Baptism And Penitence

Tunc exibat ad eum Hierosolyma et omnis Judaea et omnis regio circa Jordanem, et baptizabantur confitentes peccata sua. Ubi notandum quod ideo confitentur peccata sua, ut digni efficiantur baptismi gratia, secundum quod audierant, poenitantiam agite, appropinquavit enim regnum coelorum. Unde apparet, nullum recte poenitere posse, nisi primum confitaetur peccata sua, et prioris vitae errores damnaverit, ita efficiatur idoneus percipiendae gratiae, et tum demum divinis mysteriorum sacramentis in Christi corpore consecretur. Praeterea ex eo quod Apostolus ait: Quia sine poenitentia dona et vocatio, non incongrue legentibus quaestio generatur. Quia nimirum si sine poenitentia sunt dona mysterii, et nobis in baptismo condonatur remissio peccatorum, videtur non recte ad eum currentibus poenitentia velut indigna praedicari. Sed poenitentiae modus triplex accipitur, dum aliud sit errores vitiorum, et universa diaboli opera per poenitentia abrenuntiando ante ablutionem fontis penitus condemnaeri, aliud post fontem remissionis labi in peccatum, et per poenitentiam iterum renovari. Nec non et illud quod quotidie sancti a talibus purgantur delictis, sine quibus nostra humana mortalitas, aut vix, aut certe minime potest vivere. Quorum prior poenitentiae modus ideo praedicatur, ut homo qui Deum auctorem suum, declinando post ea quae vana sunt, contempserat, et per reatum irae filius factus erat, tandem in semetipsum rediens, pristinos vitae errores rudimento fidei funditus condemnaret. Non enim erat fas duobus dominis servire, imo proprio veniente rectum erat, ut quod infauste tenuerat primum, relinqueret, et puniret in se quidquid in eo male vivebat, quatenus per hoc divinae gratiae capax esset. Verumtamen haec ut ageret non sua libertas, eo quod esset servituti addictus, sed vocantis gratia fuit; quae gratia non solum reis peccata gratis indulsit, sed etiam facultatem agendi quae monebat, dedit; ac deinde meritum, quo perciperet quisque quae promissa sunt, plenius condonavit. Et ideo jure clamat Apostolus: Quod sine poenitentia sunt dona et vocatio, praesertim quod cuncta gratis donantur, in tantum ut etiam ipsa poenitentia Dei donum recte dicatur. Sanctus Paschasius Radbertus Corbeiensis, Expositio In Evangelium Matthaei, Liber II Caput III Source: Migne PL 120.154d-155c

Then they came out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and from every region around the Jordan, and they were baptized confessing their sins...' 1 Where one should note that it is by confessing their sins that they are made worthy of the grace of baptism, according to what they heard, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Whence it appears that no one is able to be truly penitent, unless he first confesses his sins and deplores the errors of his earlier life, so that he is made capable of receiving effective grace and by the Divine sacraments of the mysteries consecrated into the body of Christ. And yet the Apostle says: 'Without penitence there are gifts and calling.' 2 which does not without reason question what we have read. Because, indeed, if there are gifts of the mysteries without penitence and in baptism we receive forgiveness for sins, it does not seem right that John said to those who made haste to penitence that they were unworthy. 3 But penitence is understood in three ways: some by penitence renounce and condemn the errors of vices and the works of the devil before the washing at the font; others do so after baptism, so that they receive forgiveness for falling into sin, and again are renewed by penance. Nor is there a day that the holy do not need to be purged from fault, without which we can scarcely, or certainly to a very little extent, live in our human mortality. Of the first way of penitence, therefore, it is declared that the man who has scorned God his creator, later falling into things which are vain, by guilt has been made a son of anger 4 until returning to himself and established on the foundation of faith he deplores the old errors of life. For the service of two masters was not right, but rather with the coming of his true master who had ruled, he should relinquish what he had wretchedly held to and punish in himself whatever he lived with in wickedness, as much as he was able to according to the Divine grace in him. Yet such things were not done by man's own freedom since he was bound in a state of servitude, but by the grace of calling, which grace not only freely dismissed the sins of the guilty, but even admonished as to what should be done. And then there is merit, by which a man seizing on the things promised, makes a full offering. And therefore rightly the Apostle cries out: 'Without penitence there are gifts and calling.' Certainly because everything is given by grace, so that even penitence before God is rightly named a gift. Saint Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 2 Chapter 3 1 Mt 3.5-6 2 Rom 9.29 3 Mt 3.7 4 Ephes 2.3