Reading this has been rather interesting.
Firstly. We should begin by looking at Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit"
The first word we should focus on is, therefore. whenever you see a therefore in the Bible you should stop and ask yourself, "what's the therefore there for?" Context is everything. The "therefore" serves a purpose. So let's look at the verse that comes before it.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Whilst reading this thread I have read that "in the name of" is the same as "by the authority of".
In that case, we could read Matthew 28:18-19 like so, And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them by the authority of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit"
Jesus speaks of his authority in verse 18. Considering the "therefore" would it make sense that Jesus would then go on to speak about a different authority?
Is the authority of the Father, Son and Spirit different to his authority? By no means. Because Jesus is the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
How do we know this? Because that's what it says in the Bible.
John:1:1: In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John:1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 10:30 30 I and the Father are one.
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Speaking about Jesus)
1st Timothy 3:16: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
Okay. So how are we to baptise others?
We are to do so by using the name of Jesus. Why? Because the word "authority" and "name" are used interchangeably in the Bible.
I will give you an example. Let's look at Exodus 20:7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Nowadays we assume that this means you shouldn't use God's name as a swear word. Although this is true, that's not exactly what God is saying in this verse. What he is saying, is that you should never do an evil act and say that it is in his name that you are doing it. What's interesting about this is that we could swap "the name of the Lord your God" to "the authority of the Lord your God" and it would make no difference to the meaning of the verse.
How so? Because names hold authority.
What we read in Matthew 28:18-19 is that Jesus is permitting his disciples to use his authority. But how could they use his authority? In the same way, anyone would make use of the authority of another, through the name.
Originally God never had a name. Throughout the old testament, God makes use of names or titles to make himself better known to humanity. For example, Jehovah Jireh: my provider. Jehovah Shalom: prince of peace.
When we get to the New Testament we read that God manifests himself into a human being. Manifested as Jesus, he dies on the cross and then raises himself back to life so that humanity may have the opportunity to escape the wages of sin and have a meaningful relationship with him (there is a lot more that could be said on this subject matter, such as how Jesus was the lamb of God and that he was the perfect High priest, etc.) However, I want you to focus on one thing in particular: God manifested as Jesus, did what he did not do as Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, YHWH, I am that I am, etc. He brought about the New Testament. He fulfilled the law of the old testament, defeated death, hell and the grave and made the gospel. This is why Jesus states in Matthew 28:18 that he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
So then, it would make sense for us to baptise in the name of Jesus and not by saying "in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit"
Especially as Acts 4:12 states: And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Also. The word trinity is never used in the Bible. We should not be using such a word/concept to explain the nature of God. Instead, maybe we should try using the Bible? The book in which God reveals himself to us? If you use the word trinity to explain the nature of God what you're doing is placing the teachings of Theophilus and the council of Nicea above the word of God. All we need to know about God is written in his word.
And Babies should not be getting baptised. Why? Because there is no instance found in the Bible where this is done. None. The response to the gospel has to be a personal one. You cannot force someone to respond to the gospel in the same way that you cannot force someone to have a meaningful relationship with God. Teach them the word of God, pray over them and allow them to make this decision when they understand that they are sinners in need of God.
