Jerome and water baptism - for AFF

Steven Avery

Administrator
His quotes rarely receive attention. They also can be studied with the Rebaptism Treatise.

Everett Ferguson (b. 1933)

Jerome - Letter 69
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001069.htm
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers2/NPNF2-06/Npnf2-06-03.htm#P2828_742873

Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (2009)
Everett Ferguson
https://books.google.com/books?id=xC9GAdUGX5sC&pg=PA714

Jerome, while discussing another question, argues from the premise that in baptism all sins are washed away and a person is made new (Letter 69, e.g., 69.2). This letter has a long section adducing Old Testament passages as praises of water and baptism (Letter 69.6). These include Genesis 1:2 (“the infant world (is] a type of the .... Several of the baptisms in Acts are mentioned. Jerome refers several prophecies to the “grace of baptism,” concluding with Micah 7:19, which means that “All sins are drowned in the baptismal laver" (Letter 69.7).

That baptism removes sins is often expressed. For instance, “In baptism our guilt is taken away” and “Happy is the person whose sins are forgiven in baptism.”28

This is different than Homily 69 that has a heavenly witnesses allusion section, and a lot about the name in baptism.

The Homilies of Saint Jerome, Volume 2 (Homilies 60–96) (The Fathers of the Church, Volume 57)
Translated by Sister Marie Liguouri Ewald (1955-2002)
Homily 69 on Psalm 91 (92)
https://books.google.com/books?id=_i6VTYmF_PEC&pg=PA90
 
Last edited:
Top