Tripartite Tractate 28

1Concerning the true baptism, into which the Totalities descend and in which they come into being, there is no baptism other than this one. It is redemption in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, when faith is professed in those names, [which] are the single name of the gospel, [] when someone has believed that the things told to them are real.

2For someone who believes that they exist, this means receiving, invisibly, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by testifying with firm faith and understanding them with firm hope. On this basis, attaining what someone has believed could become a return for that person, so that the Father could become one with him—the Father (and) God whom he has professed in faith and who granted that he should be made one with him in knowledge.

3The baptism mentioned earlier is called “the garment <that> those who wear it do not remove,” because it is put on by those who have received redemption. It is also called “the confirmation of the unfailing truth,” since it is unmoving and unshakable, firmly grasping those who have received <restoration> while they firmly grasp it. It is called “silence” because of its quietness and immovability. It is also called “bridal chamber” because of the harmonious and inseparable condition of those [whom] <he has> known <and who> have known him. It is also called [] “the light that does not set and is without flame,” not because it fails to give light, but because those who put it on and those whom it clothes are transformed into light. It is also called “eternal life,” which is deathlessness.

4Thus, whatever it is called, including its names <omitted> here, corresponds to all the beautiful things it contains in a manner that is simple, pleasant, inseparable, intricate, perfect, and unshakable. How, then, can it be named except as the Totality? Even if countless names were assigned to it, they would be spoken simply as a way of referring to it, when in fact it transcends all words, all voices, and all thoughts. It transcends everything, and it transcends all silence. So it is <…> with those who are what it is. This is indeed what it is, possessing a face that cannot be spoken or grasped, glorified by those who possess knowledge through what they have grasped.