The Bath of Regeneration: What Is Accomplished in the Font of Baptism?

The holy Apostle Paul, discoursing on the holy Mystery of baptism, compares its hidden power to the death and resurrection of the Lord. When we are immersed, he says, in the font, we die; when we come forth from the font, we rise. We die in the font to the life of the flesh and sin, and we rise from the font to life in the spirit, holy and pleasing to God. “«Or are you ignorant that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, so also we may walk in newness of life…. Our old self was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin»” (Rom. 6:3–4, 6).

Therefore, just as the risen Lord is resplendent, so our nature becomes resplendent when renewed in the bath of regeneration by the grace of the Holy Spirit. But let us not think, brothers, that grace alone accomplishes all here, and accomplishes it only externally or mechanically. No—its saving action is accomplished invisibly, within. The grace of the Spirit, coming upon us in baptism, seals within itself a series of inward changes of the heart and movements of the spirit, and from these forms in us the new “«hidden person of the heart»” (1 Pet. 3:4). The holy Apostle Peter therefore names baptism “«the questioning of a good conscience before God»” (1 Pet. 3:21) as the formation of a particular, firm moral character through grace. I will clarify for you what and how these things come to pass and ought to come to pass, with a few thoughts.

The All-merciful Lord, having created man in His image and likeness, thereby indicated to him his ultimate goal: the innermost communion with Himself, and guarded the attainment of it with certain conditions within man’s reach. God laid the path to achieving this goal in the zealous fulfillment of His holy will, which He imprinted upon man’s pure and spotless conscience—but He did not bind him in his activity; rather, He endowed him with freedom to act as he wishes, according to his own judgment, so that he would himself voluntarily and willingly orient himself toward unwavering obedience to God’s revealed will. And so that man might be able to master this freedom, God implanted in that same spirit, in which freedom dwells, the fear of God—that is, the sense of total dependence upon God the Almighty, the all-providential, and the all-rewarding. These are all the elements of our spiritual life in its original design. United in one, they would have formed a moral, spiritual person whose life would be ordered and perfected so that man, in a sense of his total dependence on God, would himself willingly orient himself toward unwavering obedience to God’s holy will, as interpreted by conscience, confident that through this he would remain in the innermost communion with God, the source of life, and be blessed in Him. This is man’s true calling, and thus his life would always proceed—just as it constantly proceeds among the holy Angels—if not for the fall.

The fall disrupted the inner order of spiritual life. Man fell away from God, and immediate communion with Him ceased; the sense of dependence on Him died away or weakened—and man no longer had the strength to master his freedom, drawn now away from God’s will, especially since conscience either stopped interpreting God’s will altogether or began to interpret it wrongly. Thus the elements of spiritual life fell apart, and spiritual life ceased to be.

Meanwhile, human nature remained the same, and man’s calling remained the same. Therefore, his restoration could occur in no other way than through the restoration of his original spiritual powers and their return to their predestined mutual ordering. This is what the Mystery of baptism accomplishes, after man has been prepared for it through a series of moral changes…

I will give you an example to clarify this. The holy Apostle Peter proclaims after the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Those who heard him cried out: “What” then “shall we do?»” (Acts 2:37) The holy Apostle answered: “«Repent,” repent and believe in the Gospel, “and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ… and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit»” (Acts 2:38).

Let us examine what happens here! The proclamation enlightens the conscience; the enlightened conscience awakens the sense of dependence on God, or fear of God, and then—a cry from the heart: what shall we do? In response, they are told: repent, believe, receive grace through baptism. To repent means to resolve to abandon ungodly deeds, to turn to God (Acts 3:19) and to direct one’s freedom again toward obedience to His will, as it was determined from the beginning. The penitent is ready for this, but how can he approach it when he feels, on one hand, his moral powerlessness, and on the other hand, estrangement from God, whom he has always offended, and from his own conscience, which he has always wounded? For the healing of these chief infirmities, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is given to him as the sole means to peace and reconciliation with God, and the grace of the Spirit as support for moral strength and steadfastness. Do you see how here, in the new gracious arrangement, all the former elements and powers of spiritual life, weakened and dispersed in the fall, are restored to their proper place and union? The sense of dependence on God is awakened in repentance, the conscience is enlightened by the Word, freedom is strengthened by grace, communion with God is mediated through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the sole Mediator of God and mankind… Thus all elements, each through its own particular enlivening cure, are brought to life.

