Paul W. Manuel: Three times?

Trine Baptism

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In addition to disagreements about the proper mode of baptism (i.e., immersion, effusion, or aspersion) and the proper age of baptism (adult or infant), there are also differences about the proper manner of baptism: its direction (whether forward or backward) and its number (whether once or thrice). The historical precedence in Judaism for the mode and age of baptism is clear. Rabbinic sources assume the correctness of adult immersion,¹ stating the importance of ablution for proselytes.²

b Ker 9a Rabbi says: ... [proselytes] enter the covenant only by circumcision, immersion, and the sprinkling of blood.

b Yeb 46a A man cannot become a proper proselyte unless he has been circumcised and has also performed ritual ablution; when, therefore, no ablution has been performed he is regarded as an idolater.

The direction of baptism is also clear. Nowhere in rabbinic sources does another person administer the ablution. Those who attend the event do so primarily as witnesses.

b Yeb 46b ...the initiation of a proselyte requires the presence of three men [and] the ablution of a proselyte may not take place during the night.

Rather, the candidate—indeed, anyone undergoing ablution—immerses himself.

m Eduy 5:2 If a non-Jew becomes a proselyte...he immerses himself....

Therefore, the only way to avoid unnecessary contortions and maintain one's balance is to bend forward or, given enough water, to sink down. The practice in the church of leaning backwards would not have arisen until the addition of clerical assistance,³ and it may have developed as a reenactment of Jesus' burial and resurrection.⁴

There is also evidence in early Christian sources to support the contention that the triune formula⁵ and trine immersion were common from the second to the fourth centuries.⁶

Didache [c. 100] 7:1 Concerning baptism, baptize thus: ..."baptize, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," in running water; 2 but if you have no running water, baptize in other water, and if you cannot in cold, then in warm. 3 But if You have neither, pour water three times on the head "in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition [Rome, c. 200] XXI And when (the Catechumen) goes down into the water let him who baptises lay his hand on him saying: "Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty?" And he who is baptised shall say: "I believe." Let him forthwith baptise him having his hand over his head. And after let him say: "Dost thou believe in Christ Jesus the Son of God...?" And when he says: "I believe," let him baptise him the second time. And again let him say: "Dost thou believe in the Holy Spirit...?" And he who is being baptised shall say: "I believe." And so let him baptise him the third time. (Quoted in Dix 1953:97-98)

Tertullian, De Corona [Africa, c. 204] III ...we are thrice immersed....

Trine immersion gains support from its apologetic assertion in favor of the Trinitarian doctrine (contra Arianism) as well as from the symbolism many attach to it as a picture of Jesus' burial and resurrection (like its "backwards" counterpart).⁷

Tertullian, Adv. Praxeam [Africa, c. 210] XXVI He commands them to baptize into the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, not into a unipersonal God. And indeed it is not once only, but three times, that we are immersed into the Three Persons, at each several mention of their names.

Gregory, The Great Catechism [Bishop of Nyssa, 385] XXXV But the descent into the water, and the trine immersion of the person in it, involves another mystery.... [As Jesus,] after his being deposited in the earth, returned back to life on the third day, so every one...by having, instead of earth, water poured on him...has represented for him in the three movements the three-days-delayed grace of the resurrection.... [B]y having the water thrice poured on us and ascending again up from the water, we enact that saving burial and resurrection which took place on the third day.

So prevalent was trine immersion, that many viewed single immersion as heretical.⁸

Apostolic Canons [mid 4th c.] XLIX If any bishop or presbyter, contrary to the ordinance of the Lord, does not baptize into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but into three Unoriginated Beings, or three Sons, or three Comforters, let him be deposed. L If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the one initiation with three immersions, but with giving one immersion only, into the death of the Lord, let him be deposed.

Canons (Second Ecumenical Council, Constantinople, 381) VII ...Eunomians, who are baptized with only one immersion...when they desire to turn to orthodoxy, we receive as heathen.

The assumption was that this tradition came from the apostles, who received it from Jesus.

