Didache chapter
7:
1 Regarding baptism, baptize thus. After giving the foregoing
instructions, ‘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
any other; and, if you cannot in cold water, then in warm. 3 But, if the one is
lacking, pour the other three times on the head ‘in the name of the Father, and
Son, and Holy Spirit.’ 4 But, before the baptism, let the one who baptizes and
the one to be baptized fast, and any others who are able to do so. And you
shall require the person being baptized to fast for one or two days.
Justin
Martyr, First Apology 61:
. . . there is invoked over the one who wishes to be regenerated, and
who is repentant of his sins, the name of God, the Father and Lord of all; he
who leads the person to be baptized to the laver calls him by this name only.
Irenaeus, The
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 3:
First of all it bids us bear in mind that we have received baptism for
the remission of sins, in the name of God the Father, and in the name of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, who was incarnate and died and rose again, and in the
Holy Spirit of God. And that this baptism is the seal of eternal life, and is
the new birth unto God, that we should no longer be the sons of mortal men, but
of the eternal and perpetual God; . . .
Hippolytus,
The Apostolic Tradition 21.11-18:
Then he should hand him over to the bishop
or the presbyter who stands at the water to baptize; and they should stand in
the water naked. And a deacon likewise should go down with him into the water. When
the one being baptized goes down into the waters the one who baptizes, placing
a hand on him, should say thus: “Do you believe in God the Father Almighty?” And
he who is being baptized should reply: “I believe.” Let him baptize him once
immediately, having his hand placed upon his head. And after
this he should say: “Do you believe in Christ Jesus, the son of God, who was
born of the Holy Spirit and Mary the virgin and was crucified under Pontius
Pilate and was dead [and buried] and rose on the third day alive from the dead
and ascended in the heavens and sits at the right hand of the Father and will
come to judge the living and the dead?” And when he has said, “I believe,” he
is baptized again. And again he should say: “Do you believe in
the Holy Spirit and the holy church and the resurrection of the flesh?” And
he who is being baptized should say: “I believe.” And so he should be baptized
a third time.
Tertullian,
Against Praxeas 26:
After His resurrection He promises in a pledge to His disciples that
He will send them the promise of His Father; and lastly, 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.
Origen, Commentary
on the Epistle to the Romans, Book 5 chapter 7:
(11) Now do you wish to understand that it was not only by birth but
also by instruction that death exercised its dominion from Adam? This can be
learned from the contraries. For when the Lord Jesus Christ had come to amend
what had been done wrongly, in view of the fact that the first birth, which
came from Adam, was born to death, he introduces a second birth, which he
called not so much being born as being reborn. Doubtless it was through this
second birth that he wiped away the blemish of the first birth. And just as he
substituted birth with re-birth, so also he replaced one doctrine with another.
For when he sent his own disciples to do this task, he did not merely say, “Go,
baptize all nations,” but, “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, because he knew that
both were at fault, he gave a remedy for both, so that even our mortal birth
would be changed by the re-birth of baptism, and the teaching of godliness
might shut out the teaching of godlessness.
Origen, Commentary
on the Epistle to the Romans, Book 5 chapter 9:
(7) You may perhaps also be asking this: Since the Lord himself told
the disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, why does the Apostle employ here the name of Christ
alone in baptism? For he says, “We have been baptized into Christ,” although
surely it should not be deemed a legitimate baptism unless it is in the name of
the Trinity. But look at Paul’s good sense since, indeed, in the present
passage he was not interested in discussing the subject of baptism as much as
the death of Christ, in whose likeness he argues that we should die to sin and
be buried with Christ. Obviously it was not appropriate to name either the
Father or the Holy Spirit in a passage in which he was speaking about death.
[M1040] For “the Word became flesh”; and where there is flesh, it is fitting to
treat the subject of death. But it was not fitting for him to say, “We who have
been baptized in the name of the Father or in the name of the Holy Spirit, have
been baptized into his death.” Consequently, in this passage one should keep in
mind the Apostle’s custom in other places, that when he cites the Scriptures,
he does not always cite the complete wording of the text as it is found in the
original passage, but he takes only as much as is called for by his current
argument. Thus in the expression we have mentioned here, because he desired to
teach about the death of Christ, it is sufficient for him to say, “We who have
been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death.”
Origen, Commentary
on the Epistle to the Romans, Book 8:
(8) But let us now see what are the good things that they preach,
i.e., that they announce. Although what he says, evangelizare, may be translated “to announce good things,” we need
to endeavor to ascertain what the good things are that he has added to this
good. The one true good is God, whose image of goodness is the Son and his
Spirit, who is called good. Therefore, he has designated as “good things” that
one good, since it consists in God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
For this is what evangelists announce, according to the command of our Lord and
Savior, who said, “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” These, then, are the good things
of those who preach the gospel.
Cyprian of
Carthage, Letters 73:
5.2 When the Lord was sending forth His disciples after His
resurrection, He taught them how they were to baptize, instructing them with
these words: All power is given me in
heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. There He
makes known to them the Trinity in Whose sacred name the nations were to be
baptized. But surely Marcion does not hold this Trinity? Surely he does not
confess the same God the Father and Creator as we do? Does he recognize the
same Christ His Son, born of the Virgin Mary, the Word which was made flesh,
who bore our sins, who by dying overcame death, who initiated the resurrection
of the flesh, beginning with His own person, and who revealed to His disciples
that He had risen again in the same flesh?
. . .
17.2 Moreover, the case of the Jews in the time of the apostles was
altogether different from the situation of the Gentiles. The former had already
received the most ancient baptism of the Law and of Moses; they needed,
therefore, to be baptized, in addition, in the name of Jesus Christ. We can see
this in the Acts of the Apostles, in the words Peter addressed to them: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your
children and to all who come thereafter, whomsoever the Lord has called.
Here Peter mentions Jesus Christ, not that the Father should be omitted but so
that to the Father should be added the Son. 18.1 On the other hand, after the
resurrection, when the Lord was sending the apostles to the Gentiles, He bade
that they should baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit. How, then, do some people claim that a Gentile can obtain
forgiveness of sins if he is baptized outside and beyond the Church, even in
opposition to the Church, no matter where nor how, so long as it is in the name
of Jesus Christ? Whereas it is Christ Himself who bids that the Gentiles are to
be baptized in the full and united Trinity.
Eusebius of
Caesarea, Letter to the
People of His Diocese 3:
5. “And we believe also in one Holy Spirit. We believe each of these
to be and to exist, the Father truly Father, and the Son truly Son, and the
Holy Spirit truly Holy Spirit, as also our Lord said when he sent forth his
disciples to preach, ‘Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ [Matt. 28:19]. Concerning which
things we also confidently affirm that this is what we maintain, how we think,
and what we have held up until now, and that we will maintain this faith unto
death, anathematizing every ungodly heresy.
