In whose name should Christians be baptized?
The Holy Scriptures answer this question by the following verses:Acts 2:38 NW: “Peter [said] to them: “Repent, and let each one of YOU be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of YOUR sins, and YOU will receive the free gift of the holy spirit.”
Acts 8:16 NW: “For it had not yet fallen upon any one of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”
Acts 10:48 NW: “With that he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”.
Acts 19:5 NW: “On hearing this, they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”.
As we can see, the Word of God teaches us that in the early church, disciples of Jesus Christ were baptized in the name of Jesus. However, in many modern versions of the Bible, one can read in Matthew 28:19 NW: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit”. This commandment differs from what disciples actually did, according to Acts and the entire Greek Scriptures.
Thus, if the phrase in Matthew 28:19, concerning "baptism in the name of the Trinity", represents the commandment of the Lord, then how did it happen that disciples of Jesus were baptized in the name of Jesus only? Were the disciples always baptized in the name of the Lord? Did they disobey the commandment of Jesus? Or maybe the text in Matthew 28:19 contains an addition that was included by the scribes like the addition in 1 John 5:7?
The following sources provide answers to these questions:
BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA
11TH edition, Vol 3, Pg 365-366
The baptismal formula was changed from the name of Jesus Christ to the words Father, Son, & Holy Ghost by the Catholic Church in the second century.
BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 3, Pg 82
Everywhere in the oldest sources it states that baptism was administered in the name of Jesus Christ.
CANNEY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Pg 53
The early church always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until the development of Trinity doctrine in the 2nd century.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 2, Pg 263
Here the Catholics acknowledged that baptism was changed by the Catholic Church.
HASTINGS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Vol 2, Pg 377
Christian baptism was administered using the words "In the name of Jesus."
Vol 2, Pg 378
The use of a Trinitarian formula of any sort was not suggested in early Church history.
Vol 2, Pg 389
Baptism was always in the name of Lord Jesus until the time of Justin Martyr when the Triune formula came into use.
HASTINGS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Vol 2, Pg 377 on ACTS 2:38
NAME was an ancient synonym for "person." Payment was always made in the name of a person referring ownership. Therefore, one being baptized in Jesus Name became His personal property. "Ye are Christs."
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS
(1951), II, 384, 389
The formula used was ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ or some synonymous phrase; there is no evidence for the use of the triune name . . . The earliest form, represented in the Acts, was simple immersion . . . in water, the use of the name of the Lord, and the laying on of hands.
INTERPRETERS DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE
(1962) I, 351
The evidence . . . suggests that baptism in early Christianity was administered, not in the threefold name, but ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’.
A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT (Otto Heick)
(1965), I, 53
At first baptism was administered in the name of Jesus, but gradually in the name of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
HASTINGS DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE
(1898), I, 241
One explanation is that the original form of words was ‘into the name of Jesus Christ.' Baptism into the name of the Trinity was a later development.
A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Williston Walker, (1947), Pg 58
The Trinitarian baptismal formula . . . was displacing the older baptism in the name of Christ.
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE
(1957), I, 435
The New Testament knows only baptism in the name of Jesus . . . , which still occured even in the second and third centuries.
CANNEY’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIONS
(1970), Pg 53
Persons were baptized at first ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ . . . or ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus.’. . . Afterwards, with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, they were baptized ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BIBLICA
(1899), I, 473
It is natural to conclude that baptism was administered in the earliest times ‘in the name of Jesus Christ,’ or in that ‘of the Lord Jesus.’ This view is confirmed by the fact that the earliest forms of the baptismal confession appear to have been single not triple, as was the later creed.
Thus, in the early church, christians were baptised in the name of Jesus, and later, with the development of the trinitarian doctrine, they were baptised in the name of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
According to Colossians 3:17, all Christian works have to be done in the name of Jesus Christ, so neither baptism or any other work has to be done in other names!
Colossians 3:17 NW: “And whatever it is that YOU do in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”!!!