Matt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Despite the popularity of trine immersion, however, it was not the universal practice of the church, even among gentiles.⁹

Shep Herm [early 2d c.] v. 3 III 7.3b These are they who have heard the Word and wish to be baptized "in the name of the Lord."

Barnabas 11:11 [late 1st c.] ...we go down into the water laden with sins and filth, and rise up from it bearing fruit in the heart, resting our fear and hope on Jesus in the spirit.

Attempts to relegate single immersion to the realm of heresy (see above) indicate the popularity of this form. Moreover, at least one proponent of trine immersion recognized its non-biblical provenance.

Basil, De Spiritu Sancto [Bishop of Caesarea, late 4th c.] 35 In three immersions...and with three invocations, the great mystery of baptism is performed.... 66 And whence comes the custom of baptizing thrice? ...Does not this come from that unpublished and secret teaching which our fathers guarded...?

Did trine immersion indeed originate with the disciples as they followed Jesus' instructions? The only support for this contention comes from post-New Testament records. There is no evidence that Jesus or, later, his disciples ever practiced it. Their custom was single immersion, as it was in Second Temple Judaism.¹⁰ (Had that not been the case, the difference would certainly have caused discussion among the Pharisees.) The disciples' formula (if they used one)¹¹ focuses exclusively on the messiah, probably to distinguish this ablution from others.¹²

Acts 2:38a ...be baptized...in the name of Jesus Christ....

Acts 8:16b they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

Despite the popularity of the triune formula with trine immersion, it has no support in the New Testament to establish this manner of baptism as the correct one for Christians today. It could just as well be the product of one unnamed individual's investment of a simple act with spiritual (albeit, unintended) symbolism, a decision that quickly gained popularity in the gentile church. Unfortunately, the symbolism eventually assumed the force of doctrine for some, relegating single immersion (among some) to the realm of heresy.

Brethren churches claim that trine immersion was the form Jesus practiced and commanded his disciples to practice,¹³ but this argument suffers from three significant gaps.

Cultural: While trine immersion appears in some gentile sources, it does not appear in Jewish sources.
Temporal: While trine immersion appears in some 2^nd c. sources, it does not appear in 1^st c. sources.
Ecclesiastical: While trine immersion appears in some church sources, it does not appear in all church sources (i.e., others advocate single immersion).

The absence of continuity in these areas properly confines trine immersion to Church tradition rather than biblical teaching. To suggest otherwise would "go beyond what is written" (1 Cor 4:6).

Bibliography

Ayer, Joseph Cullen, 1970, A Source Book for Ancient Church History. New York: AMS Press.
Bettenson, Henry, 1970, The Later Church Fathers. London: Oxford University Press.
Davies, W.D., and Dale C. Allison, Jr., 1998, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Vol. 3. ICC. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
Dix, Dom Gregory, 1953, Jew and Greek: A Study in the Primitive Church. Westminster: Dacre Press.
Gavin, F., 1928, The Jewish Antecedents of the Christian Sacraments. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Moore, J.H., n.d., Trine Immersion traced to the Apostles: Being a Collection of Historical Quotations from Ancient and Modern Authors. Elgin, IL: Brethren's General Mission Board.
Posner, Raphael, 1972, "Immersion." EJ 2:81-86.

Endnotes

(1) That the early church did not practice paedo-baptism is evident in the prerequisites (e.g., fasting, self-examination).

Tertullian, On Baptism [c. 200] XVIII . . . the delay of baptism is preferable; principally, however, in the case of little children.

Tertullian, On Baptism [c. 200] XX They who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers, fasts, and bendings of the knee, and vigils all the night through, and with confession of all by-gone sins....

Clement, Recognitions [early 3rd c.] VII 34 But she must fast at least one day first, and so be baptized. . . because I heard from her a certain declaration. . . which has given evidence of her belief; otherwise she must have been instructed and taught many days before she could have been baptized.

Apostolic Constitutions [c. 3d-4 1h c.] VIII 32 . . . let them be brought to the bishop or to the presbyters by the deacons, and let them be examined as to the causes wherefore they come to the word of the Lord; and let those that bring them exactly inquire about their character, and give them their testimony.

