'Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matt. 28:19). See what you will answer to blessed Peter, who so placed the accomplishment of human salvation in the name of Christ alone, that he declared we could be saved in no other. For in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, after that man was healed who had been lame from his mother's womb, when Peter and John were being questioned by the chief priests by what power or in what name they had done this, it is thus written: 'Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: Rulers of the people and elders, if we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to an infirm man, by what means he has been made whole;'
'be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which is become the head of the corner; and there is salvation in no other. For neither is there any other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved' (Acts 4:8ff). Behold, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, says that we are so saved in the name of Christ, that there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.
Now compare that commandment of Christ, by which He commanded the nations to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, with this discourse of blessed Peter, in which he so commends human salvation to the name of Christ alone that he utterly denies there is any other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved. Compare, then, the words of Christ with the words of Peter; compare the teaching of the master with the teaching of the disciple; compare what Peter heard from Christ, and what he said filled with the Holy Spirit. Christ commanded that men be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; but Peter said that the name of Christ alone was given to men whereby we must be saved.
Say, then, whether what Peter heard from Christ and what he preached filled with the Holy Spirit agree with each other. For if both agree, then of necessity there is one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and this alone is the name given to men whereby we must be saved. But if you should say that this teaching of Peter differs from that commandment of Christ, this remains to you: that you say that not so much Peter as the Holy Spirit lied. For filled with the Holy Spirit he said this, and it was from Him that he surely heard what he was to preach. And when you have called the Holy Spirit a liar in Peter's lie, you will straightway be proclaiming Christ also a liar.
For He Himself promised that the Spirit of truth would be sent by Him to His disciples, as the Spirit who would lead them into all truth. But if the Holy Spirit led them into any falsehood, you not only assert that He Himself lied, who taught something contrary to truth, but you must also say that Christ is a liar, if He did not send such a Spirit as He promised. For if you deny that that preaching of blessed Peter is truthful, you must confess that Christ Himself (that is, the Truth) is the author of a lie: for He Himself said, speaking of the Holy Spirit: 'For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and the things that are to come He shall show you.'
'He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you' (John 16:13-14). If the Holy Spirit received from Christ what He should say, and yet spoke a lie, then Christ gave the Holy Spirit a lie. But if He did not receive this from Christ, but the Holy Spirit spoke of Himself what He did not receive from Christ, then, according to your opinion, Christ lied either knowingly or unknowingly, who said, 'For He shall not
'speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak.' But since neither could Christ lie, nor the Holy Spirit—because the holy Trinity itself is by nature one truth—inasmuch as, just as we confess God the Father to be truth, so also we know the Son and the Holy Spirit by nature to be truth: for the Son says of Himself, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6); and blessed John testifies that the Spirit of truth is truth, saying, 'And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth' (1 John 5:6); therefore, since the Father is truth, and the Son is truth, and the Holy Spirit is truth, they are not three truths, but the holy Trinity itself is by nature one truth;
and whatever the holy apostles taught, they spoke full of truth: it is necessary that both what Christ taught Peter, and what Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, taught, be true. For, just as no one is saved unless he has been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, so, apart from the name of Christ, there is no other name given to men whereby we must be saved. For the natural name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, which is 'God'; and this is the only name given to men, in which those who rightly believe come, through the sacrament of baptism, to salvation.
Wherefore, if believers do not receive holy baptism in one and the same name, which is by nature common to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, but (as you suppose) are baptized in three different names, when—according to the rule established by the command of Christ the Saviour—those who have believed are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: answer us, whether, if the name either of the Father or of the Son or of the Holy Spirit be withdrawn, baptism given in two names could stand with Christian firmness. This surely you will by no means dare to say, because the very sentence of the Truth Himself will forbid you to say it.
What then remains except that you answer that that baptismal sacrament is whole which, according to the Lord's command, we give in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? Now let the book of the Acts of the Apostles come to mind, in which blessed Peter is found to have said to the Jews: 'Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 2:38). Then consider that it is contained in the same book, where it is written: 'Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.'
'And when they were come, they prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He was come upon none of them, but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus' (Acts 8:14ff). Likewise in the same book, when Peter the apostle, sent by the Holy Spirit, was preaching to the centurion Cornelius the great sacrament of godliness, and while he was yet speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word, then the recorded Scripture testifies that the holy apostle Peter thus answered: 'Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:47-48).
