The Immersion in the Trinity

The very Palpable Trinity

Don’t you think that we often look at the Trinity as an abstract distant “object”? Strangely, in the early Church, the Trinity was a reality Christians were immersed in all the time. The Trinity was very “palpable”, “lived”, “tasted”: it was an experience. How did this happen?

“Immersed”, according to the dictionary, means “to be covered completely in a liquid”. Whilst it can cover you, the liquid can sometimes penetrate your skin as well, like oil, no? Once the chemicals, to take an example, of the liquid penetrate your being one might be transformed into something like it.

Baptism was performed (and is done in various Churches today) by a triple immersion: one had to be immersed a first time: “in the name of the Father”, a second time “in the Son”, and a third time “in the Holy Spirit”, in one God. The Greek meaning of the word “baptised” actually means “being immersed” and further endorses this method.

Baptism, then, is not about being immersed and then emerging from the water once and for all. It is meant to be a constant spiritual state of immersion in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in which one remains baptised (immersed) all one’s life.

St. Paul greets his fellow Christians in Corinth this way: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.” (2 Cor. 13:13) At the beginning of the Mass, too, the Priest sometimes uses this greeting. Why does St. Paul mention Jesus first? Because Jesus is the one sent by the Father to reveal the Trinity to us, to open out the Trinity for us; He is the entrance Gate to the Trinity. If we look at the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7), we will notice the same order is followed. We have first the teaching on the Son (Chapter 5), then the teaching on Father (Chapter 6), and at the end, very subtly the teaching on the Holy Spirit (Chapter 7). This is the genuine primitive form and order of the oral teaching put then into written form.

To understand this order two things must be called to mind. 1- the intimate relationship between Baptism and the Sermon on the Mount,

2- an ancient image used by a disciple of a disciple of St. John, St. Irenaeus of Lyon: the Son and the Holy Spirit are the two hands of the Father.

1- Baptism and Sermon on the Mount

The relationship between Baptism and the Sermon on the Mount appears in Jesus’ last words to the Apostles in the Gospel of St. Matthew:

“Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptising (immersing) them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:18-20)

In this passage we have three key expressions: “make disciples”, “baptising” and “teaching to observe all that I have commanded you”. Most significantly therefore, in order to make somebody a disciple it is not enough to “baptise” him, one needs to “teach him to observe all that Jesus commanded”. The two are deeply and intimately related. Where do we find the core of what Jesus commanded us? In the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7).

2- The Two Hands of the Father

As we have said, Irenaeus (130-202) was the disciple of Polycarp who was the direct disciple of St. John the Evangelist. In his writings he often uses an illuminating image about the Trinity, when referring to the two hands of the Father, i.e. the Son and the Holy Spirit. With this expression, he is alluding to the act of creation where God moulds the human being in His Image and Likeness:

“God our Maker and Supporter, and derogating from the salvation of man. Now man is a mixed organization of soul and flesh, who was formed after the likeness of God, and moulded by His hands, that is, by the Son and Holy Spirit, to whom also He said, ‘Let Us make man’. (Gen.1:26) (Against Heresies, IV, Prologue,4)

“For the Son, who is the Word of God, arranged these things beforehand from the beginning, the Father being in no want of angels, in order that He might call the creation into being, and form man, for whom also the creation was made; nor, again, standing in need of any instrumentality for the framing of created things, or for the ordering of those things which had reference to man; while, [at the same time,] He has a vast and unspeakable number of servants. For His offspring and His similitude do minister to Him in every respect; that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Word and Wisdom; whom all the angels serve, and to whom they are subject. Vain, therefore, are those who, because of that declaration, No man knows the Father, but the Son, (Mt.11:27; Lk. 10:22) do introduce another unknown Father.” (Against Heresies 7,4; see also V,1,3; V,5,1; 6,1; 28,4;)

Isn’t Baptism an act of “re-creation” of the human being? Isn’t God using his hands too?

In this sense, if we keep in mind this image of the two hands, Baptism together with the necessity to observe what Jesus taught us, there is greater clarity about how by abiding with Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, we are allowing the Father to keep holding us in His Hands. In turn, then, our greeting to Him becomes more meaningful: “Our Father who art in heaven,….”

Similarly, by abiding with the teaching of the Son in Chapter 5 we are held tightly by one of the Father’s hands, and by putting into practice what the Son says with the help of the Holy Spirit (in Chapter 7) we are held by the Father’s second Hand, the Holy Spirit, so that finally we are “facing” the Father, and we can pray Him (Mt. 6). The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is one teaching, just as the Trinity is one. Furthermore, we can see that abiding with the teaching allows us to be in a relationship with the Father. Of course this image of holding us in his hands is not the only image one can find about the Trinity, but it is a very “palpable” one, it speaks easily to us.

God created us with both His hands, God saves us with both His hands: Redemption and Baptism. God keeps holding us in His hands as long as we continue to abide with the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

To baptise somebody at one and the same time performs two acts: 1- it introduces the person INTO the life of the Trinity, it immerses him or her,

2- it hands over to them the responsibility of remaining immersed by abiding with the teaching. The onus of remaining immersed depends on us.

It is our responsibility to put into practice the teaching of each immersion, in order to REMAIN immersed. “Dwell in me” says Jesus in Jn, 15, or in other words: “Dwell in the Trinity”, namely, Dwell in the Son (by putting into practice Mt. 5) Dwell in the Father (by putting into practice Mt. 6) Dwell in the Holy Spirit by putting into practice Mt. 7).

It is of the utmost importance, then, not to forget that “baptising” and “teaching to observe” are in fact one thing, and that they mirror each other.

