Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
104 ST. AUGUSTINE has already been baptized, may disdain to come to baptism, saying, "Am I to receive this which this man and that man have?" And he may in his own mind review those whom he despises and it may seem to him of virtually no value to receive what lesser men have received, because he already seems to himself to be a better man. And yet all of his sins remain with him; and unless he comes to saving baptism, where sins are loosed, for all his excellence he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(3) But the Lord, in order to invite [a person of] such excellence to his own baptism, that his sins might be forgiven him, came himself to the baptism of his servant; and even though he himself had nothing to be forgiven him, and nothing in him to be washed, he received baptism from a servant. And [it is] as if he addressed a son who was proud and extolling himself, and disdaining perhaps to receive together with the uninstructed that from which salvation can come to him, and as if he were saying, "How greatly do you show pride in yourself? How greatly do you exalt [yourself]? How great is your excellence? How great is your grace? Can it be greater than mine? If I came to a servant, do you disdain to come to the Lord? If I received the baptism of a servant, do you disdain to be baptized by the Lord?"
14. For that you may know, my brothers, that the Lord did not come to this John from the necessity of any bond of sin, John himself said, when the Lord came to him to be baptized, as the other evangelists say, "Do you come to me? I ought to be baptized by you."^^ And what did he answer him? "Let it be so now; let all justice be fulfilled. "^° What does it mean, "Let all justice be fulfilled"? Have I come to die for men, but do not have to be baptized for men? What does it mean, "Let all justice be fulfilled"? Let all humility be fulfilled. What then? Was he who received suffering at the hands of evil servants, not to receive baptism from a good servant?
(2) Now, pay attention! When the Lord was baptized, if John baptized him precisely so that by John's baptism the Lord