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Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father , and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).
The Bible commands water baptism for the New Testament church, and it is
our responsibility to obey this teaching. One day each of us will account
for our actions during our lives. Since we have God's Word, ignorance will
not be an acceptable excuse on that day.
The Necessity of Water Baptism
Is water baptism a necessary part of the salvation experience of the New
Testament? People have various ideas about water baptism, but we cannot
always trust and to please God is to depend upon the Bible as our source of
instruction.
Jesus gave us some insight as to the importance of water baptism in John
3:5: "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the Kingdom
of God." Both
the context of that statement and the subsequent practice of the New
Testament church indicate that He was speaking of water baptism and the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus gave the apostles and us a direct command to go,
teach, and baptize converts. Since He gave this command, baptism is
important and necessary. The Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Jesus instructed us to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." In other words, He told us to baptize
in the name (singular) that fully reveals God in His redemptive
manifestations and work. What is this name?
The name given to the Son of God was Jesus. "And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his
people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
Jesus was a genuine human being, born by the miraculous work of God's
Spirit in the womb of a virgin, and thus He was literally the Son of God
(Luke 1:35). He was more that a man, however; He was actually the one God
manifested in the flesh (Colossians 2:9; I Timothy 3:17). He was the
visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).
As such Jesus declared, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye
receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will
receive" (John 5:43). In other words, the Father is made known to us
by the name of Jesus. The Father, the one true invisible God, gave His name
to the Son (the manifestation of God in flesh)l
thus the Son received His name by inheritance (Hebrews 1:4).
The name Jesus literally means "Jehovah Savior." Jehovah was
the unique name by which the one true God identified Himself to Israel in
the Old Testament. The name Jesus describes the one God of the Old
Testament coming in flesh to be our Savior. Thus the name of Jesus reveals
both the Father and the Son.
What about the Holy Ghost? What name reveals God in His spiritual
essence and action? Jesus said, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you" (John 14:26). In other words, the Holy Spirit comes to us in the
name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not come to us with a separate identity
but is the Spirit of Jesus-Jesus Himself coming to dwell within us
spiritually (John 14:16-18; Colossians 1:27).
In short, the supreme name that reveals God-the name by which we know
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost-is Jesus. By invoking the name of Jesus,
then, we fulfill the command of Matthew 28:19. The Importance of the Name
of Jesus
Many passages of Scripture emphasize the importance and supremacy of the
name of Jesus. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved" (Acts 4:!2).
"Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem'
(Luke 24:47).
"To him give all the prophets witness,
that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of
sins" (Acts 10:43).
"Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they" (Hebrews 1:4).
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of the things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Colossians
3:17). The Practice of the Early Church
How did the apostles obey the command Jesus gave to them in Matthew
28:19? On the Day of Pentecost, sinners asked the question, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). The apostle Peter gave them
the answer: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). This verse reveals that the apostles
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and that baptism is for the remission
of sins.
When Saul, later known as Paul, repented, Ananias instructed him,
"And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and was away thy
sins, calling on the name of the Lord" What is the name of the Lord?
Just a few days earlier, Paul had asked the same question: "Who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest" (Acts
9:5). Paul later wrote, "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost" (I Corinthians 12"3).
Jesus revealed Himself to Paul as the Lord. Paul knew about the Lord God
of the Old Testament, but at that time he did not serve the Jesus of the
New Testament. But he learned that the Lord of the Old Testament was the
same Lord of the New Testament, and to his amazement the one Lord was
Jesus.
When Philip preached the gospel in Samaria,
those who believed "were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts
8:16).
When a group of Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, Peter asked,
"Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of the Lord" (Acts 10:47-48). As we have just
seen, the name of the Lord is Jesus. Moreover, as translations such as the
Amplified Bible and the New International Version indicate, the oldest
Greek manuscripts we now have actually state here, "in the name of
Jesus Christ."
Paul rebaptized the disciples of John at Ephesus in the name of Jesus. "He
said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?
And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said
Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the
people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:3-5). The
Command of Matthew 28:19
Clearly the early church baptized everyone-Jews, Samaritans, and
Gentiles-in the name of Jesus. How does this practice harmonize with
Matthew 28:19? First, Matthew 28:19 "in the name" not "in
the names" or " in the titles or offices
of God." The name that Matthew 28:19 describes is Jesus. So the
apostles correctly understood converts in the name of Jesus.
The Bible does not tell us that we have life through the titles of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but it tells us we have life through the name
of Jesus. "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through
His name" (John 20:31).
The Bible does not say that we are baptized into three different
persons, but it says we are "baptized into Jesus Christ" (Romans
6:3-4). Specifically, we are "buried with him in baptism, wherein also
ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath
raised him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12). Conclusion
Shortly before His ascension Jesus gave the baptismal command found in
Matthew 28:19 to the apostles. According to Luke 24:45, He also opened
their understanding. A few days after His ascension, He baptized 120
waiting disciples with His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. On this
occasion, the apostles proclaimed to the multitude that everyone should be
baptized in the name of Jesus ( Acts2:38).
The apostles understood that Jesus was the redemptive name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They did not merely repeat those three titles,
but they invoked the name to which those titles referred. The other
preachers in the New Testament church, such as Philip, Ananias, and Paul,
adhered to the same baptismal formula.
There are no contradictions in the Word of God. The New Testament
teaches that we must be baptized "in the name" of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, and that name we are to invoke at baptism is Jesus.
FDS
Tract # 1567220878
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This tract was put into HTML format by Stan Hallett.
This non-copyrighted tract is available in hardcopy tract format
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