One of the earliest references to paedo-baptism comes from the mid-third century.

Cyprian, Epistles [Bishop of Carthage, c. 2531 LVIII 6 . . . no one ought to be hindered from baptism and from the grace of God... .we think this to be even more observed in respect of infants and newly-born persons....

Tertullian notes the use of immersion and aspersion.

Tertullian, On Baptism [c. 200] II . . . a man is dipped in water, and amid the utterance of a few words, is sprinkled, and then rises again....

(2) Related passages include:

m Pes 8:8 A proselyte who was proselytized on the eve of Passover [according to Shammai] has the ritual bath and eats of his Passover offering in the evening.

(3) Relevant passages include:

Tertullian, On Baptism [c200] XVII Of giving it, the chief priest (who is the bishop) has the right: in the next place, the presbyters and deacons, yet not without the bishop's authority.... Besides these, even laymen have the right.... But...these powers [properly] belong to their superiors...!

Apostolic Constitutions [c. 3rd-4th c.] III 10 Neither do we permit the laity to perform any of the offices belonging to the priesthood; as, for instance...baptism...for "no one takes this honor to himself, but that he is called of God" [Heb 5:4]

(4) This symbolism is often the reason proponents give for the practice.

Rom 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Col 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Symbolism alone is insufficient grounds, though, especially when it contradicts historical precedence.

(5) In the case of Hippolytus, the formula is actually "a brief summary of faith" (Gavin 1928:57).

(6) It may be significant that most of the sources for trine immersion represent the Western Church, which quickly became almost exclusively gentile and attempted to divest itself of Jewish practices. The earliest document supporting trine immersion, the Didache (above), is for non-Jews (despite its alleged source), as its full title indicates: The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles through the Twelve Apostles. Other references include:

Tertullian, De Corona Elucidations 1 [Africa, c. 2041 In baptism, we use trine immersion, in honour of the trinal Name.... But this trinal rite is a ceremonial amplification of what is actually commanded.

NB: Tertullian recognizes that this practice is extra-biblical.

Triune formula

Justin Martyr, Apologia [Rome, c. 1521161 For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.

Synodal Epistle to Sylvester, Bishop of Rome [Arles, early 4th c.] 8 Concerning the Africans... if. . . he had been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, hands only should be laid upon him that he might receive the Holy Ghost. (Quoted in Ayer 1970:292)

Trine immersion

Munnulus (or Monolus), in Cyprian, The Seventh Council of Carthage [Bishop of Girba (or Gerra), c. 255] The truth of our Mother the Catholic Church, brothers, has always remained and still remains with us, and even especially in the Trinity [or trine immersion] of baptism, as our Lord says, "Go and baptize the nations, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Ambrose, De Sacramentis [Bishop of Milan, c. 390] VI 2.20 You were asked: "Do you believe in God the Father Almighty?" You said: "I believe," and you dipped; that is, you were buried. Again you were asked: "Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. . . ?" You said: "I believe," and you dipped, therefore you were buried with Christ.... A third time you were asked: "Do you believe also in the Holy Spirit?" You said: "I believe," and you dipped for a third time, so that the threefold confession might cancel the fall of your earlier life. (Bettenson 1970:183) Exceptions are rare:

Moore, in his pamphlet (n.d.), cites some sources I have not been able to confirm.

Theodoret (Bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria, mid5th c.) He [Eunomius, Bishop of Cyzicum] subverted the law of holy baptism, which had been handed down from the beginning from the Lord and from the apostles, and made a contrary law, asserting that it was not necessary to immerse the candidate for baptism thrice, nor to mention the name of the Trinity, but to immerse once only into the death of Christ. (p. 20; from Chrystal's History of the Modes of Baptism, p. 78) [This may be from Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium IV 3.]

