The Baptism of the Cross (1970)
Source: St Mark Magazine 14, no. 149 (April 1973): 16–18, 15.
From an early issue of St Mark’s Magazine, the youth magazine published by St Macarius’ Monastery under the guidance of Fr Matthew the Poor.
Baptism of the Cross
“I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!” (Lk 12:50)
We draw near the scene of Jesus’ Passion and His Cross with a sense of trembling and awe, for we are encountering the great mystery: the mystery of the power of God concealed within the weakness of the flesh. The mystery of the unlimited love of God concealed behind the tears of Jesus and His sorrows, His dripping sweat, the cries and groans of His passion, and His entire struggle and patient endurance in Gethsemane and on the Cross. And yet, we encounter the working of God’s righteousness in His solution to the problem of sin by condemning it in the body of His Son Jesus Christ.[1]Cf. Romans 8:3, “He condemned sin in the flesh.” Abdelshahid reflects on this verse on page 17.
A few months before He was crucified, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the death He was determined to undergo in Jerusalem and described the passion of the Cross, saying, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how severe is My distress until it is accomplished!” (Lk 12:50).[2]Author’s Footnote: The text of this verse in the common translation is: “I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished.” This is an accurate translation linguistically, but the meaning requires explanation, which is why I have clarified the meaning of “how distressed I am” (kayfa ūnḥaṣar) by [rendering it] “how great is My distress” (mā āshadd inḥiṣārī). Here Jesus sees the Cross from a distance, and describes it as a baptism which He will be baptized with. The word translated as “baptism” [or “pigmentation, dyeing”] (ṣibgha) means baptism by immersion (ma‘mūdiyya).[3]Where English translations of Luke 12:50 use “baptism,” the Arabic translation uses the word ṣibgha, which means “dye” or “pigment”, rather than the word normally used for religious baptism (ma‘mūdiyya). A more literal reading of the Arabic is, “I have a dye to be dyed with” (ṣibgha āṣṭabigh-hā). As a result, it would not be immediately clear to an Arabic reader that the ṣibgha which Christ is to be dyed with is a baptism (ma‘mūdiyya), even though this is in fact the root meaning of the original Greek word baptisma (baptizō means “to dye, apply pigment”).” Thus, Jesus is speaking about the Cross and His Passion as a baptism; not one in which He will be immersed in water, but rather where He will be entirely dyed or painted from all sides with sufferings and sorrows unto death; He will be dyed with His own shed blood; for our sake He will pass through the sea of wrath warranted by the sin He bore in His body upon the tree;[4]baḥr al-ghaḍab al-ladhī tastaḥiqquhu al-khaṭiyya al-latī yaḥmiluhu fī jasadihi ‘alā al-khashaba“ He will go through the cavernous depths of the curse by accepting to bear our sins, or rather, accepting to become sin for our sake.[5]Cf. 2 Cor 5:21.” Christ’s use of this image to describe the Cross reveals to us two things. On the one hand, He is preoccupied and weighed down with the responsibility and the burden of bringing about our salvation from sin and Satan and death, on account of His love for the Father and His love for us. On the other hand, He knows
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full well and clearly feels and perceives the gravity and the difficulty of the passions and tribulations which He is going to endure on the Cross on account of our sins, which put Him in a state of rejection and abandonment, where the face of the Father was veiled from Him,[6]inḥijāb wajh al-’āb ‘an-hu as a sin offering. How great then was the distress of Christ in the time before the Cross! This means that an unlimited love filled His heart and bore down upon Him the responsibility of the salvation of humanity. It was this love, in fact, which caused Him to be distressed, and the distress of Jesus was linked to the baptism with which He was to be baptised, that is, the completion of His baptism upon the Cross.
The Cross, with its pains and sorrows and all the condemnation of sin that was accomplished in the body of Christ, is the true baptism which Jesus was baptised with, stained with His own blood. And in this baptism, the baptism of the Cross, God effected the condemnation of sin in the body of Christ.
He condemned sin in the flesh:
“God, sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and on account of sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom 8:3–4). In the baptism of Christ on the Cross, God condemned sin in the flesh. The apostle confirms the importance of the condemnation of sin in the flesh when he says that God sent His Son for this purpose, “on account of sin”; thus, Christ came in the flesh in order to defeat Satan by the flesh, that the victory might become ours. He judged sin in the flesh so that sin would have no right or authority over us so long as we believed in the Crucified One who triumphed over sin and Satan. St John Chrysostom, commenting on the phrase “He condemned sin in the flesh”, says:
For behold what strange things there were that took place! First of all, sin did not conquer the flesh, but on contrary, sin was conquered and overcome by the flesh itself. For it is no ordinary thing for [the flesh] not to be conquered. Another thing is that [the flesh] conquered what was continually overthrowing us [i.e. sin]. A third thing is that the flesh not only conquered [sin], but even chastised it. For by not sinning [the flesh] kept itself from being conquered; but by dying also, it overcame and condemned [sin]. Thus the flesh which before was an object of ridicule and scorn to sin, became a plain cause of fear to it. In this way then, He deprived sin of its power and abolished the death introduced by it. For as long as sin had hold of sinners, it had the right to continue ruling over them to the end (that is, to death). But after finding a sinless body (the body of Christ) which had been surrendered to death, it was condemned as having acted contrary to justice and right. Do you see how many proofs of victory there are? Instead of being conquered by sin, the flesh even conquers and condemns it! And the condemnation is no weak thing,
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for it was caught in the crime of having killed a sinless body … It is therefore convicted according to the rules of justice … So you see it is sin that gets condemned in every way, and not the flesh; and we rather see the flesh crowned with honour, and handing down a sentence against the other.[7]St John Chrysostom, Commentary on Romans, Homily 13. Translated from the Arabic, but loosely modelled off the translation in NPNF 1/11.
