31. But even if
some are baptized unto the Spirit, it is not, it is urged, on this
account right for the Spirit to be ranked with God. Some
“were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the
sea.” 1 Cor. x. 2. And it is
admitted that faith even before now has been put in men; for “The
people believed God and his servant Moses.” Ex. xiv. 31, lxx. Why then, it is asked, do we, on
account of faith and of baptism, exalt and magnify the Holy Spirit so
far above creation, when there is evidence that the same things have
before now been said of men? What, then, shall we reply?
Our answer is that the faith in the Spirit is the same as the faith in
the Father and the Son; and in like manner, too, the baptism. But
the faith in Moses and in the cloud is, as it were, in a shadow and
type. The nature of the divine is very frequently represented by
the rough and shadowy outlines σκιαγραφία, or shade-painting, is illusory scene-painting. Plato
(Crit. 107 c.) calls it “indistinct and
deceptive.” cf. Ar. Eth. Nic. i. 3, 4,
“παχυλῶς καὶ
ἐν τύπῳ.” The
τύπος
gives the general design, not an exact anticipation. of the types;
but because divine things are prefigured by small and human things,
it is obvious that we must not therefore conclude the divine nature
to be small. The type is an exhibition of things expected, and
gives an imitative anticipation of the future. So Adam was a
type of “Him that was to come.” Rom. v. 14. Typically, “That rock was
Christ;” 1 Cor. x. 4. and the water a
type of the living power of the word; as He says, “If
any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink.” John vii. 37. The
manna is a type of the living bread that came down from
heaven; John vi. 49, 51. and the serpent on
the standard, σημεῖον, as
in the LXX. cf. Numb. xxi. 9 and John iii.
14. of the passion of
salvation accomplished by means of the cross, wherefore they who
even looked thereon were preserved. So in like manner, the
history of the exodus of Israel is recorded to shew forth those who
are being saved through baptism. For the firstborn of the
Israelites were preserved, like the bodies of the baptized, by the
giving of grace to them that were marked with blood. For the
blood of the sheep is a type of the blood of Christ; and the
firstborn, a type of the first-formed. And inasmuch as the
first-formed of necessity exists in us, and, in sequence of
succession, is transmitted till the end, it follows that “in
Adam” we “all die,” 1 Cor. xv. 22.
and that “death reigned” Rom. v. 17.
until the fulfilling of the law and the coming of Christ. And
the firstborn were preserved by God from being touched by the
destroyer, to show that we who were made alive in Christ no longer
die in Adam. The sea and the cloud for the time being led on
through amazement to faith, but for the time to come they typically
prefigured the grace to be. “Who is wise and he shall
understand these things?” Hos. xiv. 9.—how the
sea is typically a baptism bringing about the departure of Pharaoh,
in like manner as this washing causes the departure of the tyranny
of the devil. The sea slew the enemy in itself: and in
baptism too dies our enmity towards God. From the sea the
people came out unharmed: we too, as it were, alive from the
dead, step up from the water “saved” by the
“grace” of Him who called us. Eph. ii. 5. And the cloud is a shadow of the
gift of the Spirit, who cools the flame of our passions by the
“mortification” of our “members.” Col. iii. 5.