On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.56–7.2 (On Baptism, against the Donatists)

Augustine of Hippo

On Baptism, against the Donatists 6.56–7.2

Augustine of Hippo · On Baptism, against the Donatists · ca. 400–401 · Hippo Regius · 34 passages

Latin text: Petschenig, CSEL 51 (Latin text: Michael Petschenig, De baptismo (CSEL 51, 1908), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 4 (1887).

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Chapter 6

6.56CSEL 51:327–328

Posset alius dicere: cum Christi baptismata duo esse non possint, qui iniquis baptismum concedit sibi tollit. sed nobiscum etiam isti resisterent et dicerent: concedimus iniquis baptismum, qui non ab ipsis in ipsis est sicut iniquitas, sed a Christo cuius est aequitas et cuius sacramentum etiam aput iniquos non est iniquum. quod ergo nobiscum de iniquis dicerent, hoc sibi de haereticis dicant. et ideo quod sequitur ita potius erat dicendum: censeo itaque flebiles et tabidos haereticos non baptizandos esse, cum ad ecclesiam uenire coeperint, si habent iam baptismum Christi, sed a sua peruersitate corrigendos! nam etiam de iniquis dici potest quorum portio sunt haeretici: censeo itaque flebiles et tabidos iniquos, si iam baptizati sunt, non baptizandos esse, cum ad ecclesiam, id est ad illam petram, extra quam sunt omnes qui audiunt uerba Christi et non faciunt, uenire coeperint, sed sacra et diuina lauatione iam lotos, tunc autem et lumine uitae inluminatos, non hostes sed pacificos — nam iniqui non habent pacem —, non alienos sed fidei domini domesticos — nam iniquis dictum est: quomodo conuersa es in amaritudinem uitis alienae? —, non adulteros sed dei filios — nam iniqui filii sunt diaboli —, non erroris sed salutis effectos — nam non saluat iniquitas — in ecclesiam recipi, id est in illam petram, in illam columbam, in illum hortum conclusum et fontem signatum qui non nisi in tritico, non autem in paleis agnoscitur, siue longe a uento separentur siue usque ad ultimam uentilationem frumento commixti uideantur. frustra ergo Cassius addidit: absque his qui in ecclesia fideles supplantati ad haeresis tenebras transierant. si enim et ipsi ab ecclesia recedendo baptismum amiserant, etiam ipsis reddatur; si autem non amiserant, quod per eos datum est agnoscatur.

Another might say: “Since there cannot be two baptisms of Christ, he who grants baptism to the wicked takes it away from himself.” But these men would resist this with us and say: “We grant baptism to the wicked, which is in them not from themselves, as iniquity is, but from Christ, whose is righteousness and whose sacrament is not wicked even among the wicked.” What, then, they would say with us about the wicked, let them say to themselves about heretics. And so what follows should rather have been said thus: “I judge, therefore, that wretched and wasting heretics are not to be baptized when they begin to come to the church, if they already have Christ’s baptism, but corrected from their perversity!” For it can also be said of the wicked, of whom heretics are a part: “I judge, therefore, that wretched and wasting wicked men, if they have already been baptized, are not to be baptized when they begin to come to the church,” that is, to that rock, outside which are all who hear Christ’s words and do not do them, “but, already washed with the sacred and divine washing, and now enlightened in the light of life, made not enemies but peaceable” (for the wicked have no peace), “not strangers but members of the household of the Lord’s faith” (for it was said to the wicked, “How have you turned into the bitterness of a strange vine?”), “not adulterers but sons of God” (for the wicked are sons of the devil), “not sons of error but of salvation” (for iniquity does not save), “to be received into the church,” that is, into that rock, into that dove, into that garden enclosed and fountain sealed, which is recognized only in the wheat, not in the chaff, whether the chaff is separated far off by the wind or seems mixed with the grain until the last winnowing. So Cassius added in vain, “except those who, having been faithful members of the church, were tripped up and had passed over to the darkness of heresy.” For if they too had lost baptism by withdrawing from the church, let it be given back to them as well; but if they had not lost it, let what was given through them be recognized.

Isa 57:21 (allusion, medium confidence) · Jer 2:21 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:44 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 7:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Song 6:9 (6:8 Vulg.) (allusion, medium confidence) · Song 4:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 3:12 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Cassius’s words, adapted, apply to the wicked within, who are already baptized and need only correction; his exception for former members undercuts his case, for if they kept baptism, what they gave must be recognized.

“How have you turned into the bitterness of a strange vine?” is Jer 2:21 in the Old Latin.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (full stop for a comma in the digital text; stray bracket in the digital text): (cum Christi → cum Christi; (concedimus → concedimus; petram. in illam columbam → petram, in illam columbam.

Extrabiblical texts: Cyprian, Sent. 22 (The Opinions of the Eighty-Seven Bishops (Council of Carthage, 256); quotation)

Chapter 6

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