BAPTISM INTO
THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST
2. Baptism in
the name
of the Lord Jesus
Christ
It is unfortunate that
Christianity is divided over what is called the baptismal name (some call it
formula). The Roman Catholic and the
majority of the Protestant churches baptize "in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt. 28:19). A small but growing number of churches that
are called Apostolic baptize "in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). Some ignorantly call this division a conflict of choosing the
commandment of Jesus Christ and the commandment of the apostle Peter. Actually there is no conflict between the
Savior's words and Peter's words. They
harmonize with one another.
Name of the Father
Let us
consider the statement of our Lord Jesus Christ. What did He mean by "the name of the Father"? We all know that the word "Father"
is not a name. What is the Father's
name? Moses asked the same question in
a subtle way: "Indeed, when I come to the
children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to
you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?' And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the
children of Israel, 'I AM' has sent me to you.'" (Ex. 3:13-14). The Name of the Eternal God "I AM WHO I AM" is "YAHWEH" 
in Hebrew.
The Jews consider the name of the Father so sacred that they do not
pronounce it. The New International
Dictionary of the Bible has this explanation: "The
Jews, due to their interpretation of Leviticus 24:16, read "ADONAI"
to avoid pronouncing "YAHWEH" (the supreme name of God alone)." In the Jewish temples or synagogues,
whenever the name of the Father "YAHWEH"
appears in the Bible they will read it as "ADONAI",
that means "Lord" in
English. Today in most English versions
of the Holy Bible, whenever the name of the Father “YAHWEH”
appears it is translated in the capital letters "LORD".
We need to understand this important
fact. When the Great Commission was
given by our the Lord Jesus Christ He was speaking to His disciples who were
all Jews. There was not a single
Gentile present. He spoke to them in
Aramaic, the common native tongue of the Jews in those days. When our Lord commanded them to baptize "in the name of the Father . . . . ."
the disciples understood that He meant "YAHWEH". Being Jews, they would call Him "ADONAI" a revered name that means "LORD". Now you can understand why the
apostle Peter, a Jew who spoke Aramaic, "commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." (Acts 10:46)
Name of the Son
In the Old
Testament there is a question: "What is His name, and what is His Son's name, If you
know?" (Pro. 30:4) We
have just learned the name of the Father is YAHWEH
and it is also respectful to call Him "ADONAI"
or "LORD" in the English
language or any other language. All
Christians know the name of the Son of God is "JESUS",
but many do not know the name of the Father is also in the name of the
Son. There is a prophecy that God's
name would be in the Savior (Ex. 23:20-21).
Our Lord Jesus Christ declared: "I have
come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me, . . . . . . ." (Jn.
5:43) How does the name of
the Father be in the Son? It may be explained in this way. In most civilized cultures all sons carry
the names of their fathers. If the
father's family name is Smith, so will the son's name be Smith. In the same way, since God's name is YAHWEH, therefore His Son will also have the same
name.
There is, however, a problem with the
Jews who do not pronounce the sacred name YAHWEH
as we have discussed earlier. Praise
the LORD, this problem had already been solved
by God a long time ago. Remember how
God revealed His name to Moses? "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM." And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the
children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you. . . . . This is My name forever,
and this is My memorial to all generations.'" (Ex. 3:14-15) In addition to His sacred name "I AM WHO I
AM" (YAHWEH) God had
also revealed His memorial name "I AM"
that is pronounced "YAH" in
Hebrew. This is like calling
"Tim" instead of the full name "Timothy". It is highly significant that our Lord Jesus
Christ applied God's memorial name "I AM"
(YAH) to Himself. He said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I
AM." (Jn. 8:58) The New
King James Bible records this name "YAH"
in Psalm 68:4; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4 and 38:11.
The Jews do not have any problems in pronouncing this name "YAH".
In fact they use this name all the time. Take the names of the prophets in the Bible for instance. "Isaiah"
means salvation of YAH, "Jeremiah" means exaltation of YAH, "Elijah"
means God is YAH and "Zechariah" means YAH is renowned.
When the Jews praise God in the temples they say "Hallelujah" which means "Praise You YAH". We now come to an important name "YAHSHUA" that means YAH is Savior.
This name is sometimes mispronounced "Joshua"
but the correct pronunciation is "YAHSHUA"
because the Hebrew language do not have the letter "J".
"YAHSHUA" is the Hebrew
pronunciation. of the Greek/English name "JESUS".
Just before our Lord gave the Great
Commission He proclaimed His supreme powers as King of the heaven and the
earth. He said: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth." (Mt. 28:18) The
word "authority" in this verse
is translated from the Greek "exousia",
that means the Lord Jesus Christ have supreme power over everything in the
universe. The authority is in His name "YAHSHUA". "Therefore God also has highly
exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus (YAHSHUA) every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2:9-11). The authority of the name "YAHSHUA" (JESUS) is so powerful that
prayers are answered when invoked in this name (Jn. 14:13-14). Miracles, signs
and wonders are performed through the name of Jesus (Acts 2:22; 3:6-9; 4:30;
9:34). Even demons are subjected to the
name (Lk. 10:17; Mk. 9:38; 16:17; Acts 16:18).
It is not enough to just believe who
Jesus is. Even the demons and unclean
spirits know and confess that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God (Lk. 4:41;
Mk 3:11). Belief in the power of the name and what it can do does not count either
(Acts 19:13-17). What God wants Christians to do is to believe, trust, make a
commitment in the authority and power of the name YAHSHUA
- JESUS (Jn. 1:12; 3:18).
