Early Church on Baptismal Regeneration

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38.

Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Acts 22:16.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal. 3:27.

According to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Tit. 3:5.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb. 10:22.

There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God). 1 Pet. 3:21.

Concerning the water, indeed, it is written, in reference to the Israelites, that they should not receive that baptism which leads to the remission of sins, but should procure another for themselves. Barnabas (c. 70–130, E), 1.144.

Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross, have gone down into the water. . . . We indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement. However, we come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and the trust in Jesus in our spirit. Barnabas (c. 70–130, E), 1.144.

He was born and baptized so that by His passion He could purify the water. Ignatius (c. 105, E), 1.57.

I heard, sir, some teachers maintain that there is no other repentance than that which takes place, when we descended into the water and received remission of our former sins. Hermas (c. 150, W), 2.22.

Before a man bears the name of the Son of God, he is dead. But when he receives the seal, he lays aside his deadness and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water. They descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. Hermas (c. 150, W), 2.49.

At our birth, we were born without our own knowledge or choice, but by our parents coming together. . . . In order that we may not remain the children of necessity and of ignorance, but may become the children of choice and knowledge, and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed, there is pronounced over him who chooses to be born again, and has repented of his sins, the name of God the Father and Lord of the universe. . . . And in the name of Jesus Christ . . . and in the name of the Holy Spirit. Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.183.

This washing of repentance and knowledge of God has been ordained on account of the transgression of God’s people, as Isaiah cries. Accordingly, we have believed and testify that the very baptism which he announced is alone able to purify those who have repented. And this is the water of life. . . . For what is the use of that baptism which cleanses only the flesh and body? Baptize the soul from wrath and from covetousness, from envy, and from hatred. Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.201.

We who have approached God through Him have received, not carnal, but spiritual circumcision, which Enoch and those like him observed. And we have received it through baptism by God’s mercy, since we were sinners. And all men alike may obtain it. Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.216.

But there is no other [way] than this: to become acquainted with this Christ; to be washed in the fountain spoken of by Isaiah for the remission of sins; and for the rest, to live sinless lives. Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.217.

Christ has redeemed us by being crucified on the tree and by purifying us with water. Justin Martyr (c. 160, E), 1.242.

The things proceeding from the waters were blessed by God, that this also could be a sign of men being destined to receive repentance and remission of sins, through the water and bath of regeneration—as many as come to the truth and are born again. Theophilus (c. 180, E), 2.101.

When we come to refute them [the Gnostics], we will show in its proper place that this class of men have been instigated by Satan to a denial of that baptism which is regeneration to God. Thus, they have renounced the whole faith. . . . For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/ W), 1.346.

But there are some of them [Gnostics] who assert that it is unnecessary to bring persons to the water. Rather, they mix oil and water together, and they place this mixture on the heads of those who are to be initiated. . . . This they maintain to be the redemption. . . . Other [heretics], however, reject all these practices, and maintain that the mystery of the unspeakable and invisible power should not be performed by visible and corruptible creatures. . . .These claim that the knowledge of the unspeakable Greatness is itself perfect redemption. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.346.

When [do we bear] the image of the heavenly? Doubtless when he says, “You have been washed,” believing in the name of the Lord, and receiving His Spirit. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.537.

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. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.543.

[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 babes, 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.” Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.574.

Being baptized, we are illuminated. Illuminated, we become sons. . . . This work is variously called grace, illumination, perfection, and washing. Washing, by which we cleanse away our sins. Grace, by which the penalties accruing to transgressions are remitted. Illumination, by which that holy light of salvation is beheld, that is, by which we see God clearly. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.215.

If He was perfect, why was He, the perfect one, baptized? It was necessary, they say, to fulfill the profession that pertained to humanity. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.215.

Straightway, on our regeneration, we attained that perfection after which we aspired. For we were illuminated, which is to know God. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.215.

And he who has just been regenerated—as the name necessarily indicates and has been enlightened, is immediately delivered from darkness, and instantly receives the light. . . . Thus also, we who are baptized, having wiped off the sins that obscure the light of the Divine Spirit, have the eye of the spirit free, unimpeded, and full of light, by which alone we contemplate the Divine, the Holy Spirit flowing down to us from above. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.216.

Our transgressions were taken away by one Poeonian medicine, the baptism of the Word. We are washed from all our sins, and are no longer entangled in evil. This is the one grace of illumination, that our characters are not the same as before our washing. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.216, 217.

In the same way, therefore, we also repent of our sins, renounce our iniquities, and are purified by baptism. Thereby, we speed back to the eternal light as children of the Father. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.217.

