That receiving baptism means precisely being born according to Christ, accepting the very being, being created out of nothing, we can know this by many proofs. First, from the order in which it is performed, that it is performed first and before all the sacraments, and by which Christians enter into the new life. Second, from the names we give it. Third, from the rites and hymns observed during its performance. The order is as follows: first the washing, second the anointing with chrism, and finally the thanksgiving meal. The conclusive proof that washing is the principle and first condition of this life is given by the Lord Himself. Before the Lord began His saving work and endured His sufferings for us, He first accepted baptism. Can the titles we give to baptism have different meanings: birth, rebirth, re-formation, seal, bath, garment, anointing, gift, illumination, baptism? All these titles mean one thing, namely those who live according to God by accepting this sacrament as a basic condition for this life. It seems to me that the word “birth” means nothing other than what the word “rebirth” means, and the word “re-creation” means nothing other than what “birth” and “re-birth” mean, that is, the re-birth of those who were born and innocent who lost their form and then restored their original form. What happened with a deformed statue to which the artist restored its original form. Baptism is the artist who restored to man his form and appearance and impressed an image in the soul and sculpted a form and made it conform to Christ in death and resurrection. For this reason it is called a seal that imprints us with the image of the King and his blessed form. And since form encompasses matter and eliminates its formlessness, so the sacrament is a garment or baptism that gives it form. The Apostle Paul referred to this when he confirmed that Christ imprints his image and form in the souls of Christians and also covers them with a symbolic garment. And the newly enlightened ones put on and were baptized: “My children, you are the ones with whom I am in labor again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19) and also: “You are the ones before whose eyes the image of Christ crucified was shaped” (Galatians 3:1). And he writes to the Corinthians: “You who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Gold, silver and copper remain matter and are called so as long as they are in a state of fusion, but when they are transformed into different forms under the blows of the hammer, they do not remain raw matter but matter with a form. For example, we say a statue, a ring, a denarius… Names that do not target matter as matter but its form, and this is also the case with the clothing around the body. The naming of the day of salvation by Christians as the day of naming may be the result of our creation exactly on this day and our formation and the soul obtaining a form and existence after it was previously obscure, vague and without form, in addition to the fact that we came to know who knows his own as the Apostle Paul says: “We have known God, and we have known God” (Galatians 4:9). To be known means to be known by God, so David declares of those who have no common bond with this life: “My lips do not mention their names,” because he who remains far from this light remains unknown and invisible. Nothing appears to the eye without the light, and God does not know anyone who has not received the properties of baptism, and the reason is that he does not exist in relation to the truth, he has not been put into the light by this sun. What is meant by the saying: “The Lord knows his own,” (Timothy 11:19), the Savior does not recognize foolish virgins, (Matthew 25:13) is what we have mentioned.
Baptism is enlightenment because it gives the true entity and makes us known by God and leads man and distances him from evil darkness and also grants light, and for this reason it is called the bath of light, because it illuminates the lights in our souls to remove every cloud of impurity that comes between us and the divine ray, and destroys every intermediate wall between us and God.
Baptism is a gift because it is a birth. Who can have an idea of his birth? In spiritual birth the same thing happens in natural birth. Even the will itself, if it tried to know the benefits of baptism before it happened, would not be able to. To will means to remember, and to remember is not to will. The human heart cannot ascend or think before it has passed through the experience. When we hear talk of freedom and the happy kingdom, we think of a life conceived by the human mind, although the life that baptism gives is beyond all human understanding and every human desire of ours.
Baptism is also called an anointing because the one who is anointed for us, Christ, is impressed upon the one who performs it. The seal means Christ the Savior who seals the souls, and the anointing that covers all parts of the body defines the form and remains as an authentic seal.
From the above it is concluded that the seal is synonymous with birth, and the garments and immersion are synonymous with circumcision. On the other hand, since enlightenment, washing and free gift are synonymous with creation and birth, all the titles given to baptism become one and lead to the same thing, lead to us knowing that this spiritual washing renews birth and is the beginning of life in Christ for our souls.