St. Pacian, On Baptism, 5 and 6

• 5. But if he alone conquered, what did he bestow on others?

Hear this in a few words. The sin of Adam had passed on to the whole human race.

"For through one man," as the Apostle says, "sin entered in, and through sin, death. And so it came to all men."22

Therefore, the righteousness of Christ must pass on to the whole human race. And just as Adam by sin had caused the destruction of his own descendants, so Christ by his righteousness would give life to his whole race. This the Apostle emphasizes, saying,

"Just as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners, so, by the attention, by the word of the one, many shall be made righteous. So that just as sin has reigned unto death, so also grace might reign by righteousness unto life everlasting."23

6. Someone will say to me, "But the sin of Adam deservedly passed on to his posterity, because they were born of him.

• Can it be said then that we are born of Christ, that we can be saved because of him?"

Do not think of these things in a carnal manner and then you will see how we are born of Christ, our parent. In these last times Christ certainly received a soul together with the flesh from Mary. It is this flesh which he has come to save. It is this flesh which he has freed from sin. It is this flesh which he did not abandon in Hell. It is this flesh which he joined to his spirit and made his own. And this represents the marriage of the Lord, joined together in one flesh, so that according to "that great mystery" they might become "two in one flesh, Christ and the Church."24 From this marriage is born the Christian people, with the Spirit of the Lord coming from above. And at once, with the heavenly seed being spread upon and mingled with the substance of our souls, we develop in the womb of our [spiritual] mother, and once we come forth from her womb, we are made alive in Christ. And so the Apostle says,

"The first Adam [became] a living soul; the last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit."25 (2)

Thus Christ engenders life in the Church through his priests, as the same Apostle states, "And indeed, in Christ I have begotten you."26 And so the seed of Christ, that is, the Spirit of God, produces through the hands of the priests the new man, conceived in the womb of our [spiritual] mother and received at birth at the baptismal font, with faith still attending as the nuptial protectress. For neither will someone appear attached to the Church who has not believed, nor will someone be born from Christ who has not received his Spirit. We must believe therefore that we can be born again. For Philip asserts thus, "If you believe, it is possible."27 Christ must be received so that he may beget, for so says the apostle John,

"As many as received him, to them he gave the power to become sons of God."28

But these things cannot otherwise be fulfilled, except by the sacraments of Baptism and chrism at the hands of the bishop. 29 For by baptism sins are washed away; by chrism the Holy Spirit is poured out upon [the individual]. Yet both of these are obtained through the action and words of the bishop. And so it is that the whole man is born again and renewed in Christ,

"so that just as Christ was resurrected from the dead, so we, too, may walk in the newness of life."30

In other words, having put aside the errors of our former life—namely, servitude to idols, cruelty, fornication, licentiousness, and the other vices of flesh and blood—we should, through the Spirit, follow new ways in Christ: faith, modesty, innocence, and chastity. And

"just as we have borne the image of earthly man, let us also bear his, who is from Heaven,"31 because "the first man was of the Earth, the earthly one; the second, from Heaven, the heavenly one."32

If we act in this manner, dearly beloved, we shall die no more. For even if we die in this body, we shall live in Christ, as He Himself says,

"He who believes in me, although he were dead, shall live."33

We are assured, in fact, on the testimony of the Lord himself that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the saints live for God. Indeed, concerning these very men the Lord states,

"But they all live for him, for he is the God of the living, not of the dead."34

And the Apostle says about himself,

"To me, to live is Christ; and to die is gain; I would wish to be set free and to be with Christ."35 And furthermore, "But while we are in this body, we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight."36