The union of the Logos with baptism is like the agreement of milk with water. For, of all liquids, milk alone receives water. It allows itself to be mixed with water for the purpose of cleansing—just as baptism does for the remission of sins. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.222.

John prophesied up until the baptism of salvation. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.331.

This is what was said, “unless you are converted and become as children” [Matt. 18:3]. That is, unless you become pure in flesh and holy in soul by refraining from evil deeds. This shows that He would have us to be such, as also He generated us from our mother—the water. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.439.

The three days may represent the mystery of the seal [i.e., baptism], in which God is really believed. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.462.

The sins committed before faith are accordingly forgiven by the Lord—not that they may be undone, but as if they had not been done. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.437.

We were drawn out from the calamities of this world in which we were tarrying, perishing with thirst. We were revived by “drinking” . . . of the baptismal water. Tertullian (c. 197, W), 3.170.

Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life. . . . We, like little fishes, after the example of our ichthus, Jesus Christ, are born in water. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.669.

Oh, miserable unbelief that denies to God His own properties, simplicity, and power! What then? Is it not wonderful, too, that death should be washed away by washing? Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.669.

We nevertheless proceed to address this question, “How foolish and impossible it is to be formed anew by water! Pray tell, in what respect has this material substance merited a position of such high dignity?” . . . [TERTULLIAN’S ANSWER:] Water was the first to produce that which had life, so that it would be no wonder in baptism if waters know how to give life. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.670.

Therefore, after the waters have been (in a manner) endowed with medicinal virtue through the intervention of the angel, the spirit is physically washed in the waters, and the flesh is spiritually cleansed in the same water. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.671.

[The waters] that used to remedy bodily defects, now heal the spirit. The waters that used to bring temporal health, now renew eternal health. The waters that set free but once in the year, now daily save people en masse, death being done away through washing of sins. Once the guilt is removed, the penalty is, of course, removed as well. . . . It is not that in the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit. Rather, in the water, under the angel, we are cleansed and prepared for the Holy Spirit. . . . Thus, too, does the angel, the witness of baptism, “make the paths straight” for the Holy Spirit. For He is about to come upon us. The “paths are made straight” by the washing away of sins, which faith obtains, sealed in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.672.

Now, the teaching is laid down that “without baptism, salvation is attainable by no one.” This is based primarily on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, “Unless one is born of water he has not life.” However, when this is laid down, there immediately arise scrupulous (or rather, audacious) doubts on the part of some. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.674, 675.

“Unless a man has been born again of water and Spirit, he will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” These words have tied faith to the necessity of baptism. Accordingly, all thereafter who became believers were baptized. So it was, too, that Paul, when he believed, was baptized. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.676.

We, then, enter the font once. Our sins are washed away once, for they should never be repeated. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.676.

Know that baptism is not rashly to be administered. . . . “Give not the holy thing to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine.” Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.678.

Easter [Gr. pascha] provides a more than usually solemn day for baptism when the Lord’s passion, in which we are baptized, was completed. Nor will it be incongruous to interpret figuratively the fact that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Passover, He said to the disciples who were sent to make preparation, “You will meet a man bearing water.” . . . After that, Pentecost is a most joyous time for conferring baptisms. . . . However, every day is the Lord’s. Every hour, every time, is appropriate for baptism. If there is a difference in the solemnity, there is no distinction in the grace. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.678.

Therefore, blessed ones, whom the grace of God awaits, when you ascend from that most sacred bath of your new birth and spread your hands for the first time in the house of your mother, together with your brethren, ask from the Father, ask from the Lord, that His own specialties of grace and distributions of gifts may be supplied to you. Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.679.

Let not the fact that Jesus Himself did not baptize trouble anyone. For into what would He have baptized? Into repentance? Of what use, then, was His forerunner? Into remission of sins? But He gave this by a word. Into Himself, whom by humility He was concealing? Into the Holy Spirit, who had not yet descended from the Father? Into the church, which His apostles had not yet founded? Tertullian (c. 198, W), 3.674.

I do not deny that the divine benefit (that is, the putting away of sins) is in every way certain to those who are about to enter the [baptismal] water. But what we have to labor for is, that it may be granted us to attain that blessing. For who will grant to you—a man of such faithless repentance—one single sprinkling of any water whatever? . . . However, some think that God is under a necessity of bestowing what He has promised [to give] even on the unworthy. So they turn His liberality into His slavery! . . . For do not many afterwards fall out of [grace]? Is not this gift taken away from many? Tertullian (c. 203, W), 3.661.

