On Baptism 1
Summary: Tertullian writes on baptism to instruct believers because a woman of the Cainite heresy has been leading many astray by denying baptism, whereas Christians, like fish, are born and live in water.
Latin text · CSEL 20:201
Felix sacramentum aquae nostrae, quia ablutis delictis pristinae caecitatis in uitam aeternam liberamur! non erit otiosum digestum istud, instruens tam eos qui cum maxime formantur, quam et illos qui simpliciter credidisse contenti non exploratis rationibus traditionum intemptatam probabilem fidem per imperitiam portant. atque adeo nuper conuersata istic quaedam de Gaiana haeresi uipera uenenatissima doctrina sua plerosque rapuit, inprimis baptismum destruens. plane secundum naturam. nam fere uiperae et aspides ipsique reguli serpentes arida et inaquosa sectantur. sed nos pisciculi secundum ἰχθύν nostrum Iesum Christum in aqua nascimur nec aliter quam in aqua permanendo salui sumus. itaque illa monstrosissima, cui nec integrae quidem docendi ius erat, optime norat pisciculos necare de aqua auferens.
English · Claude translation
Happy is the sacrament of our water, because, the sins of our former blindness washed away, we are set free for eternal life! This treatise will not be idle, instructing both those who are even now being formed in the faith, and those who, content to have simply believed, without examining the reasons of the traditions, carry through inexperience a faith that is plausible but untested. And indeed, a certain woman of the Cainite heresy, a viper of the most venomous kind, lately living here, carried off a great many with her doctrine, above all by destroying baptism. Quite in keeping with nature: for vipers and asps and even basilisks generally haunt dry and waterless places. But we, little fishes, after the example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ, Jesus Christ, are born in water, and only by remaining in water are we safe. So that most monstrous creature, who had no right to teach even if her doctrine were sound, knew very well how to kill the little fishes: by taking them out of the water.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The digital text reads “Gaiana”, usually taken as the Cainite heresy (some editors read “Caiana”); the woman is not named here (some later editions supply Quintilla, uncertain). ΙΧΘΥΣ (“fish”) is the acrostic for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”; the digital text's “iXeūv” is corrected to the Greek. “No right to teach” alludes to 1 Tim 2:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek word garbled in the digital text (marked sic)): iXeūv → ἰχθύν.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Bapt. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-baptismo/1/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Bapt. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-baptismo/1/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text