Baptism in the name of?

[tonychanyt]

1 Corinthians 10:

2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

Moses was God’s representative under the Law. The Israelites were symbolically baptized under his leadership.

For Christians, we have a different leader, Matthew 28:

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Note the singular noun name.

Acts 2:

38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:

48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Acts 19:

5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Romans 6:

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Galatians 3:

27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Any one of these formulas will do. It is not mouthing the formula that works. It has to do with the repentant heart of the believer. He needs to admit Jesus as Lord and Savior, regardless of the formula.

 

[Reluctant Theologian]

'in name of' may also mean 'under the authority of' ...

Btw, only God the Father and Jesus the Son of God have proper names - at least I don't know any verse where the Holy Spirit is addressed by a name.

Bear in mind that the very early church only baptised in the name of Jesus; thereby creating an inconsistency with Matthew 28. All known early manuscripts of Matthew 28 have the well-known ' .. name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' wording, but the Hebrew Shem-Tov version of Matthew doesn't have that ending.

We know from church history that the gospel of Matthew originally was written in Hebrew (or Aramaic), so the Greek text we now have is a translation already.

 

[tonychanyt]

Bear in mind that the very early church only baptised in the name of Jesus;

The book of Didache was written in the first century AD. Didache:

And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water.

 

[Reluctant Theologian]

The book of Didache was written in the first century AD. Didache:

The scholarly consensus is that the Didache originated in the 1st century CE, but that doesn't mean that the earliest manuscripts we now have of the Didache go back to that period. The text of the Didache may have undergone changes since its inception. See e.g. the Wikipedia article on the Didache (section 'Description'):

"Baptism was practiced "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."[28] Scholars generally agree that 9:5, which speaks of baptism "in the name of the Lord," represents an earlier tradition that was gradually replaced by a trinity of names."

So scholars seem to agree that the current known wording of the Didache at this point was not original.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to, or identifying with the author of this page, nor even stating that the current known wording of Matthew 28 is not original, but this page gives a good overview of commentators and theologians that reflect on the possible non-original status of 28:19:

A Collection of Evidence Against the Traditional Wording of Matthew 28:19

Personally I certainly would not call the info on that page 'evidence' but it does highlight interesting perspectives. E.g. the previous Pope (Joseph Ratzinger) apparently wrote:

"The basic form of our (Matthew 28:19 Trinitarian) profession of faith took shape during the course of the second and third centuries in connection with the ceremony of baptism. So far as its place of origin is concerned, the text (Matthew 28:19) came from the city of Rome."​

 

[joeLightening]

1 Corinthians 10:

Moses was God’s representative under the Law. The Israelites were symbolically baptized under his leadership.

For Christians, we have a different leader, Matthew 28:

Note the singular noun name.

Acts 2:


Acts 10:


Acts 19:


Romans 6:


Galatians 3:


Any one of these formulas will do. It is not mouthing the formula that works. It has to do with the repentant heart of the believer. He needs to admit Jesus as Lord and Savior, regardless of the formula.

Ok so we must believe in Jesus name to be saved. "There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved". But are you saying we don't need to be baptized in his name in water Baptism?

 

[tonychanyt]

But are you saying we don't need to be baptized in his name in water Baptism?

No. See When should you get baptized?