Baptism

Baptism according to A­ postle Peter is the answer of a good conscience toward God (I Pet. 3:21).[1] He who has been baptized gives a vow to live the rest of his time according to a pure con­ science, according to the whole breadth of the Lord’s command­ ments, accepted in his conscience. Moral purity is a characteristic of one who is baptized. The Apostle Paul compares the brightness of this life with the brightness of the resur­ rected Lord. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). In baptism, the old sin-loving man dies and a new man arises, zealous to do good works. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves, ye who are baptized, to be dead indeed unto sin but alive un­ to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instru­ ments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you (Rom. 6:11–14).

[1]The Slavonic for I Pet. 3:21 reads: the promise of a good conscience to­ ward God

Saint Theophan the Recluse