Sophia Scriptura

On Baptism 6

Tertullian · On Baptism · ca. 198–206 · Carthage · Read in context

Summary: Baptism in water prepares for the Holy Spirit, as John prepared Christ's way; faith is sealed in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the church, the body of the three, is confessed with them.

Latin text · CSEL 20:206

Non quod in aquis spiritum sanctum consequamur, sed in aqua emundati sub angelo spiritui sancto praeparamur. hic quoque figura praecessit; sic enim Iohannes antepraecursor domini fuit praeparans uias eius. ita et angelus baptismi arbiter superuenturo spiritui sancto uias dirigit ablutione delictorum, quam fides impetrat obsignata in Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto. nam si in tribus testibus stabit omne uerbum, quanto magis, dum habemus per benedictionem eosdem arbitros fidei quos et sponsores salutis, sufficit ad fiduciam spei nostrae etiam numerus nominum diuinorum? cum autem sub tribus et testatio fidei et sponsio salutis pignerentur, necessario adicitur ecclesiae mentio, quoniam ubi tres, id est Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus, ibi ecclesia, quae trium corpus est.

English · Claude translation

Not that we obtain the Holy Spirit in the waters; but, cleansed in the water under the angel, we are prepared for the Holy Spirit. Here too a figure went before: for so John was the forerunner of the Lord, preparing his ways. So too the angel, the arbiter of baptism, makes straight the ways for the Holy Spirit who is to come upon us, by the washing away of sins, which faith obtains, sealed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For if every word shall stand on three witnesses, how much more, since through the benediction we have the same as witnesses of our faith whom we have as sureties of our salvation, is even the number of the divine names enough for the confidence of our hope? And since both the attestation of faith and the pledge of salvation are secured under the three, mention of the church is necessarily added; for where the three are, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is the church, which is the body of the three.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 20:206 · August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa, eds., Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani Opera, Pars 1, CSEL 20 (Prague: Tempsky; Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1890), 201–218 · Latin text: August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa (CSEL 20), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in CSEL 20. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 20; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Baptism, Trinity

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are to John as forerunner (Matt 3:3; Isa 40:3), the principle of two or three witnesses (Deut 19:15; Matt 18:16), and the baptismal formula (Matt 28:19). “Where the three are … there is the church” echoes Matt 18:20.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Bapt. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-baptismo/6/).

Plain text
Tertullian, Bapt. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-baptismo/6/).

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