43. Irenaeus says regarding the Marcosians that "when we come to refute them, we shall show in its fitting-place, that this class of men have been instigated by Satan to a denial of that baptism which is regeneration to God, and thus to a renunciation of the whole faith. They maintain that those who have attained to perfect knowledge must of necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all. For it is otherwise impossible to find admittance within the Fullness, since this [regeneration] it is which leads them down into the depths of Depth." [AH i.22.1]Clearly the Marcosians follow the gnostic 'baptism for the dead' formula (1 Cor 15:29) shared by the Marcionites and Valentinians. The 'dead' are we mortals who enter the water and have Jesus or 'the angels' unite themselves with our flesh. I have argued repeatedly that LGM 1 of Secret Mark HAS TO BE the original context (or a parallel Jesus baptizes one of - or many of - his disciples narrative).
I wrote in a previous post that Clement will only OPENLY speak of the heretical 'baptism on behalf of the dead' when citing strongly Orthodox texts as a framework for his discussion such as the Shepherd of Hermas.
The concept also appears in the Excerpta Ex Theodoto preserved by Clement where "Theodotus' explanation is that 'the dead' refer to human beings who are now dead in their present existence. 'Those who are baptized' are the angels of whom humans are a part and who are baptized for us ... In order for humans to enter the divine realm, the angelic counterpart must also enter. The angels baptism has a benefit for humans and in a way corresponds to human baptism." [Everett Ferguson Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy p. 280]
As Theodotus himself notes "[the angels are baptized for us] in order that we too have the Name and may not be hindered and held back from entering the Fullness by the Limit and the Cross. Therefore at the imposition of hands they say at the end 'into the angelic redemption' that is the redemption which also angels have, so that the person who has received the redemption may be baptized." [Excerpts of Theodous 22]
The same idea appear IN VEILED form throughout the writings of Clement of Alexandria. Clement clearly alludes to the idea that Jesus baptized one of his disciples as a means of uniting his angelic spirit with his flesh as we read:
Receive, then, the water of the Word; wash, ye polluted ones; purify yourselves from custom, by sprinkling yourselves with the drops of truth [Exhortation 10]
These are our invulnerable weapons: armed with these, let us face the evil one; "the fiery darts of the evil one" let us quench with the sword-points dipped in water, that, have been baptized by the Word, returning grateful thanks for the benefits we have received, and honouring God through the Divine Word. [ibid 11]
But most of all is it necessary to wash the soul in the cleansing Word [Instructor III:9]
But the providence of God as revealed by the Lord does not order now, as it did in ancient times, that after sexual intercourse a man should wash. For there is no need for the Lord to make believers do this after intercourse since by one Baptism he has washed them clean for every such occasion, as also he has comprehended in one Baptism the many washings of Moses. [Stromata III.82]
And then there is the allegorical acknowledgement that the function the Alexandrian washing ritual served to establish the priests of the community. Clement mystically alludes to the function of the Jewish temple noting:
So the high priest, putting off his consecrated robe (the universe, and the creation in the universe, were consecrated by Him assenting that, what was made, was good), washes himself, and puts on the other tunic -- a holy-of holies one, so to speak -- which is to accompany him into the adytum; exhibiting, as seems to me, the Levite and Gnostic, as the chief of other priests (those bathed in water, and clothed in faith alone, and expecting their own individual abode), himself distinguishing the objects of the intellect from the things of sense, rising above other priests, hasting to the entrance to the world of ideas, to wash himself from the things here below, not in water, as formerly one was cleansed on being enrolled in the tribe of Levi. But purified already by the gnostic Word in his whole heart, and thoroughly regulated, and having improved that mode of life received from the priest to the highest pitch, being quite sanctified both in word and life, and having put on the bright array of glory, and received the ineffable inheritance of that spiritual and perfect man, "which eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard, and it hath not entered into the heart of man;" and having become son and friend, he is now replenished with insatiable contemplation face to face. For there is nothing like hearing the Word Himself, who by means of the Scripture inspires fuller intelligence. For so it is said, "And he shall put off the linen robe, which he had put on when he entered into the holy place; and shall lay it aside there, and wash his body in water in the holy place, and put on his robe." But in one way, as I think, the Lord puts off and puts on by descending into the region of sense; and in another, he who through Him has believed puts off and puts on, as the apostle intimated, the consecrated stole. Thence, after the image of the Lord. the worthiest were chosen from the sacred tribes to be high priests, and those elected to the kingly office and to prophecy were anointed. [Stromata V.6]
The mystery of this process is developed further elsewhere including:
O amazing mystery! We are enjoined to cast off the old and carnal corruption, as also the old nutriment, receiving in exchange another new regimen, that of Christ, receiving Him if we can, to hide Him within. [Paed i.6]
And again:
But that man with whom the Word dwells does not alter himself, does not get himself up: he has the form which is of the Word; he is made like to God; he is beautiful; he does not ornament himself: his is beauty, the true beauty, for it is God; and that man becomes God, since God so wills. Heraclitus, then, rightly said, "Men are gods, and gods are men." For the Word Himself is the manifest mystery: God in man, and man God. And the Mediator executes the Father's will ... Paul says, speaking of the Lord, "Because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant," calling the outward man servant, previous to the Lord becoming a servant and wearing flesh. But the compassionate God Himself set the flesh free, and releasing it from destruction, and from bitter and deadly bondage, endowed it with incorruptibility, arraying the flesh in this, the holy embellishment of eternity--immortality. [ibid iii.1]
The Stromata begins with a similar preliminary understanding:
Thus the Lord did not hinder from doing good while keeping the Sabbath; but allowed us to communicate of those divine mysteries, and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. [Strom i.1]
Later in the Stromata Clement makes explicit that baptism is the necessary starting point for the mystery of the kingdom of heaven:
For [John] confesses that he is not worthy to baptize so great a Power; for it behooves those, who purify others, to free the soul from the body and its sins, as the foot from the thong. Perhaps also this signified the final exertion of the Saviour's power toward us -- the immediate, I mean -- that by His presence, concealed in the enigma of prophecy, inasmuch as he, by pointing out to sight Him that had been prophesied of, and indicating the Presence which had come, walking forth into the light, loosed the latchet of the oracles of the [old] economy, by unveiling the meaning of the symbols. [ibid v.8]
Clement then turns around in the next chapter and takes this rather abstract discussion of the principles of baptism and initiation back to the inner sanctum of the church of Alexandria:
They also wish us to require an interpreter and guide. For so they considered, that, receiving truth at the hands of those who knew it well, we would be more earnest and less liable to deception, and those worthy of them would profit. Besides, all things that shine through a veil show the truth grander and more imposing; as fruits shining through water, and figures through veils, which give added reflections to them. For, in addition to the fact that things unconcealed are perceived in one way, the rays of light shining round reveal defects. Since, then, we may draw several meanings, as we do from what is expressed in veiled form, such being the case, the ignorant and unlearned man fails. But the Gnostic apprehends. Now, then, it is not wished that all things should be exposed indiscriminately to all and sundry, or the benefits of wisdom communicated to those who have not even in a dream been purified in soul, (for it is not allowed to hand to every chance comer what has been procured with such laborious efforts); nor are the mysteries of the word to be expounded to the profane. [ibid v.9]
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