SACRAMENTS OF THE INCARNATE WORD - ETD - University of ...

estore, establish, and strengthen you.” 107 Likewise, “God is faithful” and on this account
“calls” us “into the fellowship of his Son” (I Cor 1.9), that is, to “walk in the light as he is
in the light” (I Jn 1.7), and “to share in his glory,” “provided we suffer with him in order
that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8.17). 108
This explains why Paul “deals with doctrine along with Baptism” at the very
beginning of his letter. To be sure, treating the two together accords with “the example of
the Lord, who gave the disciples the injunction to teach and to baptize in one command:
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28.19).” 109 Right teaching and sacramental
initiation are also tied together, however, because Baptism serves as a point of
confrontation and humiliation in the person of Christ that imposes an ascetical order upon
Christian doctrine. The Corinthian church was, after all, fraught with strife, borne of
disagreements between various parties who had been “baptized and instructed” by
different leaders—Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and others. 110 But Baptism derives its power
107 Ibid. 1.8, n. 17: “Unde subdit: qui, scilicet Christus, qui spem dedit vobis huiusmodi
revelationis, etiam confirmabit vos in gratia accepta. I Pet ult.: modicum passos ipse perficiet, confirmabit
solidabitque. Et hoc usque in finem, scilicet vitae vestrae.”
108 Ibid. 1.9, n. 18: “Deus est fidelis, per quem vocati estis in societatem filii eius Iesu Christi
domini nostri, ut scilicet habeatis societatem ad Christum, et in praesenti per similitudinem gratiae,
secundum illud I Jn 1.7: si in luce ambulamus, sicut et ipse in luce est, societatem habemus cum eo ad
invicem, et in futuro per participationem gloriae, Rom 8.17: si compatimur, ut et simul glorificemur.”
109 Ibid. 1.10, n. 20: “Dominus autem, Matth. ult., discipulis praeceptum dedit de doctrina simul et
Baptismo, dicens euntes docete omnes gentes, baptizantes, et cetera. Et ideo apostolus in prima parte simul
cum Baptismo agit de doctrina.” Cf. nn. 25, 34, and 39 for further citations of Matthew 28.19.
110 Ibid. 1.12, n. 24: “contentionem nomino, quod unusquisque vestrum nominat se ab eo a quo est
baptizatus et instructus.” Cf. ibid. 4.6, n. 199: “it should be noted that above when the Apostle tried to
repress the rivalry about ministers among the Corinthians, he had used the names of good ministers of
Christ, as when he said: ‘Each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to
Cephas”’ (1 Cor 1:12), and again: ‘Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas’ (1 Cor 3:22). But in fact they were
38