Consider also that place in the same book, where it is said: 'And it came to pass, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper parts, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples, and said to them: Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? But they said to him: Nay, we have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Spirit. And he said: In what then were you baptized? And they said: In John's baptism. Then Paul said: John indeed baptized the people with the baptism of penance, saying that they should believe in Him who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus. Having heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus:'
'and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied' (Acts 19:1ff). Behold, with so many places bearing witness, we find that certain persons were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by apostolic authority. Tell me then whether those who are said to have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ were also baptized in the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, or whether you altogether deny this. And if you say that in that name of Jesus Christ the name both of the Father and of the Holy Spirit is also to be understood, then without doubt you will confess one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and from one name, of necessity you will straightway confess the holy Trinity to be one God.
But if you say that those baptized in the name of Jesus Christ were not baptized in the name of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, what remains except that you should not think that baptism to be true, but should pronounce the holy apostles themselves guilty of transgression? And when you have said this, see how you will dare to call yourself a Christian, when you have begun to oppose Christ in His apostles—Christ whom you are not ignorant to have said to those very apostles: 'He that receiveth you receiveth Me'; and, 'He that despiseth you despiseth Me' (Matt. 10:40; Luke 10:16). Hear therefore the apostolic word, and reverently render obedience to the teaching and work of the apostles.
He therefore suffers no difficulty in these words of the apostle Peter, who, hearing Christ commanding the nations to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and hearing also blessed Peter saying that, apart from the name of Christ, there is no name whereby we must be saved, most certainly believes and undoubtingly confesses that there is one natural name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Wherefore it is necessary that you either confess holy baptism to be given in the one name of the Trinity, or you do not believe the name of the Father and the name of the Holy Spirit to be necessary for human salvation, and thereby you attempt to nullify the most salutary teaching of Christ.
But attend to what Christ said, whose teaching Peter truly held. For He commanded that the nations should be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This commandment Peter most tenaciously kept; with this teaching he fed the sheep of Christ even unto the shedding of his blood. For, guarding the truth of the Christian faith and knowing there to be one name of the Trinity, he both said that truly, apart from the name of Christ, there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved; and in that he taught men to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, he baptized in the one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For there is no diversity of natural name in the Trinity, where there is that very natural unity.
FRAGMENT XXXVIII. The Son is almighty just as the Father, and thus has all things just as the Father. You add, and say: 'Therefore the Son is almighty, but not as the Father, because the Father gave and conferred that very omnipotence upon the Son; but upon the Father no one conferred or gave omnipotence.' Yet from this the Son is rather recognized as equal to the Father, because what He is, He has not from elsewhere, but from the Father: nor is He from nothing, but subsists from the eternal begetter. Therefore the nature of the Father preserved in the Son what is its own, because that natural generation could bring forth nothing of a different divinity. But the Father gave all things to the Son, and denied Him nothing, in whom He ineffably begot His whole nature.
That the Father gave omnipotence to the Son, then, is in the origin alone, not in any diversity of that omnipotence or of nature. He who inquires where He gave it will find it to be nothing other than to have begotten. But that generation, which is by nature divine and eternal, in that it shows the Father to have given to the Son the fullness of all things which He has, thereby naturally demonstrates the Son to be equal to the Father. So then the Son has all things just as the Father: because where natural generation is recognized, there no natural diversity of begetter and begotten is found. FRAGMENT XXXIX. The Holy Spirit is by nature one Lord God together with the Father and the Son. Remember, therefore, that to all your objections we have, by the Lord's help, given an answer:
and do not believe that the Holy Spirit is found in the divine oracles to be subject or lesser; neither think of His mission in a carnal way, nor suppose it to be local, nor assign to Him the deference of a servile condition. For the Holy Spirit is by nature one Lord God together with the Father and the Son. This is evidently recognized both in the creation of all things and in the redemption of the faithful. For if He were not God, He would not have works common with the Father and the Son; if He were not God, He would not have Himself established the power of the heavens; if He were not God, the angels would not desire to gaze upon Him; if He were not God, He would by no means have come upon Jesus when baptized; if He were not God, He would not have one name with the Father and the Son;
if He were not God, He would not have given the possession of divine adoption; if He were not God, He would not have our bodies as His temple; if He were not God, Christ would not have cast out demons in Him; if He were not God, He would by no means have filled heaven and earth. If therefore you rightly consider these things and others like them, you will soon have a right faith concerning the Holy Spirit.