How fearful is this baptism, wherein Jesus — by the power of His righteousness, holiness and submission to the Father, by the power of His life — abolished sin and its power! He drowned sin and death — the enemies of humanity — in the blood of His cross, in the blood of His incomparable baptism. He abolished them by His circumcision, for He accepted that His body should be taken from Him by pains and shreddings unto death; this is what the Apostle Paul calls “the circumcision of Christ” (Col 2:11). This is the true circumcision, of which the ritual requirement of circumcision under the Old Covenant was only a type.
Thus Christ was baptised on the cross with a baptism of the sufferings of the fearful condemnation of sin, and circumcised with an incomparable circumcision through the cross.
He and Us
But Christ underwent baptism of the cross and the circumcision of the cross not for His sake but for ours; in truth, the baptism of the cross is for us, as is the circumcision of the cross.
For this reason the Apostle says, “all we who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death … knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin.” (Rom 6:3–6)
Thus all who believe in Christ and are baptised into Him — that is, into His death — let them know that they have been crucified with Christ on the cross, and are “circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands,” that is, circumcised with the cross of Christ. Put another way, the crucified Christ is crying out in their depths [of their hearts], that they ought not live for themselves or their desires and ambitions, that is, according to the flesh, because it has been crucified, buried and has died with Christ; they are within Christ, who suffers, is crucified and dies, but ought instead to live for Christ, who has triumphed over sin and triumphed over death, for the victory of Christ was in effect from the time of his crucifixion, even before it was openly revealed by the resurrection. It was revealed on the third day with the resurrection of the living body, glorified with the glory of the Father. This power, the power of the resurrection, belongs to all who willingly take part in the cross of Christ and His circumcision. This power might also be called the power
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The final part of the article is printed on page 15 (probably due to spacing issues)
of the cross: it is given to us in order that we might bring about the crucifixion of our lusts and desires, by faith in Jesus, in order that we might really live and walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, because the power of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus — the power of His condemnation of sin — the power of His resurrection, is ours. We ought to seek it and take hold of it in faith, for by this power alone can we be freed from the law of sin and death that works in our nature. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom 8:2).
How blessed we are in Christ!
How rich we are, by the power of His cross and resurrection!
Let us praise and glorify Him who by weakness showed forth what is greater than power.[8]A line from the hymn O Monogenis (O Only-Begotten Son).
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Notes:
| ↑1 | Cf. Romans 8:3, “He condemned sin in the flesh.” Abdelshahid reflects on this verse on page 17. |
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| ↑2 | Author’s Footnote: The text of this verse in the common translation is: “I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished.” This is an accurate translation linguistically, but the meaning requires explanation, which is why I have clarified the meaning of “how distressed I am” (kayfa ūnḥaṣar) by [rendering it] “how great is My distress” (mā āshadd inḥiṣārī). |
| ↑3 | Where English translations of Luke 12:50 use “baptism,” the Arabic translation uses the word ṣibgha, which means “dye” or “pigment”, rather than the word normally used for religious baptism (ma‘mūdiyya). A more literal reading of the Arabic is, “I have a dye to be dyed with” (ṣibgha āṣṭabigh-hā). As a result, it would not be immediately clear to an Arabic reader that the ṣibgha which Christ is to be dyed with is a baptism (ma‘mūdiyya), even though this is in fact the root meaning of the original Greek word baptisma (baptizō means “to dye, apply pigment”).” |
| ↑4 | baḥr al-ghaḍab al-ladhī tastaḥiqquhu al-khaṭiyya al-latī yaḥmiluhu fī jasadihi ‘alā al-khashaba“ |
| ↑5 | Cf. 2 Cor 5:21.” |
| ↑6 | inḥijāb wajh al-’āb ‘an-hu |
| ↑7 | St John Chrysostom, Commentary on Romans, Homily 13. Translated from the Arabic, but loosely modelled off the translation in NPNF 1/11. |
| ↑8 | A line from the hymn O Monogenis (O Only-Begotten Son). |
How to cite this text (Chicago/Turabian):
Abdelshahid, Noshy. “The Baptism of the Cross” [Ma‘mūdiyyat al-ṣalīb]. St Mark Magazine 14, no. 149 (April 1973): 16–18, 15. Translated by Samuel Kaldas in Archive of Contemporary Coptic Orthodox Theology. Sydney, NSW: St Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College. https://accot.stcyrils.edu.au/nas-cross1973/.
(For more information, see Citation Guidelines)