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." (1 Jn. 5:13)
The most important aspect of the name of
YAHSHUA (JESUS) is this: ". . . .
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) God has given this universe the name of
YAHSHUA (JESUS) for the purpose of salvation.
God gave this revelation concerning the purpose of this name. "And she
will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His
people from their sins." (Mt.
1:21) The native
Hebrew/Aramaic name of "YAHSHUA"
must have been spoken by the angel to Joseph since the Greco-Roman/English name
of JESUS does not have the meaning of
salvation. YAHSHUA means "YAH
is Savior" in the Hebrew/Aramaic language. There is power and authority in this
name. Christians must believe that
through this name YAHSHUA (JESUS) he or
she can be saved from sins, just like the angel's revelation. "To Him all
the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will
receive remission of sins." (Acts 10:43)
How can we receive remission of sins
through the name of YAHSHUA (JESUS)? All the apostles knew the answer. "Then Peter
said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)
This is very clear. The person
who repents and is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ will have the remission
of sins. During the conversion of Saul,
who later became known as Paul, Ananias urged him: "And
now why are you waiting? Arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts
22:16) Sins are washed away
when a person is baptized while "calling on
the name of the Lord." Paul
wrote: ". . . And such were some
of you. But you were washed, but you
were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:11) What a great description of the remission of sins - to be washed,
sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Holy Spirit.
It is a factual truth that although our
Lord instructed the apostles to baptize "in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," but none of them ever did it that way. On the Day of Pentecost Peter and the
apostles publicly announced that baptism is administer in the name of Jesus
Christ (Acts 2:38). In Samaria Philip preached
"the things concerning the kingdom of God and
the name of Jesus Christ," before the baptism (Acts 8:12). The Samaritan Christians were "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts
8:16) After Cornelius and
his household received the Holy Spirit Peter "commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." (Acts 10:47-48). Paul rebaptized the Ephesian Christians in
the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:3-5).
Why did the apostles and the Early Church baptize in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ instead of the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Were they defiant and went against the
instructions of their Lord and Savior?
Absolutely not! The Holy Spirit
taught them the truth (Jn. 14:26; 16:13-14).
They understood the name of "the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" is the "Lord Jesus Christ".
Name of the Holy Spirit
Just as the
words "Father" and"Son" are not names, so the words "Holy Spirit"
is not a name either.
They are words that describe the Spirit of the One True God who
manifested Himself in three ways. The
Lord Jesus mentioned the name of the Holy Spirit, but what is it? The Lord Jesus Christ declared: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will
send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
things that I said to you." (Jn. 14:26) Here is the answer! The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in the
Name of Jesus Christ. We all know that
the name of the Son of God is YAHSHUA (JESUS).
Is it possible that the name of the Holy Spirit is "Christ"? Let us study this word.
The word "Christ"
is derived from the Greek "Christos"
that means "the Anointed One". It is translated from the Hebrew word "Messiah" with the meaning "Anointed of YAH". Originally the word "Christ" is a title, and in the Hebrew
language it appears as "ha Messiah"
or "the Christ". This title is used for Jesus Himself: 'Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day," (Lk. 24:46) Peter confessed: "You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Mt. 16:16) Of special interest is the development of
this title "Christ" to be used
as a personal name of the Savior. It
must have taken place early in the life of the church, for we find it
reflected, for example, in the opening verse of Mark's Gospel - "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God." (Mk. 1:1) It is possible
that our Lord Himself is responsible for this usage when He prayed to His
Father: "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the Only True
God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (Jn. 17:3) In the New Testament letters Paul often used
the word "Christ", standing
alone, as a name in reference to the Savior (Rom. 5:6,8; 1 Cor. 15:3; Gal.
2:20; Eph. 5:23). This leaves us little
doubt that the word "Christ"
is indeed one of the names of the Son of God.
Next, we are going to study the way in
which the name of "Christ" is
the name of the Holy Spirit. We know
that the name "Christ" is the
translation from the Hebrew word "Messiah"
that means the "Anointed of YAH". In Scripture, anointing is the pouring of
oil on persons or things to signify holiness or separation unto God. It is an act of God to separate a person for
His service (1 Sam. 10:1). Anointing is
administered to prophets, priests and kings (1 Chron. 16:22; 1 Kn. 19:16; Ex.
28:41; 1 Sam. 16:1,12-13). As the
Messiah, the Anointed of YAH, our Lord Jesus Christ holds these three
offices. He is a true prophet of God
(Deut. 18:15, 18; Heb. 1:1-2) The
office of the priest was fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:24-28). Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord
of lords (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16).
Anointing is associated with the
outpouring of God's Spirit (1 Sam.
16:13). The word "anointing"
is used for the "Holy Spirit"
(1 Jn. 2:20,27). Jesus fulfilled the
Messianic ministry that Isaiah had prophesied:
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
because the LORD (YAHWEH) has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD (YAHWEH)." (Isa. 61:1-2; Lk. 4:18-19) ". . . God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all
who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38) From these Scriptural verses it is easy to
understand how the name of the Holy Spirit is the "Anointed
of YAH" - "Messiah" or "Christ".
So now we know the baptismal formula "in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Sprit" is "in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ". This is the full and complete name of the Savior. The correct baptismal formula is "in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
May God bless you.
