We must guard constantly against the notion that baptism is merely a rite of initiation, or passage through which one has to go. It is not a formal 'declaration' that one is a Christian nor does it simply represent the cleansing of sins that have already been forgiven. So what actually occurs in the person who approaches this laver of regeneration?
Alan Brown commenting on the thought of John Zizioulas writes:
'Within the mode of fallen existence, says Zizioulas, human beings come to exist through the communion of erotic love, a generative communion through which the human being constituted thereby suffers from the two 'passions' of 'ontological necessity' and 'individualism'. According to the first passion, man is 'inevitably tied to natural instinct', and so is bound by the necessities of nature and as such is not ontologically free. According to the second passion, men 'affirm their identity as separation from (and hence opposition to) other unities'; it is because men are atomized from each other in this way that they express their freedom over and against each other in a war of all against all. Thus the inabilities of human beings to attain true personhood to which the existentialists point have, says Zizioulas, their root in the situation of fallen human existence - not in human existence per se. And insofar as their analyses of fallen human existence, says Zizioulas, they are entirely correct: inasmuch as man remains constituted ontologically by the 'biological hypostasis', he is unable to attain the true ontological freedom (in the existentialists' sense). But what the patristic location of such analyses within the mode of being of fallen existence shows is that these inabilities of man to attain true personhood stem from the mode of his birth. As such, what man needs to attain true personhood is a 'new birth', a birth 'from on high'.
This 'new birth', says Zizioulas, is attained precisely in baptism, where God 'hypostasises' the person according to God's way of being'. In baptism, says Zizioulas, man is hypostasized with a different hypostasis from that of biological existence. He is hypostasized with 'the hypostasis of ecclesial existence'
As all in summed up in Christ, the Son of the Father, man being baptised into His Death, overcomes such a division. Only in Him is found true personhood and relationality, the uniquely beloved of the Father. The Logos containing the logoi of all creation, allows man to return to his source and rejoice in God's invitation to love and communion with the divine life. On such a view, man is unable to be opposed to the 'other' as an impediment to his 'liberty', but he comes to acknowledge the unrepeatable neighbour as a child of the Eternal Father. Through his cleansing in the font, man arrives at a new mode of being, a new creation is relation to God and to man in the Body of Christ. He truly becomes free by becoming a child of the Father, Who brought forth His beloved Son and all through his own freedom, which man becomes to participate in his 'ecclesial existence'.
Alan Brown commenting on the thought of John Zizioulas writes:
'Within the mode of fallen existence, says Zizioulas, human beings come to exist through the communion of erotic love, a generative communion through which the human being constituted thereby suffers from the two 'passions' of 'ontological necessity' and 'individualism'. According to the first passion, man is 'inevitably tied to natural instinct', and so is bound by the necessities of nature and as such is not ontologically free. According to the second passion, men 'affirm their identity as separation from (and hence opposition to) other unities'; it is because men are atomized from each other in this way that they express their freedom over and against each other in a war of all against all. Thus the inabilities of human beings to attain true personhood to which the existentialists point have, says Zizioulas, their root in the situation of fallen human existence - not in human existence per se. And insofar as their analyses of fallen human existence, says Zizioulas, they are entirely correct: inasmuch as man remains constituted ontologically by the 'biological hypostasis', he is unable to attain the true ontological freedom (in the existentialists' sense). But what the patristic location of such analyses within the mode of being of fallen existence shows is that these inabilities of man to attain true personhood stem from the mode of his birth. As such, what man needs to attain true personhood is a 'new birth', a birth 'from on high'.
This 'new birth', says Zizioulas, is attained precisely in baptism, where God 'hypostasises' the person according to God's way of being'. In baptism, says Zizioulas, man is hypostasized with a different hypostasis from that of biological existence. He is hypostasized with 'the hypostasis of ecclesial existence'
As all in summed up in Christ, the Son of the Father, man being baptised into His Death, overcomes such a division. Only in Him is found true personhood and relationality, the uniquely beloved of the Father. The Logos containing the logoi of all creation, allows man to return to his source and rejoice in God's invitation to love and communion with the divine life. On such a view, man is unable to be opposed to the 'other' as an impediment to his 'liberty', but he comes to acknowledge the unrepeatable neighbour as a child of the Eternal Father. Through his cleansing in the font, man arrives at a new mode of being, a new creation is relation to God and to man in the Body of Christ. He truly becomes free by becoming a child of the Father, Who brought forth His beloved Son and all through his own freedom, which man becomes to participate in his 'ecclesial existence'.
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