Chapter VI.

Although we are baptized with water and the Spirit, the latter is much superior to the former, and is not therefore to be separated from the Father and the Son.

76. There are, however, many who, because we are baptized with water and the Spirit, think that there is no difference in the offices of water and the Spirit, and therefore think that they do not differ in nature. Nor do they observe that we are buried in the element of water that we may rise again renewed by the Spirit. For in the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses the body as it were in a kind of tomb, that we, by the power of the Spirit, may be renewed from the death of sin, being born again in God.

77. And so these three witnesses are one, as John said: “The water, the blood, and the Spirit.”105    1 John v. 8. One in the mystery, not in nature. The water, then, is a witness of burial, the blood is a witness of death, the Spirit is a witness of life. If, then, there be any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water, but from the presence of the Holy Spirit.

78. Do we live in the water or in the Spirit? Are we sealed in the water or in the Spirit. For in Him we live and He Himself is the earnest of our inheritance, as the Apostle says, writing to the Ephesians: “In Whom believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is an earnest of our inheritance.”106    Eph. i. 13, 14. So we were sealed by the Holy Spirit, not by nature, but by God, for it is written: “He Who anointed us is God, Who also sealed us, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

79. We were then sealed with the Spirit by God. For as we die in Christ, in order to be born again, so, too, we are sealed with the Spirit, that we may possess His brightness and image and grace, which is undoubtedly our spiritual seal. For although we were visibly sealed in our bodies, we are in truth sealed in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit may portray in us the likeness of the heavenly image.

80. Who, then, can dare to say that the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son, since through Him we attain to the image and likeness of God, and through Him, as the Apostle Peter says, are partakers of the divine nature? In which there is certainly not the inheritance of carnal succession, but the spiritual connection of the grace of adoption. And in order that we may know that this seal is rather on our hearts than on our bodies, the prophet says: “The light of Thy countenance has been impressed upon us, O Lord, Thou hast put gladness in my heart.”107    Ps. iv. 6, 7.

CAPUT VI.

Quamquam in aqua et Spiritu baptizamur, hunc tamen illi longe praestare; atque adeo non sejungendum a Patre et Filio.

76. Sunt tamen plerique qui eo quod in aqua baptizamur et Spiritu, non putent aquae et Spiritus distare 0722D munera; et ideo non putant distare naturam. Nec advertunt quia in illo aquarum sepelimur elemento, ut renovati per Spiritum resurgamus. In aqua enim imago mortis, in Spiritu pignus est vitae; ut per aquam moriatur corpus peccati, quae quasi quodam 0723A tumulo corpus includit: et per virtutem Spiritus renovemur a morte peccati, renati in Deo.

77. Et ideo hi tres testes unum sunt, sicut Joannes dixit: Aqua, sanguis, et Spiritus (I Joan. V, 8). Unum in mysterio, non in natura. Aqua igitur testis est sepulturae, sanguis testis est mortis, Spiritus testis est vitae. Si qua ergo in aqua gratia, non ex natura aquae, sed ex praesentia est Spiritus sancti.

78. Numquid in aqua vivimus, sicut in Spiritu? Numquid in aqua signamur, sicut in Spiritu? In ipso enim vivimus, et ipse est pignus haereditatis nostrae, sicut et Apostolus scribens ad Ephesios, ait: In quo credentes signati estis Spiritu promissionis sancto, qui est pignus haereditatis nostrae (Ephes. I, 13, 14). Sancto igitur Spiritu signati sumus, non natura, sed 0723B a Deo, quia scriptum est: qui unxit nos Deus, et qui signavit nos, et dedit pignus Spiritum in cordibus nostris (II Cor. I, 21, 22).

79. Signati ergo Spiritu a Deo sumus. Sicut enim in Christo morimur, ut renascamur; ita etiam Spiritu signamur, ut splendorem atque imaginem ejus et gratiam tenere possimus: quod est utique spiritale signaculum. Nam etsi specie signemur in corpore, veritate tamen in corde signamur; ut Spiritus sanctus exprimat in nobis imaginis coelestis effigiem.

80. Quis igitur audeat dicere discretum a Deo Patre et Christo esse Spiritum sanctum; cum per ipsum ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei esse mereamur; et per ipsum fiat, quemadmodum Petrus apostolus 0723C dixit (II Petr. I, 4), ut divinae simus consortes naturae? In quo utique non carnalis successionis haereditas, sed adoptionis gratiae spiritale commercium est. Atque ut sciamus cordis nostri magis hoc, quam corporis esse signaculum, docet Propheta qui dicit: Signatum est in nobis lumen vultus tui, Domine; dedisti laetitiam in corde meo (Psal. IV, 7).