Motywacja soteriologiczna w hymnie chrzcielnym w Tt 2, 11-14; 3, 4-7

Abstract

As one washed in the water of new life, a Christian must become a new person. The ethical imperatives which must guide the new Christian can be found in the baptismal hymn in the Letter to Titus 2:11-14; 3:4-7, where St Paul provides the theological basis of his parenesis. The author encourages the baptized to change their behavior, because the fruit of the sacrament must be a pious life expressed in good deeds. The theology of the hymn is soteriological, and its normative meaning is emphasized by the passages, ‘As for yourself, you must say what is consistent with sound doctrine’ (2:1) and ‘Say these things. Exhort and correct with all authority. Let no one look down on you’ (2:15) as well as the closing words of the periscope in 3:4-7, ‘This saying is trustworthy’ (Ti 3:8). The solemn character of the hymn is emphasized by the epiphanic-soteriological terminology used, and by the frequent occurrence of the pronoun ‘we.’ Drawing motifs from the liturgical text is a guarantee of orthodoxy, and underscores the relationship between dogma and morality.