§13Hic ergo scelestissimi illi prouocant quaestiones.
Here, therefore, those most wicked men provoke questions.
adeo dicunt: baptismus non est necessarius quibus fides satis est; nam et Abraham nullius aquae nisi fidei sacramento deo placuit. sed in omnibus posteriora concludunt et sequentia antecedentibus praeualent.
Indeed, they say: "Baptism is not necessary for those for whom faith is sufficient; for Abraham also pleased God by no sacrament of water but of faith alone." But in all things the later conclude, and the subsequent prevail over the antecedent.
fuerit salus retro per fidem nudam ante domini passionem et resurrectionem; at ubi fides aucta est credendi in natiuitatem passionem resurrectionemque eius, addita est ampliatio sacramento, obsignatio baptismi, uestimentum quodammodo fidei, quae retro erat nuda nec potest iam sine sua lege.
Granted that there was salvation in the past through bare faith before the passion and resurrection of the Lord; but when faith was increased by believing in His birth, passion, and resurrection, an addition was made to the sacrament, the sealing of baptism, a clothing as it were of faith, which before was bare and can no longer exist without its own law.
lex enim tinguendi imposita est et forma praescripta. .
For the law of washing was imposed and the form prescribed.
ite, inquit, docete nationes tinguentes eas in nomen Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. huic legi collata definitio illa, nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu, non intrabit in regnum caelorum, obstrinxit fidem ad baptismi necessitatem.
"Go," He says, "teach the nations, washing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." When to this law that definition was compared, "Unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," it bound faith to the necessity of baptism.
itaque omnes exinde credentes tinguebantur.
Therefore, all who believed from that time on were washed.
tunc et Paulus, ubi credidit, tinctus est.
Then Paul also, when he believed, was washed.
et hoc est quod et dominus in illa plaga orbationis praeceperat, exsurge, dicens, et introi Damascum, illic tibi demonstrabitur,. quid debeas agere, scilicet tingui, quod solum ei deerat.
And this is what the Lord had also commanded in that blow of blindness, saying: "Rise and enter Damascus; there it will be shown to you what you ought to do," namely, to be washed, which alone was lacking to him.
alioquin satis didicerat atque crediderat Nazarenum esse dominum dei filium.
Otherwise, he had sufficiently learned and believed that the Nazarene was the Lord, the Son of God.
§14Sed de ipso apostolo reuoluunt: quod dixerit: non enim me ad tinguendum Christus misit. quasi hoc argumento baptismus adimatur.
But concerning the apostle himself they argue repeatedly: because he said, "For Christ did not send me to wash." As if by this argument baptism were taken away!
cur enim tinxit Gaium et Crispum et Stephanae domum? quamquam etsi non eum miserat Christus ad tinguendum, tamen aliis apostolis praeceperat tinguere.
For why did he wash Gaius and Crispus and the household of Stephanas? Although even if Christ had not sent him to wash, yet He had commanded the other apostles to wash.
uerum haec pro condicione tunc temporis ad Corinthios scripta sunt, quoniam schismata et dissensiones inter illos mouebantur, dum alius Paulo deputat, alius Apollo.
But these things were written to the Corinthians according to the condition of that time, since schisms and dissensions were being stirred up among them, while one assigns himself to Paul, another to Apollos.
propter quod pacificus apostolus, ne sibi omnia defendere uideretur, non ad tinguendum ait se missum, sed ad praedicandum.
Because of which the peaceful apostle, lest he should seem to claim everything for himself, said that he was sent not to wash, but to preach.
nam et prius est praedicare, posterius tinguere.
For to preach is prior, and to wash is subsequent.
et prius praedicatum.
And preaching was done first.
puto autem, licuit et tinguere, cui licuit praedicare.
But I think it was permitted also to wash, for whom it was permitted to preach.
§15Nescio si quid amplius ad controuersiam baptismi uentilatur.
I know not if anything more is bandied about concerning the controversy of baptism.
sane retexam quod supra omisi, ne imminentes sensus uidear intercidere.
Surely I will reweave what I omitted above, lest I should seem to cut off the imminent senses.
unus omnino baptismus est nobis, tam ex domini euangelio quam ex apostoli litteris, quoniam unus deus et unum baptisma et una ecclesia in caelis.
There is absolutely one baptism for us, as much from the gospel of the Lord as from the epistles of the apostle, since there is one God and one baptism and one church in heaven.
sed circa haereticos sane quid custodiendum sit, digne quis retractet.
But concerning heretics, indeed, what should be observed, one might worthily reconsider.
ad nos enim editum est.
For it was published for us.
haeretici autem nullum habent consortium nostrae disciplinae, quos extraneos utique testatur ipsa ademptio communicationis.
But heretics have no share in our discipline, whom the very deprivation of communion witnesses to be outsiders.
non debeo in illis cognoscere quod mihi est praeceptum, quia non idem deus est nobis et illis, nec unus Christus, id est idem, ideoque nec baptismus unus, quia non idem; quem cum rite non habeant, sine dubio non habent, nec capit numerari quod non habetur; ita nec possunt accipere, quia non habent.
I ought not to recognize in them what is commanded to me, because we and they do not have the same God, nor is there one Christ—that is, the same—and therefore not one baptism, because it is not the same; since they do not have it rightly, without doubt they do not have it, nor can that which is not possessed be counted; thus they cannot receive it, because they do not have it.
sed de isto plenius iam nobis in Graeco digestum est.
But concerning this a fuller discussion has already been digested by us in Greek.
semel ergo lauacrum inimus, semel delicta diluuntur, quia ea iterari non oportet.
Therefore, we enter the bath once, once are sins washed away, because they ought not to be repeated.
ceterum Israel Iudaeus quotidie lauat, quia quotidie inquinatur.
But Israel the Jew washes daily, because he is daily defiled.
quod ne in nobis quoque factitaretur, propterea de uno lauacro definitum est.
Lest this should be practiced among us also, for this reason it was defined concerning one bath.
felix aqua, quae semel abluit, quae ludibrio peccatoribus non est, quae non adsiduitate sordium infecta rursus quos diluit inquinat.
Happy water, which washes once, which is not a mockery for sinners, which, not infected by the constancy of filth, defiles again those whom it washed.
§16Est quidem nobis etiam secundum lauacrum, unum et ipsum, sanguinis scilicet, de quo dominus, habeo, inquit, baptismo tingui, cum iam tinctus fuisset.
There is indeed for us also a second washing, one and the same, namely of blood, concerning which the Lord says: "I have a baptism to be washed with," although He had already been washed.
uenerat enim per aquam et sanguinem, sicut Iohannes scripsit, ut aqua tingueretur, sanguine glorificaretur, perinde nos faceret aqua uocatos, sanguine electos.
For He had come through water and blood, as John wrote, that He might be washed with water, glorified with blood, to make us likewise called by water, chosen by blood.
hos duos baptismos de uulnere perfossi lateris emisit, quatenus qui in sanguinem eius crederent, aqua lauarentur, qui aqua lauissent, etiam sanguinem portarent.
These two baptisms He sent forth from the wound of His pierced side, so that those who believed in His blood might be washed with water, and those who had washed with water might also bear blood.
hic est baptismus qui lauacrum et non acceptum repraesentat et perditum reddit.
This is the baptism which both represents the washing when not received and restores it when lost.