It is clear, then, from the New Testament, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all Persons, and all Divine; and yet the fact of there being but one God is at times plainly asserted.[467] Now the only means of reconciling all this is by the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. And this is plainly hinted at in the New Testament itself, for the Three Persons are often closely associated together, as for instance in the text just alluded to, where Christ prays the Father to give His disciples another Comforter.
[467] Mark 12. 29; 1 Cor. 8. 4.
Quite naturally, then, just before His Ascension, Christ completed this earlier teaching by finally, and for ever, joining the Three Persons together, when He commanded Christians to be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.[468] And this alone is sufficient to prove the doctrine, for it shows that there are Three distinct Persons, and that each is Divine, for who but God could be thus associated with God? While the expression into the name and not names, implies a unity in this Trinity.
[468] Matt. 28. 19.
And we happen to have indirect evidence from the Acts, that baptism was administered in this way. For when St. Paul found some disciples, who said they knew nothing about the Holy Ghost; he at once asked, 'Into what then were ye baptized?'[469] Obviously, then, the baptism to which St. Paul was accustomed must have been into the name of the Holy Ghost, as well as into that of Christ; and the Father's name could scarcely have been omitted. Yet immediately afterwards we are told that they were baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus. In the same way the 'Teaching of the Twelve' once speaks of baptism as into the Name of the Lord; and twice as into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.[470] The former seems to have been only a short way of describing Christian baptism, (in distinction from that of the Jews, or of St. John the Baptist), while the latter represented the actual words used.[471]
[469] Acts 19. 3.
[470] Teaching, chaps. vii. and ix.
[471] Comp. Acts 2. 38; 8. 16; 18. 25; I Cor. 10. 2.
Similarly St. Paul sometimes closes his Epistles with the shorter form of blessing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you; once with an intermediate form, naming the Father and Christ; and once with the longer form, The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.[472] This latter passage, the genuineness of which is undisputed, is of course extremely important, in fact like the preceding one it is practically conclusive; for again we must ask, who but God could be thus associated with God? If Christ were a mere human prophet, like Isaiah for instance; and the Holy Spirit a mere influence for good; what strange language it would be. Can we imagine anyone blessing his converts with, The grace of Isaiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of a holy influence—God, it will be noticed, being placed between the other two, so there can be no ascending or descending scale, they must all be equal?
[472] 1 Cor. 16. 23; Gal. 6. 18; Eph. 6. 23; 2 Cor. 13. 14.