(a.) Being three in one; -- an epithet used to express the unity of a trinity of persons in the Godhead.TRINE IMMERSION; TRIUNE IMMERSION

trin tri'-un i-mur'-shun:

I. LINGUISTIC BASIS

1. Immersion

2. Triple Action

II. DOCTRINAL ARGUMENT

III. HISTORICAL PRACTICE

1. The Jews

2. John the Baptist

3. The Didache

4. Justin Martyr

5. Tertullian

6. Eunomius

7. Greek Church

LITERATURE

I. Linguistic Basis.

1. Immersion:

The meaning of the word baptizo, is "to dip repeatedly," "to sub-merge" (Thayer, Greek Lexicon of the New Testament). It is probably the frequentative of bapto, "to dip," meaning "to dip repeatedly." The word baptizo (and baptisma) in the New Testament is "used absolutely, `to administer the rite of ablution,' `to baptize' " (same place). It is "an immersion in water, performed as a sign of the removal of sin," etc. (same place); "Baptizo, to dip in or under water" (Liddell and Scott, Greek Lexicon).

2. Triple Action:

The threefold immersion is based upon the Trinity into which the believer is to be baptized "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (eis to onoma tou patros kal tou huiou kai tou hagiou pneumatos, Matthew 28:19). (On the genuineness of this passage see Plummer, Commentary on Matthew.)

II. Doctrinal Argument.

Whether Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 28:19 as a baptismal formula or not does not affect the question. The passages in Acts, "in the name of Jesus Christ" (2:38; 10:48), and "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (8:16; 19:5), are not baptismal formulas, but mean the confession of Christ with all that Christ stands for, namely, the fullness of God and His salvation. The idea of the Trinity pervades the New Testament and many of the earliest writings (compare 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:14-17; 4:4-6 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15; Hebrews 6:4-6 1 John 3:23, 24; 1 John 4:2 Jude 1:20, 21 Revelation 1:4, 5). "Baptized into Christ" has the same religious content as Matthew 28:19. Triune immersion is the symbol of baptism into the Triune God. All believers in the Trinity should see the consistency of this symbol. Baptism is the symbol

(1) of a complete cleansing,

(2) of death,

(3) of burial,

(4) of resurrection, and

(5) of entering into full union and fellowship with the Triune God as revealed by Christ.

Triune immersion is the only symbol that symbolizes all that baptism stands for. Note the words of Sanday on Romans 6:1-14 (comm. on Rom, ICC, 153): "Baptism has a double function:

(1) It brings the Christian into personal contact with Christ, so close that it may fitly be described as personal union with Him.

(2) It expresses symbolically a series of acts corresponding to the redeeming acts of Christ. Immersion = Death. Submersion = Burial (the ratification of Death). Emergence = Resurrection. All these the Christian has to undergo in a moral and spiritual sense, and by means of his union with Christ." Hence, the psychological need of a true symbol, triune immersion, to teach and impress the significance of the new life.

III. Historical Practice.

1. The Jews: The Jews received proselytes by circumcision, baptism (complete immersion) and sacrifice (Schurer, HJP, II, 2, pp. 319 f; Edersheim, LTJM, II, 745, and I, 273). John the Baptist, baptized "in the river Jordan" (Matthew 3:6) and "in AEnon near to Salim, because there was much water there" (John 3:23).

2. John the Baptist:

Philip and the eunuch "both went down into the water" and they "came up out of the water." All New Testament baptisms were by immersion (see also Romans 6:1-11).

3. The Didache:

The Didache (100-150 A.D.) chapter vii: "Baptize into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living (running) water. But if they have not living water, baptize into other water; and if thou canst not in cold, in warm" (baptisate eis to onoma tou patos kai tou huiou kai tou hagiou pneumatos en hudati zonti). "But if thou have not either, pour out water thrice (tris) upon the head into the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit." Here the triple action is maintained throughout, even in clinical baptism, while immersion is the rule.

Justin Martyr (Apology i.61) describes baptism which can only be understood as triune immersion.

4. Justin Martyr:

Tertullian (De Corona, iii) says, "Hereupon we are thrice immersed" (dehinc ter mergitamur). Again (Ad Praxeam, xxvi), "And lastly he commands them to baptize into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, not into a unipersonal God.

5. Tertullian:

And indeed it is not only once but three times that we are immersed into the Three Persons, at each several mention of their names" (nam nec semel, sed ter, ad singula nomina, in personas singulos, tinguimur).

6. Eunomius:

Eunomius (circa 360) introduced single immersion "into the death of Christ." This innovation was condemned. Apostolical Constitutions, 50, says, "If any presbyter or bishop 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." Single immersion was allowed by Gregory the Great (circa 691) to the church in Spain in opposition to the Arians who used a trine (not triune) immersion (Epis., i.43). This was exceptional.

