Therefore Naaman was sent to the Jordan as to the remedy capable to heal a human being. Indeed, sin is the leprosy of the soul, which is not perceived by the senses, but intelligence has the proof of it, and human nature must be delivered from this disease by Christ’s power which is hidden in Baptism. It was necessary that Naaman, in order to be purified from two diseases, that of the soul and that of the body, might represent in his own person the purification of all the nations through the bath of regeneration, whose beginning was in the river Jordan, the mother and origin of baptism. Ephrem the Syrian commenting on 2 Kings 5:1-12
Conti, Marco, ed. Oden, Thomas, general ed. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. 1. 5. Dower's Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008. 167. Print.
