APTIZE
THEM INTO THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
This formula is found among the final
words addressed by Jesus to his disciples, according to Matthew’s Gospel (28: 19). As he pronounced them he transmitted to his small
group of followers the powers he himself had received from the Father, and promised to
remain with them until the end of the world. In keeping with his customary narrative
style, the evangelist does not offer explanations concerning any of these points. He seems to presume their meaning is sufficiently
evident. His purpose in recording these
instructions of the risen Lord was that of instructing his readers as to the nature of the
Church’s mission and to indicate the essentially new way of life characterizing those
who accepted baptism. They entered upon a new
existence, one lived in the three named here as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and sustained
by the presence of the Son.
There are
reasons to believe that as it stands here the formulation of the command to baptize into
the name of the three is not that used by the Lord at the time. Rather, it is an elaboration intended to convey
the fuller meaning of Jesus’ original intent. Probably
this wording was worked out in the course of establishing the liturgy of baptism, and
displays a very early development in the understanding of the faith. Evidence for this view is supplied by other
passages in the New Testament where there is mention of Christian baptism. Different formulae are employed to define the
initiatory rite: in the name of Jesus Christ occurs
twice; in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; in the name of the Lord; in Christ Jesus; in
Christ. In the Didache too, which is
possibly as ancient as the Gospel of Matthew, there is found, in addition to the same
formula used here in Matthew, another- in the name
of the Lord. [Cf. Emerton et al. Matthew,
ICC, vol. 3, 685 for references and the following discussion.] Strikingly, the formula does not speak of names, as one would expect in dealing with
separate individuals; rather it uses the singular,
name, though mentioning three persons. St.
Justin maintains that the word name is implicit
before each of the three persons. This is a
possible reading; however, the more likely interpretation is that each of the three
participates in the one name that is shared among equals.
The text is focused on function not metaphysical truths. In keeping with rabbinical usage it means that the
baptized enter into a new relation to those in whose name the sacrament is administered. At the same time, this formulation certainly
creates a basis for the later Trinitarian dogma based on ontological analysis, as St.
Basil and Theophylact assert.
Fr. Karl
Rahner has written a most cogent and penetrating discussion of the concept of person as it applies to the Trinity. He goes so far as to say that it is misleading for
modern men to speak of God as three persons, for the idea we have of person simply does
not apply to the Divinity. Yet, the term is
consecrated by long usage and we must make do with it.
But that requires us to make a special effort to divest our self of our
common view of what a person is. If we
conceive of Father, Son and Spirit as three distinct centers of consciousness, each with
his own intellect and will then in practice we believe in three gods. The three divine
persons have but a single consciousness, a single will and intellect in which each
participates in a distinct manner. There is
but one divine being composed of three distinctive ways of relating to that substantial
being. There is no other instance of a person
existing in such a modality. God is truly
One. That He is also Father, Son and Spirit
does not detract from his uniqueness, but only designates the inner relatedness of each to
that singular subsistent being. By repeatedly
meditating on this truth and reflecting on it we can grasp something of its meaning, but
will never be able to comprehend it fully. When
the number three is applied to God it does not have the same significance that it has in
all other applications. For God is beyond all number. He is not one of a series. Even one applied
to Him has an analogical not a univocal sense.
What is
revealed about God is the so-called economic
Trinity. This has nothing to do with
finance; economy is a word taken from the Greek
term @Æ6@<@:Æ" that means household dispensation,
administration or management. (Since this includes finance this word came to have in
English the meaning we give to the term economy)
. As
used in theology it refers to God’s action in salvation history, His actual working
out of redemption. The Logos is God the
Father’s self-communication to our race in history.
The Holy Spirit is also God communicating Himself as transcendent. If the Logos and the Spirit are merely instruments
of mediation but not actually equal to the Father and one with Him, then God remains
remote and in His inner reality is not communicated.
Only if the mediators are themselves divine is the human person made a
sharer in the life of God. But if these
two are truly God, then God remains one as divine in nature. This economic trinity is a truth revealed by the
New Testament and is in no way in conflict with the doctrine of the one God revealed in
the Old Testament. Rather, it represents a
radicalization and an elucidation of what is implied by the doctrine of monotheism.
The economic
Trinity is the immanent Trinity. That is to
say, the God revealed in His interventions in history is the transcendent God subsisting
in three substantial modes of His one nature. His interventions in this world reveal not
only His manner of functioning but at the same time something of his veritable nature. This identity is not stated in this explicit
formulation in the Bible. The very word Trinity is not in the inspired Scriptures. Nor does it occur in the Apostles Creed or the
Nicene Creed, even though their three-part structure is determined by their speaking of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in turn. Tertullian, who died around 220 A.D. was
the first to apply the term Trinity to God,
nearly one hundred fifty years after Matthew’s baptismal formula. Another two hundred years were to pass, filled
with much struggle and serious conflict, before the first two Ecumenical Councils
formulated the implications of revelation. Belief
that the Son (Nicea in 325 A.D.) and the Holy
Spirit (Constantinople I in 381 A.D.) are truly God and equal to the Father in all things
pertaining to the divine nature was formally affirmed and recognized by the universal
Church as the proper understanding of what was revealed.
There was a major development of dogma in the course of this long and often
painful examination into the meaning of the economic Trinity. Great care was taken to assure that this unfolding
of implicit content of revelation did not take an arbitrary course, but was faithful to
the revelation brought by Jesus and confided to his disciples.
St.
Augustine was much concerned to assimilate this dogma not only in his belief system but
also in his way of living and praying. He
was at pains to discover and propagate the ways in which belief in the Trinity has
practical effect upon the Christian’s in his thought and his manner of experiencing
God and the world. As William Hill (cf. The
Three-Personed God, 55 ff. for Augustine’s role) points out, St. Augustine has the practice
of testing belief by experience. Since
God is one in three that transcendent truth must be accessible to our perception. At a first period of his life, he sought evidence
of the Trinity in the created world. Subsequently,
he found traces of the Trinity in the inner life of man.
The image of God in the human soul is reflected in its very structure:
memory, knowledge and love of self. Augustin’s
concept of memory is different from our view of it; he means by this term consciousness of
my self, which is preconceptual. Later on he
advanced another analogue: memory, knowledge and love of God. These are but analogies of the Trinity. Since God is love, knowledge about God does not
suffice to grasp his inner life. Love must
lead to an ascent to union with God. He
distinguishes love itself from the beloved and the lover.
St. Augustine was the first to identify the Holy Spirit as love. He is persuaded that we can experience in our self
the gift of a love that binds the Father to the Son.
This love, which is the Holy Spirit, is focused on the Word made flesh, who
is one with the Father. Though relatively
weak in us, this love is the same as that which is the strong force holding the three
Persons in one. To state the matter in
another way, through knowing and loving the divine persons a real union is achieved with
each of them in their respective roles.