Dist. 2, Art. 2, Q. 2
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/2/q/bon-sent-IV-d2-a2-q2
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### Question II. *For what end John's baptism was instituted.*

Second it is asked, for what end John's baptism was instituted. And that it was [instituted] for signifying seems [to be the case]:

1. By that which Hugh says: "Between the baptism of Christ and the baptism of John there is this difference, that there only the Sacrament was given, here the Sacrament and the reality of the Sacrament, namely in the baptism of Christ": therefore if it belongs to a Sacrament to signify, it is clear that [it was instituted] for signifying.

2. Likewise, by reason it seems [so]: because the baptism of John agreed more with the baptism of Christ than the legal baptism did; but that [legal baptism], as Hugh says, signified the baptism of Christ: therefore much more fittingly does the baptism of John [signify it].

Likewise, that it was instituted for effecting seems [to be the case]:

1. Because it is said in Mark 1: *John was baptizing and preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins*: therefore since the remission of sins is not [given] without grace, it seems that he gave grace.

2. Likewise, by reason it seems [so]: because, as Hugh says, "just as the expression of signification increases in the Sacraments, the efficacy of sanctification increases, and this in proportion as they draw nearer to the coming of Christ"; but the baptism of John was a more express sign than circumcision, and drew nearer to [Christ's] coming: therefore it had greater efficacy.

3. Furthermore, if it had no interior efficacy, since the washing of the flesh would be of little or no use, it was not to be accepted nor approved: therefore those who received it acted foolishly; Christ too did wrongly, who approved it when he willed to be baptized by him, as is said in Matthew 3: therefore if neither did they act foolishly, nor Christ wrongly, then it had some efficacy.

4. Likewise, that it had greater efficacy than the baptism of Christ seems [to be the case]: because Christ was baptized with John's baptism, not with his own: therefore by the deed itself he set it before his own; but it would not be preferred unless it were of greater virtue and efficacy: therefore, etc.

**On the contrary:** That it was [instituted] neither for signifying nor for effecting seems [to be the case]:

5. Because, if [it was instituted] only for signifying, then it was a Sacrament of the old law; if for effecting, it was [a Sacrament] of the new: therefore since John's baptism was not a Sacrament of the old law — because John is the terminus of the Law — nor of the new; it is manifest that it neither signified nor had efficacy.

6. Likewise, that it did nothing interiorly seems [to be the case]: because it is said in Mark 1: *I baptize you with water*; and in John 1: *Therefore have I come baptizing in water*; and in Acts 1: *Because John baptized with water*.

7. Likewise, on that text of John 3: *John was baptizing* etc.; the Gloss [says]: "As much as the teaching of faith profits catechumens not yet baptized, so much did the baptism of John profit before the baptism of Christ": therefore according to this it only instructed and conferred nothing of grace: it is clear therefore, etc.

### Conclusion

> **Conclusion.** John's baptism was instituted for signifying, not for effecting.

**I respond:** It must be said that John's baptism was instituted to pre-signify the baptism of Christ, as the Master says, that "it was a sign of a sacred thing, because it signified the baptism of Christ," and by reason of this it was in a certain way a Sacrament. — It was also instituted to accustom [men] to the baptism of Christ, [as in] Matthew 3: *I baptize* etc.; the Gloss: "I only wash bodies, since I cannot loose sins, so that just as by being born and by preaching I run before [him], so by baptizing I may direct [men] to the baptism of Christ"; and as to this it is not a Sacrament, but a sacramental, like the tournament by which soldiers are trained, [which] is not [real] war. — It was also, thirdly, [instituted] for initiating the baptism of Christ, by manifesting the author and preparing the matter, and this, when he baptized Christ: Christ was manifested, [as in] John 1: *That he might be manifested in Israel, therefore have I come baptizing in water*; and in that act of baptizing "Christ conferred upon the waters a regenerative power by the contact of his flesh," as Bede says. And as to this, that it was the beginning of the new law, it was a Sacrament neither wholly of the old nor wholly of the new law.

It must therefore be granted that it was instituted for signifying, not for effecting, as Hugh says; nor is it necessary that it be a Sacrament of the old law on account of this, that it initiated the Sacrament of the new.

**To the arguments:**

*To 1.* As for what is objected concerning that word *preaching* etc.; the Gloss expounds it thus: "He calls it *the baptism of penance* *for the remission of sins*, and this he only preached, he did not give." Hence that baptism of penance was not the baptism of John, which he himself gave, but the baptism of Christ, which John preached.

*To 2.* As for what is objected, that it is a more express sign than the legal [signs]; it must be said that circumcision was instituted as a remedy, not only as a sign, but John's baptism only as a sign, not as a remedy; for if it were a remedy, it would surely be a more efficacious remedy, just as it was a more express sign.

*To 3 and 4.* As for what is objected, that [it would be] of no use, etc.; it must be said that although it did not purge interiorly, yet it was not useless, because it instructed and accustomed [men]; and what is more, it was a way of manifesting Christ and of preparing the matter for the baptism of Christ. And hence it is that Christ willed to be baptized in it, so that by baptizing himself he might prepare the matter for his own baptism by sanctifying the water. — And thus the consequent is clear, that he did not set it before his own, but ordained it to his own baptism.

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