Home Topics Index Download
Transcript 149C — In Whose Name are We to be Baptised?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I have a question. In Acts 2:38 Peter was talking, and he said that everyone needs to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, "and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Again, in Matthew 29, I believe in verse 28, Jesus is talking to the disciples and tells them to go into all nations, baptizing in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I was wondering, someone has told me that the only baptism is baptism in Jesus' Name. Do you have any ideas about that?
HC: The question is: How are we to be baptized, in the Name of Jesus, or in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?
In Matthew 28 Jesus said, "Make disciples, baptizing them into the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." But when we get to the Book of Acts, there we read of baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ two or three times. When Cornelius and his family was baptized, we read in Acts 10, in verse 48: "And he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ."
Now first of all, the phrase "in the Name of Christ" has to do with the authority of Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus said, "If you ask anything in My Name, the Father will do it," that is, on My authority. It's as if you are an ambassador of the United States to a foreign country. Then you will perform certain actions in the name of the United States. You are the representative, and you are doing it on the authority of the United States. And I believe this is the primary emphasis on this phrase "in the name of."
And so when someone is baptized in water, it's on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he has become a child of God. In Acts 2, in verse 38, where it's speaking of what salvation is, we read, "Repent (that's our action, we turn away from our sins) and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ." Now the baptism that's referred to here, incidentally, is not water baptism. That's not the subject of Acts 1 and 2. It's baptism in the Holy Spirit. You've got to have your sins washed away and you have to be identified with the Holy Spirit in His work of evangelizing the world, which is going to be true of everyone, beginning with Pentecost. And this happens to you on the authority of Jesus Christ, "for the forgiveness of your sins. And you shall receive the Holy Spirit as a gift."
Now when Jesus said in Matthew 28, "Be baptized into the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." He used a different preposition there. In the Name, the preposition would be "en." But in Matthew 28 the preposition is "eis" which ordinarily is translated "into." And so when we are baptized into the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, it means that we have entered into God. He has become our eternal dwelling place.
It’s typical of what we read, for example, in Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." When we have been saved, we have entered into the Triune God. This is a concept that really boggles our mind. How can we be so intimately identified with God? But nevertheless, this is what God teaches us. So really there's no contradiction. We are baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, that is, on the authority of Jesus Christ, into the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, into God Himself. We actually enter into God Himself in a mysterious way.
CALLER: OK. Thank you very much.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.