John Chrysostom

Peter seizes his advantage, and see the plea he makes of it. "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" Mark the issue to which he brings it; how he has been travailing to bring this forth. So entirely was he of this mind! "Can any one," he asks, "forbid water?" It is the language, we may almost say, of one triumphantly pressing his advantage against such as would forbid, such as should say that this ought not to be. …

Homily on Acts 24 ↗

Cyril of Jerusalem

For since a person is of twofold nature, soul and body, the purification also is twofold, the one incorporeal for the incorporeal part, and the other bodily for the body. The water cleanses the body, and the Spirit seals the soul, that we may draw near to God, "having our heart sprinkled" by the Spirit "and our body washed with pure water." … Neither does he who is baptized with water, but not found worthy of the Spirit, receive the grace in perfection; nor if a person is virtuous in his deeds, but receives not the seal by water, …

Catechetical Lecture 3.4 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

"Who can forbid water for baptizing these who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" And what need was there for water, when the Holy Spirit had descended upon them? So I will show it and explain to you this hidden mystery. In it the Divine symbols are fully expressed: the tomb and dying, resurrection and life. Just as it is easy for us to be immersed and to emerge, so it is easy for God to bury the old man and to reveal the new. …

Commentary on Acts ↗