Chapter V.
In the story of the leper Naaman, it is said that only the water that has the grace of Christ can heal. Christ wanted to be baptized for our sake alone. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, appearing in the form of a dove, did not descend on him until he entered the water of the Jordan: in this way, the entire Trinity was present there.
So Naaman, therefore, was a leper, a certain girl said to his wife: If my lord wishes to be cleansed, let him go to the land of Israel, and there he will find someone who can remove his leprosy. His wife said to her mistress, the wife to her husband, Naaman, the king of Syria, who sent him as a very welcome person to the king of Israel. The king of Israel heard that the one who could cleanse his leprosy had been sent to him and tore his clothes. Then the prophet Elisha sent him a message: Why did you tear your clothes, as if there is not a powerful God who can cleanse the leper? Send him to me. He sent him; and when he came, the prophet said to him: Go to the Jordan, immerse yourself, and you will be healed.
He began to think to himself and say: Is this all? I came from Syria to the land of Judah, and it is said to me: Go and descend into the Jordan, immerse yourself, and you will be healed; as if the rivers are not better in my own country. Therefore his servants said to him: Master, why do you not do the word of the prophet? Do more and try. Then he went to the Jordan, immersed himself, and rose healed (2 Kings 5:1 et seq.).
So what does it mean? You saw water: but not all water heals (On the Consecration, dist. 4, chap. On water, § Not all); but the water that has the grace of Christ heals. One thing is the element, another is the consecration: one thing is the work, another is the operation. Water is the work, the operation is of the Holy Spirit. Water does not heal unless the Spirit descends and consecrates that water; as you have read that when our Lord Jesus Christ gave the form of baptism, he came to John and said to him: I ought to be baptized by you, and you come to me! Christ responds to him: Let it be so now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:14-15). See that all righteousness is established in baptism.
Therefore why did Christ descend, if not to cleanse this flesh, the flesh which he assumed from our condition? For the washing of their sins was not necessary for Christ, who did not commit sin: but it was necessary for us, who remain subject to sin. Therefore, if baptism is established for us, it is established as a form of our faith.
Christ descended, and John stood who was baptizing, and behold, as if a dove the Holy Spirit descended. It was not a dove that descended, but as if a dove. Remember what I said: Christ took on flesh, not like flesh; but he took on the truth of that flesh, true flesh Christ took on: But the Holy Spirit did not descend in the truth of a dove, but in the likeness of a dove from heaven. Therefore, John saw and believed.
Christ descended, the Holy Spirit descended as well (De Consec., dist. 4, c. Per aquam, § Descendit). Why did Christ descend first, and then the Holy Spirit, when the form and use of baptism require that the font be consecrated before and then the one to be baptized descends? For when the priest first enters, he performs the exorcism according to the nature of water, then he offers the invocation and prayer, so that the font may be sanctified and the presence of the eternal Trinity may be present: but Christ descended before, and then the Spirit followed. By what reasoning? So that the Lord Jesus Himself would not appear to need the mystery of sanctification, but rather that He Himself would sanctify, and that the Spirit would sanctify as well.
Therefore, Christ descended into the water, and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove (Matthew 3:16). Additionally, God the Father spoke from heaven. You have the presence of the Trinity.