Note: Another image is given to us by St. John: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (Jn. 14:23) Here we implicitly have the Trinity, we have Jesus’ teaching, and we have the indwelling of the Trinity in us.

The Sermon on the Mount

As we have said above, this sermon illustrates one of the early spiritual ways of being for Christians. It is the earliest form of catechesis and is very practical. First comes the understanding that God has two Hands – the Son, and the Holy Spirit – and that He holds us with them. Our aim then should be never to escape from His Hands. Finally, as each hand has 5 fingers, in order to remain in the Hands of the Father, we need to put into practice the two sets of 5 commandments we find in the Sermon on the Mount. The Son’s 5 commandments are to be found in the second part of Mt. 5, and the 5 of the Holy Spirit in the five sections of Mt. 7. We need to learn once again how to count on the fingers of each hand: 1, 2, 3…5, then again: 1, 2, 3…5. In this way we enable the Father to hold us, we are really face Him, and we can live the 7 sections of Mt. 6, dedicated to the Father and actually containing in it the “Our Father”. (Please check Mt. 5-7 text, with these divisions here) Counting, remembering, putting into practice, will allow us to remain in the Hands of the Father, all the time, Face to face with Him.

So, when we say the “Our Father”, we say it in the position shown above. The Father is holding us – his little children – with His First Hand: the Son, and with His Second Hand: the Holy Spirit. We are Face to face.

What is a “Dogma”?

“Dogmata” for the Greek Philosophers was like advice, a great piece of wisdom to be put into practice; a short sentence, to reflect and ponder on, put into practice until it becomes part of us. The three dogmata (the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit) are indeed to be put into practice, by living Mt. 5, 6 and 7.

The word “Dogma” used by us, then, is a word inherited from the Greek Philosophers. A dogma for them is a universal principle which founds and justifies a specific practical mode of conduct, and which can be formulated in one or in several propositions. A Dogma (especially amongst the Stoic Philosophers) is like a sentence of practical wisdom that one will meditate, ponder upon, and put into practice: it essentially impacts on daily life.

Subsequently the use of the word “dogma” crossed over from the cultural philosophical use amongst the Greeks to the early Christians.
– Was that an error? Would that have meant a deviation of the right understanding of Jesus’ message?
– I doubt whether this is the case. Let us take a closer look.

For the early Christians (the first centuries), then, the “dogmas” were something very practical. It appears as well to be the same for the non-Greek Christians: the Apostles themselves who were Semites.

A Very Early Example of the Implicit Use of the Idea of a “Dogma”

See for instance how St. Matthew in his gospel presents the Trinity as a “Dogma”, i.e. as something to put into practice. The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) is in fact the Great Charter (Carta Magna) of the newly baptised. Remember we are baptised (i.e. immersed) in each Person of the Trinity. Consequently, in the Sermon on the Mount, St. Matthew dedicates a section for each person of the Trinity: Mt. 5:17-48 is offered to illustrate how to put the dogmata of the Son into practice, Mt. 6 is to help us put the dogmata of the Father into practice, and Mt. 7 tells us how to put the dogmata of the Holy Spirit into practice. Each Person is a “dogmata”, not a sentence though, but a Person upon whom we are supposed to meditate, enter in, be immersed in, be transformed into.

Let us examine the actual procedure of “Being Baptised” which on the surface meant simply that the Father did Baptise (immerse) us, in the Trinity.
– But how would this happen?
– For the first Generation, God the Father was considered to have two hands: St. Irenaeus says that the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Hands of the Father (remember that Irenaeus is the disciple of the disciple of St. John). So “Baptism” would be seen as follows:
The Father takes us in His Hands and holds us tight: as a result we shouldn’t escape from His hands. How? By implementing a set of practices that would help us remain immersed (baptised) in the Son, in the Father and in the Holy Spirit in that order (see 2 Cor. 13:13).
To “be Baptised” for the first generation of Christians implied to put into practice the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity. The “Dogma” of the Trinity was in truth practical and vital.
Therefore, for the Catechesis of the first Christians (i.e. the Sermon on the Mount), a whole chapter was dedicated to approaching each Person of the Trinity in a practical way.
A good way to call this to mind is to use the mnemonic: remember that each hand has 5 fingers, each finger representing one of the five points to remember about the Son in Mt. 5 and the same for the Holy Spirit: five sections in Mt. 7.

Easy to count, easy to remember, easy for meditation, easy to put into practice. The whole “Greater Charter” (Carta Magna) of Christianity, i.e. the Dogma of the Trinity, is fully comprised in this Sermon, the Sermon on the Mount.

To deepen this very important teaching it is advisable to follow the Course on the Sermon on the Mount.

Reading list:

For the dogmas understood as “spiritual exercises” see:

– Pierre Hadot, “What is Ancient Philosophy?”.

– Pierre Hadot, “Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault”.

For the oral transmission in the Gospels (relying on the Aramaic versions) see:

– Marcel Jousse, “L’anthropologie du geste”.

– Pierre Perrier, “Evangiles de l’oral à l’écrit”.

– Pierre Perrier, “Les colliers évangéliques”.

– Frédéric Guigain, “Exégèse d’oralité: Tome 1” & “Exégèse d’oralité: Tome 2”.

– Frédéric Guigain, “La récitation orale de la Nouvelle Alliance selon saint Matthieu”.

– Frédéric Guigain, “La Proclamation synagogale du Saint Evangile”.

For the Aramaic of the Sermon on the Mount see:

– Mgr Francis Y. Alichoran, “L’Évangile en araméen : l’enseignement de Jésus au sommet de la montagne (Matthieu 5-7)”