History Of The Doctrine Concerning The Nature Of God In The Early Centuries Of Christianity
Part 11
The Mode Of Baptism
EVERYWHERE IN THE OLDEST SOURCE IT IS STATED THAT BAPTISM TAKES PLACE IN THE NAME OF JESUS. [8] THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE BAPTISM IN THE NAME OF THE TRINITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, EXCEPT IN THE COMMAND ATTRIBUTED TO CHRIST IN MATTHEW 28:19. [3] (It is a Trinitarian theological opinion and assumption that the Baptismal command in Matthew 28:19 was in the name of the Trinity. The Scriptures came first. Both Oneness and Trinitarian teachers accept the verse in light of their understanding of the general tenor of Scripture. The Oneness people see no Trinitarian formula here but a truth that was revealed in the carrying out of the command by the Apostles in baptizing in the name of Jesus. The Trinitarians made the command a formula and made the formula a general statement of authority).
(, p.338, says): “THE FORMULA OF THE trinity IS GIVEN IN MTT. 28:19 BUT IT IS CURIOUS THAT THE WORDS ARE NOT GIVEN IN ANY DESCRIPTION OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM UNTIL THE TIMES OF JUSTIN MARTYR: AND THERE THEY ARE NOT REPEATED EXACTLY. IN EVERY ACCOUNT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE RITE USE, NAMELY ‘IN THE NAME OF JESUS’>. THE LONGER FORMULA OF MTT. 28:19 BECAME UNIVERSAL only in the SUB-APOSTOLIC CHURCH at which time triune immersion was invented. Tertullian said: ‘AND IT IS NOT ONLY ONCE, BUT THRICE, THAT WE ARE IMMERSED INTO THE THREE PERSONS, ONCE AT EACH SEVERAL MENTION OF THEIR NAMES.’ The church gave INJUNCTIONS TO USE THE LONGER FORMULA, AND PUNISHMENT INCLUDING DEPOSITION, THREATENED THOSE WHO PRESUMED TO USE THE SHORTER. [3]
K. LAKE HOLDS MATTHEW 29:19 AS GIVEN NOW TO BE FALSE IN AS MUCH AS EUSEBIUS “FATHER OF CHURCH HISTORY”, OFTEN QUOTES THE TEXT WITHOUT MENTION OF FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST BUT INSTEAD QUOTES, “MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS IN MY NAME.” THE AUTHENTICITY OF THIS SCRIPTURE WOULD INDEED NEVER HAVE BEEN QUESTIONED IF IT HAD NOT BEEN SUCH A CONTRAST WITH OTHER EARLY CHURCH TEACHING, PRACTICE AND APOSTOLIC HISTORY. THAT IT IS A REASONABLE POSSIBILITY OF BEING AN INTERPOLATION WE SHOULD ALL AGREE, AS OTHER INTERPOLATIONS ARE KNOWN TO EXIST. [22]
FEINE, KATTENBUSCH, AND CONYBEARE ARGUE THAT THE TRINITARIAN FORMULA (so called) IN MTT 28:19 IS SPURIOUS, saying that THE BAPTISM RECORDED IN THE N.T. AFTER THE DAY OF PENTECOST ARE ADMINISTERED IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. [3](I.S.B.E. continues): “THE ARGUMENTS FOR THE LATE ECCLESIASTICAL ORIGIN OF MTT. 28:19 ARE NOT CONVINCING; ON THE OTHER HAND THE COMMAND OF JESUS MAY HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS A FOR BAPTISM.” [3] (It should be noted that the term “Name” in Mtt. 28:19 is singular, and that Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not names but titles. Also it is significant that every reference to baptism speaks only of Christ Jesus: “know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” – Rom. 6:3; “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” – Gal. 3:27; “… They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” – Acts 8:16), etc.
WHEREIN HAS THE SPIRIT OF THE PASSAGE BEEN OVERLOOKED? MATTHEW 28:19-20 READS AS FOLLOWS: “AND JESUS CAME AND SPAKE UNTO THEM SAYING POWER IS GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. GO YE THEREFORE AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN (R.V. “INTO”) THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST: TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU: AND, LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.” TWO THINGS ARE EVIDENT:
1 – FROM BEGINNING TO END THE BOOK OF MATTHEW LAYS SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE KINGSHIP OF JESUS. CHRIST’S DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION HAD EFFECT UPON MAN’S RELATION TO GOD AND THIS ASPECT WAS EMPHASIZED IN THE COMMISSION AS RECORDED IN LUKE –PENTECOST, THE FIRST TO BE PREACHED WAS A DIRECT FULFILLMENT OF LUKE 24:47. “THEN PETER SAID UNTO THEM, REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED EVERY ONE OF YOU NAME OF JESUS CHRIST> FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.” ACTS 2:38.
PHILLIP WENT DOWN TO THE CITY OF SAMARIA, AND UPON BELIEVING THE WORD, THE PEOPLE OF THAT CITY WERE FILLED WITH GREAT JOY AND WERE BAPTIZED OF THE LORD JESUS>. ACTS 8:16, “(FOR AS YET HE WAS FALLEN UPON NONE OF THEM: ONLY THEY WERE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS.)”
CORNELIUS AND HIS HOUSEHOLD OF RELATIVES AND BRETHREN WERE COMMANDED TO BE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. ACTS 10:47-48. “CAN ANY MAN FORBID WATER, THAT THESE SHOULD NOT BE BAPTIZED, WHICH HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST AS WELL AS WE? AND HE COMMANDED THEM TO BE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.” (“Lord Jesus Christ” – Greek)
THE ROMANS WERE BAPTIZED INTO JESUS CHRIST, ROM. 6:3-5, “KNEW YE NOT, THAT SO MANY OF US AS WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? THEREFORE WE ARE BURIED WITH HIM BY BAPTISM INTO DEATH: THAT LIKE AS CHRIST WAS RAISED UP FROM THE DEAD BY THE GLORY OF THE FATHER, EVEN SO WE ALSO SHOULD WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE. FOR IF WE HAVE BEEN PLANTED TOGETHER IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH, WE SHALL BE ALSO IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION.”
