Tractates on the Gospel of John
TRACTATE 6 147 he did not ding to the dove's inwardness. Hear that he did not cling. Observe the very words of the Apostle Peter when he continues, "You have no part nor lot in this faith; for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness." The dove does not have gall; Simon did. Therefore he had been separated from the dove's inwardness. In what way did baptism benefit him?
(5) Therefore, do not boast about baptism, as if salvation through it suffices for you. Do not be angry, put aside gall, come to the dove. Here that will benefit you which, outside, not only did not benefit but also injured.
19. And don't say, 'T am not coming because I was baptized outside." Look, begin to have love, begin to bear fruit; let fruit be found in you, the dove will send you inside. We find this in Scripture [when it is written], the ark had been built from incorruptible woods. The incorruptible woods are the saints, the faithful who belong to Christ. For just as in a temple the faithful men are called the living stones of which the temple is built,'^^ so men persevering in the faith are the incorruptible woods. In that ark, then, were incorruptible woods; for the ark is the Church.
(2) The dove baptizes there; for that ark was borne over the water. The incorruptible woods were baptized within. We find that certain woods were baptized outside, that is, all the trees which were in the world. Nevertheless the water was the same, and there was no other; it all had come from the sky and from the abysses of springs. It was the very water in which the incorruptible woods which were in the ark were baptized and in which the woods outside were baptized. The dove was sent, and at first did not find a resting place for its feet, and it returned to the ark.^" For all places were filled with the waters and it preferred to return rather than to be rebaptized. But the raven was sent out before the water dried up; rebaptized, it did not wish to return, and it died in these waters.^^
57. Cf. Acts 8.21-23. 58. Cf. Gn 6.14. 59. Cf. 1 Pt 2.5. 60. Cf. Gn 8.6-1 1. 61. But Gn 8.7 reads: "It flew to and fro until the waters had dried off the earth." Here Augustine supposes that the raven, from its failure to return to the ark, was trapped in the waters and drowned; in Contra Faustum 12.20