Jesus Commands His Disciples

 

Water Baptism in the Name of Jesus - History

 FROM: ACTS238.COM

JESUS NAME Water Baptism ;
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.
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BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 3, Pg 82
Everywhere in the oldest sources it states that baptism took place in the name of Jesus Christ.
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CANNEY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION
Pg 53
The early church always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus until development of Trinity doctrine in the 2nd century.
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 2, Pg 263
Here the Catholics acknowledged that baptism was changed by the Catholic Church.
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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 Triune formula was used.
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 8
Justin Martyr was one of the early Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church.
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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 some person referring ownership. Therefore one being baptized in Jesus Name became his personal property. “Ye are Christ’s.”
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NEW INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vol 22, Pg 477
The term “Trinity” was originated by Tertullian, a Roman Catholic Church Father.
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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 trine 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. To these were addedm at various times and places which cannot be safely identified, (a) the trine name (Justin)….
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INTERPRETERS DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE
(1962) I, 351
The evidence … suggests that baptism in early Christianity was administered, not in the threefold name, nut ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE
(1957), I, 435
The New Testament knows only baptism in the name of Jesus …, which still occurs even in the second and third centuries.
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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.
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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.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA
11TH edition, (1910), Vol 2, Pg 365
The Trinitarian formula and trine immersion were not uniformly used from the beginning… Bapti[sm] into the name of the Lord [was] the normal formula of the new Testament. In the 3rd century baptism in the name of Christ was still so wide spread that Pope Stephen, in opposition to Cyprian of Carthage, declared it to be valid.
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The evidence is overwhelming. This is obviously the way the apostles baptized in the first Church. Don't you think if you are going to be in Christ's Church, YOU should be baptized in the NAME of Jesus? "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 10:22) 

Death, Burial, and Resurrection

 We are saved by the gospel – Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose again the third day – unless we have believed in vain. (Unless we haven’t OBEYED the gospel). (Mark 16:15-16).

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV

We obey the gospel by becoming dead to sin by repentance, we bury our old nature by baptism in the name of Jesus, we are resurrected to new life by Holy Ghost infilling.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ 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." - Romans 6:1-4 KJV

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." - Romans 6:5-6 KJV

Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost how we obey the gospel.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." - Acts 2:38 KJV

"For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call...

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." - Acts 2:39, 42 KJV

You Pray, Preach, Worship in Jesus' name - Why wouldn't you be baptized in Jesus' name?

 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." - Acts 2:38

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." - Acts 4:12

Acts 2:38 The Original Plan of Salvation is JESUS Acts 4:12

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." - Acts 2:38

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." - Acts 4:12

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus

 There were twelve men in Ephesus that had been disciples of John the Baptist. They were met by Paul the Apostle. They had heard of the baptism of the Holy Ghost from John the Baptist, but had not heard that the Holy Ghost was already being poured out. (Mark 1:7-8).

When they heard Paul preach Christ, they were RE-BAPTIZED IN JESUS NAME. They then received the gift of the Holy Ghost, SPEAKING IN TONGUES AS THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE. This is another place in the Bible where it is recorded that when people receive the Holy Ghost they speak with tongues. (Acts 2:4, Acts 10:45-46, Acts 19:6).

"And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?

“And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

“And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?

“And they said, Unto John's baptism.

“Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

“When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

“And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

“And all the men were about twelve." - Acts 19:1-7

The World

What does the Bible say about the “world”?

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." - 1 John 2:15-16 KJV

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." - James 4:4

By the gospel, we turn our back on the world by repentance, we make a covenant to live for God by baptism in His name Jesus, and we overcome the world through His Spirit within us, the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38).

The devil is the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air.

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" - Ephesians 2:2

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." - 1 John 4:4

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;" - Philippians 2:15

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." - Galatians 6:14

With the power of His name Jesus upon us, and the power of His Spirit within us, we are victorious.

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." - 1 John 5:4

"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." - 1 John 2:17 KJV