Buried with Christ in Baptism
…has made a declaration of the whole. So the one who names Christ will not leave the Father or the Spirit unremembered. But since Jesus, having become man, endured death for the life of all, the blessed Paul had to go on to what was most needful for the sacred teaching at hand, for he had to name the one who suffered. That is why he says, “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3).
For having first given, as it were, the good pledge of an upright conscience toward Christ (1 Peter 3:21), and having accepted by faith that he died for us, was buried, and came to life again, we have received the forgiveness of sins through holy baptism. We undergo the deadening of sin, and as it were die together with him who died for us, by putting to death our members that are on the earth (Colossians 3:5). For Christ “died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:10). We undergo a death equal to his and are all but buried with him, carrying about his dying in our own bodies (2 Corinthians 4:10); and we were buried with Christ (Romans 6:4). What we gain from this he will make clear himself, saying, “so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). For since we have been buried with him, we must also rise with him spiritually. And if being buried with Christ is having died to sin, then surely it is clear that rising with him can rightly be understood as nothing other than living in righteousness.
He affirms, indeed, that Christ was raised through the glory of the Father, not as though Christ lacked strength, for he himself is the Lord of hosts (Psalm 24:10), but because it is the custom of Christ himself and of his own to ascribe what is beyond human nature to the glory of the supreme nature. So even if God the Father is said to accomplish something, he does not shut the Son out of his activity over all things. For if all things came into being through him (John 1:3), how could anyone doubt that he worked through the Son the resurrection of that holy body as well? Indeed the Son, showing himself active in this, said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). See, then, how he promises to raise his own temple himself, although God the Father is said to have raised it. For since he is himself the life-giving power of God the Father, he gave life to his own temple.
“For if we have been united with the likeness of his death,” and so on (Romans 6:5). The inspired Paul says that those who have been buried with Christ ought also to expect to rise with him. The word “united” would suggest, in a spiritual sense, something like “conformed” and “of the same form.” But this point must be examined closely. Emmanuel laid down his own life for us (1 John 3:16) and died according to the flesh. In what way, then, have we who are baptized been buried with him? Was it by enduring with him the death of the flesh? Not at all. How, then, have we been united with the likeness of his death? Come, then, let us say it. He died…
Greek
ἐποιήσατο. οὐκοῦν ὁ Χριστὸν ὀνομάσας οὐκ ἀμνημονεύσει τοῦ Πατρὸς ἢ τοῦ Πνεύματος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁπάντων ζωῆς ἀνέτλη θάνατον ὁ Ἰησοῦς, κεχώρηκεν ἀναγκαίως ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος ἐπὶ τὸ ὅτι μάλιστα τῇ προκειμένῃ μυσταγωγίᾳ χρειωδέστατον· ἔδει γὰρ ὀνομάσαι τὸν πεπονθότα· ταύτῃτοί φησιν Ὅτι ὅσοι ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν. προκαταθέμενοι γὰρ ὥσπερ τὸ ἐκ συνειδήσεως ὀρθῆς ἀγαθὸν ἐπερώτημα εἰς Χριστὸν, καὶ πίστει παραδεξάμενοι ὅτι καὶ ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν καὶ ἐτάφη καὶ ἀνεβίω, τὴν ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἐσχήκαμεν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος, καὶ τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπομένοντες νέκρωσιν, καὶ οἷον τῷ δι' ἡμᾶς τεθνεῶτι συναποθνήσκοντες διὰ τὸ νεκροῦν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Χριστὸς "τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ "ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ, ὃ δὲ ζῇ, ζῇ τῷ Θεῷ·" ἡμεῖς δὲ τὸν ἴσον αὐτῷ θάνατον ὑπομένομεν, καὶ μονονουχὶ συντεθάμμεθα, τὴν αὐτοῦ νέκρωσιν περιφέροντες ἐν ἰδίοις σώμασιν, συνετάφημεν δὲ τῷ Χριστῷ. τί δὴ ἄρα ἐντεῦθεν ἀποκερδαίνοντες, σαφηνιεῖ λέγων αὐτός Ἵνα ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς ἐκ νεκρῶν διὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Πατρὸς, οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν· δεῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὡς συντεθαμμένους καὶ συνανίστασθαι νοητῶς· καὶ εἴπερ ἐστὶ τεθνάναι τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τὸ συνθάπτεσθαι τῷ Χριστῷ, δῆλον ἂν εἴη δήπουθεν ὡς οὐχ ἕτερόν τι τὸ συνανίστασθαι νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως, πλὴν ὅτι τὸ ζῆν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. Ἐγηγέρθαι μὴν διαβεβαιοῦται Χριστὸν διὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Πατρὸς, οὐχ ὡς ἰσχύος ἐπιδεᾶ· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν δυνάμεων Κύριος· ἀλλ' ὅτι τὰ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν τῇ τῆς ἀνωτάτω φύσεως δόξῃ προσάπτειν ἔθος αὐτῷ τε Χριστῷ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῦ. οὐκοῦν κἂν εἴ τι λέγοιτο κατορθοῦν ὁ Θεὸς 190 καὶ Πατὴρ, οὐκ ἐξ οἰκείου μὲν τῆς ἐφ' ἅπασιν ἐνεργείας αὐτοῦ τὸν Υἱόν· εἰ γὰρ πάντα γέγονε δι' αὐτοῦ, πῶς ἂν ἐνδοιάσειέν τις ὡς ἐνήργηκε διὰ Υἱοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου σώματος τὴν ἀνάστασιν; καὶ γοῦν ὁ Υἱὸς ἐνεργὸν εἰς τοῦτο δεικνὺς ἑαυτὸν, τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἔφασκε "Λύσατε τὸν ναὸν "τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν." ἄθρει δὴ οὖν ὅπως αὐτὸς ἐγείρειν ἐπαγγέλλεται τὸν ἴδιον ναὸν, καίτοι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἀναστῆσαι λεγομένου· ἐπειδὴ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτὸς ἡ ζωοποιὸς δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, τὸν ἴδιον ἐζωοποίει ναόν. Εἰ γὰρ σύμφυτοι γεγόναμεν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ κ.τ.λ. Χρῆναί φησιν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος τοὺς συντεθαμμένους Χριστῷ καὶ συναναστήσεσθαι προσδοκᾶν· καὶ τὸ μὲν σύμφυτοι, τὸ οἱονεὶ σύμμορφοί τε καὶ ταυτοειδεῖς νοητῶς ὑπεμφήνειεν ἄν. πλὴν ἐκεῖνο περιαθρεῖν ἀναγκαῖον· τέθεικεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ καὶ ἀπέθανε κατὰ σάρκα· συντεθάμμεθα δὲ αὐτῷ τίνα δὴ τρόπον ἡμεῖς οἱ βεβαπτισμένοι; ἆρα ὡς ἀνατλάντες σὺν αὐτῷ τὸν τῆς σαρκὸς θάνατον; οὐμενοῦν. πῶς οὖν ἄρα σύμφυτοι γεγόναμεν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, φέρε δὴ φέρε λέγωμεν· ἀπέθανε