Chapter I.
Resume the explanation of the flood, where it is asserted that it was a true baptism; and briefly discuss other baptisms.
In the flood, also, we began to discuss the prefiguration of baptism. What is the flood (Gen. 7:23) if not the means by which the righteous are preserved for the propagation of righteousness, sin dies? Therefore, the Lord, seeing the sins of men multiplying, saved only the righteous with their progeny; but He commanded water to rise above the mountains as well. And so, in that flood, all corruption of the flesh perished, only the lineage and form of the righteous remained. Is this not the flood, which is baptism; by which all sins are washed away, only the righteous mind and grace are revived?
There are many kinds of baptisms, but one baptism, declares the Apostle (Ephes. IV, 5). Why? There are baptisms of the Gentiles, but they are not true baptisms. They are washings, but they cannot be baptisms. The body is washed, but the guilt is not washed away; indeed, in that washing it is contracted. However, there were baptisms of the Jews (Marc. VII, 8), some excessive, some symbolic. And the symbol itself benefits us, because it is a messenger of truth.