Augustine (Bishop of Hippo, N. Africa, late 4 th c.) After you professed your belief, three times did we submerge your heads in the sacred fountain. (p. 21; from Hinton's History of Baptism, p. 157)

Chrysostom (Bishop of Constantinople, late 4th c.) Christ delivered to his disciples one baptism, in three immersions of the body, when he said unto them, "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (p. 22; from Quinter and McConnell, p. 28)

Clement (Alexandria, early 3rd c.) You were conducted to a bath just as Christ was carried to the grave, and were thrice immersed to signify the three days of his burial. (p. 28; from Wilberg on Baptism, p. 228)

According to Moore, single immersion did not become the rule in the Roman church until the fourth Council of Toledo (633), which "decreed that henceforth only one immersion should be used in baptism" (n.d.:47). He further states that single immersion did not become pervasive until after the Reformation (ibid.).

Heidelberg Catechism [1563] 72 .. .Christ has instituted this immersing and washing in water to signify His promise that, as certainly as I go down beneath the water and come up again, I am one with Him

(7) Related passages include:

Gregory, On the Baptism of Christ [Bishop of Nyssa, 376] [T]o what purpose are the three immersions received? ... [B]y doing this thrice we represent for ourselves that grace of the resurrection which was wrought in three days: and this we do, not receiving the sacrament in silence, but while there are spoken over us the names of the three sacred persons on whom we believed.... [p. 520]

Cyril, Catecheses [Bishop of Jerusalem, mid 4th c.] XX 4 And each was asked whether he believed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and you made that saving confession, and descended three times into the water, and ascended again; here also hinting by a symbol at the three days burial of Christ.

(8) Related passages include:

Optatus, De Schismate Donatistarum [Bishop of Milevis, Numidia, mid 4th c.] V 4 In celebrating this sacrament of baptism there are three things which you can neither increase, diminish, nor omit. The first is the Trinity... The Trinity is always the same, the faith in each is one. (Quoted in Ayer 1970:447)

Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History [Constantinople, 51h c.] VI 26 Some assert that Eunomius [d. 395] was the first who ventured to maintain that divine baptism ought to be performed by one immersion, and to corrupt, in this manner, the apostolic tradition which has been carefully handed down to the present day. He invented, it is said, a mode of discipline contrary to that of the Church, and disguised the innovation under gravity and greater severity.... Others assert, I believe more truthfully, that Theophronius, a native of Cappadocia, and Eutychius, both zealous propagators of this heresy, seceded from communion with Eunomius during the succeeding reign, and innovated about the other doctrines of Eunomius and about the divine baptism. They asserted that baptism ought not to be administered in the name of the Trinity, but in the name of the death of Christ. It appears that Eunomius broached no new opinion on the subject, but was from the beginning firmly attached to the sentiments of Arius, and remained so.

(9) Other sources that refer to baptism but do not specify the manner may assume single immersion, yet that is an argument from silence.

(10) Early rabbinic sources make no mention of triple immersion, whereas they do specify single immersion.

b Yeb 47b When he comes up after his ablution he is deemed to be an Israelite in all respects.

b Ger 1.5 When he has bathed and come up [out of the water], they speak to him words of kindness....

in Para 3:7 And the elders of Israel... .would render the priest who burns the cow unclean, because of the Sadducees, so that they should not say, "It is done by one on whom the sun has set." 8 They placed their hands on him, and they say to him, "My lord, High Priest, immerse one time." He descended and immersed, emerged and dried off.

Posner says, "[a]ccording to law, one such immersion is sufficient, but three have become customary" (1972:82), yet he provides no documentation or chronology. He continues that, with the hands, as well, "it is customary to perform the act by pouring water over each hand three times" (ibid., p. 84), but at least one of the sources he cites advocates a different number.

Shul Ar 40.4 It is best to pour water twice on each hand.... 5 He who is accustomed to pour water twice on each hand, should first pour once on each hand. . . pronounce the benediction, and thereafter pour a second time.

Shul Ar 162.8 Some women are accustomed to immerse again after pronouncing the benediction. This is a proper custom. Those who do so must take heed that the second immersion, too, be properly carried out.

(11) In Matt 26:19, the phrase "into the name," probably means "in order that they may enter into a relationship with," thereby, referring not to the formula of baptism but to its result (Davies 1997:685).

(12) Related passages include: