Baptism and Sin

Ἐι οὖν ἡ ἄνωθεν γέννησις ἀναστοιχείωσις τε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γίνεται, ταῦτα δὲ τὴν μεταβολὴν οὐ προσίεται, σκεπτέον τίνος μεταποιηθέντος, ἐντελὴς τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως ἡ χάρις ἐστί. Δηλονότι τῶν πονηρῶν γνωρισμάτων ἐξαλειφθέντων τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν, ἡ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μετάστασις γίνεται. Οὐκοῦν εἰ, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, λουσάμενοι τῷ μυστικῷ τούτῳ λουτρῷ, καθαροὶ τὰς προαιρέσεις γινοίμεθα, τὰς πονηρίας τῶν ψυχῶν ἀποκλύσαντες, κρείττους γεγόναμεν, καὶ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταπεποιήμεθα. Εἰ δὲ τὸ λουτρὸν μὲν ἐπαχθείν τῷ σώματι, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς κηλίδας μὴ ἀποῥῥίψοιτο· ἀλλ' ὁ μετὰ τὴν μύησιν βίος συμβαίνει τῷ ἀμυήτῳ Βίῳ, κᾶν τολμηρὸν εἰπεῖν ᾕ, λέξω, καὶ οὐκ ἀποτραπήσομαι, ὅτι ἐπὶ τούτων τὸ ὕδωρ, ὕδωρ ἐστὶν, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιφανίστης τῷ γινομένῳ, ὅταν μὴ μὸνον τὸν θυμὸν αισχρος ὑβριζῃ τὴν θείαν μορφὴν, ἢ το κατὰ πλεονεξίαν πάθος, καὶ ἡ ακόλαστος καὶ ἡ ἀσχήμων διάναοια, καὶ τύφος, καὶ φθόνος, καὶ ὑπερηφανία· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐξ ἀδικίας κέρδη παραμένῃ αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ ἐκ μοιχείας αὐτῷ κτηθεῖσα γυνὴ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ μετὰ τοῠτο ὑπηρετεῖται. Ἐὰν ταῦτα περὶ τὸν Βίον τοῦ βαπτισθέντος ῇ, το μεταπεποίηται ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἔνι· τὸν αὐτὸν Βλέπων ὅνπερ καὶ πρότερον, ὁ ἠδικημένος, ὁ σεσυκοφαντημενος, ὁ τῶν ἰδίων ἀπωσθεὶς, οὐδεμίαν ὁρῶσιν εφ' ἑαυτῶν τὴν τοῦ λεγομένου μεταβολήν. Οὐκ ἥκουσαι καὶ παρὰ τούτου τὴν Ζακχαίου φωνήν, ὅτι Εἰ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα, ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλασίονα. Ἄ πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἔλεγον, τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ νῦν περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ διεξέρχοντι, ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀνομάτων κατονομάζουσι, πλεονέκτην, τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμη τὴν, ἀπὸ συμφορῶν ἀνθρωπίνων τρυφῶντα. Ὁ τοί  νυν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὤν, ἔπειτα ἐπιθρυλλῶν ἑαυτῷ δια τοῦ βαπτίσματος τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολὴν ἀκουσάτω τῆς Παύλου φωνῆς· ὅτι εἰ γὰρ δοκεῖ τις εἶναί τι μηδὲν ὤν, φρεναπατᾷ ἑαυτόν. Ὅ γὰρ μὴ γέγονας οὐκ εἰ. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Λόγος Κατήχητικος Ὁ Μέγας,

If, then, the birth from above is a refashioning of the man, and yet his properties do not allow change, it should be sought by what sort of change the grace of rebirth is perfected. It is clear that when the evil features of our nature have been obliterated there is a change to the better. If, then, as the Prophet says, being washed in that mystic bath we become clean in our will and set aside the evil of our souls, we become better persons being changed to a better state. But if, the bathing having been applied to the body, the soul has not washed off from itself the stains of its passions, but the life after initiation is as the life of initiated, though it be a bold thing to say, yet I will say it and will not shrink from it, in these cases the water is but water, for the gift of the Holy Ghost in no way appears in him; when, that is, not only the pride deforms the divine form of the soul, or the passion of greed, or unbridled and disgusting thoughts, with envy, and arrogance, but the gains of injustice also stay with him, and the woman he has bought by adultery still even after that attends to his pleasures. If these things are present in the life of the baptized I cannot see how he has been changed, for I see the same man as he was before. The one treated unjustly by him, the one falsely accused by him, the one who has had his property taken him, these,  see nothing in him which could called change. They do not hear the cry of Zacchaeus from him: 'If I have by false accusation taken anything from a man, I restore it fourfold.'1  The things they said of him before his baptism, the very same things they now relate, calling him the same names: a covetous person, one who desires what belongs to others, one who lives luxuriously at the cost of  the sufferings of other men. Let the man, therefore, who is the same as before, proclaiming loudly to himself of the beneficial change of his baptism, hear the voice of Paul: 'If a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.'2 For what you have not become, you are not. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism 1 Lk 19.8  2 Gal 6.3