It remains now to unite them into one, to gather them, like rays, into a single focus. This is accomplished in the font of baptism, which in this regard is like a gracious crucible where from these restored elements of spiritual life, the all-powerful grace creates “«a new creation in Christ” Jesus» (2 Cor. 5:17), forms “«the hidden person of the heart»” (1 Pet. 3:4). We come forth from the font made new in this very sense; we feel ourselves to have tasted new life and begin to be blessed. See what is said of those converted by the preaching of the holy Apostle Peter. “«Those who received the word” were “baptized»” (Acts 2:41). And immediately it is added: they began to devote themselves to teaching, to fellowship, to prayer, all were together, they had all things in common, as if of one soul and one body, they remained united in the church, constantly praising God, and lived in joy and simplicity of heart (Acts 2:42-47). As soon as they were baptized, they began to live a new life. This new life is recognized by all the baptized and is their lot and inheritance. Now, gathering into one thought all the principles of spiritual and gracious life, corresponding to its original design, we see that each baptized person, in his inward disposition, is this: trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, reconciled with God and having received from Him the gracious power, the Christian feels himself called and strengthened for unwavering obedience to God’s will, and he zealously strives toward it with readiness for all labors or sacrifices, already experiencing here the temporary joy in communion with God and tasting beforehand the joy eternal that is to come. In this consists “«the questioning of a good conscience»” (1 Pet 3:21), or the formation of a Christian moral character.

I bring this to your attention so that you do not forget that the power of baptism consists not only in the gracious renewal of the natural powers of the spirit, but also in the moral transformation of character—in both together. According to God’s design, moral changes occur first in the spirit of man, and then grace, entering through the Mystery, seals them in him and thereby renews his very nature. In the Christian, there is not just nature alone, but grace as well. In appearance he is the same as all non-Christians, but in reality he is a mingling and admixture of nature and grace. Copper, for example, produces a dull sound when struck alone, but when combined with silver it sounds purer and clearer, although no difference is noticeable to the eye. Copper alone is our nature; copper combined with silver is that same nature, engraced in baptism. Take an apple from a wild tree and an apple from a cultivated orchard. In appearance they may be perfectly similar, yet their inner value is quite different. So the Christian and the non-Christian appear outwardly almost identical, yet their inward character, and indeed their very constitution, is not the same. All the power of Christians is within.

Christians themselves cannot help but perceive this difference and change, not to the detriment of their humility, but to the glory of God who saves them. Not everything is lost in man through the fall. Traces of his former beauty remain in all his powers, only they have been scattered and broken apart. This is like a broken mirror. When the inner order of spiritual life is restored, it is like a whole mirror that clearly reflects all the features and parts of the face of one looking into it. Turning inward, can the Christian fail to perceive in himself this wholeness granted to him? Before baptism, a man is like one paralyzed in all his parts: he can neither stand nor move. After baptism, he is like that healed man of whom it is said that he walked, “«leaping and praising God»” (Acts 3:8). Thus the feeling of vigor and strength of powers that belongs to the Christian engraced in baptism must surely testify itself in his consciousness.

And here is one more image. Telescopes have three components. When one slides these components inside each other, the telescope does not show things as it should, but when they are extended proportionally, everything is then seen clearly in them. The telescope is an image of our threefold nature: spirit, soul, and body. In the fall, spirit was subject to soul, and soul and spirit to body, and man began to see his relationships poorly and to conduct himself poorly in them. In the new gracious birth, spirit is restored to its rights, holds soul in its proper place, and through it also controls the body. Man then receives the predestined ordering of the parts of his nature, clearly perceives his relationships to heaven and earth, and conducts himself worthily in these relationships. Can such a restoration be hidden from the eyes of reason and conscience?!

Do you see now what the power of holy baptism is and how the saving action of it in us cannot be hidden from the eyes of our reason?! Now look into yourself and decide for yourself: is there in you what holy baptism gives, or not? If there is—let us give thanks to the Lord, though without self-exaltation, for all is from Him; if there is not—let us accuse ourselves, rebuke ourselves, and hasten to restore it through the Mystery of repentance, in which sinners are baptized again, not in a font, but in tears, though they receive a new life as real as that given in the font. Amen.