Most of the Eastern Churches, Orthodox or Separated, use the passive voice ' N. is baptized,' or the like. The Westerns, on the contrary, always use the active : 'N., I baptize thee.' The latter is perhaps the older form ; it is found in the Canons of Hippolytus and (in the plural, ' We baptize thee ') in the Acts of Xanthippe (as above) ; and it is favoured by Mt 28''' itself (' baptizing them ') and Didache, 7 (' baptize,' imperative). It is also found among the Copts and Abyssinians (DC A i. 162'' ; H. Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, Wurzburg, 1863, i. 208, 230, 235).
We maj' ask what is meant by the invocation of the Divine name over the persons who were being baptized, of which we read in Justin, Apol. i. 61 ('the name of God is pronounced over him') and Ap. Const, iii. 16 ('having named, iTrovofidffas, the invocation, eirWKridiv , of Father and Son and Holy Ghost, thou shalt baptize them in the water, iv Tt^ vBari.'). In connexion with this, Ac 22'^ (' calling on his name ') is quoted; but there it is the baptized, not the baptizer, who ' invokes ' ; l)aptism is given in response to the prayer of the candidate. More to the point are Ac 15'^ ('the (ientiles upon whom my name is called,' from Am 9'-), and Ja 2'' ('the honourable name which was called upon you,' RVm, t6 iiriK\7]dkv i(j> ii/ids) ; cf. Nu &-^, where God's name is put upon tlie Israelites by the threefold blessing, and Ac 19^^, where the Jewish exorcists named the name of the Lord Jesus over the demoniacs, saying, ' I adjure you by Jesus . . .' It is quite possible that in the NT passages there may be some reference to the words used in baptizing, which, as we have seen, probably (at least in the ordinary way) included a mention of the Name. But there is no evidence tliat any invocation was part of the rite in apos- tolic times, and Chase denies that it was so (JThSt viii. 164). Is it necessary to suppose that Justin and the wTiter of the Apostolic Constitutions refer to anything else than the Trinitarian formula of baptism ?
5. Baptismal customs.— Some traces of customs which were part of the rite in the early Church are found in the NT. (a) A profession of faith and renunciation of evil is common in ancient times (e.g. Justin, Apol. i. 61, where the candidate undertakes to be able to live according to the faith ; Tert. de Bapt. 6, de Idol. 6, de Cor. 3, de Sped. 4 — Tertullian mentions the renunciations, for Avhich see ERE i., art. ' Abrenuntio '). To such a profession the gloss of Ac 8^'', which is older than Irenaeus who mentions it (c. Haer. III. xii. 8), is the oldest certain reference. But it is possible that there is an allusion to it in 1 Co \b^'^ — or at least to an instruction before baptism — though no form of Creed can be intended (note v.* : * I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received' — the 'delivery' of the faith to the catechumens, see above, 3) ; also in Ro 6^'' 10^, 1 Ti 612, 2 Ti P3'-, He 1022'-, 1 P 3" (for this verse
see ERE i. 38), Jude=*. While, however, it is ex- tremely probable that some sort of a profession of faith was always made at baptism, the NT passages fall short of jnoof of the fact.
[b) Trine immersion is a very early custom, being mentioned in the Didache (§ 7) and by Tertullian (de Cor. 3, adv. Prax. 26). The practice of im- mersion would probably be suggested by the word /SaTTTtfcj (see above, 1). But J. A. Robinson (JThSt vii. 187 II". ) denies this, and says that as the word is used of ceremonial washings in Mk 7'*, Lk IP'*, it need not imply immersion, though ^oltttw (see above, 2) does ; but need only denote ceremonial cleansing with water. Chase (JThSt viii. 179 f.) replies that the vessels in Mk 7'' must have been dipped in order to be cleansed, and also that Lk IP** means bathing ; to this may be added that ceremonial ' baptizing ' of ' themselves ' in Mk 1* is shown by v.^ to mean the dipping of their hands into water. However this may be with regard to those passages, it seems more than probable that the word /San-rt^w to the first disciples, when used of baptism, conveyed the idea of immersion, both because it would be difficult otherwise to explain the metaphor of baptismal burial and resurrection (Ro 6*, Col 2^^), and because the Jewish practice in proselyte-baptism (see above, 2) was to undress the candidate completely, and to immerse him so that every part of his body was touched by the water (Edersheim, LT ii. 745 f.; the candidate also made a profession of faith before the ' fathers of the baptism ' or sponsors). But it is also prob- able that total immersion could not always be practised, as in the case of the Philippian jailer ; and that when this was the case the candidate stood in the water, which was then poured over him.
There is no trace in the NT of trine immersion, which doubtless was founded on the Trinitarian formula, though this is no evidence against its ex- istence in the apostolic period. Flowing (' living ') water, if it can be had, is prescribed in the Didache (§ 7) and in several Church Orders (Maclean, p. 104). In case of necessity the Didache {loc. cit.) expressly allows allusion. Immersion is implied in Ep. of Barnabas, § II, where we read of going down into the water lailen with sin, and rising up from it bearing fruit in the heart.