THE GALATIANS WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST. GAL 3:27. “FOR AS MANY OF YOU AS HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED HAVE PUT ON CHRIST.”
THE CORINTHIANS WERE BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST (1 COR 6:11), “AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU: BUT YE ARE WASHED, BUT YE ARE SANCTIFIED, BUT YE ARE JUSTIFIED , AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.” PAUL UNDOUBTEDLY REFERS TO BAPTISM INTO JESUS CHRIST IN 1 COR. 1:13, PAUL SAYS, “WAS PAUL CRUCIFIED FOR YOU? OR WERE YE BAPTIZED PAUL?” WHAT PAUL WANTED TO POINT OUT TO THESE PEOPLE WAS TO FOLLOW THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN CRUCIFIED FOR THEM, INTO WHOM THEY HAD BEEN BAPTIZED. HE COULD HAVE SAID, “WAS THE FATHER, THE SON, OR THE HOLY GHOST CRUCIFIED FOR YOU”, BUT EVIDENCE POINTS TO THAT OF BAPTISM IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.
HEALING AND DEVILS WERE ALWAYS CAST OUT IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, PAUL ALSO SAYS IN COL. 3:17, “AND WHATSOEVER YE DO IN WORD OR DEED, DO ALL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS.” BAPTISM IS AN ACT OR DEED PETER SAYS IN ACTS 4:12, “NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER; FOR THERE IS NONE OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN, WHEREBY YE MUST BE SAVED.” AT NO PLACE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CAN BE FOUND BAPTISM EVER ADMINISTERED TO ANYONE EXCEPT IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. [24]
TURNING NOW TO THE ONLY WRITERS WE HAVE ANY RECORD OF WHO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED THE DISCIPLES WE RECORD —
NO MENTION OF WATER BAPTISM, HE FURTHERMORE MAKES NO MENTION OF THE TRINITY. IN THE FICTITIOUS TALE OF PAUL, AND THE MARTYR THECIA, WE FIND REFERENCE TO BAPTISM CHAPTER 9:6-9, “AFTERWARDS THEY BROUGHT OUT MANY OTHER WILD BEASTS; BUT THECIA STOOD WITH HER HANDS STRETCHED TOWARDS HEAVEN, AND PRAYED; AND WHEN SHE HAD DONE PRAYING, SHE TURNED ABOUT, AND SAW A PIT OF WATER, AND SAID, NOW IT IS THE PROPER TIME FOR ME TO BE BAPTIZED. ACCORDINGLY SHE THREW HERSELF INTO THE WATER, AND SAID, IN THY NAME, O MY LORD JESUS CHRIST, I AM THIS DAY BAPTIZED.” WE ARE CONVINCED THAT THE STORY AS A WHOLE IS ONLY FICTION, BUT THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THE GENERAL MODE OF BAPTISM WAS IMMERSION AND IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
SILENT ON BAPTISM, HIS EPISTLES REJECTED AS NOT TO DULY HONORTRINITY.
IN REFERENCE TO BAPTISM SAYS, PAGE 157,162: BLESSED ARE THEY WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN THE CROSS, DESCEND INTO THE WATER: FOR THEY SHALL HAVE THEIR REWARD IN DUE TIME: “HAVING RECEIVED REMISSION OF OUR SINS, AND TRUSTING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, WE ARE BECOME RENEWED, BEING AGAIN CREATED AS IT WERE FROM THE BEGINNING.”
THERE ARE 15 EPISTLES DESIGNATED TO IGNATIUS, EIGHT OF WHICH ARE KNOWN TO BE FORGERIES. AMONG THOSE THAT ARE GENUINE THERE IS NO REFERENCE TO BAPTISM. HE DOES MAKE MANY STATEMENTS LIKE THIS: “JESUS CHRIST, WHO WAS THE FATHER BEFORE ALL AGES, AND APPEARED IN THE END TO US.” SALUTATION: “FARE YE WELL IN THE HARMONY OF GOD, YE HAVE OBTAINED THE INSEPARABLE SPIRIT, WHO IS JESUS CHRIST.”
WAS SILENT ON BAPTISM.
WAS SILENT ON BAPTISM.
SIMILITUDE 9:120, PAGE 255, “WHOSOEVER THEREFORE SHALL NOT TAKE UPON HIM HIS NAME, HE SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.” VERSES 151,153,154 and part of 158, page 258, “IT WAS NECESSARY, SAID HE, FOR THEM TO ASCEND BY WATER, THAT THEY MIGHT BE AT REST. FOR THEY COULD NOT OTHERWISE ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD, BUT BY LAYING ASIDE THE MORTALITY OF THEIR FORMER LIFE. FOR BEFORE A MAN RECEIVES THAT SEAL HE IS FREED FROM DEATH, AND ASSIGNED UNTO LIFE.” “NOW THAT SEAL IS THE WATER OF BAPTISM, INTO WHICH MEN GO DOWN UNDER THE OBLIGATION UNTO DEATH, BUT COME UP APPOINTED UNTO life.” “THEY WENT DOWN THEREFORE INTO THE WATER WITH THEM, AND AGAIN CAME UP.”
THIS COMPLETES THE ONLY RECORDS OF WRITERS WHO WERE EITHER CONTEMPORANEOUS OR IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED THE APOSTLES. IT MAY BE NOTED THAT THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE TRINITY OR THE TRINITARIAN FORMULA OF BAPTISM.
