for them the prerogative of the first choice and from then on of inseparable familiarity could confer a shortcut to baptism, since they, I think, were following Him who was promising salvation to everyone who believed.
fides tua te, aiebat, saluum fecit, et, remittentur tibi peccata, credenti utique nec tamen tincto.
"Your faith," He would say, "has made you well," and "your sins are forgiven," surely to one who believed and yet was not washed.
id si apostolis defuit, nescio quorum fide uno uerbo domini suscitatus teloneum dereliquit, patrem et nauem et artem qua uitam sustentabat deseruit, patris exsequias despexit, summum illud domini praeceptum, qui patrem aut matrem mihi praetulerit, non est me dignus, ante perfecit quam audiuit.
If that was lacking to the apostles, I know not by whose faith [one], aroused by a single word of the Lord, left the tax office, deserted father and ship and the craft by which he sustained life, despised the funeral of his father, and fulfilled that supreme precept of the Lord, "He who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me," before he heard it.