THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
See how he begins his discourse with rebuke and decisiveness. "It is impossible," he says. That is, do not even hope for the impossible.
He did not say, "It is improper," or "unprofitable," or "not permitted." He said, "It is impossible." Thus for you who were once fully enlightened, nothing remains but despair.
Then he continues: "and have tasted the heavenly gift," that is, the remission of sins. "And have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God," where he speaks of doctrine, "and the powers of the age to come."
What powers does he mean? Either the powers of working miracles, or the pledge of the Spirit.
"And have fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify for themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." "To renew by repentance," he says, that is, through repentance.
What does this mean? Is repentance rejected? No, not repentance, certainly not. What is rejected is a second renewal by the laver of baptism.
After saying, "For it is impossible to renew them by repentance," he did not stop. After the word "impossible," he added, "since they again crucify for themselves the Son of God." "To renew again" means to make new.
Only the laver makes new. It is said, "Your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps 102:5).
The work of repentance is this. When men have been made new and then have again grown old through sins, repentance frees them from this oldness and restores them to a state of renewal.
Yet it cannot raise them again to their former brightness, because there everything was the work of grace.
"Since they again crucify for themselves," he says, "the Son of God and put Him to open shame." The meaning of his words is this: baptism is a cross, because "our old man was crucified with Him" (Rom 6:6).
Again, "We have been united with Him in the likeness of His death." And again, "We were buried with Him through baptism into death" (Rom 6:5, 4).
Just as it is impossible to crucify Christ a second time, because this would expose Him to reproach, so it is impossible to be baptized a second time.
If "death no longer has dominion over Him" (Rom 6:9), and if He rose, becoming victor over death by the resurrection, then to crucify Him again would make all that preceded a fable and a disgrace.
If by death He trampled down death, then to crucify Him again has that meaning. And whoever is baptized a second time truly crucifies Him again.
What, then, does "crucify again" mean? It means nailing Him to the cross again. As Christ died on the cross, so we die in baptism. We die not in the flesh, but to sin.
See: there is death there, and death here. He died in the flesh, and we die to sin.
In baptism our old man is buried, and a new man rises, conformed to the likeness of His death.
Therefore, if it is necessary to be baptized again, it is necessary for this new man to die again. For baptism is nothing other than the death of the one immersed and the rising of a new man.
And the Apostle rightly said, "they again crucify for themselves." The one who does this acts as though he has forgotten the former grace. He orders his life carelessly, as though hoping for a second baptism.
Therefore one must be attentive and watchful.
What does "having tasted the heavenly gift" mean? It means having received the remission of sins. To grant such grace belongs to God alone, and this grace is entirely grace.
"Shall we remain in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not" (Rom 6:1). If we always hope to be saved by grace, we shall never become virtuous. Where there is only grace, we may give ourselves over to carelessness.
If we knew that our sins could again be washed away by baptism, would we cease from sinning? I do not think so.
The Apostle means many gifts here. Listen to which ones.
You were deemed worthy, he says, of such great forgiveness. You sat in darkness. You were an adversary, an enemy, rejected, opposed to God, and lost.
Being such a one, you were suddenly enlightened. You were counted worthy of the Spirit, the heavenly gift, adoption, the Kingdom of Heaven, ineffable Mysteries, and other blessings.
After this you did not become better. You were worthy of destruction, yet received salvation and honor, as though you had accomplished great deeds. How, then, can you be baptized again?
He confirms the impossibility of this matter by two proofs, placing the stronger one afterward.
The first proof is that one who has been deemed worthy of such blessings, and has betrayed everything given to him, is unworthy to receive renewal again.
The second is that it is impossible to crucify the Son of God again, because this would subject Him to reproach.
Therefore there is not, absolutely not, a second laver of baptism. If there were, there would also be a third and a fourth. The later would always abolish the earlier, and another would abolish it, and so on without end.
Having said, "and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come," the Apostle does not unfold all this. He only hints at it.
It is as though he says: to live like the angels, to need nothing here below, to be sure that adoption by God brings us future blessings, and to hope to enter the unapproachable sanctuary, all this the Spirit teaches.
What does "the powers of the age to come" mean? It means eternal life and the angelic state. We have already received its pledge from the Spirit through faith.
Tell me, if you were brought into the royal chambers and everything there was entrusted to you, and you then squandered it all, could it be entrusted to you again?
What then, you will say, is there no repentance? There is repentance, but there is no second baptism.
Repentance has great power. If a man has plunged deeply into sins and desires it, repentance can free him from the burden of sins. If he is in danger, it can set him in safety.
It can do this even if he has reached the very depth of evil. This can be seen from many places in Scripture.
"Do men not rise again after falling," says the prophet, "and after turning aside from the road, do they not return?" (Jer 8:4).
Repentance can, if we desire it, form Christ in us again. Listen to what Paul says: "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you" (Gal 4:19).