7. Greek Church:

The Greek church has always baptized by triune immersion. The historical practice of the Christian church may well be summed up in the words of Dean Stanley: "There can be no question that the original form of baptism-the very meaning of the word-was complete immersion in the deep baptismal waters; and that for at least four centuries, any other form was either unknown, or regarded, unless in the case of dangerous illness, as an exceptional, almost monstrous case..... A few drops of water are now the western substitute for the threefold plunge into the rushing river or the wide baptisteries of the East" (History of Eastern Church, 28). "For the first three centuries the most universal practice of baptism was.... that those who were baptized, were plunged, submerged, immersed into the water" (Christian Institutions, p. 21).

See further, BAPTISM; LITERATURE, SUB-APOSTOLIC, II, 5.

LITERATURE.

James Quinter, Triune Immersion as the Apostolic Form of Christian Baptism; C. F. Yoder, God's Means of Grace, Brethren Pub. House, Elgin, Ill., U.S.A.; Smith, Dict. of Christian Antiquities; Hastings, ERE; Bible Dicts.; Church Fathers; Church Histories, and Histories of Baptism.

Daniel Webster Kurtz

Love in the Triune Being of God.
... LOVE. XVIII. Love in the Triune Being of God. "God is Love.""1 John 4:8. Between
natural love even in its highest forms and Holy Love there is a wide chasm. ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/xviii love in the triune.htm

God Breathed the Triune Spirit of the Holy Deity into a Body Taken ...
... [Way-3-41] God breathed the triune Spirit of the holy Deity into a body
taken out of? God breathed the triune Spirit of the holy ...
/.../law/the way to divine knowledge/way-3-41 god breathed the triune.htm

For the Soul of Every Man is the Breath and Life of the Triune God ...
... [Way-1-7] For the soul of every man is the breath and life of the triune
God? For the soul of every man is the breath and life ...
/.../law/the way to divine knowledge/way-1-7 for the soul of.htm

Now this Same Working Will of the Triune Deity...
... [Way-2-89] Now this same working will of the triune Deity? Now this same
working will of the triune Deity, which manifested itself ...
/.../law/the way to divine knowledge/way-2-89 now this same working.htm

This Manifestation of God is a Magic Birth from the Triune Working ...
... [Way-2-88] This manifestation of God is a magic birth from the triune
working will of the? This manifestation of God is a magic ...
/.../law/the way to divine knowledge/way-2-88 this manifestation of god.htm

Theophilus. ...
... mystery, in which the birth and beginning of eternal nature, or the first workings
of the inconceivable God, opening and manifesting his hidden triune Deity in ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/law/the way to divine knowledge/way-2-41 theophilus .htm

What is It?
... of these discussions does not include the redemptive work as a whole, which in its
choicest sense is not of the Holy Spirit alone, but of the Triune God whose ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/xvii what is it.htm

The Work of Grace a Unit.
... Hence the purpose of the Triune God steadily urges to this glorious consummation. ...
Second, He brings every work of the Triune God to its consummation. ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/ii the work of grace.htm

Faith in General.
... When the judicial act of the Triune God, justification, is announced to the conscience,
faith begins to be active and expresses itself in works. ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/xxxiv faith in general.htm

Prayer in the Unconverted.
... Holy Spirit? we answer: Prayer is the drawing and pressing of the impressed
image toward its Original, which is the Triune God. To ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/xli prayer in the unconverted.htm

Triune
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. TRINE IMMERSION; TRIUNE IMMERSION. ...Triune
immersion is the symbol of baptism into the Triune God. ...
/t/triune.htm - 13k

Trine
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. TRINE IMMERSION; TRIUNE IMMERSION. ...Triune
immersion is the symbol of baptism into the Triune God. ...
/t/trine.htm - 14k

Immersion
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. TRINE IMMERSION; TRIUNE IMMERSION. ...Triune
immersion is the symbol of baptism into the Triune God. ...
/i/immersion.htm - 14k

Trinity
... love which God is into the triple implication of "the lover," "the loved" and "the
love itself," and sees in this trinary of love an analogue of the Triune God ...
/t/trinity.htm - 39k

Trivial (3 Occurrences)

/t/trivial.htm - 7k

Triumphs (5 Occurrences)

/t/triumphs.htm - 7k

Spirituality
... This is the triune sphere of the Holy Spirit's indwelling and activity, and the
character of such a God-centered and Spirit-filled life is described by the ...
/s/spirituality.htm - 9k

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