That baptismal washing is a sealing of faith, which faith is begun and is commended by the faith of repentance. We are not washed in order that we may cease sinning, but because we have ceased, since in heart we have been bathed already. For the first baptism of a hearer is this: a perfect fear. . . . If it is only after the baptismal waters that we cease sinning, it is out of necessity, not of free will. Tertullian (c. 203, W), 3.662.

I see no coherence and consistency [in Marcion]. No, not even in the very sacrament of his faith! For what end does baptism serve, according to him? If it is the remission of sins, how will he demonstrate that he remits sins, when [his God] affords no evidence that He retains them? . . . Marcion therefore seals a man who had never been unsealed in respect of [his God]. He washes a man who had never been defiled so far as [his God] was concerned. And into the sacrament of salvation, he wholly plunges that flesh which is beyond the pale of salvation [according to Marcion]! No farmer will irrigate ground that will yield him no fruit in return—unless he is as silly as Marcion’s God! Tertullian (c. 207, W), 3.293.

The cleansing of the Syrian [i.e., Naaman] rather portrayed to the nations of the world their own cleansing in Christ their Light. . . . For the virtue and fullness of the one baptism was thus solemnly imputed to Christ. For He alone was one day to establish on earth—not only revelation—but also a baptism endowed with bountiful power. Tertullian (c. 207, W), 3.356.

“Unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”—in other words, he cannot be holy. Every soul, then, by reason of its birth, has its nature in Adam until it is born again in Christ. Moreover, it is unclean all the time that it remains without this regeneration. And because it is unclean, it is actively sinful. Tertullian (c. 210, W), 3.220.

The flesh is the clothing of the soul. The uncleanness, indeed, is washed away by baptism. Tertullian (c. 213, W), 3.646.

The ropes that stretch around her [the ship of the church] are the love of Christ, which binds the church. The net that she bears with her is the bath of the regeneration that renews the believing, from which too are these glories. Just like the wind, the Spirit from heaven is present, by whom those who believe are sealed. Hippolytus (c. 200, W), 5.217.

Matthew alone adds the words, “to repentance,” teaching us that the benefit of baptism is connected with the intention of the baptized person. To him who repents, it is saving. However, to him who comes to it without repentance, it will produce greater condemnation. Origen (c. 228, E), 9.367.

Regeneration did not take place with John [the Baptist]. However, with Jesus, through His disciples, it does occur. What is called the bath of regeneration takes place with renewal of the Spirit. For the Spirit, as well, now comes. It comes from God and is over and above the water. Yet, it does not come to all after the water. Origen (c. 228, E), 9.367.

“By the bath of regeneration,” they were born as new-born babes. Origen (c. 245, E), 9.491.

It is the Holy Spirit who effects with water the second birth, as a certain seed of divine generation. It is a consecration of a heavenly birth and the pledge of a promised inheritance. Novatian (c. 235, W), 5.641.

In baptism, the coarse garment of your birth is washed. . . . You have once been washed. Shall you be able to be immersed again? Commodianus (c. 240, W), 4.212.

By the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years had been washed away, and a light from above—serene and pure—had been infused into my reconciled heart. Then, by the agency of the Spirit breathed from heaven, a second birth had restored me to a new man. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.276.

. . . from that death which once the blood of Christ extinguished and from which the saving grace of baptism and of our Redeemer has delivered us. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.332.

By baptism, the Holy Spirit is received. . . . The Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman, saying, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will not thirst forever.” By this, He signified the very baptism of saving water, which indeed is once received and is not again repeated. . . . The Lord, when He came, manifested the truth of baptism . . . in commanding that this faithful water—the water of life eternal should be given to believers in baptism. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.360.

From [baptism] springs the whole origin of faith, the saving access to the hope of life eternal, and the divine condescension for purifying and quickening the servants of God. For if anyone could be [truly] baptized by heretics, he certainly could also obtain remission of sins. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.382.

He who has been sanctified, his sins being put away in baptism, and has been spiritually reformed into a new man, has become fitted for receiving the Holy Spirit. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.387.

The blessed apostle sets forth and proves that baptism is that by which the old man dies and the new man is born, saying, “He saved us by the washing of regeneration.” Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.388.

One is not born by the imposition of hands when he receives the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is in baptism. Thereafter, being already born, he may receive the Holy Spirit. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.388.

Since in baptism, every person has his own sins remitted, the Lord proves and declares in His Gospel that sins can only be put away by those who have the Holy Spirit. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.400.

