Water and Other Mysteries

Interestingly we often attribute the Catholic church with apostasy or as the cause for the digression from the truth. I saw a book in the library today called De Mysteriis (On the Mysteries) by Saint Ambrose. He was a 4th century bishop of Milan. He wrote extensively and was the cause for the famous conversion of St. Augustine, who would later proliferate the his own teachings along with Ambrose’s. Anyway, that is just a little history. Now the good stuff.
On the Mysteries begins with an ordinance or sacrament of baptism. Here, addressing the importance of baptism to new converts, he tries to explain just how crucial it is for salvation. Some of the doctrine he teaches I once thought to be restored doctrine, but instead it was old doctrine that the Catholic church preserved.
He talks first of water. Is water necessary? Yes, of course it is, but why? Water has an interesting significance to the Old Testament peoples, and though the definition changes by the 5th century, Ambrose also understands this symbol of water. In the beginning how was the earth created? Was it created out of nothing? No, it was unorganized matter, the Greeks call this, “Chaos.” The opposite would be organized matter, which translates in Greek to “Cosmos.” What does this have to do with water? We are getting there. Ancient Jewish tradition states that the creation was not finished in 7 days…the earth was created but the process was not complete (ex. Adam was given charge over some unfinished business like naming and defining the animals). This will be important for later…but the act of naming is a priesthood ordinance that is still practiced in our church. This means that Adam had the authority to do so and become a helper in the creation through use of his priesthood.
To the ancient peoples, the sea (water) was something that was formless (without organization). It was a symbol from which came monsters and evil. It is apparent that even in the time of Homer that the sea was something to be feared, something unorganized where animals lived but man could not live there. People left on the waters and did not return. It seems that God alone has power over the waters. In fact, when speaking to Moses, God says, “Thou shalt be made stronger than many waters; for they shall obey thy command as if thou wert God” (Moses 1:25). Here, in addition to foreshadowing Moses’ future, God explains that He has power over the seas, and that that power can be given to man (in this case, Moses). Now the power of God given to man is known as “priesthood.” Those with the priesthood have the potential to have power over the elements…at least power to make unorganized things organized, chaos to cosmos. (ex. Being blind is an exception and the eye matter is in chaos, but upon being healed the elements realign themselves [into their proper order or cosmos] and he can see). Moses received the priesthood.
So power over water is associated with the power of God. It has to do with being a creator…or co-creator if you will. See Moses 2:2 or Gen. 1:2. It explains how the earth was without form (chaos) and that everything was covered by a dark void, or water. And then it says that the Spirit moved upon the face of the water…creating after a while, earth…creating order (cosmos).

Back to water. Water is necessary in baptism, but not nearly important as spiritual water. What is the difference between a baptism and a bath? You could say that it is the presence of spiritual water. St. Ambrose then makes the connection between the baptism of the earth and Christ’s baptism. I personally thought that only Mormons considered the flood a baptism (so much for my knowledge huh?) Every bit of the earth was covered (Not surprisingly, Ambrose was a proponent of baptism by immersion as well). The wood of the boat Ambrose says represents the cross of Christ; inasmuch as we would have all perished had it not been for the Atonement of Christ, so would have the people and animals of the earth perished had it not been for Noah’s boat. I had never made that connection before, but wait for what comes next: Because of Christ we are all saved but still in need of baptism…like the earth was. During baptism we covenant to give away our life of sin, our dirty life, our black life; and we promise to obey God. Thereupon, we receive the Holy Ghost. In the story, Noah lets out a black raven (symbolic of the old man of sin) and this raven does not return. Then he lets out a dove which returns bearing an olive leaf! The dove represents the Holy Ghost that descended on Jesus after his baptism! The olive leaf is a sign of Christ’s forgiveness having suffered in an olive tree orchard. I had never thought if this before. St. Ambrose knows his religion. How many days was the dove on the ship before he let it out the second time??? Oh yeah, seven days.
Ambrose is a firm believer in the becoming a new creature after baptism. Let’s examine this a little as well. Going back to the formation of the earth, the water was pushed back and the creation began…a new world. The same goes with the Noah story, after all things on the earth had died, the earth reappeared brand new and glorious! It was a continuation of the creation—a second creation. Noah was a second Adam (Adam named them, Noah saved them). Here we need to put some words together: Creation, Creative, and Creature. Yes, we do become a new creature and new creation after baptism.
Then St. Ambrose asks if the water has any special spiritual powers. But this blog is long enough, I’ll tell you about that one next time.