Only we must draw near to repentance.
Look at God's love for mankind. We ought to have been punished from the beginning with every kind of chastisement. We received the natural law and thousands of blessings, yet we did not know the Master and lived impurely.
But He not only did not punish us. He even granted us countless blessings, as though we had accomplished great feats.
We fell away again. Yet even after this He did not punish us. He granted the remedy of repentance, which can destroy and blot out all our sins.
This is so only if we know what this remedy is and how it must be used.
In what, then, does the remedy of repentance consist, and how is it used? First, in the acknowledgment of one's sins and the confession of them.
"I acknowledged my sin to You," says the prophet, "and my iniquity I did not hide." Again, "I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and You forgave the ungodliness of my sin" (Ps 31:5).
Again, "Remind Me; let us contend together; speak, that you may be justified" (Is 43:26). Again, "The righteous man accuses himself at the beginning of his speech" (Prov 18:17).
Second, repentance consists in great humility of mind. It is like a golden chain. If one takes hold of its beginning, the whole chain follows.
So also, if you confess your sins as they ought to be confessed, the soul will be humbled. Conscience torments it and makes it humble.
With humility of mind something else must also be joined, so that it may be like that for which blessed David prayed, saying, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Ps 50:12).
Again, "A broken and humbled heart God will not despise" (Ps 50:19). A broken heart is not stirred up and does not take offense. It is always ready to suffer, and does not rise up for itself.
This is the compunction of the heart: though it is insulted and suffers evil, it remains calm and is not roused to vengeance.
After humility of mind, fervent prayers and abundant tears are needed, day and night.
"Every night I wash my bed," says the prophet, "I water my couch with my tears" (Ps 6:7). Again, "I eat ashes like bread and mingle my drink with tears" (Ps 101:10).
After such fervent prayers, great mercy is needed. This especially makes the remedy of repentance powerful.
In medicines, although the remedy contains many herbs, one is the principal herb. So also in repentance, mercy is such a many-healing herb. Indeed, everything depends upon it.
Listen to what divine Scripture says: "Rather give alms of what you have, and behold, all things are clean for you" (Lk 11:41).
Again, "Redeem your sins by righteousness and your iniquities by mercy to the poor" (Dan 4:24). Again, "Water will quench a flaming fire, and almsgiving will cleanse sins" (Sir 3:30).
Next, one must not become angry, nor remember wrongs, but forgive everyone his sins. "A man keeps anger against a man," says the Wise One, "and asks forgiveness from the Lord" (Sir 28:3).
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Mt 6:14).
One must also turn brethren away from errors. "When you have returned," says the Lord, "strengthen your brethren," so that your sins may be forgiven you (Lk 22:32).
There must also be sincere dealings with priests: "And if he has committed sins," it is said, "they will be forgiven him" (Jas 5:15).
One must defend the wronged, not become angry, and endure everything meekly.
Before you knew that sins are forgiven through repentance, were you not troubled and did you not despair of yourselves, knowing that there is no second laver of baptism?
Now we have learned how repentance and the remission of sins are accomplished. We have learned that we can escape everything, if we desire to use repentance as we ought.
Can we receive forgiveness if we do not think about our sins?
If we fulfilled this, everything would be done. As one who has entered through the door is already inside, so it is with one who thinks about his own sins.
Whoever thinks about them every day will certainly reach their healing. But whoever merely says, "I am sinful," and does not set his sins before himself one by one, will never cease sinning.
If he does not say, "In this and in that I have sinned," he will often confess, but he will never think about his correction.
One need only begin, and all the rest will necessarily follow, if only a beginning is made. In everything, the beginning and first approach are difficult.
Therefore let us lay this foundation, and all will be easy and convenient.
Let us begin repentance, I exhort you. Let one begin with fervent prayers, another with abundant tears, another with compunction. Even the last, small though it seems, is not useless.
"I have seen his ways," says the Lord, "and I will heal him, and I will lead him and comfort him" (Is 57:18).
In general, let us all begin with mercy, with forgiving our neighbors their sins, with forgetting offenses, with refraining from remembering wrongs and taking vengeance. In this way let us humble our souls.
If we constantly remembered our sins, nothing external could rouse us to pride. Neither wealth, nor power, nor authority, nor glory could do so.
Even if we sat on a royal throne, we would still weep bitterly. Blessed David was a king, and yet he said, "Every night I wash my bed; I water my couch with my tears" (Ps 6:7).
Neither purple robe nor diadem harmed him at all or stirred pride in him. He knew that he was a man. He had a broken heart, and therefore he wept.
What are human affairs? Ash and dust, chaff before the face of the wind, smoke and shadow, leaves and flowers carried off by the wind.
They are sleep, dream, and tale; an empty disturbance of the air, easily stirred; a feather tossed about; an unstable current; and anything still more worthless than these.