It is clear that the devil is driven out in baptism by the faith of the believer. And if that faith should fail afterwards, he returns. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.402.

They who still are of the earth by their first birth can begin to be of heaven by being born of water and of the Spirit. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.452.

In the bath of saving water, the fire of Gehenna is extinguished. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.476.

In the baptism of water, there is received the remission of sins. Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.497.

The old baptism should cease and a new one should begin. . . . Also, according to John: “Unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.511.

Unless a man has been baptized and born again, he cannot attain unto the kingdom of God. In the Gospel according to John: “Unless a man is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.542.

All sins are put away in baptism. In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: . . . “And these things indeed you were. But you are washed; but you are sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.551.

The second birth, which occurs in baptism, begets sons of God. Firmilian (c. 256, E), 5.393.

Nemesianus of Thubunae said: “The baptism that heretics and schismatics bestow is not the true one. . . . In the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with His divine voice, saying, “Unless a man is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” . . . Therefore, unless they receive saving baptism in the catholic church, which is one, they cannot be saved. Rather, they will be condemned with the carnal in the Judgment of the Lord Christ. Seventh Council of Carthage (c. 256, W), 5.566.

Munnulus of Girba said: “Brethren, the truth of our mother, the catholic church, has always remained and still remains with us—especially in the Trinity of baptism.” Seventh Council of Carthage (c. 256, W), 5.567.

Our salvation is founded in the baptism of the Spirit, which for the most part is associated with the baptism of water. Treatise on Re-Baptism (c. 257, W), 5.673.

Thus, cleaving to the baptism of men, the Holy Spirit either goes before or follows it. Or failing the baptism of water, it falls upon those who believe. Treatise on Re-Baptism (c. 257, W), 5.676.

They ask that their reproach may be taken away—that is, that they might be cleansed from their sins. For the reproach is the original sin that is taken away in baptism. They then begin to be called Christians. Victorinus (c. 280, W), 7.346.

Christ willingly suffered death for her, that He might present the church to Himself glorious and blameless—having cleansed her by the bath. . . . For in this way, too, the command, “Be fruitful and multiply,” is duly fulfilled. . . . For in no other way could the church conceive believers and give them the new birth through the bath of regeneration, except by Christ emptying Himself for their sake, so that He might be contained by them. Methodius (c. 290, E), 6.319, 320.

Those who are born again by the bath receive . . . of His holiness and of His glory. . . . The illuminated receive the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, and they are appropriately born again to incorruption. Methodius (c. 290, E), 6.320.

This denotes the faith of those who are cleansed from corruption in the bath [i.e., baptism]. Methodius (c. 290, E), 6.336.

Otherwise, we would not do wrong after baptism, for we would be entirely and absolutely free from sin. However, even after believing and after the time of being touched by the water of sanctification, we are oftentimes found in sin. Methodius (c. 290, E), 6.365.

Man is born mortal. He afterwards becomes immortal when he begins to live in conformity with the will of God. That is, he begins to follow righteousness. . . . And this takes place when man, purified in the heavenly bath, lays aside his infancy along with all the pollution of his past life. Then, having received an increase of divine vigor, he becomes a perfect and complete man. Lactantius (c. 304–313, W), 7.201.

In this we also have the instruction delivered by Peter . . . and the faith of those present and their salvation by baptism. Pamphilus (c. 309, E), 6.166.

If he was not baptized, neither are any of us baptized. Yet, if there is no baptism, neither will there be any remission of sins. Rather, every man will die in his own sins. Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (c. 320, E), 6.228.

Black I was in sins, but I am comely. For I have repented and converted. I have put away that hateful hue in baptism. For He, the Savior of all creatures, has washed me in His innocent blood. Canticle of Mar (date uncertain, E), 8.654.

When they wish to repent, we receive the pagans into the church to hear the Word. However, we do not admit them to communion until they have received the seal of baptism and are made complete Christians. Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390, E), 7.414.

He who out of contempt will not be baptized will be condemned as an unbeliever. He will be reproached as ungrateful and foolish. For the Lord says, “Unless a man is baptized of water and of the Spirit, he will by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.” And again: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned.” However, he may say, “When I am dying, I will be baptized, lest I should afterwards sin and defile my baptism.” Such a person is ignorant of God, and he forgets his own mortal nature. For it is written, “Do not delay to turn unto the Lord, for you do not know what the next day will bring forth.” Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390, E), 7.457; see also 3.580; extended discussion: 3.6693.679.